Carol Neelands is available for guest appearances on podcasts, or talks at seniors clubs, church groups or Christian Schools.
Hugh and Carol Neelands
Interview starts at 4:30
Carol Neelands Extended Bio
Carol has been a pastor's wife, and has traveled in evangelistic ministry with her husband, singing with her daughters. She has also been a missionary to northern Canada, teaching school there and becoming the principal in a community you could get to only via plane or treacherous ice roads.
The path her life took to reach that place where God could use her followed an even rougher course. Carol accepted the Lord at her mother's knee at the age of four, and always tried to serve him, but she still had a lot to learn about her own insufficiencies. It was only after being married to a man with a very different background and temperament from her own that she began learning the uncomfortable truth of the Biblical concept of iron sharpening iron, and even longer for the process to begin showing positive results.
Finally, by the time her husband, Bruce, was ready to answer a call of God on his life, so was Carol. God had allowed them to reach the place where everything they had striven for fell apart. They were broke and they were broken, but they were ready. God began doing miracle after miracle in their lives as they placed themselves totally in His care.
A few years before, while Carol was taking an English course, she had begun writing her mother's story. It had started with a short assignment in class that had captured the teacher's interest. The encouragement from her teacher, and the creative juices that started flowing, spurred her on, but then another interest began to consume her focus.
She had just taken up oil painting when she sold her first painting for $1000. Before long her book, “Susie's Story,” had been set aside. Painting was all Carol could think about. Her husband was proud of her work, and began making plans for an art focused business. The problem was, the Lord had other plans for their lives.
He was telling them it was time to go into ministry, but they were not ready yet. Instead, they went ahead with plans for their new business. Carol no longer thought much about her book. She had become too busy with other art related writing projects. She wrote weekly articles in one magazine, monthly articles in another, and did a regular art segment for a local TV station. It was all done to promote Carol, the artist.
Finally after a year of a very obvious lack of God’s blessing on their endeavors, with debts piling up all around them, and their emotional health failing, the Lord asked one more time, "Are you ready now?"
They were ready. The season that followed was a time of miracles, and the world of business, the arts, and especially self promotion was left behind. Bruce wound up pastoring a little church in Chatham, Ontario, where Carol and her daughters would sing every Sunday. Later they traveled the country in evangelistic ministry, and finally started working with a Christian School on a reserve in Northern Manitoba.
Now, Carol wanted nothing more to do with promoting herself, so when the Lord started reminding her of her book, "Susie's Story," she was hesitant, fearing she would fall into the same trap of wanting to make a name for herself. She talked to her husband about it, and he showed her the difference, encouraging her and saying, "Your art didn't have much potential for leading souls to the Lord, but your book does." She talked to the Lord and He showed her through scripture that it was her duty to pass on to the next generation, what He had done in the past.
“Susie’s Story and the sequels that followed, went over well, both with adults and also to the Christian School market. Her husband’s words turned out to be true. They began seeing and hearing of spiritual results in both adults and students. But as time went on, the first printing ran low, and other events began to consume more of Carol’s attention.
Her husband became very sick and liver cancer was suspected. He was diagnosed with endocarditis which was destroying his heart valve, so they cut him open and replaced the valve, but the brain was already losing ground. His cognitive function was 11 out of 30, and they couldn’t bring it back. They sent him home to die, but God had already told him that “as I extended Hezekiah’s days, so will I extend your years.”
Carol wouldn’t accept the doctor’s advice to give up on her husband, and instead one night she began begging God for wisdom to know how to help him. The next day, she “happened” to see a video on coconut oil and wondered if this could be the Lord giving her advise. Hezekiah had been told to use a lump of figs; was God directing her to give Bruce coconut oil? She spread some coconut oil on a piece of bread and fed it to her helpless husband. Three hours later he started talking to her in sentences, something he had not been able to do. Three months later, about the time they had thought he would be dead, Bruce was completely well. Eventually, after three years of doing everything he could to make sure his wife would be taken care of, the liver cancer came back. (but not the dementia) Within a couple of months it had taken him home.
Three years later, through a God-directed set of circumstances, Carol met a widower, Hugh Neelands. After a two month courtship, in which her books played a unique role, they were married. Hugh encouraged her to keep writing, and in 2021 she published her biography, “The Path He Chose for Me.” Then in 2023 after many winter evenings of Hugh sharing memories from his childhood and beyond, she published the Hugh Neelands Story.
As the world around them began taking on a totally different look, it reminded Carol of the books she had written about her mother's life in Russia. There were similarities she couldn’t ignore. She realized the importance of getting those books out to a new set of readers. They needed to hear first hand what an anti-God revolution would look like. This has led her to republish her Russian Mennonite Trilogy: Susie’s Story, Susie’s Journey, and Susie’s Calling.
Interview or Podcast Suggested Questions available on request
Possible Podcast or Speaking Engagement Topics
*Life for the Mennonites in Russia during the communist take over
*Living conditions on a Reserve in Northern Canada beyond where the roads go
*Your never too old to be used by God
*Hearing God’s voice.
*Dealing with mental health
*Miracles in the little things in life, or even the huge miracle of the complete healing of late stage dementia in her late husband, Bruce Flett.
*The way God orchestrated the most amazing and ironic love story, using her previous failure, giving her a chance to take the test again, and then the beautiful unexpected prize for passing the test.
Contact Carol
at
519 794 3057
hugh.carol.neelands@gmail.com
Carol Neelands high definition image
