2023 So Far…

I just realized that I hadn’t written a blog post since last year, and I couldn’t believe it had been that long! I’ve been busy and time flies! So much has happened that it’s overwhelming and I couldn’t come close to telling all of it here. I was going to write a post sharing some encouragement and some of the things God did this last weekend. However, there was way too much that happened this year before that so I’d like to share just a few of the highlights of what Jesus has done and continue in the next blog post to share about last weekend and about going deeper in God’s river. I’m writing the testimonies for myself and not just for you guys, because years later I will come back to read this and remember what the Lord has done in my life.

God’s Fire!

A child, about 9 years old, had a cold at a January missions meeting to start the year. I said “let me pray for you” and grabbed his hand. “God thank you for your fire filling him in Jesus’s name and driving out sickness!” I held his hand for a minute, and he suddenly pulled it away and said “Outch! It’s hot!” and shook it like he had touched a hot stove. Everyone laughed! Even though it hurt his hand for a moment, the sore throat and cold symptoms were gone.

Jesus Went to A Volleyball Game and BBQ!

We were invited to play volleyball on a Saturday and a guy on the other team was rubbing his shoulder. He said it had hurt all night and was bothering him. I walked over, touched his shoulder, and said “In Jesus’s name be whole.” All of the pain was immediately gone and he continued playing volleyball normally. After that, we had a BBQ and prayed for people, and God’s glory came on them tangibly. I believe several people were healed, but except for one woman who was freed from chronic pain, we couldn’t verify or test the other conditions immediately.

Everywhere You Place Your Foot Is Yours!

One of the first outreaches I went on was bringing soup to people living on the street. A few people were healed, including a guy who had a constant ringing in his ear. It stopped immediately when we prayed. Then I was talking with a guy who was crying and saying he wanted to get off of drugs, but the group was already ahead of me. I ran to catch up with the group, but there was a guy who made a witchcraft altar with incense right there on the sidewalk and I stepped right on top of the altar! Everyone was yelling “You stepped on the altar!” It was unintentional on my part, but I do think it was a message from the Lord saying “This is My territory and I’m not impressed with that little altar!”

After that, we went to another area and I prayed for a man in a wheelchair who had constant pain. He felt no pain after I prayed, but didn’t have the courage to get up when I invited him to. Another man had a sharp pain in his arm, level 8 on a scale of 1- 10, and the pain left completely and immediately. Yet another man had thrombosis, swelling, and an open wound with pain level 6 in his leg. As I prayed he felt something moving in his leg and the pain left completely. He was quite surprised and happy and was showing everyone how he could walk with no pain. The swelling was visibly reduced.

I Prayed And It’s Not There Anymore!

At the first ladies’ recovery house we went to, I had received five words of knowledge for healing while I was in the pool with the baby before even leaving home. One was for a lady with a tumor or lump near her throat. When I shared them it was really special because all the ladies immediately pointed to the person who had the condition and said “It’s her!” and she stood up and said “That’s me!” as if she had just won Bingo. And I had our missionary girls pray for them. When the lady stood up with the tumor/lump by her throat, I was so excited because I knew it would be gone.

We had a young girl, Rebekah, maybe about 20 years old, who had just started getting involved in our missions group. She had seen a few miracles as we prayed on the previous outreach, and we’d prayed for her and her friend for God’s fire to come on their hands. I said “Where’s Rebekah? Rebekah, can you please pray for this lady who has a tumor in her throat?” A few minutes later, I walked over and asked “What’s happening?” Rebekah was undone, in tears. “I prayed and the lump isn’t there anymore!” The lady herself and another one of our missionary girls also confirmed that they felt it before and it wasn’t there anymore. Many other ladies also received miracles.

At the end, a very broken lady came and said “Please pray for me. I get nervous and run away and they have to send someone to find me.” We prayed and she felt peace. Then I felt led by God to say “I want to encourage you to read the Bible and the Holy Spirit will keep working in your life through that as He touched you now.” And I found out that she didn’t have a Bible and didn’t know how to read! Well, I felt that the Lord was speaking so she can learn to read, but I told her we would get a Bible for her.

When I talked to the director of the group, she told us that they didn’t have Bibles for the ladies. So I was recently able to buy over 200 Bibles for the ladies at the recovery home and for other missions with a donation we received. I’m eagerly waiting for their arrival!

God’s Love Sees And Pursues Those Who Need Salvation!

I went to another ladies’ recovery house with the other mission group. This time it was a little different. The first one was poor and relied on donations. The second was a place where families sent their relatives and paid a modest monthly fee. However, some of the ladies were there because they had to be there, not because they wanted to. Again, I got about five words of knowledge while I was in the swimming pool before we even left. During the worship, the Lord showed me who two of the ladies were.

One word of knowledge had been for a lady with pain between the shoulders. I saw a certain older lady and felt that it was her during worship, so I went up and asked her. Yes, she had pain between the shoulders! When I prayed it completely stopped hurting but she kept talking as if she still had the problem. I asked her again “Does it hurt now?” And she said “no.” I responded “That is because you don’t have the problem anymore and Jesus just healed you! Why do you think I came over here and asked you if you had pain between your shoulders? Because God loves you and he showed me before I even left my house that someone would have pain between their shoulders, and then when I got here I felt that it was you! God spoke because He wanted to heal you, and the reason it doesn’t hurt now is that you don’t have that problem anymore!”

I also saw a young lady and felt that she was the one with the chronic stomach problems. I had felt there would be someone with chronic stomach problems and nausea caused by a spirit. However, I didn’t get to talk to her yet and then I didn’t see her anymore. So at the end, I stood up to share the testimony of the lady who had already been healed and to share publicly the other words of knowledge. The first word I had gotten in the pool at home was for a lady who had head problems because she had hit her head in a car accident. That lady responded immediately and was healed of a chronic headache. Several other miracles happened. And I said “I feel like there’s someone here who has chronic stomach trouble and nausea, but I think she might now be here right now but was here earlier.” I said that because I had felt it was her but I didn’t see her anymore.

Sure enough, someone brought her and asked to pray for her 10 minutes later, and it was the girl I had felt who had that problem! She seemed really hard-hearted, but God’s mercy was chasing after her!

Jose Is Walking As A Disciple of Jesus!

About a week after that I saw Jose. I shared about him in some previous blog posts. He had been an atheist but he suddenly converted to Christianity and joined our missions group. He saw me praying for an old lady who was immediately healed of severe chronic pain and asked “Hey, how does that work?” We talked and he had prayed for others and seen miracles by the end of that night. Since then, he has been the guy who has understood more than anybody else and has continued ministering healing. He told me he was at the worship event the last Saturday when I had gone to the recovery house and saw 7 people healed, including someone with torn ligaments taking off their medical boot and walking without pain, and a man’s blind eyes opening.

I arrived late for the mission on March 18th, which was in the poor neighborhood where I first met Jose and where we had already seen many miracles. However, I was still in time to see a few people healed, including a lady with an artificial kidney being freed from constant pain, and to celebrate the birthday of the current mission group leader.

You Can Have 10 Kids if You Want!

I got a ride back from that mission. Karita, a tall girl with short blond hair was also in the car. I’d never met her before, but I found out that she was the one who founded our missions group a few years ago but had been ministering in another part of Brazil! She had worked with Mel Tari, the famous missionary who wrote the story of the Indonesian revival in his book Like a Mighty Wind. I said “Oh, I know about him! I read his book! And Heidi Baker worked with him.” Then she was excited about how I was influenced by Heidi Baker and Randy Clark, because she said they are role models for her.

Karita was suffering from several physical issues, including two fibroid tumors. The doctors said she could not have children. She had a lot of bleeding and the doctors wanted to remove her uterus, but she refused because she wanted God to heal her. She was engaged and both she and her fiancee wanted kids. So while we were stopped, we got out of the car and prayed for her. She felt heat in her abdomen and all the pain and issues left.

That week she returned to the doctors. They told her she is fine and can have 10 kids if she wants! She told me she can make a testimony video, so I am hoping to have that on my YouTube and add it to this post when we have it!

Stay tuned to read about what Jesus did on our last trip to Brasilia and for encouragement to go deeper in the river of God!