Sewing for Jesus, but Never on Sabbath

News June 12, 2017

Mavis Burrell Spencer wasn’t sure what to do with her family’s high-end tailoring business when her husband died a decade ago.

Her husband had established three, flourishing tailor shops in Jamaica, including a main outlet with 25 employees in a shopping center in the island’s capital, Kingston.

Mavis saw that she was at a crossroads, and she ultimately decided to run the business by herself.

Ten years later, and Mavis found herself at a crossroads again. She wanted to be baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Saturday was her busiest day for business. She prayed earnestly about what to do.

Mavis, who had attended a Sunday church on and off, first heard about the seventh-day Sabbath from Adventist friends. But she didn’t know that the Fourth Commandment to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” applied to all Christians today.

Things began to change after a family friend invited her to weekly Bible studies. The friend, an Adventist business owner, had prayed regularly with her husband before he died, and Mavis had turned down his invitations to attend church, saying she was too busy. But then he invited her to the small-group Bible studies and called her every week to remind her to come.

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