Bill Johnson

Saturday morning rush … stopping for the one …

Categories Bill Johnson, David Wagner, God is good, Graham Cook, Hope, Stopping for the one, Suicide14 Comments on Saturday morning rush … stopping for the one …

I sensed there would be a park to the left … but for some unfathomable reason I drove straight … I looked … there was a park there and I had missed it and the car in front of me took the one I had my eye on …

“Blow!”

I drove up well past where I needed to go for bread and the much-needed coffee.  I had a frantic morning of drop offs, collecting clothes, getting food for children, and pick ups from ballet before I headed back to the conference at church, a 30 plus minute drive away …

As I pulled into the park in front of the post office I wondered if there would be a God assignment … and I recalled the treasure hunt God encounter from a couple of years before … there was no-one there … I shrugged, figuring God knew I was way too busy to stop anyway …

I quickly headed up to the stores I needed to visit, got my “stuff” and walked briskly back … forgetting the thoughts of before, focused on getting my coffee home so I could relish a little bit of chocolate that was sitting on my kitchen bench before I started the whole crazy pace of life again …

As I approached the post office I noticed a man sitting in the sunshine, he looked homeless, so I started praying for him as I strode firmly towards my car … warm coffee in hand, relishing the thought of maybe 10 minutes on my own with a little piece of chocolate and coffee … but as I prayed for this stranger I knew that God wanted me to stop, go back to him and offer to pray … it was time to stop for the one …

I turned, walked up to him smiling and excused my interruption.  I explained I was a Christian and had felt that I should offer to pray, and told him that rather than walk past him and pray for him privately, I was to stop for him at that moment …

He looked and said “yes”, so I asked for his hand and as he looked up at me he gently said would I please sit by his side …

I did a quick mummy calculation … time to sit? … I had two children to collect, 10 minute drive there, clothes to collect from home, food to get ready, children had to be changed …

I sat.

I knew the children would be safe, the chocolate would be nearly as good without the coffee, and giving my time here was of eternal benefit, as compared with my own strong desire to steal 10 minutes on my own.

It was God’s heart.

He started to tell his story …

He was Polish, had fought in a war, seen people die, was lonely, was divorced, and had sat here friendless day after day watching people … happy people … walk past him and never stopping … no-one loved him he said …

I looked into his eyes and said,

“Well God does!  He asked me to stop for you.  I was praying for you as I walked past, but He said to stop for you because He loves you …”

And I prayed, in the sunshine, holding the hand of a dishevelled and broken stranger, drinking coffee as I sat on a bench outside our local post office …

I prayed and searched God for the words, for the insight … and all I could think of was to pray for Peace, for a sense of God’s love to flow into him, for Hope and for Joy … I prayed for friends and companionship, and that he would know and sense the Holy Spirit, that he would feel God and know he was never alone …

He told me more of his story …

He no longer saw friends, suffered with depression, he had been raised a Catholic, but he had given it the … flick … (and he gestured violently with his arms) … and in rebellion against his father he had joined the army and flung himself out of planes … he had been married and had a child who he never saw … he would sit on this bench and no-one would stop … “but you did” he said …

I felt God prompt me to give him my husband’s mobile number … I did … and we chatted briefly about the testimonies I had heard from David Wagner at the conference and how David had been suicidal but he couldn’t successfully kill himself … he said he had tried to kill himself too … I then told him some of Graham Cooke’s story (click here for testimony) and he relished the testimonies of two men one so damaged and broken as a young boy who had tried to kill himself so many times the other also broken as a young boy and running from the law … and how both had become full of a loving God, working miracles and signs and wonders and how they were fully whole … his eyes lit up at the possibilities …

I mentioned church, and gave the details but I knew that was too much of a step for him … I knew I had to invite him into my world … our world, instead … I didn’t want to I had befriended mentally ill people before, and I knew it could be an intense experience … and anyway … he was a man … not my job …

I then felt God prompt me to give him the CD pack I had in my bag for a friend.  It was a Bill Johnson CD pack called Enduring Faith.  The first CD had been recorded a week or two prior to Bill Johnson’s father dying and the second CD had been recorded the week after … it was a powerful and strong message of faith when it appears the victory is gone …

I argued with God. 

These CD’s were for my friend.  I had promised to lend them to her.  They had our surname written on them, and our home phone number.  I had given him my husbands first name.  He could work out where we lived.  He was a stranger, a man, I have young children … the thoughts flooded my mind … the fears, the “what ifs” …

I listened again … and I gave him the CDs …

As I left him smiling on the bench in the sunshine he told me he had planted tomatoes and they were growing on his balcony (he wasn’t homeless after all) … and he was looking forward to the crop … I could see he had caught some hope … and he said he would sit there again and wait to see if I would walk past again some time soon …

I jumped into my car, with the thoughts rushing through my head of what I needed to accomplish next, and as I drove past I waved to him, and he waved back, still smiling … and as I did I knew we were to be the community he so earnestly desired, wanted, needed.  I could see him whole …

I could see him full of Jesus, I could see him as God saw him …

We were to invite him into our world … we were to be the hands and feet of Jesus to him and so we were to invite him into our world, into a world with Jesus … and in doing so we would be inviting him into the family of Christ … and in doing so I trust that he will know that …

God is Good!

And the baby had down syndrome no more because…God is Good!

Categories Bill Johnson, Down Syndrome, God is good, Power of the testimony, praise report, prayer, Pregnancy16 Comments on And the baby had down syndrome no more because…God is Good!

On Wednesday 9th May 2012 I received the following testimony from a dear and beautiful friend who takes God at His word …

She believes, she stands, she declares and she releases … fully knowing and fully believing with all her heart that God is Good!

She writes:

In early February I had the opportunity to meet and pray for a woman called M.  She was about 6 months pregnant at the time. I prayed for her and the baby, that all would be well for the baby and for the Mum, not really knowing anything about her background or circumstances, etc .

Later into the pregnancy, I found out that the baby was diagnosed as having “down syndrome” and was missing a nose.  I was told that the mother of this baby was in shock and in total fear of how she was going to cope with such a baby.

Some time later, at church, I heard a testimony of a woman in our church praying for a pregnant woman who had also been told that she was carrying a baby with down syndrome.  The woman at church had prayed for the pregnant woman and the baby had been completely healed by God.  When I heard the testimony at church I elbowed my husband and said, “that’s for M“ and I “took” the testimony for her knowing what God had done for one … he could and would  do for her … and so, when I saw M again, I was full of faith and I released the testimony and God’s Kingdom over her, praying for the same … a fully healthy baby…

On the way to church last Sunday (May 5) I heard the news that the baby had been born at home, early that morning, and that the baby appeared to be totally healthy, with a fully formed nose.

I was told that, after getting to the hospital, the doctors assessed the baby, in full knowledge of the diagnosis of down syndrome and that although all appeared well, a blood test would have to be done to be sure the baby was fully healthy.

Late Monday afternoon, the blood tests came back … all clear!

I saw the baby today.  He is totally healed, totally whole,  and is absolutely delightful!!!!!

Glory to God!!!

And so …

A loving woman, full of God, stepped out and prayed … she heard the testimony of God healing another …  she took the testimony, as something of substance to take be taken a hold of, she claimed it for another … she released it … in faith … and saw God move …

And as a result … another baby, declared by the medical profession as being a hopeless case, declared as being destined for a life of struggle and sadness, is instead set free to step into the fullness of his God’s given destiny … just because she chose to believe, and offer what she had to another, fully knowing and believing that …

 God IS Good!

Note: in referring to “taking” the testimony see Revelation 19:10.  There is power that is released as a testimony is told and as such there is an open invitation to see that testimony (miracle, healing etc) repeated …

“They overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…” Revelation 12:11 each and every testimony is powerful in and of itself.  

See Bill Johnson’s book “Release the Power of Jesus“ and see this story for demonstration of the concept in my world where we later discovered that the tumour shrank (even though Dr’s said it would never shrink) … and we believe that the tumour shrank when this testimony was read …

The power of the testimony is a powerful and effective tool to use when you are about to pray for someone, regardless of situation … using a testimony of His goodness that matches the situation, if you have such, or a story that doesn’t match but that demonstrates God’s goodness and power if you do not have a matching testimony … either way I have found testimonies increase faith in me and the person I am about to pray for, and it often releases the anointing in a very tangible way … this is why I tell and retell the stories of God’s goodness on this blog – we are all one family, who can share each other’s victories and retell and ask God to do the same in our lives and in the lives of those we encounter as we go … your victory is mine … and my victory is yours … so let’s tell and share and see the power of God’s goodness infect the world … because …

God IS Good!

Crossing my chicken line…the lame DID walk…part 3 – releasing life and declaring destiny for God is Good!

Categories As you go, Bill Johnson, Crossing the "chicken line", Isaiah 91:16, Revelation 12:11, Stopping for the one9 Comments on Crossing my chicken line…the lame DID walk…part 3 – releasing life and declaring destiny for God is Good!

To continue on from the last post … where I crossed “my chicken line” (see below for explanation) …  a woman walked away from her wheel chair pain-free (click here for story), and a mother is set free from a sense of darkness and hopelessness, being filled with hope and light … and where the mother then asks for prayer and blessing of her son (click here for story part 2) …

And so, standing before the tall young man, I placed my hand on his arm and started to pray and as I did I started to declare that “with long life He will satisfy you” (Is 91:16) and I looked at the mother and said, I sense that your son will live a long, long life …

She gasped.

I continued praying and then turned and said that I sensed that the men in his family lineage had their lives cut short, that I did not know if it was in his father’s lineage or his mother’s … and I rebuked the spirit of death and released Life into and over him in the name of Jesus …

I prayed that God would have vengeance on all that had been stolen and that her son would have long life … and I turned to the young man and said something like … “I sense you will live a long, long life, and you must, for what I sense you have been born for you will mature into when you are in your 50’s and beyond, that what you are called into has such great significance that you need many years of maturation to carry it forth” and I said that I sensed he had a strong call of leadership on him which would take many years to enter into the fullness of his destiny … hence with “long life he would be satisfied” …

I turned to the mother and asked if that resonated … had the men in the family had their lives cut short?

The mother looked in amazement and said “yes.”  She then went on to explain that – her father and grandfather had both died before the age of 50 and she that her son had been diagnosed with cancer 4 years prior and had just been given the “all clear” with much of his knee having been removed surgically to get rid of the cancer … he had nearly died and the doctors were amazed that he had survived … I could see her mother’s heart filling with relief and hope for her boy as she took in the fact that I had declared life and “known” the short life spans of his lineage in the males of his family and that therefore God knew and cared enough to have me stop, pray and declare the opposite …

She said to me “how did you know that?”

I responded saying I just felt that God was showing it to me, that He was a good God that loved her son and wanted him to know that His purposes for him was great and required a long life to fulfill … that the cancer was not for him, and that neither was the shortened life span that had gone before him in his family …

 I turned and cut the generational curses off her boy, as I had done for her, and released blessing, asking God to release the generational blessings over and into him in the name of Jesus … I also again told “death” and “cancer” to leave … with more confidence knowing that od had shown me what He had so that He could deal with them through my declarations over the young man … and I continued to agree with God’s purposes that this young man would have a long and fulfilling  life …

I then asked if I could pray for the young mans knee to be recreated, explaining that there was a word of promise over our Church, that creative miracles would be seen. 

He agreed and so I took a deep breath and knelt down and prayed for a creative miracle to take place, releasing life and commanding the knee to reform in the name of Jesus.  As I did I held  onto the promise that had been released over our church, knowing that I had to step into that promise and believe if we were to see it happen as a community … and that I must step out in faith and call it forth in the name of Jesus … regardless of what my mind was screaming at me as I did … for who was I to withhold such a promise from this young man … it had been declared over our church, and so I had to declare the promise as a member of our church over this man because … it could just happen …

As I knelt before him I recounted a friend’s testimony where they had prayed for someone with no knee caps and they had seen and felt an entire knee cap be created under their hands as they prayed …

I prayed, choosing to believe regardless of  “logic” … thoughts of my father’s atheism flashing before me and how he would think me mad … I prayed regardless of what I thought and how foolish I felt, holding onto God’s word over our congregation …

The young man said he did not feel much as I prayed, but he walked and tested it out, saying it felt a little better.  I walked with him, as I had done with his grandmother, and I encouraged him to keep walking and testing it out and to thank God for each and every positive development …

I then recounted how people at Bethel Church in Redding California had seen creative miracles and I told the formation of an eye-ball story that I had heard Bill Johnson tell many times over recent years … and I explained how sometimes God planted a seed of healing/creation into a person and over time the miracle would take place.  I recounted the story of A’s healing of two broken legs that had healed over the span of about two weeks … and as I did I relied all the while on the power of the testimony (thank you Bill Johnson) (see Rev 12:11) and the knowledge of the Truth that I felt that God was showing me prophetically …  regardless of what my mind screaming at me all the while.

I then sensed enough was enough … and I turned to the man and thanked him for allowing me to pray.  I looked at the mother who was still teary and I gave her my number and invited her to the Easter Sunday service the following day …

She said she would come .. or at least try …

Her husband approached me and thanked me fr praying for his mother, saying what a difference he could see … and the mother looked at me saying … he doesn;t believe … he is an atheist … and she looked so very excited as she spoke …

I left knowing I had found my God assignment … it had been worth the wait, and the inconvenience to find them.  I had delayed my own plans of getting home by half and hour to find them, and then the whole encounter must have been at least another half an hour … but it had been worth it …

I would like to say that the family all came to church the following morning and got radically saved … they didn’t … I looked for them, prayed for them … but then I had to let it go and release it all to God …

I was a part of their journey … a part of their story in discovering a good God … a part of the puzzle that revealed the goodness of God and His heart for a family that had been through so very much …

He wanted to release healing over the mother-in-law … hope and light over the mother … and long life and vindication for lost generations over the son …

I was the vessel that just happened to be available to agree with His purposes and release the declarations on earth over them … and so I got to co-labour with a good and loving God …

And while I still marvel at the words of knowledge, it makes me feel so very much more frail, fragile … I was nothing special, just merely a vessel to carry God into their world and reveal His loving kindness to them … without God I would have known nothing, without Jesus I have no power to help or change anything … and that is extremely humbling!

In any event … what a spectacular gift to be part of their journey on the eve of Easter Sunday – on the eve of the celebration of a resurrected and victorious Saviour …

Jesus has done it all … we just need to appropriate it and give it away … as best we know how …

And so I ask … will you join me and step out to stop for the one before you, where ever you may be?  I was picking up some shoes for my daughter when God apprehended me for this assignment …

It can be scary, it is often inconvenient, it is intimidating at times … but it gets easier each time you stop and offer Him, especially when you are filled with His love for the person before you … and so, oh my gosh … it becomes so very, very worth it because …

God IS Good!

Post script: the “chicken line” is a phrase coined by Kevin Dedmon that describes the act of stepping out into a place of risk by offering God’s love, in whatever form that may take, to others around us …

I believe the “chicken line” is different for us all … but we are all called to cross over into that place, because in that place is where we experience risk which is faith in action (see Kevin Dedmon and Chad Dedmon’s book entitled the Risk factor: Crossing the chicken line into your supernatural destiny (2011 Destiny Image Publishers).

For some fun check out our church website and find the You tube videos of people at our church stepping over their chicken line …

Give it a go … its fun and God really does turn up because … well you know … God is Good! J

Crossing my chicken line…the lame DID walk…a God is Good praise report

Categories Bill Johnson, Christian, Crossing the "chicken line", God is good, knee, praise report2 Comments on Crossing my chicken line…the lame DID walk…a God is Good praise report

In my last post I mentioned how wheel chairs of all shapes and sizes are my chicken line (see post script of linked story for explanation) …

Well, I had another story I thought I would post next … one of God’s goodness the following day on holiday, but, on returning to Melbourne I found myself in a shopping centre about half and hour away from home collecting a new pair of shoes for my 8-year-old daughter…

As I walked in I had the uncanny sense that there would be a God assignment for me there …

I walked around after collecting the shoes, but felt the Spirit of God say “stay, go up the escalators …”.

I recalled that earlier I had experienced trouble finding a car park, which was not normal, and I had asked God if the time in finding a car park was a “timing thing” … He responded in the affirmative.  This “conversation” came back to me as I turned to head back into the centre and up the escalators and so I asked Him “where next …”

After going in and out of a few shops, I still had that sense that there was something for me to do, someone to meet.  A candle caught my attention in a shop close to the external doors so I went in … I felt He said “buy it” so I did, and as I left the store I saw an elderly woman in a wheel chair …

I instantly knew this was my assignment so I approached the woman pushing the chair and the elderly woman in the chair and asked if I could pray.  They both said “yes” with great enthusiasm and so I introduced myself, knelt down and asked what the problem was …

The elderly lady in the chair swiftly pulled her sari thigh high, exposing a swollen, braced right knee.  I knelt down before her and laid my hands on her knee and started to pray, explaining as I did that she may feel something like heat, a tingle, or even a wind … or even nothing … and to let me know when and if she did …

She instantly said she felt a wind swirling around her knee … and warmth.  I pressed on praying, telling the story of A who had been healed of two broken legs (see below for related links) and had stood the first day, and had walked freely within two weeks … and I explained how a healing could be instant or it could be over time, coming in the form of a “seed” (thank you Bill Johnson).

I kept praying, feeling the Presence of God strongly as I did so.  She said the feeling was intensifying in her knee … I said it was intensifying on me too … laughing as I flinched a bit with the intensity of the Holy Spirit’s Presence.  She then mentioned the pain in her knee and so I rebuked the spirit of pain, and released the healing oil of the Holy Spirit … and as I did she said the pain completely left.

The anointing seemed to lighten so I asked her about it and she said the sensation was lessening and so lifted I suggested she check it out … by walking …

To my surprised delight, she agreed!

Her daughter-in-law and I lifted up the foot rests of the chair, and she rose shakily to her feet and started to gently check out God’s handy work.  She then straightened some more, took some more steps, smiled and nodded and then reported, with a big smile, that the pain was all gone, and with that she walked off into the store to shop, leaving her wheel chair and her daughter-in-law behind with me …

I turned to the daughter-in-law and placed my hand on the top of her back behind her shoulder, where I felt God said to touch her, knowing that she was next and as I touched her the daughter-in-law’s eyes filled with tears, remarking on the miracle that had just unfolded before her eyes … I gently looked at her and said “it is your turn now, can I pray for you?” and I took her hands in mine and she was visibly overwhelmed with a sense of God’s love for her.  I repeated to her that I had been there for a reason, for a purpose because God loved her mother-in-law … and her so very, very much … it was a God appointment for us both, and it was now her turn to be prayed for because times had been tough, to which she nodded, wept and stood ready to receive knowing now that …

God is Good!

(to be continued …)

Links to A’s story of healing and a family’s salvation (in three parts) see: Part 1 for the start of the story and Part 2 and Part 3 for the praise reports

This one was for him because…God is Good!

Categories As you go, Bill Johnson, Body of Christ, Changing atmospheres, Christian, Matthew 6:10, Obedience, Stopping for the one6 Comments on This one was for him because…God is Good!

We are having our floors resurfaced in our main living area of our home, after many years of life’s wear and tear. This necessitated moving all furniture and family out of the area for a week – effectively requiring us to find somewhere else to stay … and so we took the opportunity and headed down Great Ocean Road along our rugged, and very beautiful, Victorian coast line.

We left a day late, life being what it has been recently … too frantic, too busy, too stressful, and we arrived midday Saturday.  On our arrival we hurriedly got ready for our inaugural wander on the beach, with plans to stop and have a Devonshire tea (well scones) at the conclusion of our beach walk …

As we went down the stairs I saw a man and his wife waiting for the lift on the ground floor.  He was not quite elderly, but he had a walking stick and so I called out to my five-year-old to not hit the lift button since someone downstairs needed it more than him … he loves going up and down the lift even though it is quicker to take the stairs.  I walked on through the foyer smiling at the couple and gathering together my children, not noticing anything else in particular …

My husband had mentioned that we had forgotten something and so I said we would wait on the beach for him as he went back to the apartment …

We waited … and my husband seemed to take an extra amount of time …

Eventually, he ran onto the beach and said he had stopped to pray for someone … I laughed knowingly and said “it was the guy with the walking stick wasn’t it?”

He said “yes” and went on to explain that he had noticed him and immediately felt God’s prompting to pray for him.  Trying to ignore it he came down the stairs, realised he had forgotten something, went back into the apartment and as he walked back out of the apartment he walked straight into the guy and his wife who had got out at the wrong floor … or so they thought … my husband knew better … it was a God appointment for him!

As he told the story I said I had seen the guy but had thought nothing of it except that he needed the lift more than my son … in comparison, my husband had seen him and knew that he was meant to pray from him, and even in trying to ignore the prompting, God had set the encounter up in a way that was unavoidable and so to not stop would have been blatant disobedience …

And so, my husband obeyed, stopped and offered to pray … knowing that this one was definitely for him …

The couple happily agreed to the prayer and my husband prayed what he felt God was prompting him to pray … that he would have lightness in his step and that their time would be filled with unexpected favour …

We are all being called … more and more … it is not just the ones and twos that are called to release Heaven on earth … but all of us who believe … for Jesus told us how to pray … “on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10)…it’s not hard … but it is challenging …

There is a surge, a ground force, a wave arriving and hitting the Body of Christ … people are choosing to display God’s love in tangible ways … they are taking “risk” … which is walking in faith (thank you Bill Johnson) … and choosing to offer God’s goodness, His kindness, His blessings to the world at large … and, as the Body of Christ rises up to be all we are called to be, God’s goodness will be displayed and atmospheres will be changed with His glory, with His goodness … and I believe that even if nothing seems to happen at the time they have at least, as Heidi Baker puts it, had a “love encounter” … they will know that God loves them enough to send someone to them to stop, go out of their way and offer to pray …

The results are God’s … our place is to listen, stop and offer … their choice to accept or not …

A swing and a hit or a swing and a supposed miss makes no difference … every attempt matters, every attempt is a success …  just to swing, just to listen stop and obey God’s prompting will affect the atmosphere, will affect the nation … just as a bat that swings and misses causes shifts in the air around it … so too our obedience in stopping for the one … just stopping and offering makes the difference …

As we offer, seeds are scattered …  the rest is up to a loving God … and the results, no matter what we think … are always good if we are acting out of obedience because we serve a good God … a kind God … a loving God … we may never know the outcome of our obedience or the outcome of our display of love and compassion, but we can always be sure that through obedience we change destinies, we change people, we change nations because …

God is always Good!

And unto us a child is born … Praise report of a Good God! healing of cerebral palsy …

Categories Bill Johnson, breakthrough, Cerebral palsy, Christian, Danny Silk, Dreams, faith, God is good, God's love, healing, Isaiah 9:6, Leif Hetland, Love, Matthew 7:11, miracle, Power of the testimony, Power of words, praise report, prayer, Prophetic promises, Proverbs 18:21, Revelation 12:1116 Comments on And unto us a child is born … Praise report of a Good God! healing of cerebral palsy …

In this world of instant this and instant that, how many times do we miss what God is doing and somehow give up on a miracle that may have already started to happen, if we just hung in there to see it to maturity?

Do we speak life … or death over our worlds for “life and death is in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).  Do you speak life, and celebrate even small beginnings, or do you speak death in discouragement and disappointment …

This is a brilliant testimony of God’s goodness.  A healing, blooming into fullness over time … it is still continuing even as I write …

This testimony (lengthy but so worth the read) was sent to friends of mine.  My friends had the same type of healing take place in the life of their own boy, who is now a grown man.  My friends’ child had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy too and was later declared infertile … he has since grown into a completely healthy functioning adult man who is a happy husband and father …

My friends did not give up and continued to pull down on the Promises of God and while doing so they also foster cared for over 70 children … I know … it amazes me too!

So, I ask … what miracle is around the corner for you?  We all love the instant fixes, the eyes that open, the ears that hear, the lame that walk instantly, but often a healing can be a process … it comes as a seed that must grow … and in that process there is a coming closer into relationship with a loving Father God, who wants good things for His children (Matthew 7:11)…

I believe we must celebrate all stories of breakthrough, all stories of triumph, for in each story of breakthrough is the promise of our own breakthrough … this is why I love these stories … God is no respecter of persons and … “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…” (Rev 12:11) … there is power in the blood and in the word of our testimony … and so read and prepare for the hour of breakthrough in your own life and be blessed as you declare His goodness in your own lives and into the lives of others …

My friend writes:

We became involved in this because of the miracles in our son P’s life. When A’s parents came forward for prayer, we were called and asked to tell them about our journey [author’s note: there is power in the testimony]. We prayed with them until Bill Johnson and Leif Hetland were free to come and pray. It was such a privilege to be ‘involved’ in this miracle…. HE is GOOD!

The testimony then goes on to say …

In January 2010 my two precious twin daughters were born almost 3 months before they were due, weighing in at only 2 pound 11 oz.

Within 24 hours my first born, A was diagnosed with significant brain damage, due to a major cerebral artery stroke. We were told she would probably die, but even if she did survive we were told she would have cerebral palsy and would never walk, talk properly or see properly and would not function normally in general. A’s younger sister was skinny and premature but ok.

So began our major faith walk with the Lord.

Early on the Lord gave me a dream in which I saw her running to me on the first day she came home from school. I refused to believe she wouldn’t walk. I told the doctors I was expecting a miracle. Jesus was there over her isolette in the ICU ward and He wasn’t going to disappoint us. She was going to be perfect just as He created her.

I cried. I screamed at God. How could you let this happen to my darling daughter? Why? My husband and I struggled with our faith. I realized that a faith that hadn’t been tested, couldn’t be trusted.  I clung to Him desperately.

Soon after we got home, after almost 3 months in hospital, we started to see signs of paralysis – symptoms of cerebral palsy. The knots in my stomach got worse and I’d lye in bed at night and couldn’t sleep because I was fearful for her future. The enemy would get in my ear, and harass me that she would never walk.

But, I remembered the hope I have in Jesus and the dream, the promise He gave me.

In May 2011, my daughter and I were at an all time low. She would sit on the floor and sob because she couldn’t move. Big fat tears would roll down her cheeks. She’d watch her sister running around and it would just break my heart. She couldn’t crawl. She could only sit.  Even then, she’d often fall back and smack her head on the floor. The whole right side of her body was paralyzed and in a state of spasticity. All she wanted was for me to hold her constantly and carry her everywhere. That was impossible and I felt like I couldn’t bear it much longer.

I cried out to the Lord … we can’t take much more Lord, we need a breakthrough soon! He said to me she would start walking in August. It seemed too long away but we just clung to the faith He’d given us.

In August I was driving home from a medical appointment and the Holy Spirit hit me hard and said He wanted me to take A down to Melbourne for Bill Johnson to pray for her. Before I got married, I had lived just outside of Melbourne and had attended Stairway Church but now I lived in rural Victoria, 3 hours away.

Bill Johnson and Leif Hetland were visiting Stairway Church that weekend of August 20th. Problem was, their conference was in a few days, and I had no tickets.

In faith, we made plans to go, and believed we were going to receive prayer. My husband and I took our three children (all under 2 years old!) to Melbourne, three hours away. Everything possible seemed to happen to prevent us getting there. We even lost our accommodation, so we had to drive there and back on the same day – 6 hours in total. We waited until the end of the conference, when the ministry team were praying over everyone, and then we walked right through the doors holding A. Thank God no one stopped us. The presence of God was in that place and we were getting in there no matter what! We waited in line and it came time for Bill and Leif to pray for her. Nothing happened…

We left for home believing for a miracle. The kids screamed pretty much the whole 3 hours home. My husband and I were emotionally spent.

The healing started slowly. She started pulling herself up to her knees; then she started pulling herself up to standing. A few months later she was cruising around furniture; and, then she was walking along the fence at the play ground! Then she was walking with us holding onto her two hands.

Before long, she was walking with us holding her one hand, the good one. Then it was walking holding just the affected hand.

And then … we hit a painfully slow period of nothing …nothing…nothing … it was like watching grass grow.

I downloaded Danny Silk’s message on “Master of the Breakthrough”. I knew something was building. We prayed, we declared. We prayed, we declared. Then last Sunday at church we sang a victory song about the deaf will hear, the blind will see, the LAME WILL WALK, the dead will rise, and I believe, that Jesus Christ is alive! We chanted that over and over and danced in the Spirit. We declared A would be dancing on her tiptoes, for Jesus!

The next day, on Monday, I woke up and read this scripture:

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”( Matthew 7:11).

A few hours later – A let go of the couch, and started walking completely alone, towards me!!!

It was an unforgettable, indescribable moment.

She’s wobbly, she is still falling and giggling, but Hallelujah … she is walking due to the amazing resurrection power of Jesus Christ! She is beating all the odds!

A is still learning to use her right arm and hand, particularly her fingers, but we just know that it won’t be long and a complete and total creative miracle will have happened!

She WILL be dancing on those cute little tippy toes. Who knows, maybe one day she’ll play the piano. She has also been talking, I’ve been teaching her to say ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’. Her eyes are perfect, she can see as well as her little sister.

All glory to God! He truly is THE Healer and Restorer. Thank you Lord from the bottom of our hearts! We are so grateful to our King.

A’s testimony to Jesus is going to be broadcast to everyone we come across. He is so worthy of all of the glory. And we can honestly say we are blessed to have been taken through this journey. We just can’t help but spread the word, of, “Look what the Lord has done!!!!” Hallelujah!

Signed AJ

What seed of a miracle has been planted in your world?

What seed of a miracle could you release to others?

If the healing, whether your own or someone you love, or someone you have prayed for has not yet materialised in the natural … do not lose faith, but know the breakthrough is there … the breakthrough of another holds the promise of the breakthrough in your own life …

For unto us a child is born … (Isaiah 9:6)

And I know all this is so because …

God is Good!

Post Script: In getting permission to recount this testimony the following comment came back from the family on Christmas Day 2011:

PS: the medical professionals are all saying, it is just unheard of for a hemiplegic cerebral palsy child to be walking before 2 AND without her AFO (ankle foot orthotic). Truly is a miracle!
 
Unheard of in the natural world of medicine … but not unheard of in the world of Jesus Christ because …
 
God IS Good! … Merry Christmas!