Testimonies
Posted 6-14-08:
In 2000 my health went haywire. I wilted and became very frightened and discouraged by the deterioration of my once healthy body. It wasn’t until around 2003 that doctors were able to give me a firm diagnosis. Auto immune disease… specifically Rheumatoid Arthritis. You could say it was then that I felt as if I was dangling at the end of my rope. I was spending most of my days in bed, unable to do much, depressed and fearful that my life would turn out like my mother’s (She was very ill all of my life and died when I was 29… she had auto immune disease… Multiple Sclerosis.)
A friend saw how lost I was and invited me to her church. I was attending my church… but I guess it was pretty obvious that my faith was not working and my spirit wasn’t being fed. It was a new experience for me as I had never been to a church that really believed ALL of God’s promises. Up until that point, I had been taught that many things in the Bible weren’t relevant for today. I was moved that day to place my whole life in the hands of God. I was anointed with oil that very day (which believe me, I thought was weird but was willing to obey the promptings of the Spirit!)… and began the journey of a lifetime…
As I placed my WHOLE life in the hands of God, that very week He delivered me into the care of a new doctor that changed the course of my life. That doctor talked to me about faith and not just medical options. I was moved to read the Bible. I got better and better with the passing months and as gratitude began to fill my heart, I also began to mourn for all I had done throughout my life that was displeasing to God. (Until I read through the Bible… I hadn’t even realized how I had displeased him so!!!)
I repented deeply, renewed my faith, was baptized by full immersion so that I was truly born again with no traces of sin and inequity from my past. I then searched my heart and soul asking God to reveal to me any area of my life that displeased him. What he revealed to me was so painful I rebelled in my heart… but obeyed with my actions. It took years of good teaching, inspirational authors, moving sermons and another read through the Bible… and then… last fall… a strangers voice on the end of the phone finally propelled me to embrace my deliverance.
As a side note, last fall, the very same week I began deep and purposeful prayer to embrace ALL of God’s promises of healing over my body, I began sending out these prayers over our children. I felt so selfish spending so much time praying over myself… I decided to spend even more time praying over my family… and ALL of God’s children.
I no longer have Rheumatoid Arthritis. God’s healing has manifested in my body. I haven’t taken one drug to treat the disease in almost a year (I was taking 6 hour chemo infusions every 4-6 months to suppress the disease) Today… the disease is simply gone… my doctor can’t explain it… but I can!!!
I love each of you dearly and am here for you. If there is anything I can do to encourage you along your journey, please reach out to me. I have compiled an incredible list of books and teachings I would be happy to recommend… and of course would love to take you to my church www.summitsa.com for a real shot in the arm if you are in need of worship that will fill you with His Spirit!
If you have trouble reading your bible daily, feel your prayers are being blocked by the enemy, or just need guidance in learning how to walk more closely with God… send me an email or call me today… I have just what you need!!!
Joyfully and with love,
Lori
P.S. I have received more phone calls and emails than I can count telling of the awesome changes in your lives since we began praying together… or the result of fervent prayers of your own over areas of your lives and those you love… please consider sharing your miracles (large or small) with us by leaving a comment on this page… we ALL need encouragement… and your stories WILL change lives… we just need to SHARE!!!
amazing testimony to the power of prayer and God. We are going through this with our son. please keep Andrew in your prayers for healing. He needs God’s miracle touch. Thanks . Be Blest!
Hi Lori Praise the Lord for your healing. I really enjoyed reading your testimony. I have been a Christian for years, but most of those years, I’ve not been spirit filled. I realize what time we’re living in and want to be a warrior for the Lord, but I do feel held back because I’m not consistant in reading my Bible and I don’t have the boldness I need to witness to my family and others. I’ve recently truly asked the Lord to forgive me for entertaining the wrong thoughts and not being faithful. Please pray for me that a change will come over my life and it will no longer be difficult to reach out. I have a mentally son, he’s grown, but I do not reach out to him as I should. His name is Lamont. Thank you Lori for your testimony.
Sharon
I own an investment company which lately has gone bankrupt leaving behind a huge debt over my shoulder to repay. I have no thought to run away but to repay back every single penny of all the investors. I have even gone to the extend of selling most of my possession to gather money to pay back!
I pray to the Lord to help me everyday till now I don’t know how I am managing to still keep the doors of my office open, I am very sure it is because of the guidance and blessings of the Lord.
I plead to all to Pray for me and my Company so that I may be able to return back every penny that I owe and get back my peace of mind that I have lost. Please pray for my family too so that nothing untoward my come up upon them due to me!!
Please pray for me, my family and my colleagues……
Amen
Praise God for this ministry!!
Encouragement is here for all!! Parents and grandparents alike!!
Thank you for the time you spend, but thank you most for liestening and responding to what the Lord is leading you to do!!
Blessings,
Mama Terry
(note from Lori… if you don’t know me, I am the one who posts these prayers daily… this testimony was emailed directly to me, I am posting is here because her faith encouraged me to pray more WITH my own children… I pray for them ALL the time, but they get annoyed when I pray with them, except meals of course, and I needed this encouragement!)
Hello Lori, I couldn’t wait to email you what I think is a testimony to me & my son…Well let me start off to say that my son Isaac who is 14 years old had gotten into trouble with a friend of his (if you want to even call him that) and he was looking at a felony charge (state) to even say the least, so all last week I was debating whether to hire an attorney for him or not for today.
Today at 10am I had to take my son Isaac to the police station where they were going to book him and then release him back to me and I had been struggling and worry about this day but God had his favor upon us (his children) and came through shortly after me and my son said our prayer. Then I get your daily scripture this morning prior to all that was about to happen and I thought WOW Lord, I don’t need an attorney if I trust in you with this fight that I am about to go thru and to say the least we have won so far without an attorney. I just need to lay it before him my God and let him work thru and for us…
So to make things shorter, I told Isaac to pray with me before we left to the police station and he said no mom you pray, I said you start it off and then I will come in after you, so he prayed of course for favor with the investigator and for the truth and then I continued it with if 2 more come in agreement that our prayers shall be heard and answered and I also prayed for favor and for the truth.
Well before heading to the station my daughter texted me and asked to bring her a sprite so I stopped at Wal-mart and then my phone rang as I was getting out and it was Erik my husband. He asked where were we and he explained that the investigator called him and Erik told him how Isaac told us this past Friday that he didn’t graffiti the middle school and he was only covering for the other kid and so the police officer talked for awhile with Erik on the phone and asked that we don’t show up to the station but that he (the investigator) would go to our house and talk with Isaac and us.
So to end my testimony/story/ MIRCALE ….the officer came to the house this morning and went thru Isaac stuff and talked with him and us and said that usually he would have not done this since he had a statement already from Isaac saying that he did do the crime but now that Isaac was recanting his story he decided to give him the benefit and investigate it even more, and since Isaac was talking and being truthful and answering the questions the officer was asking and then he said that he would not book him today but that he wanted to find the truth before he went any further with Isaac. And the other kid who had even graffiti his name was denying that he had done it and was being uncooperative with the officer and not answering any questions and just not helping the situation out but because Isaac was doing the opposite it worked out better….so I told Isaac that we had to give the glory to God for working as quickly as he did for the favor upon the investigator and that he continue to have his favor.
Lori I know I have told you this before about being my angel but I truly believe and thank you as always for your scriptures. I think the one today with David and Goliath and how we don’t need an army to defeat our giants if we just give God our praises and with saying that, I truly believe it was a miracle of God that he had his favor upon us (his children this morning) and with that said again thank you for being so humble and obedient to our father and for blessing us mothers with the daily scriptures.
Again much love to you and many praises to our father for you, your sister in Christ.
On Sunday, I took my family to a Fall Festival at a nearby church. There was a huge crowd…lots of kids and parents and food and games and kids dressed up. There was even a petting zoo with a baby cow and goats and a really large (kinda freakishly large) bunny.
My wife let us go ahead while she waited in line for a lemonade.
I sent my kids in to the fenced off area into the petting zoo, watched the gate close behind them and walked over to the fence…still close enough to the gate to keep an eye on it, to see if I could get some good pictures. Well, I realised it wasn’t a good place (too many people) for a clear shot and decided to go inside the gate.
I got a few pictures of my two older girls and my boy and then went looking for the 3 year old girl…I couldn’t find her. She was nowhere. She’s tiny, so I looked everywhere. I asked my other kids to look for her. I started asking random people to look for her and asked the “gatekeeper” to look, and the people that came with s started looking too. We had quite a few people looking. I just gathered the rest of my kids and sat in a puddle in the middle of the petting Zoo and prayed and prayed.
My wife showed up with the lemonade and I told her I couldn’t find her and her face got all focused and she started looking.
In total, I think it was about 10 minutes, a long ten minutes…long enough for me to watch cars leaving the parking lot. Long enough to watch the “gatekeeper” open and close the gate and kids walk in and out. Long enough to see everyone smiling and laughing and not knowing what was going on. I was praying that Jesus would find her. I was finding some confidence in knowing that my little girl has some angels hanging out with her, and we were at a church event, so my confidence was that the Lord was with us…that he was hanging out at the petting soo, and jumping in the inflatable jumpers, and waiting in line for cotton candy, but I was still freaking out.
I couldn’t cry. I felt like it, but I couldn’t.
Then my wife showed up holding her hand. That’s when I started crying. My little one was fine. She didn’t even look like she had been crying. (she had been, of course…apparently, the ladies couldn’t understand her to get her name…they were just going to say “we found a lost little pink kitty cat”). I took her up in my arms and squeezed her. She started laughing, “Papi, that’s too tight.” I sqeezed her through the paring lot all the way to the car. We left.
My wife told me that she went to the front where they had a mic and speakers and was about to ask them to make an announcement, but there she was, holding hands with a grey haired lady.
We asked her later and she said that there were two “old ladies with white hair” that found her and took her to the front.
My wife recalled later that while she was waiting for the lemonade, she noticed the two ladies asking something and pointing to the front where the speakers were. She even thought, “I wonder what they are looking for?”
What a yucky, crazy, hard, horrible, scary, frustrating thing. I hated it. But I am so much more in love with my kids…and I thought I already was as much in love with them as I could be. My wife and I hugged them and loved on them the rest of the evening.
Well, later that night, I checked my email and saw that a new “Prayers Over Our Children” prayer was posted.
It said this: “I will not fear for the Lord promises to deliver my children out of every trouble.”
(http://prayersoverourchildren.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/sunday-102608/)
Just amazing. How encouraging and loving of the Lord. And what a faith builder. I have more faith in the Lord today. My little lamb was lost and He found her for me. He went out and found her. Hile I was sitting helpless among goats and a cow and a freakishly large bunny, he was out there holding her hand, taking her to safety. So sweet.
We are just so blessed. I know someone reading the prayers that day glanced over the list of names on the website and focused on my little girls name. Thank you. What a blessing. How good the Lord is.
We don’t know what happened with the cup of lemonade.
Keep praying. Keep posting.
jorge (Papi)
Gretchen
I didn’t even know this blog was here – but what a wonderful testimony to daily time with God. I too have been spending daily time with God for some time now. I will not tell you that I have been 100% faithful – but I can definitely feel it on the days that I “skip.” I do not skip intentionally but inevitably someone else (wonder who?) pushes me to do something else instead of my quiet time.
I commend you for your commitment to God and you true faith and belief that He is the controller of your destiny. You are truly blessed by true friends and a Bible-based relationship with your Creator.
Continue to be strong in this time as you know there will be times of struggle. Continue to turn to God and your Bible. That is where your answers are!!
Blessings,
Kristin
It was Thursday morning. Mike broke up with me Wednesday night. I love Mike with all my heart. I want to be with Mike for the rest of my life. He says he loves me but he needs to be alone right now so he can figure out some things. A woman broke his heart about 2 years ago. His needs it to heal before he can love me the way he says he wants to. I kinda knew something like this was going to happen—that Mike would break up. I knew this because he had broken up with me 2 months prior for the same reason. We got back together after a week because we missed each other. We had decided to ignore his problem so it would go away and of course it didn’t go away. The other indication was that he very seldom would tell me that he loved me. I could tell when he did say it, that it was hard for him. Of course that makes sense considering his heart is a mess.
So anyway, it was Thursday morning and I was riding the Park and Ride to my office downtown. I had 30 minutes of uninterrupted quiet time in front of me. I almost panicked because I didn’t have my ear phones. Normally I listen to Hal Lindsey on the way to work; either his Daniel study or most recently his Revelation study. I panicked because I really needed the comfort of listening to it that morning. I absolutely knew my wonderful God would grant me peace, but it hadn’t happened yet. Not one part of me doubted God would deliver because when Mike had broken up the first time and I was devastated, I called on God and he was so powerfully there for me. Instead of being broken inside 2 months ago I got to experience pure bliss. So, there on the bus, I was patiently waiting for my bliss blast.
I started to pray. I prayed for peace and strength. As I was praying a thought popped into my head and I prayed, “…and give me the wisdom to know what to say to others so they can know you too.” Now what was that? Wasn’t this an all-about-me prayer time? Well, I didn’t think much more about it and I continued on with asking for peace and joy for me. Me me me.
As I walked from the bus stop to my office I had an odd feeling. I wasn’t in the place I wanted to be yet but I wasn’t sad either. I could at least appreciate the fact that I wasn’t sad and I thanked God for that.
I had a meeting that morning with a man at 9:30 regarding my current work project. I already knew from past conversations that he does not believe in God. He thinks the idea of Jesus is silly. I took my coffee with me to the meeting. My coffee cup has the word “Joy” on it. When I got there he jokingly asked, “Don’t you think Joy might want her coffee cup back?” It wasn’t a great ‘in’ but I took it. I just mentioned that I knew he meant a person named Joy but that it would sure be ironic for someone to steal a cup that has a Christian adage on it. Here we go… That was all he needed to start picking of me regarding my faith. He knew the Bible from his childhood when he said it had been crammed down his throat. He started to pummel me with questions. Questions he just knew would stump me…
Right then I had one of those moments in my life where I was able to think about 10 different things all within the space of a second. I remembered Ida May talking to us in Sunday School about 2 weeks prior, saying we need to be ready to share the Word at any time. She was really great; she had walked around the room and would point blank ask people questions that a non-believer would ask so we could practice. I started working on what I would be able to say when that moment would arise for me. In that span of a second I also thought about a Bible verse that I had read and wanted to share with Ida May. “…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” 1 Peter 3:15b.
Here are 2 of the questions and my responses. Ha! Did I really type “my” responses? We know that all I did was open my mouth so the Holy Spirit could answer the questions.
Guy at work: “So do you think someone that goes to church all the time and gives money, but then does terrible things gets to go to heaven but someone who is really a good person but does not believe in God will have to end up in hell?”
My mouth: “None of us are good. We all sin. Sometimes we manage to do good things but it is not about works. Christ came and died for our sins. Because of His Grace we get to go to heaven.”
Guy at work: “So if you believe in God but don’t go to Church and you do terrible things, you still get to go to heaven? That’s not right.”
My mouth: “If you have Jesus in your heart, good works will follow. If you have a relationship with Jesus you will want to do good things. You’ll still screw up but you will have a desire to do good things.”
(Get ready for this…The Holy Spirit also put a verse in my head. I actually quoted the verse correctly. I knew the verse but the Holy Spirit made it come out of my mouth in the right way. I’m not good at quoting scripture on the spot. If it had been just me I would have fumbled it completely.)
My mouth: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
Then I queued up my story Ida May told me to have ready. I had decided that the best way to tell someone about God is to have them know how powerful God can be. To tell them how God can grant joy. To tell them how real God is. I told the story of when God delivered peace to me when I was experiencing tremendous grief. I told him how euphoric the peace and joy was and how it just came over me like a wave. I told him that I was sad for him because he was rejecting something so beautiful. I wanted him to have it because it feels so incredible.
Then the man looked at me and told me he was jealous of what I had.
I walked away from that meeting and I was back, Baby! I was in my blissful happy place God made for me. I was walking on air. I felt so incredible inside. I had so much emotion bottled up I felt like I was going to explode. The only outlet I could think of was crying. I literally planned a good short cry. I decided to use the stairwell to get back to my desk. Once I got in the stairwell and shut the door, I cried and laughed at the same time and it felt crazy wonderful. I had so much love in my heart. I felt so loved by God. I was so honored that God would use me, that He would find me worthy enough to use me as a tool to plant a seed. It was so incredible to just open my mouth and have the Holy Spirit come out. On a day that should have been one of the worst in my life I was ecstatic.
I just love how God works. I love how when I was praying on the bus the thought about asking god for wisdom to know what to say to others popped into my head.
But that’s not all…
Friday I learned The Key to Bliss.
My life has been blessed since I’ve started having a quiet time in the mornings to read my Bible. I “listened” to the Bible the first time. I was working in The Woodlands for Anadarko and the commute was really long. I bought an audio Bible and listened on the way to work. Lots of times I just flat out did not understand what I was hearing. I just kept listening. Then I found out how helpful the Holy Spirit is and that if I would just ask God to make it make sense to me, He would. After I finished the Bible there was about a year that I did not have The Word in my life on a daily basis. On April 15, 2007 I made a decision to read my Bible every morning. At first it was something I did because I felt like I had to. Now, I look forward to it. This quiet time I have in the mornings reading the Bible makes me want to get out of bed and that is saying a lot.
The other day my best friend, Lori told me about a vision she had as she was driving down the street. She pictured a pipe coming down from the sky and going directly into her heart. She explained that the pipe is The Word. She told me how reading the Bible is what keeps her in the Holy Spirit. She was very impressed with the concept that the Word is God. As she was telling me this it made me think of the verse that says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” I had to look it up and I found that it was the first verse of the gospel of John.
(Me telling you about listening/reading my Bible and the Lori story will make sense in a little bit, stay with me.)
Thursday and Friday after the breakup I was peaceful, joyful, and on top of the world. But then Friday afternoon when I was driving home it started…I had a pang of sadness. It shocked me because by this time I felt like I was invincible. Then guess what, (or should I say guess who) crept in and started telling me that my bliss is over. It’s gone. I’m going to be sad. I’m going to be VERY sad. It was all I could do to drive home before I started crying. Emily was in the car and I didn’t want to be upset in front of her. Alex had invited us over to eat and to swim so I called Alex and asked if Emily could come on over and I’d be there in 10 minutes. Once I got home with Emily across the street. I started focusing on how much I want Mike in my life. Focusing on how much I miss him and how much more I’m going to miss him in the days to come. I started picturing him sitting in my chair in the living room and how that was over and he is gone. I started crying and I couldn’t stop. I started praying out loud even while I was crying. The first thing I prayed was, “God I want to be back in you. I just want to feel you again.” Well, that shocked me. I didn’t pray for Mike to come back. I prayed to be back in my peaceful place with God.
Then I remembered what Lori was telling me the other day about the Bible. I went and got my Bible while I was still crying. I was just craving to be back in His peace and I thought it was worth a try. I READ JUST ONE PAGE. JUST ONE PAGE and then I started laughing because I felt Him coming back to me. He was right there and He was holding me. Panic over. Sadness gone.
So, if you didn’t figure it out. The Key to Bliss is Reading the Bible! Every day. Read your Bible.
I know this sounds ridiculous but I am so thankful that Mike broke my heart. I’m thankful because it feels so good to have God put it back together. It feels so good to be held and loved by God. I pray that God will heal Mike’s heart. I pray that Mike has the wisdom to ask God to heal his heart. (Remembering to ask is pretty hard to do.) I want Mike in my life. I love him completely. If I get Mike back I will be tremendously happy. But if I don’t get Mike back then it’s because God has something else for me. I know that whatever God has in store for me will be wonderful. God has already shown me bliss, what else could be better than that anyway?
Hi gretchen
i am so bless with what you have testify so happy..thanks a lot…this is a great help for me. Thanks God for everything
Wow! Your story sounds exactly what happened to me. My boyfriend broke up with me in September 2015. It is now October 2015 (a month later). I felt so bad, I didn’t want to live. He said he wanted to marry me and he bought me an engagement ring but our relationship ended. He said he didn’t fee; the same way for me anymore. But prior to this breakup who broke up with me several times before (numerous times). We both are Christians and we met at church. We both served on a ministry, that where we met. Well after this last breakup I began to pray and read my bible and I began listening to cd’s from previous church sermons. By doing this it helped me come to terms with the breakup. He had cheated on me 2 years prior to this last breakup and I took him back. Because he told me that he realized that I was the one he loved and that is when we got engaged. But here I go again, getting my heart broken again. God is putting back together my broken heart . In the past when he would breakup with me I would call him and asked him can be please get back together but after numerous attempts he would finally get back with me. I have not called him like I did in the past. If he wants me he will have to come to me. In the meantime I have been reading the bible and praying, asking God to forgive me of my sins and to make me a better person. I pray to God to fix me, so if we do get back together I will be able to deal with our relationship. I am also praying to God to help by ex-boyfriend change. He does have an anger issue, he would shove me and and curse at me but I would always ignore it. I pray that he will be delivered from his toxic ways. I do not know what went on his is past to make him this way. The sad thing is we are both 61 years old. I do want to get marry because I do not want to spend the rest of my life without someone to love and someone to truly love and cherish me.
I have been reading my bible more and more and I do want to develop a closer relationship with God. Because God is love and God would never hurt me the way a human being would. God is filling the void right know. God may have something better for me. I will continue to pray because I feel the best is yet to come.
How are you doing now? Has your faith grown stronger? And has God guided him back to you with a changed heart?