Nina Marie Stephenson,78, of Chattanooga, went home to be with her beloved Lord Oct 16, 2021. Her perseverance, love and devotion to Him has been such an inspiration to so many throughout the world.

Nina was born April 24,1943 in Bristol, VA. She is a 1965 graduate of Carson-Newman College and taught school in Mars Hill, NC, and Bristol, TN.

In 1976, Nina moved to Germany, where she taught at Black Forest Academy, a school for missionaries' children. In 1985, she was called to be a missionary to Hungary, where she ministered throughout the communist Eastern Bloc of Europe. She oversaw and toured with a music ministry group of internationals, A New Song, ultimately taking the Gospel to 23 countries and 47 US states. Nina was a missionary for 32 years, finally retiring in Chattanooga, TN.

Nina is preceded in death by her mother, Marie Bellamy Stophel (G.L.) of Bluff City, TN, and father Johnny Spradlyn of Bristol VA; as well as sisters, Betty S. Morton of Cumming, GA and Phyllis O'Dell of St. Petersburg, FL.

She is survived by sister, MaryJo McCall Earnest (Ben) of Lakeland, FL; nine cherished nieces and nephews; and numerous great- nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held Saturday, Oct. 23 at 11:30 a.m. at Woodland Park Baptist Church, 6735 Standifer Gap Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421, where Nina served as an active member since 1992.

Visitation will be held on Saturday, October 23, 2021 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Woodland Park Baptist Church prior to the memorial service.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to Youth Missions at Woodland Park Baptist Church.

Arrangements are by Hamilton Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 4506 Hixson Pike, Hixson (423) 531-3975.

Nina's Life Story

Nina Marie Spradlyn Stephenson was born in Fort Shelby Hospital, Bristol, VA, April 24, 1943. She graduated from Bristol Tennessee High School in 1961.

She earned her B.S. degree from Carson-Newman College (now University) in 1965 with a double major in Physical Education and Speech & Drama, graduating with honors. While at Carson-Newman, honor societies and activities included Alpha Psi Omega National Honor Drama Fraternity, Women's Letter Club, Women's Athletic Club, A Cappella Choir, Baptist Union Choir, and was named to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.

Upon graduation from college, she taught at Mars Hill High School in Mars Hill, NC, for two years, subjects including Health and PE, and Drama. She produced plays and sponsored the cloggers and cheerleading squads.

What continues is her personal testimony, in her own words:

I left Asheville, NC in 1968 and returned to Tennessee. I worked as a waitress/hostess at the Holiday Inn; as a secretary and personal assistant to the Home Economist at Bristol Tennessee Electric System; and as a bank teller at Bank of Virginia. If you look at my history so far, you see that I didn't stay with one thing very long. Two years here, two years there. A year here, a year and a half there. I was always searching. It was as if there was this huge hole inside of me that I was trying to fill. That hole had been in my heart ever since my Dad and Mother were divorced when I was six years old.

Daddy was my hero. I was Daddy's little girl. And it broke my heart when he left. I was always trying to do something or find somebody to fill that hole. But there just wasn't anybody or anything.

In the spring of 1976, I was teaching at Wallace Elementary School in Bristol. I fell and severely injured my back. I pulled every muscle in my back, from my neck to my tailbone and broke my tailbone.

While recovering from the fall, I wrote to my sister Jody in Germany and I said, "You know … here I am, lying on an ironing board in my bed so that I have a hard surface to lie on, and am in pain most of the time. And I am thinking, 'All I ever wanted was for somebody to love me.' Is that too much to ask?" She and her husband, Dan McCall, wrote back and said, "Come and live with us." They had another year and a half left in Germany, where Dan was stationed as a Chaplain in the Army. So, they asked me to come and stay with them during that time. And, I did. I thought that was an excellent opportunity. So exciting!

After I got over there, in August of 1976, I found that the school where I would teach – Black Forest Academy, where Dan and Jody's children went to school -- had never had a certified physical education teacher, so they were thrilled that I was there. They put me on the roster right away as a P.E. teacher. I also taught Geography, Social Studies, Typing, Shorthand, American History, and Biology. I had never studied geography, just the basics in middle and high school, so I had so much to learn, in so many ways!

One month later, in September of 1976, I finally found something, or rather, Someone to fill that hole in my heart, that void in my life. Actually, I didn't find him. Jesus found ME. He had been calling me since I was 8 years old. But I didn't know how to respond. I didn't know how to answer His Call. On Oct. 24, 1976, I was saved. During the two months I had been in Germany, I saw Christianity lived out as I had never seen it before. They believed what the Bible said, and lived their lives out according to what they believed. I was very impressed by that. I was drawn to them as Christians. And those precious, precious brothers and sisters gently led me to the Lord. This was a life-changing experience for me. So much so, I took on a different name. Much like Saul became Paul after his spiritual transformation, and after God's covenant with Abram he became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah, I changed the pronunciation of my name from NIGH-NUH to NEE-NUH. God told me that day, "Nina, all your life you have been holding on so hard. Just let go. Because I have you in the palm of my hand." And that is where I remain today. Nothing or no one can pluck me out of the palm of His hand. I'm saved, and His forever. Surrendering to Him totally changed my life … my outlook, my everything.

Being a missionary school in Europe, we had the advantage of pastors visiting from all over the world. When those pastors did a tour in Europe, they would put Black Forest Academy on their agenda. I would sit on the front row and absorb all the teaching I could; I soaked it all in, and that was my seminary training.

So, I stayed there at Black Forest Academy (BFA) in Germany, even after my family returned to the U.S., and was there for nine years. Those years were the formative years of my spiritual life. In 1985, I was called to Eastern Europe, to Hungary. I never dreamed I would be going to, living in, let alone ministering, in a communist country, and for 23 years! That was an interesting thing, too, because I didn't know anything about Hungary! I didn't know anyone, the language, or the culture, but God opened the door so wide for me, calling me there, and I was there for a total of 25 years. I taught English as a second language, as a viable reason to be in the country on a visa. Then, after I had taught in Hungary in four years, Communism fell, and I stopped teaching and started travelling. You see, I had already been doing summer ministry work with a team I had formed, called "A New Song," named from Psalm 40:3, "He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD." And that was my prayer, my goal, my desire … that people would see Jesus in ME. That through that contact with me, they would see JESUS and to be empowered by Him, as I had been by those people around me during my first year at BFA. That music ministry team of young people became my life. I poured my life into theirs. I wanted to enrich their lives, and to allow them to use their God-given talents for the Lord. And they poured their lives into me.

So God put me in Hungary to take the Gospel there and A New Song went to 23 countries and 47 U.S. states. We did three tours a year, two in America and one in Europe, for 25 years. It kept me young, it kept me moving. During that time, I had more than 30 surgeries. I often would get up out of the hospital bed and go straight on tour. The Lord just gave me the strength to do that.

I am so thankful He did that for me. I'm so thankful for the memories I have, for the wonderful people God allowed me to meet, all over the world, and for the lives touched through A New Song. I know that one day we will meet in Heaven and be reunited and we won't have a language barrier. We'll be able to share our hearts and I'm so looking forward to that. I've been thinking so much about those precious people God allowed me to minister alongside and minister to. It was an experience I will always be grateful for. My life is so much richer, because of each of those souls I met along the way, while I had the privilege of being an ambassador for Jesus. I loved sharing Him wherever I went.

My life has unfolded in a way I would have never dreamed, growing up as a girl in East Tennessee. First of all, that I would ever leave the country, much less live away from America for 32 years. They were such wonderful years. The only reason I left was because physically I could not stay, because more surgeries lay ahead of me.

Now I am home. I have been a member of Woodland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga since June 1992, where I was active as long as I could be, singing in the choir, drama ministry, praying, greeting, women's ministry and served where I could and was needed. My brothers and sisters at Woodland Park supported me while a missionary in Europe and have cared for me each time I came home on tour or sabbatical, and ever since I retired in Chattanooga. They have supported me in every way possible – financially, spiritually, in prayer … giving me rides, visiting me and staying in shifts when hospitalized … moving me from home to home, being my hands and feet when physically I was not able. I love them so, and literally do not know what I would have done without them all these years. They are my earthly and heavenly family, adopting me as their own.

I came home after my time ministering in Eastern Europe for surgery. Since I was 23 years old, I have had 44 individual surgeries, most of which I had to be put to sleep for. So you might now say that I'm not healthy. I'm healthy as a horse … I just can't walk. That's been my problem all along … I've had three back surgeries, six knee surgeries, and the problem right now is that the muscles in my upper thighs just don't function. I work out and do my Physical Therapy exercises, I work so hard. Since 2016, I have been bedridden, following another cancer surgery. I had cancer the first time when I was 23 – uterine cancer -- and was celebrating 50 years of being cancer-free, then boom, I got the diagnosis of rectal cancer. That surgery, in Sept. of 2016, was five hours long, during which my legs were positioned in such a way that the blood supply to my legs and feet was cut off. I didn't know I had a vascular disease and the doctors didn't either. Going for five hours with no circulation in my legs really damaged me and now I have a condition called "drop foot syndrome," where I can't stand. Every time I try to stand, my foot turns inward, from the ankle to the toes and I can't support myself.

Through all of this – all these physical trials – I can truly say that God has been with me every moment, every step of the way. I don't know what I would have done without Him. Well, yes, I do. Without God, I would have committed suicide a long time ago. He knew what He was doing when He saved me. He knew what I was doing my entire life. I knew who He was and what He wanted from me, but I wouldn't listen and obey. I was stubborn. But once I surrendered my will to His Will, it has been such a sweet walk! And I wouldn't change a bit of it. Because I learned deep, deep life lessons … through every surgery, every circumstance. And I am thankful. I'm thankful that God continued to stay with me my entire life. And I won't be able to say "thank you" enough.

If you are hearing this, or reading this, it means I am already with Him! And this day, as I write this, I tell you that I can't wait. I am so excited to meet my Savior, and I cannot wait to spend eternity with Him … in a new, healthy body. I just can't imagine! I will never cease to give Him praise, as long as I can draw breath.