Daisies

Two Wednesdays ago we were praying over Megan Stafford, a friend of mine who teaches at Palmetto Middle School. As we were praying over her the Lord gave me a vision for her...

I saw a barren hillside, and on top of that hillside I saw a lone flower at the top, a daisy. The sun was just rising over the hillside, and as it hit the hillside, the beauty of the simple daisy made the barren hillside disappear. As the sun continued to rise, other daisies began to grow and bloom around the original daisy, and soon the whole hillside was full of this simple yet beautiful flower...

I prayed this over her. Afterwards she said "John, that prayer was right on. Sometimes I feel like that is me at school.... But a daisy?" she asked with a laugh.

So why daisies? The next day at school two of her students brought daisies to her classroom. Just evidence of God's love for her and that He never stops in His pursuit of us.

-John L.

Bone Fracture Healed

A couple of weeks ago, I started to get a pain in my left ankle. It wasn't really anything at first so I kept on walking on it. Throughout the day, the pain gradually got worse until midnight when I could barely walk or stand on my own. The next day I went to Redfern and found out that I had a stress fracture. I refused crutches and was on medication so that I could at least walk a little. I kept doing that and eventually, I made it worse. I went onto crutches and got more medication from Redfern. This was 6 days after I got the stress fracture. That night was house church. I went down right when it began but was having trouble with the medication so I went back upstairs and slept on the futon for about 2 hours until I woke up again. Downstairs, they said for everyone to line against the walls and they were going to pray over everyone. I decide to go back downstairs. I was so tired from the medication that I had to have help to get up onto my crutches. I get downstairs and after a while a girl named Jordan comes up to me and asks if she could pray over my ankle. She said that her hands felt like they were burning. I didn't know her and she didn't know what was wrong with my ankle. I showed her where it hurt and she laid hands on me and started to pray over my ankle. When they finished praying, I realized that the side effects of the medication were gone and they tell me to try out my ankle. I set my crutches down and tell them that it felt completely better. I could jump, run, and walk! Jordan then asks what was wrong with my ankle and I tell her it had been a stress fracture. She then proceeds to tell me that she had gotten a vision while she was praying of my ankle with a small hair-line fracture and she saw the Lord's hand go on it and smooth out the bone.

-Rob Ward

Jesus the Heart Chaser

October 29, 2008

House Church

I have been challenged lately with giving aspects of my life to the Lord. This may sound like a daily struggle to most of you, but since the day I accepted Christ into my life I have for the most part coasted through Christianity. I have had my share of valleys, but rarely have I had to literally pray through it. Instead I find myself generally waiting for it to pass, until recently. A situation very close to my heart began to fall apart about a week ago. I am directly involved in this circumstance and therefore had no option of letting it pass. Even if that were an option I would have choose to run after the Lord with everything because I could. I am not sure if that makes sense, but there comes a day when you realize the amazing gift we have of running after God in distress and finding him. Why we don’t utilize that gift daily I don’t know, but this was a day when I could not do anything else. I literally craved the word for the first time I can remember and cried out to my God. He met me there. I found peace, not answers, peace.

This brought me to my first experience of house church. I had never been to a house church before, but a friend consistently sent me emails and invited me. After my indescribable time with the Lord I finally thought why not throw house church in the mix. So I attended. I have seen God do some pretty amazing things in my life and the lives of others through prayer, but the buzz concerning healings on campus has caused me to become skeptical in my faith. I know that God is capable of those things, but I had a huge wall up on my faith to not let it venture down that road. Even with all God was doing in my life to the days prior I went into house church with that attitude, and when I say attitude I mean attitude. I was very honest with the Lord concerning my lack of faith.

House church began with “sharing.” This is when anyone can speak about what God is doing in their lives. One girl began with a story of last week’s house church and how God had used her to heal several of her peers. During her story, I appreciated it, but my wall refused to let me open my heart to it. Needless to say God saw this as a perfect opportunity to break that down. I began to feel nauseous. At first I did not think anything of it. I thought maybe the anxiety over the other situation in my life was taking a toll on my physically, but after pondering that thought there was no reason to feel sick over something I had such a peace about. Why would I be nauseous over that situation when I am no longer stressed or concerned with its outcome? So I moved to evaluating what I ate that day and how I had been feeling prior to this moment. Nothing made sense, why was I sick? The second I ran out of options of explanation it hit me. In many of these testimonies of healing often the individual called to pray felt some form of pain in one area that lead them to pray with someone with that same pain, bringing healing. At this moment I was angry. I began to yell at God through prayer. I told, rather commanded, God to forget it. I was not praying with anyone, or asking anyone to pray for healing over me. “I just don’t have that type of faith,” I said. “If that’s what you think you doing Lord you better think again.” By this time the sickness had gotten worse. I contemplated going to the bathroom, but I knew that if I stood up I would faint or hurl. I had never been to this house church and was not familiar with many faces in the room. This is when anxiety came. I was terrified to throw up right there in the middle of the room. I was sweating now, and more nauseous than I have been in years. Out of desperation I gave in and cried out to God. “Fine Lord, I’ll pray, I’ll get prayed for; I’ll do whatever you want just tell me so this will go away, please!” Again this was silent, but powerful. Instantly I was no longer sick. I heard the voice of God speak to me, “I just wanted to know you could be obedient.” I have never felt the Lord so powerfully or rather physically in my life. I still deal with my lack of faith, but I have realized that whether you have the faith to move mountains or not if God wants to use you He will. He is your source of faith. He simply commands your obedience. Let Him rock your world and He will, your biggest problem will become staying on for the ride.

-Jenni Kozlowski

Shoulder Healed

My story begins in December of 2007. While on a mission trip in Cancun, we found ourselves engaged in an incredible house church one night. As things progressed, the pastor revealed to us that a woman among us had been diagnosed with cancer only a few days before. With incredible boldness he announced that we were going to heal her. As a product of a rather conservative and honestly very boring church growing up, I had never experienced something like this. I joined in though in laying hands on her and praying. It was intense. But still I had doubts. Does God really heal in this way? Is it ok to be this bold and expect, really and truly expect God to move when asked? Questions like this persisted in my head until a week or two after we got back from the trip. We all received an email from the pastor proclaiming that the woman had returned to the doctor and no signs of the cancer were found. I didn't know how to handle it- 'whoa', was about all I could come up with. It was odd thought how even through being part of a miracle I still couldn't accept it fully. I prayed and begged for faith like that of a child's.

My struggle with accepting miracles continued on into this past summer. It was then that I was given a documentary by a good friend of mine called 'Finger of God'. I was blown away by the stories of miracles and signs that were happening around the world. I wanted this. I wanted this kind of life. Still though it was hard to rewire 20 years of thinking that these things only happened back in 'biblical times'. That is until a few weeks ago…

I was on fall retreat in Charleston just kind of taking a break and waiting around for the next thing to happen when I received a vision. I saw myself standing on stage in Tillman with a lot of people around me. I can't quote what I felt God say cause I'm not sure it was ever in words but I got this overwhelming sense that my shoulder was going to be healed and that it would be an example to the unbelieving. Odd, right? I sat there for a second and honestly just thought, 'ok'. Later my thoughts were sent kind of all over the place, the main one being 'why now?', because I had lived with pain in my shoulder for 4 years and had basically come to the point of accepting it. I kept the vision in my mind over the next few days with a little bit of anticipation. Transition happened to be in Tillman that week and I wasn't exactly sure if it was going to happen there or at FCA. When it didn't happen at Transition I went to FCA with a weird easiness and expectation. As Drew became quiet I felt God tell me that this was it, and I better be bold enough to go down there. So Drew pauses and asks if anyone has a right shoulder problem. I think to myself, 'ok, lets go'. I raise my hand and he asked me to come down. As I did I saw others approaching the stage to pray for me. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced. As they prayed I felt coolness and relief pour over my shoulder that had felt nothing but tightness and pain for years. I have never felt so light. The most incredible thing to me were the healings that occurred in the seats during the prayer. I was told two people had their shoulders healed while sitting in their seats and another was healed afterward. Intense, ridiculous, and unbelievable. This is what I want more of. I realized that night that its not a matter of how much faith you have but that you have faith at all, even that of a mustard seed is enough for you to see and experience the glory of the Kingdom of God.

-Alex Fagan