In the very beginning, God told me that He
would be using my testimony, that it would be one of the primary tools of our ministry.
I've learned that when we submit something
of 'ours' to the use of the Kingdom of God, it doesn't go the way we think that it ought to. It usually involves a 'curve
ball' or an unexpected detour from our expected understanding of how things are going to go.
The Storyteller's Story
Often when I meet someone, we will start talking to each
other. Many times I will find words just flying out of my mouth and usually about parts of my life that I had not
talked about in a long time and NOT the entire story, but just agravating bits and irritating pieces.
I'm a storyteller, in case you haven't figured that out
by now. Storytellers prefer to tell the entire story so that we don't lose our audience and have the satisfaction of giving
the 'full deal'.
BUT that is NOT how God is using MY testimony!!! We had several
long discussions about it. He told me that it wasn't about my telling a great story, but about giving someone a needed bit
of help at their critical time of need, and that He would choose the parts that were needed. Ok, I can handle that.
Usually, when I was telling these things to others in the
beginning, I would be asking Him why I was speaking about these particular things. He would tell me that they applied
to something that they were going through in their life.
Often, when I was through, they would tell me that I didn't
know this, but that I had just prophecied their entire lives to them.
The Italian Connect
On our trip to Italy, on the way in, I just felt that if
there was anyway possible, that we needed to stay overnight in Amsterdam, even though our tickets didn't allow for that. We
flew into one Italian airport and were scheduled to fly out from another Italian airport.
Our family, which lived in Italy, had warned us that Alitalia
Airlines was the worst airline in the world. We got to find that out first hand, since that was the airline partner we would
be leaving on.
We arrived at the airport hours early and went to the gate
that the staff told us was the right one. During our wait, I asked several times and always got the same answer that we were
in the right gate, even though it NEVER appeared on the monitor.
Then, I heard God say, 'I wonder if you would even
recognise your name being spoken over the PA system, since they are mispronouncing all of the foreign names?!' I didn't.
Then I went back to the podium to be informed
that we were indeed in the WRONG gate and that our gate was 2 floors up slippery, huge marble staircase. Our flight was being held for us, which should have departed 1/2 hour earlier.
When we arrived in Amsterdam, our flight home had already
left 2 hours before. I've never been able to figure out that particular piece of math.
The airline put us up in a nice hotel and due to a miscommunication
in the restaurant, we got deluxe dinners, at their expense.
The next morning, we were waiting outside the hotel, for
the airport shuttle. I started talking to the woman next to me.
The words just started flying out of my mouth about how
we had started our ministry and how God has always come through for us and provided for us.
Everytime I said something that connected with her need,
we would both experience something like an electric shock. It was a very different experience.
I found out that she was from Canada. She was a catholic
lady who had just retired. Unlike the usual expectation in her particular parish, where she was supposed to retire to a rocking
chair and do some sweet little charitable laywork, she had sold everything and was preparing to go out on the missionfield.
When we were through talking, she told me that she needed
to go somewhere to think about what we had talked about. She walked off with a dazed look on her face. The photo on this page
is of the Italian town that my family lived in.
His Eye is on the Ball
One year our son got to play football. While he and his
teammates were on the field I was in the stands with the mother of one his teammates, and 'mrs motor mouth' was really flying.
Several times she told me that I was prophesying her entire
life to her. I was just sharing the parts of my life that God was putting on my tongue to say.
She and her family had come to a place in their lives where
they were at a crossroads and had some difficult decisions to make. I saw them make some of those changes.
A Shelter in the Storm
One day, before a hurricane was due to come in, I had gone
into a store that I don't normally shop in. Others were in the store picking up supplies for the storm.
We already had our supplies. I had gone into the store
because God had told me to go in. I walked around the store trying to figure out what He had wanted me to get.
I got what jumped out at me. When I got in line, I had
chocolate chewy cookies, choclate covered custard filled donuts, chocolate truffles, and chocolate snacks. Which I thought
was rather strange, but I decided to go ahead and get them.
The lady in front of me had 1 bottle of water and we commented
on our choices and laughed about it.
When I got out of the store, still wondering why I had
gotten such a chocolate overload, it hit me that I had gotten those items to get my attention, so that I would ask God why
I was having such a chocolate attack.
I asked. He told me that I needed to speak to the woman
we had met in the store. I said that if she was still in the parking lot, I would.
She came right up to the car parked in front of us. I went
up to her and told her that I felt like God wanted me to pray for her, if it were alright with her.
She told me that she was a believer and then started to
cry. She told me that her son was in a difficult situation due to his own decisions.
I told her that God had given her promises and visions
for her son's life. She agreed with me. I told her that she had the authority to speak into the situation that her son was
in and to speak his promises over him.
I told her that especially when I was feeling particularly
discouraged about my own son, I would remember the promises over him and I would start speaking them over him. We prayed over
her son.
Built in Translation
There have been situations where I have met people who
don't speak English and I don't speak their language.
Sometimes we will try to communicate and not get beyond
a few signs or a few spoken words. Then there are other times when a truely supernatural thing will happen.
This has happened several times in my life, and it
has always been an unexpected and unplanned thing. I
will find myself in the middle of the situation before I know what has happened.
The only explanation I can give for why, is that there
is a need that transcends our abilities, and God meets that need.
Since each situation was similar, I will tell about the
last one, which was in 2007.
I have several friends in Belgium. I was staying with one
of them in her Bed and Breakfast. We often have temporary roommates.
This time, the man was German and really needed to communicate
with me. I got him to take out paper and draw what he was trying to say. I would do the same.
Somewhere in the time he was there, we began to understand
each other, even though we were each speaking our own language and not always drawing. It was like we had the 'Dome of Silence'
from Get Smart come over us and we were sitting in a bubble of understanding that surrounded us and enabled us to understand
beyond our own capabilities.
By Unexpected Routes
Though we may not understand at the time, and may never
be able to explain why, God always has a practical application to why He has us do something the way He is having us do it.
He's not having us do it just because He can get us to
do it and He's not doing it just so He can call attention to Himself. He is using different ways to provide for us to do the
job that He has called us to do.
God gave me a vision/experience, years ago, to help
me with this-
I had arrived at my Host's house, which was on the edge
of a huge lake, and had been taken to my room. Later, my Host came to me and told me that they were expecting some more guests
in the morning, could I please go to the other side of the lake and get some supplies for them.
I agreed, expecting to go by boat, to the other side.
Instead, I was given an old, dead tree that had been floating in the water. It had many prickly limbs-branches-thorns.
I was instructed to get into the water and to hang onto the tree as I was propelled through the very cold, wet, dark water.
Everything on that tree was designed to make my life miserable.
It tangled in my long hair and pulled it, scratched and gouged my face, arms and torso. But I refused to let go and continued
to the other side, where I got the supplies.
I returned to the house and delivered the supplies and
returned to the small store to get a second load and returned to the house.
Both trips went a lot quicker that I had expected and when
I held onto the tree, it went smoothly and quickly through the water. We got the supplies in the house as the guests
arrived.
