I am just beside myself about something. The LifeWay event team (in charge of all the Living Proof Lives, Going Beyonds, Abundance events, etc) thought up such fun ideas for the booklet that participants will get at the LPL Simulcast on September 15, 2012. One of them involves you. They want to hear testimonies from you about how you are living proof that God’s Word is alive and active and that His Son redeems. (This is not meant to have anything to do with me or with this ministry. It’s about YOUR own personal story with Jesus.) They are going to go through each one of them, find a great cross section of testimonies, select 5 stories and add them to the booklet for the whole simulcast community to read! And, that, Sister, will be a batch of women from all over the place.
Here’s what you do: In a comment to this post, write a 200-250 word testimony about how God has accomplished a work in you or through you that leaves no other viable explanation (in your eyes) than Himself. Use your words carefully and save them all for your testimony! You might consider doing it on a word document then cutting and pasting it into a comment so you can really think about what you want to say. Your participation through a comment will act as your automatic release for the publication of your testimony if yours is selected, SO, be sure, Sweet Thing, that you don’t say more than you mean to. You know your blog mama’s trying to protect you here.
Listen, these will be such a blast because, even if only 5 get to be selected for the booklet, just think how we are going to encourage one another and build up each other’s faith! NOT ONE STORY WILL BE WASTED. Thousands of eyes see these posts and comments. Girlfriend, T-E-S-T-I-F-Y! I will be sitting on pins and needles to watch these come in. Let’s call the deadline for your entries midnight on Thursday, April 26th.
The five who are selected will be contacted by LifeWay and will win the following:
- Free registration of the 2012 Living Proof Live simulcast for a small group of 7-14 of your friends!
- Free copy of Praying God’s Word
- Free James member book (I realize lots of you may already have one of these but I’ll get these five signed if you want.)
- A special section in the Living Proof Live simulcast listening guide including YOUR story, Girlfriend! (We’ll want your picture, too, if you’re willing to submit it to us. You’ll be contacted and asked for it if you are selected.)
One of the things we’re so excited about this year for our Living Proof Live Simulcast is that, for the very first time, small groups and INDIVIDUALS are able to participate. If it’s anything like previous years, women will be joining us from church buildings, military bases, and prisons, but this year for the FIRST TIME, also from living rooms and couches. You can watch all day in your jammies if you want to!
If this event sounds fun to you, go ahead and get that thing on the calendar: September 15, 2012. We are believing God to permeate walls, embattled minds, and rock-hard hearts and speak words of life, freedom, redemption, ministry. AND UNITY, for crying out loud.You game??
I love you guys so much. Can’t wait to hear from you!
From LifeWay:
If you would like more information about the simulcast or how you can be a host, visit www.lifeway.com/lplsimulcast.
Hitting my bottom, I was a divorced alcoholic. My 20 year marriage had disintegrated and I was numbing the pain, loneliness and feelings of failure with a bottle. Then God spoke a word to me that gave me the choice of life or death. I chose life! The next morning I went to church and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. That evening He gave me the courage to go to an AA meeting. Later, asking my Pastor what I should do next and he told me to pick one the Gospels, learn about Jesus then read through the others and on through the rest of the Bible. His Word nourished me and I feasted on it. Soon I noticed that He was transforming my mind. By His grace I was able to live by His Words. When I read that the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, I fell on my face in worship because God had been in the habit of answering my prayers and I realized He was calling me righteous. I don’t define myself by my past sins. I am not an alcoholic; I am a follower of Jesus Christ having His abundant life, joy and peace. He is faithful & true to His Word, every single one and I desperately need Him to be. By His grace, I was set free. No longer a slave to sin, though occasionally sinning and repenting, He enables me to walk blamelessly with Him for His glory!
Growing up as a young girl in the 50’s and 60’s, there was only one direction I wanted for my life which was to meet my “prince charming”, have a house full of children and live “happily every after.” Finally, it happened and after the birth of our second beautiful child, a home we owned, I was a stay-at-home Mom and I truly felt God had blessed us.I was raised in the church, but had fallen away from my faithfulness. My husband, also raised in a very strict and structured church environment did not feel the need to have to attend church faithfully in order to serve God. He is a very Godly man.
I was beginning to feel a real void in my life after the birth of my children. I had everything I ever dreamed of in my life, yet I felt, “Is this all there is?” I found a church home and began attending regularly with our toddler girls, joined a Bible Study and began to find a spiritual void start to be filled in my heart, my life. Church became an important part of our life as we found a new church home with each transfer we experienced through my husbands career.
It wasn’t until my oldest daughter introduced me to her Beth Moore Bible Study group (young mother’s) 10 years ago that my spiritual growth became real to me. I was very reluctant due to the age difference, but soon discovered, we are all truly Sisters in Christ. My eyes and my heart have been opened to the Holy Spirit and the Bible in a way I never knew existed. I had read the Bible all my life, but I found that through Beth there was so much I did not know, so many people I did know. I found a relationship with God that I only heard other people talk about.
In the past year, I have become the Women’s Bible Study Leader in our church and I am overwhelmed by the love, enthusiasm, and spirituality that these women hunger for. Your special gift from God for feeding “His sheep” is felt by each and everyone of us. We praise His Name and all of His blessings.
I’m single. Over the holidays I felt very alone. sitting on my kitchen floor crying out to God. “Where are you? You should be here with me!” It seemed that everyone was disappointing me, nobody cared. God used that time to work in me. I was tempted. God one. I learned that He was truely all I needed. God told me to speak the truth on some topics. He told me it would not be easy. My heart raced, my mouth opened and His words poured out. Everyone listened. Not everyone liked. Most got into the word, prayed. He brought a man at just the right time when I was doubting who said word for word what God told me! Speechless. And through this he has brought me two sisters in Christ who lift me up as I remain obedient to Christ, though some may not see yet. The joy of obedience and His working through me has brought me overwhelming Joy. I am living proof that he speaks to us!
I grew up going to church every time the church doors were open. I always had this on and off again relationship with Christ. When I hit my twenties things beganto spin out of control, I began cutting myself. It started out as a once in a while thing which quickly turned into an everyday many times a day thing. I did this for a few years. I began searching for answers and peace, at this time I started looking into different faiths, one that was totally out there. I got sucked in, things were different and I became very close to joining this faith. After I stepped away for a little while and began to listen to others around me warning me and spending lots of time in prayer I walked away from that faith and ran back to what I have believed all my life. I had some support from my Pastor and his wife and with their support and lots of prayer and Bible reading I was able to get past the cutting issue. Things started going well for a while and then I fell into a depression. I was seeking help but most of those I saw didn’t believe how depressed I really was and no one was listening to me. In the fall of last year I tried to kill myself but God spared my life. Today I am finding myself falling more in love with Him every day. Giving Him all the glory for letting me still be here!!!!
I left for college with two goals: to get a degree and a family. At 17, I was the product of a broken home and innately knew that I needed the family far more than the degree.
Classes and exams came, but the family did not. I was dateless on Friday nights, single each Saturday. After gaining unexplained weight, I found myself listening to a doctor explain that I had a condition that would make having biological children potentially impossible. I drove back to my dorm in silence, grieving a family that had never even had the chance to exist.
One day, I walked my broken self into a middle school near my college and asked to see the principal. I explained that I had a lot of free time and asked if she had any pre-teen girls needing mentoring. A week later, a few friends and I arrived to find 52 girls staring at the 16 slices of pizza we had bought with our laundry money.
Word spread quickly. Two more middle schools came next, followed by three high schools and some backtracking to add four elementary schools. Over the next six years, we served thousands of girls, with many coming to know Jesus while in our programs. I got my diploma, and even added on a master’s degree in family ministry before going on to foster three children as a single woman.
And today? September 15, the day you’re reading this?
Today is my wedding day.
chill bumps 🙂
Our sweet sister Debbie almost died Christmas eve. My boys are 10 & 13 & this Christmas was so hard on all of us b/c she almost died. The strength of our bible study group (the BBGs Beth’s Bible Girls), my sisters standing in the gap for Deb, she lived & is LIVING!!! Jesus is amazing!!! Another sister just had her divorced finalized, lost her job 10 months ago – our group consistently has so much on our hearts that hurt but we have survived & strengthened our bond for almost 4 years!!!! We love you Beth & hope you visit Charleston, WV very soon!!!
I was pregnant with our first son… The pregnancy turned high risk while my husband was deployed in Iraq. My husband was brought home by the grace of God and our precious Tyler lived for 3 weeks in the NICU before entering into eternity – I had just finished “Believing God” and Tyler heard that 5 statement pledge of faith spoken over him, my husband and myself during his days on earth. I never imagined applying those lessons to the death of a child. Less than a year later, after completing “Living Beyond Yourself” and a move across the country, we were blessed with our little Levi. Two years later, God blessed us with Aaron, who was born on the anniversary of Tyler’s entrance into eternity. I had the opportunity to share my testimony with the women of our church before we moved again. God opened my eyes to the truth of His covenant promises and I am a changed woman whose mission is now to speak God’s grace over the difficult situation of letting a child enter eternity ahead of his mother, a mother who remains here with a purpose directly from the Lord. To proclaim that God gives good gifts after my suffering is something I can do only because the blood of Jesus has cleansed me, the Father loves me and the Holy Spirit guides me into all truth. Oh what a Savior is my Jesus!
I had always had a home base foundation, however shaky it may have been, mostly invited by neighbors to go to church. Any change I had in my very young life churches were always a safe place. Where that came from I can only imagine from a security of seeing my mother read from the huge family concordance bible when times were hard like no food, no money. She was raising us alone in the projects, my alcoholic father had abandoned us. The low self esteem from poverty set me on a path of insecurity and false ambition. I gained worldly knowledge and by the age 21 lost both parents, I tried reading the bible visiting churches and no one ever noticing me I fled for 15 years. At age 35 I was about to be a bride to an amazing man. I wanted to be a different person a good person someone this man would never abandon. I am learning to accept who God says I am and how loved I am and abandonment isn’t on this Fathers agenda. I started reading the bible and memorizing scripture going to any and all bible studies. It is my continuous hunt for His truth for me. I have a constant knowledge that my enemy wants to steal my testimony. Today I am 45 days sober and happily married for the last 7 years. God opens the eyes of my heart everyday and is so precious to me.
I look back over how God has been so living and active in my life, and I ask myself “why did it take me so long to understand”? I’m certain there are many scratching their heads wondering who in the world I think I am (They knew who I USED to be)? I’m one of those people that just start. I was a little audacious-but in all innocence. I really love that saying “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called”. It’s about FINALLY listening to God and being willing to be transparent & authentic. I wish that I could tell you that I have been a solid, practicing Christian my entire life, but I can’t. I can tell you that it’s never too late and He never gives up. During the summer of 2010 my business of several years had finally hit a point where I knew it was time to evaluate my life, my business & my non-existent relationship with God. As a teenager, my mom and dad had gotten me into church, I was saved, I was baptized & I had a ministry in music. When I graduated, I went away to a private Christian college and unfortunately I took a long walk away from God. As a mother, I got back for awhile, but I kept losing my connection. God has taken my very ugly past and is now enabling me to connect & make a difference in the lives of women young & old.
I was adopted at birth into a family that already had 3 biological children of their own. I never understood why my biological parents gave me up and I felt like I never fit in. At a young age I was sexually molested.
I sought love from a boy who I gave my virginity to thinking that will make him love me and not want to leave me. I was wrong. More men came and left me.
I went to a Christian college hoping to find something, but what I found was a roommate who was a drug addict that later lit my dorm room on fire. I longed to find this man that others called Jesus, but I couldn’t find Him. I tried, but I didn’t know how to walk the perfect Christian life; little did I know that we never can.
I married a man as an escape and he became abusive. I left him and turned to another man where we lived in sexual sin. I got to the point where I said that God does not exist and I dealt with my own suicidal thoughts.
I was a feminist in every form of the word. I said I would never submit to some man, stay home and have babies and wipe snotty noses.
Then I met Jesus and he saved my life. I married a Godly man I don’t deserve and the Lord allowed me to birth 2 babies of my own. But then He took me through a refining process…. I became chronically ill for 10 long years and at the tail end of that trial my husband lost virtually all of his income for over 4 years. We lost our home not just once, but twice. (It’s a ridiculous story, but a God story nonetheless!) Later, we couldn’t even afford our rental payment and then we had to move in with friends.
Here’s the best part of the story: I write all this to say that God is A GREAT BIG GOD. He is in the business of making miracles. I like to say that is part of His job description!
Today, I am healthier than ever. We live on our own and the Lord is meeting our needs. I stay home and raise my kids in the Lord and now God has chosen me to be a vessel to pour into others, all so His name can be lifted up for all to see.
As I think about a mother’s love for her precious child, I can only imagine what it must have been like for my mother to have held me in her arms for the first time and what she must have been thinking. Counting those little fingers and toes to make sure I was alright and just to know the miracle that had taken place. I was in the hands of my nineteen year old mother who was amazing and it beyond my own comprehension how she could be so young, yet be so wise for her age. My dad was an enlisted man in the Air Force and I was born at the Bryan Air Force Base in Bryan, Texas on January 1, 1955. It would not be long that my travelling days would start.
Later, my dad was stationed at the base in Greenville, Mississippi where my sister, Donna was born. Then, my family moved to Ft. Walton Beach, Florida where I started first grade. Then, in 1961 we moved to Naha, Okinawa for the next four years. We especially enjoyed shopping with my mother. She took us to buy a komonia with Japanese shoes to match. Since my dad was a pilot he was gone quite often. My parents were both Christians, but they did not go to church very much. What I learned about God was from VBS at the chapel and from watching Billy Graham shows when we could get American programing on the tv. My mother also spent time teaching me and my sister some of the Bible stories.
After four years in Okinawa my family and I moved back to Florida, then we went back to Okinawa another two years.
Finally, we moved to Oklahoma and then my dad retired from the Air Force in Warner Robbins, Georgia. During those times, God began to speak to my heart. A pastor visited our home and still we did not go to church, but I told God I wanted to become a Christian and I just did not understand everything.
My parents were from Laurel, Mississippi and when my dad retired we returned to their home. We had no idea that our lives would be changed forever. My family started going to my mother’s home church. On March 1971, during a youth meeting at church, I decided to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I was 16 years old. Later, my parents re-dedicated their lives to the Lord and my sister, Donna was also saved. My teen-age years were filled with mixed emotions and decisions. A visiting preacher came to our church and he spoke about making Godly decisions for your life. This had a real impact on my life and I attended a Christian college after high school. Also, I read a book “Not My Will” and it made a difference on how I looked at life and what God wanted.
When my parents considered moving to Mississippi, it was with the thought of taking care of their own parents as they grew older. We had no idea my mother would need
our tender, loving care. She had several headaches along with sickness for several months, before finally going to the doctor. We found out she had a brain tumor, so she went to the hospital to have surgery. She came home and was progressing well.
Later, she begain to have the same kind of problems over again. She had another brain tumor and another surgery. She was told both tumors were begin. As she was recovering in the hospital, her hip began to hurt and she was diagnosed with bone cancer. I cannot tell you how the mental, physical and emotional toll affected all of us. It sometimes seems unreal. Through the process you learn, you pray and you hope. My dad was very gracious and tender toward my mother. We gathered around her bed and prayed with her with tears. She passed away in July 1977. Our lives were changed, but our faith was not.
My sister went to college and I stayed home with my dad for a while. At age 29 I joined the army and prayed for an office job. I ask God to please find me a husband and I would try my best to share Jesus with others. The Lord honored my prayer and I did share Jesus when I had a chance. I was sent to Germany where I met my Christian husband, Gordon. We married a year later. Then, we moved to Ft. Stewart, Georgia where we helped at a Servicemen Center. I finished my three years in the army there, then we returned to Germany where my twin boys Christopher and Jonathan were born. Over the years God has blessed us so very much. We have alot to be thankful for. My boys are Christians and attending college. My husband is retired from the army, but still working at a middle school. I work alot at church and we are truly blessed. Only God! Only God makes a difference in how we live our lives!
Girls, I have made some bad decisions in my life. These bad decisions have led to some unspeakable and shameful sin. Don’t get me wrong, I believed in God, but I surely wasn’t walking with Him. In fact, I was pretty much running full force in the opposite direction. But God slowly started pulling me back in His direction. And you know what? He loved me through everything. I have prayed to Him about my crazy past and I have asked for His forgiveness. For a long time, I was ashamed of my past. I knew that I was forgiven, but I didn’t want anyone to know about my days of raising cane. I especially didn’t want my new “church friends” to know what I had done. But you know God; He just won’t quit. God started putting hurting women in my path; women that were in the same place that I had once been in. I began to talk and pray with these women. God is using my messy past to minister to women. Now, instead of being ashamed of my past; I am honored that God chose me to go through it. My painful past is now helping other women in need. Sometimes your life story will have messy chapters in it. Everything is in His plans and in His hands.
Micah 7:8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
I am living proof. God can do anything. In the last two years He took me from being a stay-at-home-not-moving-anywhere-mom in California to being a missionary in Peru. ONLY by His grace. There is absolutely NO WAY I could have made it through this incredible transition in my own strength. I know because over and over I kept trying and failing, forgetting to rely on Him and trying to lean on my own understanding when things seemed so out of control and scary. Moving a family of 5 (including three kids under 11) overseas is no simple task – and it’s just plain impossible for an unorganized, time-challenged, slightly ADD, pack-rat girl like me.
I seriously wondered if I really had what it would take to be a missionary – to make it through culture shock and live far away from family for the first time. Was God sure about this? But God reminded me that He doesn’t speak through worry or fear and that while being a new missionary would indeed take everything, it would never take more. The Holy Spirit in me would ALWAYS be enough and I could count on Him to provide every single thing I would need. So here I am. 4 months in and still alive. Hallelujah!
“It’s not by my might. It’s not by my power.
But by Your Spirit, oh Lord Almighty.
It’s not by my strength. It’s not by my wisdom.
But by Your grace I stand.” (written by me in 2010)
I grew up the second middle child of a mother who did the best she could, but for a little girl who longed to be loved it wasn’t anywhere near enough. I’ve spent the majority of my life believing that I wasn’t loved but desperately seeking it. I turned to the world and spent years filling myself up with drugs, alcohol and other self destructive behaviors. They helped for a moment but left me emptier and more broken than I was before. After awhile I gave up; I began living my life to die. That was my only goal in life-to die. I hated God and and told Him that often. I felt He abandoned me so I refused Him. When I was trying to destroy my life, though, He was intervening trying to save it. Slowly, He began breaking my walls down and proving His love for me in many different ways. I was sent on a retreat a few years later and finally felt his love like never before. I was moved to my knees in worship and have been there ever since. Now, the girl who has spent her life trying to die is very much alive and going to school for ministry! I have a plan-“I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord!”
In Ohio, while it’s not uncommon to spot the scarlet-colored cardinal, recently, God used that bird in ways I never dreamed. As a lifelong Christ-follower now in my late 30s, it didn’t occur to me until more recently that my faith for many years really was more my parents’ faith than mine. Although I trusted what Jesus did for me on the cross, it was never personal. Eventually, I got married, had two precious babies, and soon encountered marriage obstacles — painful marriage circumstances. Because I didn’t yet own my faith, I married an unbeliever. The blinders about being unequally yoked came off after I married. Yet through the darkest hours of marriage, Jesus got hold of my heart. Three years ago, as our marriage hit its all-time low, my faith in Christ began to blossom for the first time since perhaps I made my faith profession as a 4-year-old to my mother. Shortly after, I prayed for Jesus to make Himself real to me during a super-low point in our marriage. I prayed a bold prayer, begging Him to show me a physical sign of His presence as a promise that He would care for us. “Lord, would you show me a cardinal – in a specific spot on a particular tree outside our front window, so that I know it’s from you?” Within a day, He answered with a bird landing in the exact location. Not just once, but for many days thereafter – without any birdseed bribes from me! The cardinal is a prominent presence in my life now, and I’ve had opportunity to share the story with others, which I believe is the reason God showed me the bird in the first place. God is amazingly good. And though my marriage is still not healed, I believe He will bring restoration, just as He brought me the gift of the songbird.
I have always struggled with wanting to be something for someone. Wanting to stand out in a crowd, someone to notice my light. I felt like the girl with my hand in the air, raised for someone to call on me. When my last strand of hope, hope I had placed in everything but Jesus, was gone, I saw that He was there waiting. Waiting, arms open wide, waiting for me. Time and countless time again my lover has rescued me. He’s save my soul, saved me from destruction and disaster. He has called me by name when I thought no one knew it, He called me again when I thought no one cared. He was there basking in glory, salvation, and grace, telling me that yes, he is still there. Over the span of 27 years, ups and downs, disaster and despair, love and loss he was holding me close. Just recently I’ve come to realize I am SOMETHING to someone! I am EVERYTHING to my King! And this light, well it is a-shining bright for my Savior, He has RANSOMED me!
I became a Christian when I was 23, but I continued to do things my way and after a miserable marriage, I asked God to “bless my mess”, had an affair with a married man from work, moved away with him, divorced #1, married #2, and started my life over again in a new town. Interestingly enough, God knows EXACTLY what it takes to get our attention . . . eventually my house burned down, my husband had a heart attack and died suddenly, and I became a widow — I then actually started to get serious about my relationship with Jesus . . . however I believed God had promised me that I would remarry so I started looking for “him”. Along came another heartache — but God’s patience and His healing power are more awesome than anything imaginable! I FINALLY learned that HE is the One I need to trust with my whole heart and He will take care of the rest! Around that time, I had been having conversations with the sound man at church (but I thought he was too young and not my type). . . and . . . yes, you guessed it . . . he was the one GOD had chosen for me as my husband and we were married in March of 2005. God knows us better than we know ourselves and HE knows what is best for us . . . after all, He made us! Bless you, Lord!
I spent the better part of three years and especially the last 6 months of my addiction drinking myself to an early grave. One was so good, I had two, two was so good, I had 10. Without fail, I had at least a fifth of vodka every day of my life – sometimes more. It was a contributing factor but not the only reason for my divorce.
Somewhere in my haze, a friend reached out to me to attend a divorce care support group. I attended but admitted it was a little too “churchy” for me.
On February 28th, I had a horrible accident. I attended the service that morning and I will say to this day that is one of the reasons I am here is because God knew I had it in me. I went on my merry way on the fast train to drunken haze that evening. After the wreck, I was told by the police they don’t know how I didn’t kill someone else, myself, or at the very least lose my left leg.
I continued going to church – something was stirring.
I left church on 3/14 ready to drink again. I got a pain in my leg. It bothered me all day. That night, I couldn’t move. My calf was 24 inches in circumference. (normally 15). Poison was building. I cried. I cried out to God that if He was talking to me, Please please show me something and I would never drink again.
My leg started pouring out poison. Staph poison. Poison that should have and easily could have killed me. March 14th was the LAST time I ever took a drop of alcohol into my body. I had no reactions, no withdrawal nothing. God healed me that night and I’ve been a changed woman since.
My mom was convinced it would take Jail or Hell to change me. It took something much bigger. I can not wait to see what else He has in store for me! Three years ago, I was a staggering drunk. Today, I am a small group leader in training and I teach the little ones at church every week. Ain’t God Good?
Though I was raised in a Christian home, it was dysfunctional. There were 12 children, a mom who struggled with anger and depression, and a father in the ministry. As the oldest, I never remember feeling accepted, understood or loved by my Mom. Her abuse ranged from emotional, verbal, and spiritual to sometimes physical. After I married and had children, I realized I was still angry, bitter and resentful towards my Mom and it was affecting my relationships with my husband and children. I felt that there was no way I would ever be able to forgive her. I began counseling that helped me to begin to deal with my issues with Mom. I was making progress, but I hadn’t gotten a breakthrough. One February Sunday morning after a powerful time of worship, my pastor began to read Isaiah 40. “Comfort, comfort, my people. Speak tenderly to her. Tell her that her warfare is ended. She can stand with her arms at her sides. Her iniquity is pardoned. She is forgiven.” In an instant, in an almost audible voice, I heard God say, “Your battle with anger and unforgiveness toward your Mom is over. You can stop fighting. You can rest. You won’t struggle with it anymore. It’s no longer an issue. Your sin is pardoned. You are forgiven. There is no more guilt and shame.” It was immediate and so gentle. ONLY GOD could have removed my unforgiveness and replaced it with His forgiveness. He alone does great wonders!
My friend Ann is LIVING PROOF that Jesus is ALIVE and ACTIVE!!! Two weeks ago, her son was hit by a car. Within seconds, Ann was giving him CPR and praying the BLOOD OF JESUS to cover and save him! As the paramedics took over, Ann took hold of her other two boys and not knowing whether her son would live on earth or go to live with Jesus, she told them clearly, “Boys, Jesus knew before our day even started that this would happen today. We TRUST HIM… we are going to be okay!” She jumped into the ambulance and prayed all the way to the hospital. On her son’s fourth morning without waking or being responsive, in Ann’s darkest moment, as she cried out to Jesus, a song popped into her head, “Though I walk through valleys low, I’ll fear no evil, By the waters still my soul, My heart will trust in You!” Jesus instantly gave her the PEACE and STRENGTH she needed to continue on. Every bit of Scripture that she has memorized through the years came flooding to her mind and carried her. No matter how dark it looked, Jesus kept her at PERFECT PEACE when she fixed her mind on Him! By the GRACE of God, her son woke up Easter morning! Jesus took the worst experience of her life and turned it into the most glorious Easter they have ever had!!!
Praise God for the opportunity to witness to the “Living Proof” He has worked in my life this year,in answer to 4 decades of crying out to Him for deliverance. “Wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:17-18) I so needed God’s wisdom in my life and years of being a yo-yo dieter left me nearly 40 pounds overweight and carrying a heavy burden of shame. I felt like such a hypocrite, teaching God’s Word to women, yet I myself could not get the victory from my emotional overeating habit! On Christmas Day 2011 breakthrough came. God spoke to my heart and I heard Him say loudly and clearly, “Satan’s power is broken!” I began to realize sugar and “whites” were my enemy and I was addicted, just as surely as an alcoholic is addicted to alcohol. My sister called me and divulged she had put a “hex” on me when we were just teenagers, that I would be fat and weigh at least 300 pounds all my life! We made peace after a lie that had separated us all our adult lives. My husband Carl wanted to lose weight too, so we decided we would adopt a new and healthy lifestyle together. It seemed we were standing at the base of a huge mountain to climb, and we needed to rise up above it all. A journey starts just one day at a time, but we were together, hand in hand on the climb.
I have reached the summit and now am flying above it all! I have lost 36 pounds and am at a normal weight range for my age and height. My husband is now down 30 pounds. Bigger than the deliverance from the weight is the deliverance from shame. I am no longer concerned about my weight as we have adopted a healthy new life-style which includes exercise and wholesome food. My weight has now stabilized with no more yo-yo. The key to maintaining a healthy weight has been to follow the LORD’S leadership and treat sugar just as if I was a “sugar-holic” since I simply cannot tolerate sugar. Another key is daily accountability and weigh-in. The shame came because of the power of denial in my life. No wonder I felt like such a hypocrite. A huge weight has been lifted off of me and it is far greater than the 36 pounds. I have the peace of God and am “Living Proof” that His Word is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword! Praise the name above every name, the name of the LORD Jesus Christ who is my deliverer!
I want to know my Heavenly Father more and more, to be shaped and molded into His perfect image, to travel through the valleys of life…in order that I may be used to touch the broken hearted with the JOY, FREEDOM and LOVE that He can only bring.
I shared with my husband early on my desire to adopt. I was unaware then of the depth of my longing. Every adoption story I crossed paths with was written on my heart. After the birth of our second son, my husband announced he didn’t want any more children. Over the next 5 years we both recognized we longed for one more, I through adoption, he biologically. It was painful for both of us that I didn’t conceive again. At one point he angrily yelled, “I don’t care what it is! Just get it fixed!” I knew where God was leading us, but my husband refused to accept it. The summer of 2009, after my nieces left from their annual visit something changed. He decided he was ready to adopt. Meanwhile, in China was a little girl who had lived in an orphanage for four years after being abandoned at the age of two. She was released for adoption the same month our interview process began. I saw her photo and God whispered, “there’s your daughter.” I prayed for this precious soul without ceasing. The adoption process was smooth; proof that God’s hand upon us. Once in China with my daughter she mourned each day. Mourned for the only thing she knew, an orphanage with bars on the windows. The moment she stepped into our home, she was filled with joy. She sang her little heart out and danced about everywhere! My daughter radiates God’s grace. She is Living Proof.
My 3 yr old son drowned in a swimming pool. God decided to miraculously save him. He is now 10. After this amazing miracle, I unfortunately turned into a crazed overprotective parent. I kept all 3 kids within 5 feet of me. I was completely over exhausted after living this way 24 hours straight for 3 days. I told my husband I needed counseling.
Within 1 hour a friend called me. She said “I was telling my sister about your son. My sister started crying, and told me she had a dream that a boy was drowning. She couldn’t shake the dream for 3 days, so she was praying daily for this drowning boy. That third day the heaviness left her and she stopped praying for this boy.” That was the same day God saved our son. She then told her sister, tell your friend these 3 things that God is pressing on my heart. First, there is NO GUILT or BLAME here! That is NOT what this is about! (Satan wants to rob God of any praise you will give him by getting just a small foothold of this miracle and turning it around.) Share God’s miracle, He will use it to help others. Last, read the little boy stories in the Bible where Jesus raised people from the dead. Tell him that Jesus did this for him too.
When I hung up the phone, God touched me! He healed me inside! The pain and anguish was GONE! I had JOY and PEACE that could only come from Him! He miraculously saved me too!
I fell into depression after breaking up with my first real romantic involvement. Time stopped for me. Everyone else was on a moving train, going forward through life, but I had stepped off. I always thought I was a good and happy person, but now I was broken. I started reading books about different religions, searching for a way to “fix” myself. One of my friends challenged me not just to study what others said about the Bible, but to study it myself.
But when I read the Bible, it frustrated me. I didn’t understand how Jesus could say if one of you hates his brother it is the same thing as murder. I had a degree from an Ivy League College but I couldn’t understand what this strange book was talking about! At one point I said out loud, “God, if you are the real God, the God of this Bible, you have to prove yourself to me.”
Then I started reading the book of Job, becoming even more frustrated as I read chapter after chapter of Job crying out for God to answer him. Why didn’t God explain what he was doing? But when He finally answered Job, He also answered me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.” (Job 38:4) With those words, I went from an angry intellectual to a humbled sinner. As I returned to Jesus’ words, they were now the words of a savior offering his love.
Phil 1:20 ~ I have a necklace I wear every day that’s inscribed: fearlessness. “My eager desire and hope is that I may never feel ashamed but that now as ever I may do honor to Christ in my own person by fearless courage.”
Jonah 2:8 ~ I struggle so with wanting to “be somebody.” Wanted. Successful. The world would judge my life circumstances and say that I’ve missed what I’ve been looking for all my life. Not at all. Even in the belly of a whale, I am a grasped person.
Jeremiah 32:40 ~ It is a Good God Who has graced and invaded me A-Z: my aloneness, betrayal, cancer, drugs … losing babies, rape, violence—and this Sovereign One has been “doing me good all the days of my life” even in tragedy.
Psalm 27:13 ~ I would have despaired when my husband lost his church position after 27 years of service because of lack of church growth unless I had believed I would see His Goodness. But life is no longer about how strong I am, how much I try, or replacing my thoughts with better ones. It’s about repenting from a life self-obsessed, “curved in on myself,” as Augustine once said.
Psalm 50:2 ~ All I know is this—I am alive in ways I’ve never imagined and more in love with Him than ever before. Detaching a little more every day from needing people and needing success in ministry. Attaching to a Beautiful God Whose Love I will never lose.
Growing up in church and attending most of my young adult years, when I was in my early 30’s, I allowed somebody to influence me away from God and everything that I knew to be true and right… for 20 years, I was away from God.
About four years ago, a medical problem sent me to a neurosurgeon who wanted to perform deep brain stimulation surgery, trying to correct what brought my life to a screeching halt. I could not begin to consider having that surgery without knowing my life was right with God! It was scarier than I could deal with! I finally called a dear friend – she had prayed for me over the years, never giving up on me, and I asked her to pray with me as I found my way back to God.
The relationship I have with Him now, I never dreamed was possible – for anybody! He is more real to me now than ever and I have a deep hunger for Him like never before! My life is not my own – but His. I am finally becoming the person I always wanted to be. Jesus took me back into His loving arms and showed me that no matter how deep that dark pit of depression was ( and it was deep!); and no matter how far away from Him I roamed (it was a long way!); He was right there, just waiting to be asked back into my life! Undeserved Mercy… Amazing Grace…
Girlfriends, I need to T-E-S-T-I-F-Y how God did His amazing work through me! It started with two months of prayer and it was settled. I was going to fly by myself to Galveston, Texas and pick up our niece once she was born. My sister-in-law was in prison. How was I going to orchestrate that? I had no plan, money, baby stuff, airplane ticket or place to stay. Then, the call on November 4th 2011 came. “She’s here!”. God’s plan began to unfolded right before me. I was on a last minute flight hours later for a fraction of the cost. A Sister in Texas had family, I never met, willing to pick me up at the Houston Hobby Airport at midnight, let me stay in their home, allow me to drive their van to the hospital and drive us back to the airport the next morning! Praise the Lord! I even sat in the wrong seat on the plane and was able to share the work God was doing in my life! When we arrived home my women’s Bible study (Jonah, life interrupted!) threw a baby shower during our last class and meet Jaycee.J People kept saying “I don’t know how you can do this”. My response was simple, I can’t but GOD CAN! He used me to reach out to my sister-in-law, my church family and be Living Proof that Gods plan ALWAYS is way beyond, our wildest imaginations. Mother and daughter reunited after 3months! Ladies, this is what FAITH CAN DO!
There’s so much more to this for another time I suppose.
Hi Beth. Your books have helped me A LOT. Here’s my story. What I want to share. All of it true, just not ALL inclusive–more struggles in there than I put in, tried to keep it down to size and all. Hope this helps someone know that that old sunday school thing: Jesus Loves you…that’s you know, really true! Thanks for YOUR work! –Tanya
Here goes
Hanging on in faith. Is that worthy to be called a testimony? Boldness that won’t give into bitterness. Is that worthy to be called a testimony?
Life’s been hard. Really really hard. It was hard before I ever did a single thing to make it easier or harder. My mom was a—well rumor has that she was a lot of things. My mom was a hurting and hurt soul who never (I’m guessing) found Jesus. She died when I was five. My daddy was—here’s bold without bitter—hurt and hurting others. I guess I’ll save the details. Trust me they won’t help you out any.
I’m 31. I’ve been on my own since I was 5. Oh okay fine the state wouldn’t have for it. Our government is really a messed up monster of an institution but it cared for me. But on my own emotionally…you betcha! Me and two little brothers who to this day think of me as mom in certain ways.
I met Jesus at awana when I was 9. Then I met Him again a year later in a church my Uncle and Aunt went to. Bless them they TRIED so hard to care for us. But it was too much. I was 15 when I found Jesus in a small Pentecostal church all by myself. And 16 when Jesus found me a home for real and good.
I was 18 and I left them all behind. Said I’d make my life. I’d be a doctor.
I was 20. I was hurting. I’d already run away. But I wasn’t strong. Hard maybe, or hardening I guess it’d be. But strong and hard are worlds apart. One little thing. Sexual. And down the toilet I went. And God and crap don’t mix.
Suicide didn’t work. Pot made me laugh and then left me sobbing. Sex I found I could get and get easily but I WANTED love and that was far more elusive. Life might have been back at church but I’d always thought of church as ‘thou shalt not.’ Cocaine numbed the pain. Emotional and physical (nobody but me knew how my stomach just knotted all the time and hurt). It made me feel so fun to be with. Bookworm nerdy me, fun to be with.
I was 24. I was pregnant. I’d been pregnant before. And aborted. Not this time. This time I would keep my baby. I had a degree. I had a job. I’d clean my life up. Her dad and I would work it out. I’d be a GOOD mom. Really a good mom. I’d love her. And, she’d love me. Well she wasn’t a she until after she was born but God knew it. Point was I had a baby. I had love inside of me!
And I was a good mom. I LOVED my baby. Oh the pictures! And she was beautiful! And I gloried in that time. I breastfed her. I made her meals and baby food from scratch. She wore beautiful doll like little clothes. I read to her. I rocked her.
Her dad and I broke up. And I went home for a weekend. The home Jesus gave me when I was 16. And I went to church again. Once. And once was what it took. Jesus met me there. Can’t remember the sermon. I remember the prayer and the date. April 16 2006. God, I’ve done this before. Got saved. It never worked. But if you’re real…really real and you’ll help me…well…
In that moment what was dead woke up. Church didn’t do that. Jesus did that.
And Cinderella lived happily thereafter. Oh okay, you all have life to deal with. Ain’t no Cinderella story! Jesus helped me though. Jesus let me cry. I ran (baby in stroller) and ran and cried and let my heart break. I did this for nearly 2 years every chance I got. And Jesus never condemned my angry little heart.
That knotted up pain in the gut from earlier. It got a diagnosis in 2008. Ulcerative Colitis. Again I’ll spare the details. But my life went down the toilet again. Literally. Only Jesus held it as it went this time. If I ate it about an hour later I crapped it and more. I got skeleton thin and not on purpose. I couldn’t function. My ENTIRE body was inflamed. Oh the pain!
My colon came out in 2011. The entire thing. I was 30. I wore a bag outside for a while. And now inside.
And that’s what God did that I couldn’t have done. He carried my life. He’s still carrying me. And trust me there is untold parts here. Sin that I thought was conquered when I trusted Jesus that nips at my heels. But here’s my bottom line. Jesus is working out the kinks. I know this. I look back and think HOW could I have made it through then? I couldn’t have. Grace carried me. Like grace carries you. Even if you don’t believe it the Grace of God carries us all. But to put your trust there and learn that He’s not gonna drop you when you trust him (Jesus). His is about redeeming your heart not polishing your face up so if one day your face gets dirty again (mine has and does) Jesus is right there holding your heart while you splash some fresh spirit water on your countenance and get up and go again by his strength.
From the bible–Joel 2:25
I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten–the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm–my great army that I sent among you.
(These are so, so encouraging to read!! Thanks to all you Siestas who took the time to share. I am so blessed to read how busy God has been in all our lives!)
My every breath is living proof. At about 22 weeks gestation, my mom’s red blood count fell and her kidney function dropped to 3%. The doctor wanted to take me to save her life, but my parents trusted God and prayed. The next test showed her blood count was almost normal. Miraculously, she carried me to term. God sustained my life again at four when I had major surgery. My heart actually stopped awhile, but He started it beating again.
I tell those stories in order to tell you another one. I was sexually abused as a child. For years, I told no one, silenced by shame. I asked Jesus in my heart at nine, but was too ashamed even to pray about what happened. I hated my body. To punish it, I started cutting myself in middle school. I became addicted to the “high” that followed. It was my way of escaping the depression that consumed me. I felt the only way my heart could stop hurting was if it stopped beating. I don’t know how often I begged to die, but God always said no. He wouldn’t let me forget those earlier stories and whispered Jer. 29:11 to my heart saying, “I saved you for a purpose.”
God has brought me healing, delivered me. I haven’t cut myself since 1999. How I rejoice in telling His story! Yes, Jesus loves me – the Bible tells me so. I wouldn’t be alive without Him. My every breath is living proof.
Organized? Check! List of to-do’s and don’t-do’s? Check! Fear of dying and not going to heaven? Check! This is what growing up in a legalistic setting can do to you. It also can lead to deep rebellion in later years, like it did for me. Because I couldn’t live up to the standard that was set in our church, I gave up and decided to live it up! See, you can lock Jesus in a box in the back of your mind and ignore Him, but He’s always knocking-gently- to let Him out.
After years of promiscuity (and all the consequences that go with it), drinking, and living an empty lifestyle, I finally grew impatient with that knock and opened the box (out of desperation). I began to read the Word with fresh lenses and a new outlook. I found NO evidence of legalism in the Gospel message! I became obsessed with the Word and was eventually set free from the bondage of my youth! I now have a testimony- a platform- by which I can proclaim that God’s Word is living and active! If you get into it, ask Him to reveal it to you, and pray about it with fervor, you’ll never be the same! I’m not! Praise God!
I was blessed to be raised in a Christian home and saved at a young age. When I finished school I was eager to get started in the business world. I was blessed with a career I loved a wonderful husband and two great kids. I was serving my 2nd term on the local school board and life was sweet.
I began to pray and ask god to slow my life down and allow me to use the gifts He has blessed me with for Him. I developed a chronic illness that turned my life upside down. My entire nervous system doesn’t communicate with my brain. My major organs go crazy at times and the pain I deal with is like being hit by a Mack Truck. My skin is sensitive to touch everything that touches me causes pain. Where clothing thouches my skin it stings like a 3rd degree burn.
For five years I was miserable and thought about suicide but the Holy Spirit stopped me. I heard Him say this is not the plan I have for you. At that moment I realized He had answered my prayer to slow my life down.
Now I live life full out for the one true God. By being sensitive to the Holy Spirit I have found the right doctors to help me manage my health as I use my life to work for the glory of the kingdom. See now I use my time and talents as His hands and feet.
Debra says:
On April 30th after 4 years of beginning separated and after 12 years of marriage, my marriage will be legally over. The past 4 years have been brutal but yet now I can say there were times that were most precious to me.
My husband and I had just moved to a new city a couple of years before he decided to leave, so we had made no real connection at a church and had no christian friends.
At the very beginning of being separated I cried out to God to bring friends to me that would walk with me through this journey. But the Lord never did answer my prayers. So it was just the Lord and I walking through this painful together. I now know that when I cried everyday for three years, he was there right beside, when I couldn’t drive myself to work, he drove me, when I screamed “why” he whispered truths to me. There were times I didn’t think I could on, and I was able to do is say “Jesus I belong to you”!
Now as I move into a new part of grieving I know how much my saviour loves me. he is stil going to be with me and help me heal! Being separated,and now being no longer married feels so different It feels like a death.
Everyday I get to choose who am I going to follow Jesus,or the world. Even though I don’t understand everything why he didn’t answer my prayers for healing for my marriage, friends. I still am going to choose Jesus.
The Lord gives and he takes away, Blessed be the name of the Lord!
I am 42 years old now and have been saved for about 4 1/2 years. For 38 years I wandered the desert, entertaining the devil and his cohorts in all of their maniacal ways. I used to call myself an ‘abusement park’ because I was only content when I was allowing other people to hurt me or when I was hurting myself. I believed so many of the lies, that I thought self-mutilation was ‘normal’.
Then Jesus found me….and saved me. He saved me from what others had done to me – from what I was allowing others to do to me – He saved me from what I was doing to myself. He literally/figuratively saved my life.
The story I have to tell does not have a pretty beginning, but oh does it have a Glorious ending. He has taken my broken and shredded heart, and sown His Word tenderly into each offense and each act of self-victimization. He has replaced all the lies with His Truth and He has given me not only Life, but Life to the full.
I no longer dance with the devil and entertain his cohorts…..I wear a Crown and dance with the King of Kings. I sit at the table of the Most High and commune with the Son of God.
My past is no longer an embarrassment and something to be ashamed of. It is now a rich testimony of Mercy and Grace and my future is now full of Hope. All because He found me…..
In Junior High I was awkward and painfully shy. I would walk down the hall of school with my head down – if someone spoke to me, I MIGHT have enough courage to raise my head and respond, but probably not. My Sunday School teacher impressed upon me how important it was to read your Bible everyday. I didn’t know she meant read SOMETHING DIFFERENT every day! I read the same verses everyday before school – Romans 12:1-2 (“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind…) and all of I Corinthians chapter 13 (“Love is very patient and kind…”).
Gradually as those Words began to permeate my mind, I began to ask God to teach me how to love like that. Now for me, my shyness was not true shyness but self-centeredness. I was more concerned about how others perceived me than about caring about THEM. When God began to teach me how to love – I changed. AND I KNOW I changed because in 9th grade, the wild and crazy boy who always sat in front of me (alphabetical order), turned around to me and said, “WHAT IN THE WORLD has happened to you? You used to be this shy little thing that never said a word and NOW YOU … WILL … NOT … SHUT … UP!?”
Praise God – His Word changes lives – even in Junior High. Now, over 40 years later those verses are burned into my mind and heart and He often whispers to me, “Just love, just love”.
Sandy,
Your story has me laughing. I was really shy in school too and never dreamed I would teach Sunday School or teach Women’s Bible studies. It is so funny how God changes our lives.
I remember writing “I will not talk” a hundred times, but I never said a word, the people next to me were the ones doing the talking. I was too afraid to talk.
Enjoyed reading your post.
Sorry for the grammer issues. In the first sentence it should be ….being instead of beginning. <:(
If you would have asked me one year ago today if I would have wanted to be living proof of the power of our savior I would have never believed that it could ever be true about me. I didn’t want life and I sure didn’t want a savior. But He sure did want me. I fought hard for ten years trying to convince myself that I was unworthy of His love and the love of anyone and everyone else around me. I could twist any situation into proof of God’s hatred and rejection of me. I found myself at the end of my rope. For ten years I’d been held in bondage by an eating disorder which was taking it’s final toll physically and emotionally. I was driving home one night last year and I finally made my decision. I’d been praying for years that God would take my life, just let me never wake up. My death would mean freedom from all the pain, and if he wasn’t going to give it to me then I would get it for myself. As I sat hopeless and alone waiting to get the courage to go through with it, He began speaking to me. His words imprinted on my mind. No one would ever be enough to save me from myself…no one except for HIM. He did save me that night along with many others so that I could stand today as living proof of His love and mercy.
Forever grateful,
Katie
I was at the library after work and I felt the need to go home for no reason- no husband or child. When I got home the scanner was on. If I had waited I would have been in an accident. The trees fell about 5 minutes after I passed down the road.That was my Go. Later I had a definite No in a seemingly simple situation.I had had my share of problems but I have been blessed many times. Many I did not know about til I looked back over my shoulder.
I was raised in a Bible believing church, was saved at an early age, and walked a pretty straight line all the way through my high school years. But after 2 divorces by the age of 22, I felt like God had abandoned me. I had always tried to “live right” so why was I going through all this heartache? I gave up. I got into partying, drinking heavily, and with extreme depression, was spiraling toward suicide. Out of rebellion, at 25 I married a guy who knew NOTHING about God, and had never been in church. Oddly he was saved soon after we got married, and I finally came back to God. We were in church, and God gave us a beautiful family. I still felt that I had disappointed God so badly that He could NEVER have any use for me. I was damaged goods, worthless, broken. But He had other plans. Fast forward 14 years. I began to feel that God had placed a call on my life, but wasn’t sure WHAT that was, or if it was even possible. Some ladies from our church went to a Women’s conference, with about 600 other women. The speaker was very anointed. I had never seen her before in my life, but at the end of her sermon, she singled me out of the crowd, and asked if she could pray for me. Scared to death, I agreed. She prayed, and God gave her a word for me straight from His heart. How COULD she know my exact thoughts? She didn’t, God did! He confirmed His call on me, and I left that conference on cloud nine! In the next year, God began to show me, what He wanted me to do. He was calling me to be a Women’s Minister. I didn’t tell ANYONE. I just prayed that God would open a door, if it was His will. Two weeks later, my pastor asked me to be the Women’s minister at our church. God has done AMAZING things in and through me, in the women in our church, and complete strangers, and we’ve only just begun. I’m LIVING PROOF that God can use ANYONE, no matter how bad we have failed, as long as we turn from our sin, and put our lives in His hands! Blessings Ladies!
I used to ride the approval rollercoaster. When others praised and complimented me, my children, or my ministry, I soared. However, when people were critical of anything from my haircut to my husband, I spiraled downward into defeat and shame. Over the last year, through a gradual process of naming this issue, getting at the root of its pull on my heart, and devouring God’s Word, God has freed me from my approval addiction. I now can say with the apostle Paul, “If I were still trying to please men (or women) I would not be a servant of God.” By looking for approval in the eyes of Jesus alone, He has blessed and freed my relationships with others. When criticism comes my way from a source I respect, I can now say with the Psalmist, “Let the godly strike me, it will be a kindness.” When those who sit on the sidelines of life doling out judgment and unkind words because they are unhappy, I ask God to give me discernment and fight through the power of the Holy Spirit to keep my focus on Christ. Though I must continually surrender this area of my life to Christ, today I am free to truly love those around me no matter if they throw me flowers or stones. I am living proof.
Love this – I’m in this struggle still.
I’ll be printing this out and taping it somewhere to read often…
Thank you!
Growing up, we moved around a lot. I went to four different schools in four different states during my primary years. For a shy girl who had difficulty meeting new people, this was damaging, altering. With each move I tried to “start over” – this time I can make it work, I will have more friends, people will like me, I won’t just be the “new girl”. So, with each move, I tried out a new version of me – whatever mask fit the situation – the class clown, the soccer player, the smart girl. I could have been my own cast of the “Breakfast Club” with the roles I played. I buried Sarah under these masks, and I lost who I was. This led to poor choices in friendships, dating, in just about everything, because I didn’t care much for who I had become and would do anything for people to like me. These masks worked, so I continued using them through college and even into my adult years. What did the situation call for? The party girl? I can play that role. And in adulthood, how about the perfect hostess? The social coordinator? It was all very exhausting and confusing. Who is this person under all the masks? But, then I became a mom, went through some rough patches, and found that God was with me all along, waiting for me to settle in to His plan for my life. To define myself not by what others wanted/expected of me, but by Him alone, Christ in me.
And we, who with unveiled faces, all reveal the Lords’ glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18
I don’t need any more masks. I’m unveiled, being transformed into His likeness. I’m living proof.
I am 35 years old and in 2010 I was diagnosed with colon cancer. The day of my colonoscopy they knew what they had found and removed what they could. I was at an emotional and physical low laying in my bed recovering when all of a sudden I remembered that my parents had missionary friends that layed hands on people. I was a Christian but had never experienced or seen laying on of hands before but I knew I needed Jesus to save my life. So I asked my parents to call them and they came right over and ministered James 5:14-15 to me, anointing me with oil in the name of Jesus and praying for my healing. The next day I spent claiming my healing and that I was cancer-free in the name of Jesus. That night, in the middle of the night, I felt a warm tingly sensation go from my toes to my head, down to my toes, and up to my head again. It was Jesus healing me! It was done! The biopsies of what they had removed from me came back cancer and a lot of scary stuff was said by the doctor. I kept standing on faith that Jesus had healed me according to James 5:14-15. I went to Mayo Clinic 2 weeks later and they could not find any cancer left! Jesus saved my life. Praise Jesus! I had the colostomy surgery they recommended so that it would never come back but I know that Jesus is my Healer and He is the reason it will never come back. I stand on Isaiah 53:5 that says we are healed by His stripes. Thank you, Jesus, for abundant life now and forever (John 10:10)!
I have known since I was a tiny child that God has had His hand on my life. I had polio before I was two and being 95% paralyzed I should have died. Instead, God answered prayer and saved my life. I have had to rely on Him in ways that others wouldn’t think of. Trying to walk in a strong wind, I would ask Him to keep me on my feet. If I fell, I could ask Him to send someone to help and He was always faithful. I prayed for complete healing, but realized that God has His own purpose for my life being what it is. Now that I’m in a wheelchair, He sends people to me so that I can give Him the glory for what I am able to accomplish through Him. God has given me a life full of adventure and promise rather than one of despair and self pity. I am living proof of what God can do if we wiil let Him take control. I will forever praise Him!
Unity…a word that resonates with me, Beth, because of how it relates to my testimony of God’s grace. Several years ago I was going through a dry season of soul, searching for another church to attend. Even though disappointed and discouraged, God began to stir within me the need for Christian fellowship and not to give up—I started calling ladies, asking them if they would like to do one of your Bible studies with me on Saturday mornings. Before I knew it, God had assembled a small group who had agreed! From this time of famine in my life God birthed a group who come together in January over the last few years!! One of the beautiful aspects of this group is the diversity …the majority of us are Baptist but there always seems to be no less than 5 different churches represented! I’ve often asked the Lord, why are You pleased to do this (and through me especially)? April of last year as we met for lunch after the final session of the Tabernacle study, I believe God answered…He seemed to speak into my heart the word, “retreat.” What perfect sense—a time of refreshing from the Lord!! He has also fulfilled a sense of purpose for me as I lead the group I cannot explain apart from God. As for unity…we just finished the Daniel study and each week Beth invited a group up on stage. Before watching one of the sessions someone said, if Beth invited us to join her what would our group be called? Then I heard a voice say, Unity! I just smiled in awestruck wonder of the mysterious ways of our marvelous God!!
I was only 23 years old (and a newlywed of 6 months to boot!) when I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. To say I was blindsided would be to minimize a tsunami to a faucet leak. “But, Lord!” I cried out to Him, “I’ve followed You all my life! How could You let this happen to me?”
Throughout the journey of chemotherapy, hair loss, nausea, blood transfusions, and more lows than a New England weather report, I saw a miracle. Was I immediately healed of cancer? No. Was I set free from the hardships of chemo miraculously before my time? Well, no.
So what kind of miracle is this?
I have come to appreciate something called a miracle of grace. God CAN and DOES heal people instantly to where they will never have to suffer even one drop of chemo being infused into their veins. Sadly, a lot of these people praise God for their “near miss” and then forget what a miracle they’ve been given an embarrassingly short time later.
When God gives you a miracle like He gave me, however, you are forced to grasp so tightly to the nail-scarred hands of Christ, that you can never again deny His power and existence once the storm subsides. He quite literally carried me. It wasn’t until I was in a place that necessitated being carried, though, that I realized just what a gracious, loving, and miraculous act that is.
Like the song says, “Sometimes He calms the storm, and other times He calms His child.” I’d like to suggest that the greater miracle is allowing Him to calm the child. For me, it showed me that He is truly present in my weakness. That He can be my strength when my body lay weak and ineffective in a hospital bed. He held me close to His side, and showed me His goodness and loving, paternal nature.
THAT is what I call a miracle. Today, I stand in awe of my God, the one Who carried me when I was unable to even stand on my own two, shaky feet. His strength HAD to be my strength, because I had none of my own to give. He is EVERYTHING.
LOVE THIS!!!
Love your story of your “Miracle”!
God’s Word is alive and active, because I see evidence of His (to quote the children’s Bible my sons’ love) never-giving up, never stopping, always and forever love. I have looked hard for the Lord and trusted in the reality of his saving presence in my life as long as I can remember. Time and time again, I have brought to mind my Ebenezers and how far the Lord has helped me.
And, yet. Oh, the “and, yet”! When I was a little girl, I would hear the Old Testament stories, and always think: But why didn’t they believe God? Why didn’t they just do what He said? Ten-year-old-me always thought: I would have just done what He said. !!! Oh, it’s not that I’ve done the “bad things”, but that I’ve neglected to do anything at all. The weeds are growing in the garden, and my own indifference to the good is giving space for the joy-robber.
Here I am a grown woman with three of my own little ones wondering – how is it that I am in this place again? This place where I’ve forgotten that His ways give life. Where I have lived as though what I do doesn’t matter – as though obeying and believing God is just about a list of “don’t do’s” rather than the path to joy and peace – as though I can truly live on the empty calories of my spiritual cravings rather than the nourishment of Living Water and the Bread of Life. When my choices have led to anxiety and depression and obsession, His voice gently calls me into a broad place. My testimony is that Jesus’ redeeming work is ongoing, and, praise the glory of His grace, He will not leave me to my own devices. In the same way that I can look back and remember His saving work in the past, I trust Him now in the present darkness, crying out: Save me, Lord Jesus!
In 2002, I was diagnosed with panic disorder. By 2003, I had had 33 panic attacks. I had lost my job and was afraid to leave my home. I fell into severe depression. Being medication-sensitive, I couldn’t tolerate anti-depressants. Counseling didn’t help–my negative thinking patterns were ingrained. One morning I woke up and could barely breathe. An invisible heaviness pressed against my chest. I struggled to sit up. Familiar blackness engulfed me. Placing my head in my hands, I said out loud, “No hope. No hope.“ Then I thought about my husband’s pistol near the bed. I felt if I held the pistol in my hand, everything would be all right. As I struggled to remember the combination to the gun safe, a tiny bright star appeared in the blackness of my mind. It captured my attention, and then the words “I am the light of the world” came to me. I struggled to understand. I wondered what they had to do with the combination to the gun safe. Then realization swept over me. Jesus! I’d forgotten about Jesus! So I cried out, “Jesus, save me!” and fell back against my pillow, exhausted. When I opened my eyes again, the weight pressing on my chest was gone. The black pit in my mind was gone. I began living day-by-day leaning on Jesus and feeding on His Word. My thinking patterns changed. I learned that I am loved by God, I am never alone, and I live because Jesus lives.
I don’t usually participate in the Christian community (I lurk) but I couldn’t resist responding to this. Here’s my testimony:
When I was a child I was sexually abused, by a group of people who were practising satanism and producing child pornography. I clung tight to the Lord, who I knew intimately, but eventually it was too much. The final event of the abuse broke me. For the first time in my life I looked up and he wasn’t there. My ties to him were finally severed. The enemy had crushed me into the ground, like powder under his heel. I was destroyed. I was devastated. I was *done*.
Or so I believed.
Our Jesus, our precious, precious Jesus, spent thirty years pursuing me. Like a wounded animal in a dark cave, I fought him with everything I had. I had loved him with my whole self and he had let them destroy me – my heart was broken, shattered. I was filled with rage, and terror – oh, the terror.
He spent years gently calling me, loving me, caring for me, watching over my life, coaxing me back to him with the utmost tenderness. He never stopped; he never quit. One day he said to me, ‘the Resurrection power is for right now.’ I had no idea what that meant. Praise God, now I do.
Because of Jesus, I’m alive, I’m sane, and I have a profound understanding of who he is. He’s my Saviour, my Healer, my Master and my King. But more than that…
He’s the love of my life.
I’m living proof that God is Jehovah Rapha. He is my healer. “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and HEALS ALL YOUR DISEASES, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Psalm 103:2-5).”
I’m living proof that God heals. His hand touched my body and healed me from 10 years of pain and medication. I suffered from seizures, migraines, TMJ, acid reflux, neck pain, and restless leg. The list was pretty long and the medication list even longer.
Many days I was happy to just survive. I found strength in these words, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). It was by the grace of God I survived 10 years of pain. His power truly became perfect in my weakness.
Three years ago, God set me on a path of healing. He has made it possible for me to come off of every medication. He has enabled me to work on my health naturally through chiropractic care, acupuncture, herbs, and healthy living. I’m living proof that God’s Word is true.
God has given me a new lease on life and I’m loving every minute. I’m free from medication, free from pain, and free to serve the Lord.
I’m living proof that freedom is found in God alone!