The Answer To My Question

In October 2020, when I was 49 years old, God led me to leave a home prayer meeting. I had been a part of that group since I was 7 years old. It was devastating, but I knew it had to be done based on the experiences and dreams God gave me. When I left, I knew I wouldn't be able to find another place to worship like the one I was accustomed to. Truly, I had no desire to look for another place anyway. With that said, I knew I needed to do something, so I thought creating a website for my testimonies would be a good path forward. I started writing my testimonies on a website builder, but I didn't know how to publish it. So, I put it on that "invisible shelf" we use when we don't know what to do at the moment.

In the meantime, about a year after leaving the home prayer meetings, a couple I had known since I was a teenager reached out to me. I started spending time with them. They had also left the same home prayer meetings years before I did. They were worshipping in a new place, but had only been there a few years. They would occasionally ask if I wanted to join them, but I wasn't interested. They told me it wasn't the same as the prayer meetings we know, which didn't surprise me. That was likely the main reason I stayed away.

About a year later, I finally decided to go. I only went because someone else going there was seeking the Holy Ghost, and I wanted to be there to pray them through. When I arrived, I ended up being deeply touched during my very first visit. I felt God knit my heart with the people there. Long story short, I attended services there for about three years. Eventually, I felt led by God to leave that place too, due to some things that happened that I could not agree with or be a part of.

Before I left, I was mowing my lawn one day. As I was pushing the mower, I asked God, "What does it take for people to understand the truth?" He answered me with the scripture from Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

After that scripture came to me, God showed me how He gave Peter his experience on the rooftop in Joppa, and how He gave Paul his experience on the road to Damascus. Their experiences helped them preach the Gospel after Jesus died. Then, God showed me a scene of Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden, illustrating how Eve was deceived by a mixture of truth and deception. That entire experience—receiving the scripture, seeing Peter and Paul’s experiences, and the final scene in the Garden of Eden—was everything in a nutshell of what God wanted me to understand. Our testimonies help us grow in God. They help us recognize the deceptions and lies that are masked with partial truth, so we can avoid sin and the punishment like Adam and Eve received.

I feel that experience was confirmation from God that it was time to work on getting my testimonies onto a website, and here it is! As I said in my introduction, it may not be fancy, but please be patient with me, just as Jesus is patient with all of us. I am the only one working on this and proofreading it. I actually just caught myself using the word "seen" instead of "scene," so you might find little things like that! Please look past those small errors and focus on what is truly important.

Ultimately, I have learned that you must always wait on God before doing anything, even if it looks or feels like a great idea. Our experiences and testimonies show our connection to God through Jesus. That is how we learn to do God's will, please Him, and receive eternal life with Him.

How Website Was Named "Pure Warrior For Jesus"

One day, my mother told me how I got my first name. When I was born, she named me after her best friend's sister. I can't remember if she told me then or at another time that my middle name was the same as hers, but I know she mentioned she didn't like that name. Since she had named my brother after her father, I asked why she didn't name me after her mother instead. Her answer was actually quite funny. She said, "I was drugged up on medication from having you! The doctor came in asking what I was going to name you, and I just blurted out your name without even thinking!" I didn't really like my middle name either, and her mother's name would have been prettier. However, it wasn't bad enough that I ever thought about changing it.

Later on—I don't remember exactly when, but it was back when the internet first became available—I decided to search for the meaning of names. When I discovered that my first and middle names together meant "Pure Warrior," I was so glad God led my mom to give me the name I have. Needless to say, if my middle name had been her mother's name, it would have meant "Pure Bitter."

I am not going to disclose my actual name here. I feel it is safer for me not to right now, and I have a few other reasons as well. Additionally, the reason I don't want to share the middle name that belonged to my grandmother is that I do not want to offend anyone else who might have that name. With that said, a name doesn't always define who you are. My grandmother was a very happy person. She never showed a bitter side when I was around her, though I wasn't able to spend much time with her since I lived about nine hours away. I never heard anyone else say she showed a bitter side either, including those who had the pleasure of being around her often.

On the other hand, "Pure Warrior" truly fits me. If you read all of my testimonies, you will see how true that title has become through the dreams and experiences I have received from God. Interestingly, I hadn't even thought about using the name "Pure Warrior" when I first attempted to build a website years ago. Looking back, discovering this meaning feels like another sign that God was helping me, confirming that it was finally time to begin this website.

My Parent's Experiences Before and After I Was Born

I am going to start with my dad and I wish I could share my father's testimony in his own words, but I am not able to, due to copyright laws protecting it on another website. I will not be sharing his name either, because that will protect me from crossing any fine lines of the copyright laws as well. Anyway, his testimony is about GOD, not him. He was only a vessel used, like we all need to be. There will be some things that I know about that he didn't tell on the other website, which will be good to share too.

I will start with his childhood, so you know how it was for him as a child. My dad told me his family was wealthy at one time before he was born in July 1936. It was the 1929 stock market crash that caused his family not to be wealthy anymore, because they had bought most of their stock in gas. Probably due to this, his father was bitter and unloving and his mother may not have been like his father, but I don't remember him ever saying he felt loved by her either. His dad didn't ever go to church and his mom grew up Methodist, but she had never been to church since she married. My dad told me he would get whipped every day by his dad, it didn't matter if he had done something wrong or not. Dad had an older sister and a younger sister and I never thought about asking if they were ever treated the same way. I don't think they were, but I do remember him saying he didn't look like his father's side of the family, like they did, so that's why his father and his side of the family didn't like him. His father was an excellent wood carpenter though, but didn't want to show my dad how to do that. There were other opportunities his father could have shown him to do, but he didn't. I want to add this note, if my dad had the wealth, loving family or better opportunities to make a living, he wouldn't have been living a life for God like he did.

When he was a teenager, his sister married, but ended up divorcing him, though he still would come around and visit. One day he asked my father if he wanted to go to a church with him and dad said he would. Dad told me that was the first time he had seen a holiness meeting, and it scared him, because they were jumping, shouting and running around, and he didn't know what to think at the time. Dad said he was never asked to go to church again, but if he had, dad said he didn't want to go anyway. I also remember dad saying he never laughed or made fun of what he saw, he felt he needed to respect it even though it scared him even if he didn't understand it.

After dad graduated from High School, dad said he knew he needed a good job and I think I remember him asking his dad about what job he should get. His dad helped him get a job with the glass factory, because his father knew some people there. I can't remember how long he said he worked there before thinking that he should enlist in a branch of service, because it was also during this time the government was drafting men and dad wanted to make sure he got into the Air Force. Dad wasn't a pilot or anything like that. He just refueled the aircraft, which was fine with him. He just liked being around aircrafts anyway. He was stationed in Korea for a while and then stationed at Mac Dill AFB in Tampa, Florida. It was there he met mom at some party through mutual friends. My parents got married and moved back to where dad's family lived in Indiana and went back to working at the glass factory.

Dad and mom lived in Indiana for about 6 years and had my brother during that time. Mom was raised in a Methodist church and mom wanted dad to go with her, and he did and ended up claiming to be saved and was water baptized. He said after doing that, he really didn't feel like anything changed in him or in his life.

My parents wanted to live south, where they were about halfway from my dad's family in Indiana and mom's family in Florida, so they ended up in North Carolina. My dad did say he would have preferred moving to Florida to be closer to mom's parents and there was a moment it almost happened that he could transfer to a job with the glass plant, but it fell through. Dad found out later that someone that didn't like dad being hired there influenced someone to not hire dad and that's why it didn't work out. Dad said he was furious, but when he started living for GOD, he realized he wouldn't have had the life GOD had given him if this guy hadn't done what he did, so he was able to not hold any grudges and be bitter about it.

My parents started looking for a church after moving to NC. There was another Methodist Church they tried and dad said he "got saved" and baptized in water again, and again wasn't satisfied. Eventually, he stopped going and tried other places and sometimes there were a few years they didn't go anywhere.

Dad told me GOD helped him from the habit of smoking, which he started after graduating from high school. Dad said he would smoke them after meals and while watching ball games on TV. He said cigarettes were getting in his way and thought if he could get through not smoking any on Saturday and Sunday, then he knew he could quit and, sure enough, he did. He never smoked again and didn't have any desire to either.

My parents started going to another Methodist church after Dad was invited by a guy he worked with. I don't recall how long they had been attending when Dad said they asked him to become a deacon, and later, chair of the board of deacons. All I know is they were there long enough to renew their wedding vows, because I remember Mom wearing a pretty green dress. Mom said when they first got married, it poured down rain, and it turned out that when they renewed their vows, it also poured down rain on that day too. I also remember I didn't like the Sunday school teacher; she was not a nice lady. Anyway, back to the story of Dad being asked to be a deacon: Dad said this scared him because he knew about the scriptures in 1 Timothy 3 concerning the life of a deacon. He knew he didn't qualify, so he kindly told them he couldn't accept their offer, and he ended up leaving there too.

Dad started being a part of the Full Gospel meetings around the mid-70s. While he was attending those meetings, Mom one day was watching the PTL Club and learned about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and wanted to know more about it. He asked some of the men he gathered with from Full Gospel, and they said it was nothing he had to have; it was just an extra blessing.

A few months went by. I think every Saturday morning, Dad would get up very early to meet with the Full Gospel men to pray for their city. While they prayed, Dad noticed that some of them would pray in tongues, and he liked the feeling he felt when he heard them. After they were done praying for the city, Dad asked them to pray for him to receive the Holy Ghost, and he did receive it on September 22, 1975. During this time, my parents also attended bible studies at the homes of Full Gospel members. My mom found a gospel tract about receiving the spirit, enjoyed what she read, and started ordering other tracts. However, these tracts were not affiliated with the Full Gospel ministries.

My mom was watching the PTL Club one evening when my dad came home from work. Jim Bakker was praying for a person who had a sore that doctors said couldn't be healed. Dad had a sore like that himself. As soon as he heard what Jim Bakker said, Dad felt the power of the spirit fall on him and knew he would be healed. He could feel it all up and down his body. The healing did take two years, but he eventually discovered it was gone. One day, he needed to apply medicine to that same area for a different issue. That's when he heard an audible voice telling him not to apply any more medicine, because both problems were healed.

My dad told me that when he was looking for something else in his concordance, he saw the word "praise." The moment he saw it, he knew he needed to find all the scriptures with that word. After studying the word, he realized God loved and required his children, with His spirit, to praise Him. Not long after his Bible study on that word, he was somewhere listening to a quartet from the Full Gospel sing. While watching and hearing them sing, one of the men in the quartet started praising God, and Dad started praising God with him. Several people around him rebuked him, and he quenched the spirit, but as a result, he felt horrible from head to toe. It wasn't a physical sickness; it was spiritual, like a heaviness, a burden, or a correction from God. From that experience, he knew he needed to find a place that truly did praise God, but for now, he stayed with the Full Gospel and trusted God would help him find a new place.

Dad said there was this lady he would sometimes see at the Full Gospel Meetings, and they would talk, and she would invite dad to their home prayer meetings that her husband was the pastor. Dad went home to discuss it with mom, and it turned out it was the same pastor mom had been ordering the gospel tracts from. They decided to go visit them soon, and they were only a few blocks away from where we lived, and they did and after meeting them they went to the next home prayer meeting they had. Note here, when I told this part of the story to people, I thought they didn't realize it was the same couple until they met them for the first time. I didn't realize it was before they met them. I think I like my version better....lol. I love the fact that God was working on them from both sides to end up in the same place.

My parents went to the first meeting and people were praising God like dad wanted to praise God! He saw shoes flying, people dancing and everyone enjoying the spirit falling in the meeting that day. Dad knew he found the place he wanted to be a part of due to the people praising God in that prayer meeting. One thing he noticed was that no one took up a collection to pay tithes and offerings, so dad asked the pastor about it when visiting him at his house. The pastor said he could just pay him and so, every week when dad got paid, he would visit the pastor to pay his tithes and offerings.

A month and a half had gone by, and dad heard the pastor say something that he didn't recall him saying before when visiting him at his house one evening. He said that no one is saved until the end and the Holy Spirit is the new birth experience. It scared dad when he heard that because everywhere he went before, he said you had to be saved and believe you were, or you had no hope. Dad told the pastor someone had not told him the truth, and he had to go home and pray to find out and that is what he did. The pastor was glad that dad wanted to find out what was true, so dad left and started praying right when he got home. When dad prayed, he liked to go on the railroad tracks that weren't far from the house. He went there every night to pray. When he started praying, he first asked God was the Holy Spirit the new birth? He said the spirit started from his feet, went up through his body, and it went up through his arms as he started raising his arms to praise God! He kept feeling the spirit, never like that before, but it confirmed that the pastor was telling him the truth. Then dad told God, I will never believe in the saved doctrine or tell anyone that lie again. Then the spirit started from his hands and moved all the way down to his feet and dad told me he felt like he was walking in the air, because he can't remember feeling the railroad tracks under his feet. He said it was a wonderful experience and thankful God let him understand and believe the truth.

I remember dad having very bad headaches. He wasn't getting any relief when taking medicine for it. There were a few nurses that went to the prayer meetings and told dad he needed to see a doctor right away. I can't remember the details, but I remember dad telling me his blood pressure was high enough that it could have caused him to die, because I remember crying when he told me. Thankful God kept him alive until he was able to get it under control.

Dad had another medical issue that occurred in his neck. It was very intense pain, and he was miserable, because it was so bad. He went to the hospital in town and the hospital out of town, and he couldn't ever get any relief. This one lady, who was a nurse who attended the meetings, wanted to help dad, but wasn't sure how, so she prayed God would help her help him. She came over to our house and I can't remember the details, but she was able to get him relaxed enough to get him to finally be able to sleep. It turned out it was a ruptured disk in his neck, and they had to operate on him to fix it. I never heard him have any more pain before or after the operation.

Dad was going to fly with someone who invited him to ride with him in a 4-seater plane this person owned. Dad lived in Henderson, NC at the time, but the plane was at an airport in Louisburg, NC and on the way there dad said the spirit fell on him to pray. He prayed in tongues the whole way to the airport, but he didn't know why. Finally, they got to the plane and took off okay, but not too long after taking off, the plane began to have engine trouble and I think I remember it stopped running all together. The man that was flying the plane was able to glide it into a farmers field without it crashing into anything or hurting them or anyone else. Dad then realized why GOD had him to pray, because if he hadn't, the story would likely have been a different outcome.

I am sure my dad had other testimonies and as I remember them I will share them. Come back to see if there is anything new if my father's testimony encouraged or helped you in some way. If I do think of something else, I will try to include it where I think it happened within the time frame above.

My dad passed away in June 2011.

Now I want to share my mother's life about how she grew up and came to God. I wish it was in her own words, but unfortunately it isn't. I will start it like dad's testimony, sharing how things were for my mother as a child. She was the 2nd child of 5 siblings, 3 sisters and her brother was the youngest. Her father was kind of a quiet person and was able to paint portraits and her mother was more outgoing and could get along with everyone. Mom had the talent for drawing with colored pencils and chalk, so she took after her dad there. She tried to have a close relationship with her mother, but she felt she couldn't quite have it like her sister, who was born after her, who was 3 years younger. When mom tried so hard, she always ended up messing something up that made her feel more of a separation than she already felt from her mother. Her mother, though, wasn't the kind of person to hold grudges, so it wasn't like that, but mom could still feel she couldn't get it right to receive the acceptance she wanted from her mother like her sister received.

One thing I remember mother telling me that I thought was so sweet and made me wish I had done the same thing as a child, but I never thought of doing it. My mother had started a scrapbook at a very young age, and it was various things such as flowers, leaves or anything like that she thought was pretty or neat looking. I think she named the scrapbook something like "God's Creation", but can't remember for certain. I knew that she loved doing it until one day she showed it to a girl her age and the girl said it was stupid, and she didn't care to look at it. My mother said it made her feel so bad for the girl to say that, so she stopped doing the scrapbook. That was so sad to me that she was influenced to stop doing that, because of how neat it would have been if she had continued it and maybe had a big collection of scrapbooks to share.

Mom told me one day she was alone at home and was watching TV when she was a teenager, and it was someone preaching something. The preacher asked while she was watching the program, "Do you believe in Jesus?", or it may have been "in God." I can't remember which she said, but she was touched and started shouting, "I believe," and she said this more than once while tears flowed from her eyes.

One day when mom was in school, maybe a couple of years before graduating, she realized that she would need to marry, because she knew she didn't have the ability to take care of herself, so she prayed that God would send her a good husband and he did. After graduating from high school, mom worked at a bank, but it was a behind-the-scenes type of job, which they called them clerks, and they just added columns, filed papers or helped out with other things like that. I don't recall her saying she loved the job, but I don't remember her saying she didn't like it either, but while working there she did meet my dad, but it wasn't at the bank. She ended up quitting only because she was getting married.

She was 19 when she and dad married, and she left home for the first time to live in Indiana, where his family was. It was very difficult for mom when she met dad's family. It was worse than what dad said it would be like, and she tried to go back home, but her mother said she couldn't come back. I am not sure why her mother said that, but I think I remember mom saying her father wouldn't have minded. Anyway, she managed to get through it and had my brother in June 1961. They lived in Indiana all together for about 6 years, I think, and they moved to Henderson NC when dad was able to transfer to a job there.

She ended up becoming depressed and had to start taking medicine at some point, but I can't remember exactly when she started taking meds. I can only remember her telling me she was taking tranquilizers while she was pregnant with me and I didn't move much while she carried me. She was concerned about me not moving much, but I was doing well enough to be born June 1971. I do remember my parents had to move to a bigger home before I was born and that was the home I was raised in until I was old enough to move out. Mom worked off and on while raising me and my brother, but she was a homemaker most of the time. She took up smoking at some point, but I can't remember when she did that, but she smoked a lot while I was growing up.

I remember mom telling me one day her and dad decided to pray together. After they finished praying, they both said they each heard that they were not saved. I don't recall her telling me what led them to pray together. They just did and that was what happened.

When mom watched the PTL Club and saw someone speaking in tongues, dad walked through the door coming home from work, and she told him she wanted that. Mom sought the Holy Ghost for years, before she finally got it in the summer of 2004. I will share later how she finally received the Holy Ghost. I am trying to keep it in order the best I can remember.

When mom was visiting someone's house, they had a gospel tract, and she started reading it and the moment she read it she knew what it was saying was right. She would order and pass the tracts out to anyone that she could, because she knew it was the truth. This was at a time my mother worked and there was a guy she worked with that was the son of the man who wrote the tract, but I never recall him saying he ever told my mother this when I met him after we started going to the prayer meetings. I only remember him saying he remembered her puffing on a cigarette talking about GOD. Anyway, this is around the time she met the man that wrote the gospel tracts and my parents started going to their home prayer meetings.

As my mother got to know the people more in the prayer meeting, it got to a place where my father was accepted more than she was. I think my mother was very sweet and nice to people and when they weren't in return she never knew how to deal with that. When she tried to confront someone about it, they would say she was a victim. Anyway, she managed to endure it one way or another for many years and during all that time she sought for the Holy Ghost, only to see other people getting it. She saw dad, my brother and I getting it too, but she was the first that started seeking it. She couldn't understand what was going on. Note here, I do believe part of the problem for it taking so long was due to someone telling her she had it, instead of God confirming it. I think mom did it unintentionally, because she just didn't trust herself, so she always had to confirm it with someone, but when she did get the Holy Ghost, she had no doubt she got it and didn't need anyone here on earth to confirm it. I will share shortly how she received the Holy Ghost.

When I graduated from high school, I went to live in Lexington, NC with someone that was about 12 or 15 yrs older than me. Before a year was up, she found someone and married him and I lived in the rental for a little while longer. Later, I decided I wanted to move back home and I went home to bring mom back to the place I was living to help me pack up some stuff over the weekend. Mom wanted to go back home sooner than we planned, so we did after I got my car worked on earlier that day. When we were on the highway for about an hour and while passing through the Burlington, NC area, my car started to stall while driving on the highway. The lights started dimming, then going off, and the radio turned off, and I had enough roll to exit 147 in Graham, NC, in a fast food parking lot acrose the street from the exit. No cars got in the way during this whole experience before I was able to park. Mom was so nervous and didn't know what to do. The manager let my mom call dad to let him know what happened. It turned out the person that I had lived with in Lexington moved to Graham and lived just up the road with the man she had just married. We called and asked if we could stay the night due to my vehicle breaking down, and they came and got us so we could. Mom broke down crying, because it scared her for some reason. I think she told me later she felt like GOD was punishing her, because I think I recall her saying he wanted her to quit smoking, but she had bought a carton of cigarettes that day and started smoking a pack already. She gave the cart to the couple who let us stay and told them she didn't want to smoke anymore. The woman told me she held onto that carton of cigarettes for a very long time before she threw them away, because GOD had mom go through that to help her be scared enough to stop smoking for good and mom did. She didn't have any withdrawals after putting them down that night either. It might have been an unusual way GOD used to help my mom to quit smoking, but the important thing: GOD knew what it took and that is all that matters.

In 1998, I moved to Burlington, NC and my parents were still in Henderson, NC, but a few years after moving, I wanted my parents to be in the same area I moved to. It wasn't until 2004 that it worked out, though, and we actually moved into the same house together. It helped us both financially to live together, but it also helped as my parents got older too. Anyway, over the years my mother did a lot of crocheting and made a lot of crocheted afghans of so many colors for people in the prayer meetings. One prayer meeting after just a couple of months of moving here, mom went up to the pastor feeling desperate and crying, saying she had done everything she had known to do to get the Holy Ghost and didn't know what else to do. The pastor had compassion and God put it in his heart to tell everyone in the prayer meeting to bring their afghans to the next Sunday meeting. When the next meeting came, just about everyone did, and it was so beautiful to see all the work mom had done for so many people. We are talking about men, women and children with their afghans, and I guess it was around 75 people and maybe more. It thrilled my mom so much to see the afghans all around the room and somehow that helped and encouraged her to push through to receive the Holy Ghost she always wanted. There again, it seems unusual, but sometimes that's how God works, and we need to be ready to do the unusual, so we don't miss out.

After dad died in 2011, mom and I really became close. I was very glad God did that before she died in March 2020. I think her death would have been much harder on me if we had not become close during that time. I took her to appointments then to lunch, and we enjoyed doing things like that together. She loved getting a hazelnut iced coffee from McDonald's and then going to the lake and sitting in the car looking at the water. She has always loved looking at a lake for some reason. I think she said it was peaceful for her.

This is all I can remember about my mom and her testimony she had from God. If I think of others, I will share them.

When I Was Conceived

I wouldn't have known this if my parents hadn't told me, but it is important to share because I see how God was going to make sure I was born. My parents had different blood types that caused serious problems with having children after their first pregnancy. This is known as the Rh factor. For some reason, the first child is usually unaffected, but it impacts the children conceived afterward.

My mother suffered a miscarriage about five years after my brother was born, and my parents didn't plan on having any more children. However, about four years after that miscarriage, I was conceived. It was a complete surprise to my parents. By the time I was born, doctors had finally discovered a way to save babies in these exact situations. I have researched the history of this medical condition online. It looks like scientists actually knew how to treat the issue years before I was born, but because medical technology traveled slowly to rural doctors at the time, certain areas hadn't heard about the treatment yet. Fortunately, the doctors in our area knew about it just in time for my birth.

I was born premature at eight months. My mom later told me the doctor said that if I had gone to full term, I would have been stillborn on my dad's birthday. I was born a "blue baby" because of the Rh factor. To save my life, I had to immediately receive two blood transfusions. My dad told me I was so incredibly small that he was able to hold me in the palms of his hands with my feet just slightly dangling off the edge. I only weighed 5 pounds and 6 ounces. After spending a full month in the hospital, I was finally healthy enough to come home.

Being Healed Before I Was Five

When I was maybe three years old or so, I was sitting in my mom's lap while she was reading a book to me. All of a sudden, I hit my head against her chest. She quickly realized I was having a seizure, and my parents rushed me to the hospital. While we were there, I had another seizure. The doctors told my parents that I would have to take medication for the rest of my life because of this condition.

This deeply bothered my mother. She knew of Ernest Angley and the anointing God gave him to heal people. Somehow, my parents found out he would be within driving distance for one of his healing ministries. I remember traveling there with them. When the time came for him to pray for the people, my mom and I went up onto the stage. He laid his hands on me to be healed. I can't recall my mom ever telling him the specific reason she wanted prayer, but I was completely healed. My mom had the faith to stop giving me the medication, and I never had another seizure again.

Hearing An Audible Voice

I was old enough to wash dishes at the time, but I still had to stand on a stool just to reach the sink. One day, I was mad at my mom for some reason—probably for making me do the dishes! Thinking I was completely alone in the room, I mumbled something disrespectful about her.

Right after the words left my mouth, I heard my mother's voice clearly say my name in a very firm, correcting tone. I immediately snapped around to look, but absolutely no one was there. The room was completely empty. It scared me so badly that I forgot all about being angry, and I quickly finished washing those dishes in total silence!

How I Received The Holy Ghost

It was January 4, 1981, and I was ten and a half years old. It was a Sunday night prayer meeting and, for some reason, I really wanted to stay and listen to the service that evening. However, there was a girl just a year older than me who didn't want to listen. She talked me into going into a back room of the house with her instead. She suggested we could read the Bible back there, so she convinced me to follow her.

We took turns reading the Bible, going back and forth, chapter by chapter. I can't remember exactly where we were reading or even how long we read, but eventually, we started hearing the sounds of people getting prayed for in the main room. The girl left me to go join them, but I remember wanting to finish reading my current chapter before going in to receive prayer myself. By the time I finally finished the chapter and walked into the main room, everyone had already sat down and finished praying.

I just stood there, unsure of what to do. Not long after, an elderly man spoke up and asked me, "Do you want to be prayed for?" My response was, "I sure do!"

I went up for prayer, lifting my hands, and immediately began to cry as the people gathered around to pray for me. The prayer went on for a long time. Finally, I found myself facing an elderly woman as she knelt down to eye level with me. She began speaking in tongues while holding me gently by the shoulders. As she did, the Spirit clearly spoke to me and said, "Speak back to her, speaking in another tongue." Without a single second of hesitation, I did.

That was exactly when and how I received the Holy Ghost. When that elderly woman was speaking in tongues, she wasn't doing it to coach or encourage me to imitate her, and I never felt that way while she prayed. I simply had the faith to believe what the Spirit told me to do, and I did it.

A Dream Of Jesus Coming Back

When I was young, maybe around eleven or twelve years old, I had a dream about Jesus coming back. Before going to sleep that night, I was lying in bed feeling very thirsty, but I guess I was just too tired to get up and get a drink of water.

I eventually fell asleep and dreamed that I got up and went into the bathroom to get some water. As I was drinking, I looked outside through the bathroom window. The stars were falling from the sky and disappearing right before they hit the ground. Suddenly, they stopped falling and began circling around in the sky toward the right. As they circled, Jesus came right through the center of them like a superhero, speaking in a loud voice. The moment I saw Him, I raised my hands and immediately began speaking in tongues.

Then, the scene changed. Jesus was calling out the names of those who would be saved. When I heard Him call my father's name, I went right up to Jesus and asked Him if He could wait for my father. He paused for a moment, nodded yes, and then the dream ended.

Years later, I discovered that these scriptures describe a scene very similar to what I saw in my dream:

Matthew 24:29-31
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Mark 13:24-26
"But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory."

I had no idea at the time of the dream that there were verses in the Bible that came so close to what I had envisioned.

However, I didn't truly understand the part about Jesus waiting for my dad until many years later, after my father passed away. I had decided to start writing all of my spiritual experiences down in a journal. As I was typing out this specific dream and reached the part about my father, God suddenly revealed the meaning to me.

In the summer of 2010, my father was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and the doctors were saying he wasn't going to make it. Just about everyone we knew came to the hospital to say their goodbyes. The whole situation was overwhelming, and the reality of losing a parent for the first time was incredibly hard to process.

In the midst of the crisis, I went into a bathroom just outside the ICU doors. I started crying and praying, telling Jesus that I was simply not ready for Him to take my father yet. Amazingly, my father made it through that critical night and fully recovered to come back home. God allowed him to stay with us for about one more year before he ultimately passed away in June 2011.

Looking back, I realized that just like in my childhood dream, I had gone into a bathroom, desperately needing water—only this time, it was the Living Water—and asked Jesus to wait for my dad. And just like in the dream, Jesus nodded yes and granted him more time.

GOD Scared Me Reading A Scripture

I was maybe 13 or 14 years old—I can't remember now—but I was reading 1 Peter 4:18: "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" I don't recall what led me to read the scripture, but all I do remember was going to my mother crying and asking her about this scripture, because it scared me so much after reading it. I pointed to the part that said the righteous will scarcely be saved and asked her how anyone can make it to heaven. Of course, she really didn't know what to say, but I think she said something like, "You will have to trust in God." I do feel like this was the first seed planted in my heart to direct my path towards him, to do his will and not to be influenced by people that looked right.

My experience reminds me of the scriptures in Matthew 19:25–26: "When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." This is also found in Mark 10:26–27: "And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible."

Although these aren't scriptures God used to scare me like he did with 1 Peter 4:18, the scriptures I am about to share parallel well with the one God scared me with. In the KJV, Matthew 7:14 states, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:21–23 says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Finally, Luke 16:15 states, "And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."

When we die, that is it for eternity; there is no coming back to have another chance if we didn't get it right the first time. One thing I have learned is that it takes humility to learn and understand the truth. This life is a vapor compared to eternity with God. It doesn't matter what you or I believe, but what the will of God is for each of us. That is what we have to find out to have salvation.

God Hears Our Whispers

One Saturday morning, I was on my screened-in porch drinking my coffee and thinking about a recent testimony I had heard. At a home prayer meeting, a man had told us about something that happened while he was resting for a bit before starting yard work. A hummingbird flew right up to his face. It startled him at first because it was so close, but when he saw that the hummingbird was just looking at him, he relaxed and enjoyed the experience.

After thinking about his experience, I whispered to myself, "It will be years before that happens to me." During this time in my life, I felt like I wasn't pleasing God. I had made a lot of mistakes and just didn't feel like I was worth much to Him. I wasn't really depressed, taking drugs, or on the verge of committing suicide; I just had a lot of regret. I knew that if I had committed suicide, I wouldn't make it to heaven because one of God's commandments is "Thou shalt not kill," which includes killing ourselves. While I might have been considered medically depressed by some, I wasn't one to take medicine, so I never went anywhere for counseling.

Anyway, I finished my coffee and went out to the yard to pick up tree limbs before mowing. While I was working, I heard something behind me. I turned around and noticed movement in a bush about 15 feet away. A few seconds later, two hummingbirds came out of the bush and flew right in front of me, about an arm's length away. They were so close that I could actually hear them communicating with each other!

A moment later, one stayed in front of me while the other flew around back to check something out. Then, it rejoined the first one, and they both flew off. I stood there, remembering what I had whispered just that morning. I was so thankful that God encouraged me by letting me experience two hummingbirds, not just one. God hears our whispers, He really loves us, and He cares deeply about how we feel!

Because You Got It Right

When I started working for a banking institution, I worked at the front desk, then on the teller line, and eventually ended up in the loan department. There was a lady who supervised me in that department, and she really enjoyed telling me what to do. Other coworkers noticed it too, but there was not much anyone could do about it.

One day, God gave me a made-up mind to do everything she asked without any complaint, no matter what her attitude was toward me. It wasn't that I wasn't already doing my work, but now I had a completely different attitude. This went on for about two or three months—I really can't remember exactly how long—until I got to a place where it didn't matter if she stayed or left. I had humbled myself to the point that her actions didn't affect me anymore.

One day, I found a memo in my box stating that she was being promoted to manager at another branch. You might think I would have jumped for joy, but I didn't. I had truly reached a place of peace where I didn't care either way. I went to her office and sincerely congratulated her, and she thanked me.

Then, I headed back to my desk. The exact moment I walked through my office door, the Spirit said to me, "She is leaving because you got it right." It was worth every bit of humbling myself just to hear the Spirit say that!

God Said The Word Complacent

Let me share with you how God spoke the word "complacent" to me. Sometime around 2004, I was on a trip with my dad, my pastor, and the pastor's daughter to Clinton, Iowa. We were delivering diaries and other civil war items belonging to an ancestor on my father's side to a museum. Somewhere along the trip, we stopped to eat. While we were sitting there eating, I began saying the word "complacent" without realizing it. I repeated it a few times before I finally caught myself saying it out loud. No one looked at me or asked why I said it, even though I knew it was loud enough for them to hear. I believe God gave them deaf ears in that moment, likely because I wouldn't have known how to answer them if they had asked.

I had to look up what the word meant because it wasn't part of my normal vocabulary. I believe that is exactly why God used it; if He had used a word I already knew, the experience might not have felt as supernatural. I remember asking the pastor's daughter for the definition, and I learned it means showing a smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements.

At first, I had to ask God what He was trying to tell me because I had no idea. I broke down the definition. "Smug" means showing an excessive sense of self-satisfaction, often with an air of superiority. "Uncritical satisfaction" means being so pleased with oneself that you become unaware of potential dangers, deficiencies, or the need for improvement. None of that description sounded like me.

As I sought a clearer understanding, the only meaning that truly resonated in my spirit was this: God was showing me that He was entirely satisfied with the way He made me, no matter how others thought or felt about me. The people I worshiped with often acted as though I lacked something, especially because I was raised by a mother who suffered from depression. People were trying to fix things in me that God didn't need any help with. There is a divine rightness to how God forms us that goes way beyond what human beings can understand. He is perfectly justified and righteous in how He views His creation.

Remarkably, while writing this testimony down, God helped me realize something I had never seen before. I can now see that He was planting a seed in my heart to prepare me for something that would happen about five years later—which I share in my next testimony, "Do You Want To Be Right Or Righteous?" I never put those two things together before, but it fits perfectly. The way the pastor's daughter treated me years later showed that she was the one operating in complacency. When God had me speak that word out loud in 2004, it helped me later, but it was likely meant as a quiet warning for her at the time since I asked her directly what it meant.

Even if she didn't recognize it as a warning, it didn't have to function that way outwardly. In the Spirit of God, things operate on a level this flesh can never fully understand. It is entirely a matter of the heart. It is up to each individual to guard their own heart so they can heed God's warnings and continue to grow in Him.

Do You Want To Be Right Or Righteous?

I would have to say that this testimony marks the true beginning of God working on me spiritually. I didn't realize it at the time, but once I made it to the other side, I knew it was entirely worth going through.

It all started when the pastor wrote a book. The names of the people who requested it from the website were put on a list so we could contact them a month or two later to get their feedback after reading it. I decided I wanted to try and help out, so the pastor’s daughter took charge of sending out the list and training the volunteers on how the process worked and what to do.

When I received my first list, I worked on it whenever I could, occasionally asking questions along the way. One time, I was unsure about a specific detail, so I asked her about it. I saw that she was right about it and followed through with what I needed to do. Later, another question came up, and I asked about it, assuming everything was moving along exactly as it should. However, I soon found out that other volunteers had received a new list, but I hadn't. My previous list wasn't completely finished, but I knew in my spirit that something wasn't right, so I decided to call her.

I think I called her a few times before she finally picked up. I asked her why I hadn't received the new list when everyone else had, explaining that I didn't understand what was going on. Her response was, "I know you don't understand." It was so condescending and belittling that I was completely floored by her reaction. I can't recall the rest of the conversation, but she planned to come over to my house later that day to talk more about it.

After hanging up, I called the pastor and told him what had happened. He acted like he didn't want to deal with the situation, but I kept talking to him anyway. While I can't recall the specific details of my conversation with her now, I remember sharing them with the pastor at the time, and it turned out that everything I told him perfectly aligned with what he would have said to her himself. The only thing I hadn't done yet was what the pastor suggested: he told me I had every right to refuse to let her into my home when she arrived. I agreed, so when I hung up with him, I called her back, got her voicemail, and said something like, "I don't want you coming to my house because you are getting a little too big for your britches." I think I said a bit more than that, but I can't quite remember now.

Later on, the pastor called my dad to say that our daughters weren't getting along, and he asked if we could all meet at his house to discuss the issue. I didn't understand why my dad was being brought into the middle of this; we were both adults, not children, and I was actually about eight years older than the pastor's daughter. When we arrived, I noticed that other church members I regularly spent time with were also there. Once again, I didn't understand why they were being dragged into the middle of our issue, but we proceeded anyway.

I can't remember the exact sequence of events, but I believe I spoke first, and then she explained her side and why she had stopped sending me the lists. As it turned out, she simply didn't agree with some of the responses I was sending to the people on the list. Fortunately, during the discussion, I didn't sense anyone taking sides, which was a good thing.

However, one moment stood out that I will never forget. After we finished settling the disagreement, the pastor's daughter looked at me with the sweetest disposition and said, "I love you!" You would think that hearing the pastor's daughter say those words would be comforting, but it actually felt horrible—which deeply surprised me. I almost felt guilty for reacting that way. While everyone else in the room cooed, "Awww," I just sat there feeling completely repulsed. At the time, I didn't understand why I felt that way, but looking back, I recognize it was a manipulation tactic. It was the very beginning of me learning how to discern deceptive spirits like that.

Eventually, I began working on the lists again. Before long, I asked her about a response I wanted to send. She instructed me to do it a different way. I disagreed and intended to do it my way, unaware that the instruction had actually come directly from the pastor, because she never told me. Shortly after, the pastor sent me a long text message calling me hard-headed and accusing me of not listening, going on and on with criticisms. I shared the text with my dad, who advised me to just take it in stride and remain calm. I didn't feel like my dad was taking the pastor's side; in fact, I remember him saying, "I don't understand why he is saying all of that to you either." In the end, the pastor's daughter felt triumphant, believing she had proven her point and shown that she was right about me.

Whenever I was around her afterward, she would act in a way that subtly rubbed it in my face that she was right and I was wrong. I can't recall exactly how long this lasted—it felt like months, though it might have been less time. The troubling part was that no one else noticed it; only I could feel and see what she was doing. It was incredibly subtle, but my spirit discerned her actions even though they weren't obvious to others.

Finally, after a Wednesday night service, she was laying out some newly printed family pictures for people to take. I went over and picked up a few. As I walked toward the door to leave, the Spirit spoke to me: "Go over to her and let her know how much you love the pictures, and she will stop doing what she is doing to you." I turned around, went back to her, and told her how much I loved the photos. She smiled, said thank you, and I left. It was incredibly encouraging to receive that guidance from the Spirit because it confirmed that I had been discerning her behavior correctly. True to the Spirit's word, she stopped.

The next experience was the icing on the cake. I was setting up my ironing board and reflecting on everything that had unfolded. I started to ask God a question: "How did all of this happen?" Before I could even finish the sentence, the Spirit spoke clearly to me: "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be like Jesus?" For me, that was an easy choice. I answered, "I want to be like Jesus." Even though I didn't fully comprehend the depth of what that meant at the time, I was profoundly thankful that the Spirit spoke to me, and I felt humbled to receive it.

Later, I wrote her an email thanking her for everything that had happened, explaining that it was completely worth going through the trial just to hear the voice of the Spirit. I shared exactly what the Spirit had told me, placing it right in the center of the email. Her reply was, "That is good, but I don't understand what the center of the email means." In that moment, I knew she truly didn't understand because her focus was on being right rather than being like Jesus. It completely confirmed what I had been discerning from her all along.

A couple of years later, our church was studying another book written by the pastor, and the topic turned to Satan and his character. The pastor explained that Satan always demands to be right and wants his own way without any mercy. As I sat listening, God brought back the memory of what the Spirit had told me years prior, but expanded it: "Do you want to be like Satan (right), or do you want to be like Jesus?"

During the following meeting, we discussed Jesus, His righteousness, and His mercy. God brought the phrase up once more, refining it a final time: "Do you want to be like Satan (right), or do you want to be righteous (like Jesus)?" I love how when you live in the Spirit, everything seamlessly connects and comes together. Worshipping in any other way will always leave you with missing links.

Getting An Answer I Didn't Expect

This testimony is a little funny, but I think it is worth telling, because it is so true. I was at work and was going to the restroom and this question popped up into my head to ask God, "Why didn't you make us so we wouldn't have to use the restroom?" and I went on to say, "I know you could have done it too." I don't recall why I wanted to ask God, except I was just curious on why he made us this way. I didn't expect a response, but he did and said, "It puts everyone on the same level." I knew what he meant, no one can change that regardless how rich or smart someone gets. God's answer led me to think this as well, it reminds us daily that this flesh stinks too!

Getting A Spiritual Embracement

One day after a Sunday prayer meeting and after eating lunch, I got tired and took a nap. It isn't normal for me to take naps, but this time I did. I set down in my recliner to lay back for a nap and I can't remember how long I was there before I felt this presence behind me. I really can't recall if I was asleep or not, but the presence started embracing me. The next thing I remember, I said something to the presence, and it is kind of strange for me to have said this, but I remember doing it. I told the presence, "not too hard" and I actually remember feeling it honoring my request. I didn't feel pain or really anything that would have provoked me to say that. When I was done napping, I wondered why I would have said that, because what I felt was really wonderful. The only thing that I could think of was, it was a way for God to help me to realize it really happened, and it wasn't a dream.

A Vision Of My Father

I was at a prayer meeting and sometime during the meeting someone shared a dream. I think that dream and the message that night may have had to do with something I said to someone a few days before the meeting. What I said I think got thrown out of proportion and context, and it is hard to explain here without going into detail, which isn't needed to share this experience. Anyway, before the meeting ended, people were getting prayed for, and I may have been one of the last to go up and when the pastor started praying for me, he started speaking loudly into my ear, loud enough so others could hear him too. He was saying something like, "When are you going to let go of the past and be happy in God"? It was something like that, and it made me so embarrassed, and it caused me to cry, because of him doing that to me, but I went to my seat as the meeting was coming to an end. I was sitting in the back row, which allowed me to lean my head back on the wall and close my eyes. I wasn't asleep, but at the same time I don't recall anything that was said either. While sitting there, I saw a vision of my dad just looking at me, and he had no facial expressions. As he was sitting there, Jesus was walking behind him and as he walked by, he nudged my father and said she was about to get over something soon. When Jesus did that, a huge smile came over my father's face, it was a smile of being happy for me. If anyone is wondering what Jesus looks like, I have no idea. I can't say how I knew it was Jesus in my vision, I just knew. Later, I went to tell the pastor and his response made me feel he had already heard about it, because I had told the girl that had the dream, because we spent a lot of time together. Anyway, he just asked me what do you think you will be getting over soon. I told him I didn't know, and I didn't, but I felt that he thought it would be something he was still thinking I was holding on to from the past. I can't remember any more of the conversation or how it ended, but I do know I was encouraged more by God than the pastor.

You Believe The Whole Truth

One fall afternoon after a prayer meeting, I walked next door to pick some muscadines that someone grows every year for those that attend the prayer meetings. It was a beautiful sunny day, a little cool with some clouds in the sky. While picking, I was thinking about the meeting and what was preached that day, and I was in awe of what the pastor said.. The funny thing is, I can't remember now what he preached, but it caused me to ask God a question at the time. I asked God, not expecting an answer, "Why are we able to hear the preaching that we hear? I am sure hardly anyone hears the preaching we hear." While picking the grapes and at first not realizing God was using my own voice to answer the question, I was maybe half-way finished before realizing he had answered my question. You will recognize the words that he used to answer the question, but God changed a few words. God said to me, "Because you believe the truth, the whole truth and nothing, but the truth." I can't remember the exact date of this testimony, but I believe it was somewhere between 2013 and 2014. Let me tell you what I didn't believe and still don't at the time of that experience that just about everyone believes today. I don't believe in any ceremony such as water baptism, foot washing, communion, praying for people with olive oil and other things like that I can't remember at this time. Now ask yourself, are you going to believe my experience that I am sharing with you that's from God or the millions of people that believe in ceremonies?

I shared this testimony once with someone and their response was that no one can believe the whole truth. I don't think he said it exactly like that, but I knew that is what he meant. I was shocked that he even said that, especially since I had a testimony from God that it could happen. To me, it is sad that he felt that way, because when someone can't believe a testimony that is from God, they are very poor spiritually. This particular person is looked up to as a leader of this place of worship, and they think he has a lot of knowledge of the scriptures. I fear for him and those that listen to him, because if you can't believe someone's testimony from God, then you are believing things that aren't true and not from God.

What I Use To Think

When I got to the place in my life to realize how important it is to please God, I thought for a long time if I pleased the pastor then I would be pleasing God. I can't remember how I started thinking that way, I just did. Anyway, there was one day I was feeling down about something, but can't remember now what it was about. I decided to watch a movie and mom was watching it with me, and it was about this woman struggling with her marriage and she met this elderly woman that was helping her learn how to get through it by praying. Later in the movie, there is a scene where the struggling woman seems to break through to say, "My joy isn't from my husband or my job" and she said something else like that. Anyway, after she said that, I raised my arms and started praising God and said, while looking at mom, "My joy doesn't come from a pastor either". Something about that helped me realize my thought of pleasing the pastor didn't mean I would be pleasing God. Later, the spirit showed me I had pleased God, but not always the pastor. That did something in my heart that was wonderful. To give you an example of the change God made in my heart, there was something the pastor would say when you pleased him, at least that was the way I took it. He would start by asking you, "How am I doing?" and you would respond, "You are doing fine", and then he would say, "You are too." In the past, I was happy when he did this, because usually it meant I was pleasing him, thinking I was pleasing God too. I did something which caused him to say that, and I remember thinking he was only saying it, because someone he trusted said something positive about me and I knew it wasn't motivated by God telling him. That was the first time I hadn't felt happy after he said that to me. That could have been what my vision meant of my father when Jesus said to him, "She is about to get over something." I am really not sure, because unfortunately I didn't write my testimonies as they happened, so it could have been for something else. I am just thankful I was able to learn that you need to make sure you are pleasing Jesus, because he will be the one we face on judgement day, not the pastor.

God Saying "I Love Ya"

One day I was at the store getting groceries. Going down one of the isles, I saw this elderly man on the cell phone and as I walked by him, I heard him telling the person before hanging up, "I love ya". When I heard it, I just said under my breath, that was sweet and went back to my shopping. I was at the front of the store having to call mom about some yarn she needed and there was more than one shade of the color and I asked which one she wanted. She told me, and I was about to put the shade she didn't want somewhere it didn't belong, but decided that wouldn't be right to do, but I also realized I had forgotten the bottled water that was in the back of the store. As I was headed for the water first, there was an employee on the phone with someone, and she was finishing the conversation with "I love ya" as I passed by. I just said under my breath this time, there's a lot of love in the store today, which I thought was great, of course. After I got the bottled water, I went in the direction of the yarn and as I was passing the infant department, someone yelled out to someone saying, "I love ya," and this time, I started tearing up asking God, "Is that you telling me you love me?" I said, God if that is you, let me hear it one more time. When I went to the yarn, I put the color back mom didn't want and as I turned the cart around to leave, there was the word love written in red on a vase. I was crying while I walked to the register to check out and when I was leaving the store I saw love written on someone's shirt too. The next morning, I was thinking about what happened at the store and realized God hadn't let me hear it a 4th time as I asked, and he said to me, "You got the point", and he was right, I did. Just to top it off, mom wanted me to get red-colored yarn and the brand is called "Red Heart."

Qualities Of God

I want to share what I have learned from my experiences concerning love, mercy, patience, compassion and all the other qualities of God. If you go to anyone you trust for an answer and lets say it is the same answer God would have provided to help someone, you will lack something only God can provide and it is one of the qualities of God you need with the answer. God will use people you trust to help you for a time, but you have to get weaned off them and start having your own experiences and connection with God. The person you trust may have those qualities themself, because they went to God for their help, but they can't transfer those qualities to you with the answer. If you go to someone for help and advice, also go to God to see if God agrees or not and if he agrees he will provide you with the love and any other quality needed to help someone. By doing this, you may have left out something that wasn't said, because God sees it all and knows it all and it may weigh the scales in a different direction. I have found that our walk in God is a 2 way street, when there is a problem between 2 saints, both need to go to God, because God is right and sees every detail. The saint that may be right, needs help from God to stay humble and receive the qualities needed to maybe help the saint that isn't right. God is looking at both hearts and he wants both to love one another with his kind of love and we can only do it through God.

With my experiences from God, I really didn't know what was going on at the time. I feel like now when I look back on the experiences I've had with people, I receive more understanding. It is like going through growing pains, but instead of it being in the flesh, it was spiritual. People that accused me of something, they would go to someone other than God for their answer. I looked rebellious, because I wouldn't receive their help to change like they thought I should. At the time I wasn't intentionally rebelling or had any thought like that, but instead the holy spirit in me was protecting me from receiving that kind of help, because I would become like them instead of like God. Actually, they had good intentions, but it is no good if you don't get God's help to help others. That is what the spirit does, it will protect you even when you don't realize it at the time. I am so thankful for what God has done for me and that's why God has put it on my heart to share my experiences with you!

A New Chapter In My Life

I am still working on this testimony