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TechnoratiBecky Harber shares her life of faith starting from her birth to where she is now – Baptist Press recognizes her as the much-loved and respected wife of evangelist, pastor, author and radio personality Frank Harber.
Becky Harber, wife of pastor Frank Harber, greets a mother and child who attended a Christmastime outreach dinner Dallas/Fort Worth-area First Baptist Church, Colleyville.
About 34 years ago, Becky was born in the Edna Gladney Home, a medical care facility for unwed mothers in Fort Worth, Texas (now called the Gladney Center for Adoption). When she was only a week old, Vernon and Delores Florence who had been unable to conceive more children after having their biological sons Sam and Jay, adopted her into their family and took her to their east Texas home in the town of Big Sandy.
When Becky was about 8 years old, she recalled the moment she felt so special when her mother told her she was adopted. "We were in the bathroom getting ready to go to a family reunion. My mom said, 'Becky, did you know you were adopted?' I walked out of the bathroom and walked right back in, seeking a definition for that word 'adopted'. I don't remember the words she said. All I know is that when she was done, I felt so special."
Vernon Florence later told Becky he had been reluctant to tell her about being adopted because he didn't want her to feel any different than the boys. "That made me feel special, that he didn't want me to feel any less his child," Becky recounted.
In Becky's teen years, her mother showed her the adoption papers. Her birth mother was 19 and her biological father was 21 at the time she was born. In processing that information, Harber has often thought, "Obviously they were old enough to have kept me."
"It may not have been her plan to conceive me," Becky said of her birth mother, "but thankfully she followed through with her pregnancy and my birth, giving me a chance at life."
Harber doesn’t know much of her biological parents but she is not bitter of leaving her.
Harber has a deep respect for her birth mother: In giving up her baby, her mother made the greatest sacrifice of love possible. While she knows little else about her birth mother, Harber learned that she became an attorney. "She went on with her life, learned from her mistakes and made something of herself. I'm so proud of her -- whoever she is and wherever she is."
Becky is very proud to be part of the Florence family. "My adoptive parents are two of the best people you will ever meet." She credits them with helping her become the person she is now. "They taught me to be responsible and how to put others first. They taught me self-respect and taught me there wasn't anything I couldn't do. They were my biggest cheerleaders."
Since Becky was 3 years old, she started attending church. Beck’s parents did not attend church but they allowed Becky and her brother to go to church. "They never pushed us to go, but if that's what we wanted to do, they were right there ready to take us," Becky recalled.
It was at First Baptist that Becky accepted Christ as her Savior in her early teens. In her mid-teens, she began dating Frank Harber, who was very opposite of Becky. Back then he wasn’t a believer and it was actually through Beck that Christ was introduced to him. "We were so opposite," she said. "I was a child-like faith person and he was a prove-it-to-me person. He would try to talk me out of my faith, but he couldn't do it."
Eventually God changed his heart and he became a Christian. Pastor Wells baptized them and they got married. "Both were committed to the Lord when they married," he noted. Continue »
