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Miracles:
Accidents Addylynn Grace Children Healing Maryah's Story Miscellaneous Salvation Weather O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:1-8 NIV) Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. (John 12:44-46 NIV) When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. (Psalm 94:18-19 NIV) |
When I was eighteen I started doing drugs, and when I was thirty I was introduced to crack cocaine and things got really bad. I am a Mother of three wonderful children and I have a loving husband, and that was all coming to an end because of my addiction. Never did I ever think that I would die from this ruthless drug called crack. It blinded me to the world around me, it made me deaf, and I could not hear the cries for love from my children. It went up into my head and messed up my thinking process, and made its way down into my heart and took away all my feelings of love. Depression and loneliness were my best friends and evil lived within me. But for eight years, every time I had to put my head on my pillow at night, my skin was crawling and I would leave myself and go to another place far away, in my imagination, to a large dirt hill. There were patches of grass here and there, and there were others there, but no one I had ever seen. I never felt scared, and always made my way to the top of this hill. At the top there were people praying all over the place, and in the center of the hill was a big cross. I would sit and pray along with everyone else, and I would always pray for the Lord to take away my compulsion and obsession to use drugs, because I could not and did not know how to stop. And in my dream I would sit and pray until I would go to sleep, and every time I went to the hill it was always twilight, and drizzling, and the air was always crisp and warm. One morning I woke up and I was not feeling all that well. I went to the bathroom to wash my face and allowed myself to take a good look in the mirror, and what I saw for the first time in 20 years of using drugs was death. And at this point I realized I was not put in this world to die from drugs, so I called my husband at work and told him I did not want to die. In a couple of hours I was on my way to live in a Rehab in Lafayette, NJ called the "Sun Rise House" for thirty-two days. I had never heard of it, and I had never sought any kind of help before, but I had just a little bit of faith on the way there. The Sun Rise House sent a little bus to pick me up, and on the way up there I was scared. I didn't talk to the man that was driving much, all I did was stare out the window. The ride took about forty minutes to get there, then the nice man said that if I looked to my left, I would be able to see the Sun Rise House. And I slowly turned to take a look -- I think at that point I turned to stone, because what I saw was the answer to my prayers. There on this hill was the Sun Rise House all alone; an old monastery where monks used to live, and from where I sat I saw the biggest cross on top of that building - from one mile down the road. Do I believe in Miracles? You better believe it. Today I am clean from drugs for almost a year, and once a month I go to Sun Rise House to tell the still-suffering addicts that if they have a little faith and hope they can have this miracle of life too. Today I thank God for everything in my life. I was on drugs and possessed with a devil--it felt like the devil was stealing my soul. I had stayed up for a week with no sleep and, when it felt like I was dying, I called upon the name of Jesus and a peace came over me! I swore I would never take His mercy for granted again. He healed me. I was raised in an atheist family, and the mere mention of God was met with derision and, yes, even hostility. There was a great deal of abuse inflicted upon all five of us children. Our father was prone to violent rages, usually unprovoked. We all fell victim to his horrific beatings, but my sisters and I were also exposed to his pedophilia. My mother was unaware of the molestations, and we were too frightened to tell her. The scars that this leaves on a child's soul are carried into adulthood, and, if not dealt with, manifests in everyday life. Here begins the story of my first miracle. I was a single mother at the tender age of sixteen, and as my beautiful daughter grew up, I found it difficult to show my love. It is not easy for an abuse survivor to express their emotions. I had serious trouble relating to my daughter, and my temper was volatile. The lifestyle I led was conducive to the way I felt about myself. I ran around with a group of hardcore bikers, riding my own Harley, drinking, and doing drugs. If anyone dared to cross me, they would suffer my wrath. I had a tendency to gravitate toward abusive men, until at the age of twenty-nine, I entered into a relationship with a wonderful, loving man, David. He loved me unconditionally, and I couldn't handle it. After several years with him, I ran. I moved from Manitoba to British Columbia to start over. And nothing changed. My pain followed me wherever I went, and so did the drugs and booze. I lived in the beautiful Okanogan Valley, a motorcyclist's paradise. That is where I met Dean and Lila. We became friends, frequently riding our motorcycles together and attending church-related functions. They were Christians, but they never "crammed it down my throat." One evening, Lila and I spent some time together, and we both had too many glasses of wine. Lila began to feel guilty, and I couldn't understand. She tried to explain the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but I was an unbeliever, and met her explanation with anger. In my mind, there could be no God, or He would never have allowed the defilement my father had inflicted upon me. It was around midnight, as I recall, when Lila decided to call her husband. Dean, ever obedient to God's command to spread His gospel, drove the ten miles to my house. He began to tell me about this man called Jesus. Every question I threw at him, he answered with scripture from the Bible and with his many years of knowledge. I was amazed! As he spoke, it was as though a light went on in my head. The reality of the existence of a loving God came crashing through. The Lord had truly lifted the veil! Two days later, my daughter and I attended church with Lila and Dean. As the worship began, I glanced nervously around the room. My eyes fell on a young woman who was dancing with her hands upraised. She seemed to glow from the inside out. Then I noticed that almost everyone there had this same glow. "Whatever they have," I thought, "I want it, too!" I don't recall what the pastor preached about, but when he gave the altar call, Lila leaned over to me and whispered, "If you want to do this, you have to do it on your own." With great trepidation, I ventured forward for prayer. After what seemed like an hour (but was probably only a minute or so), the pastor and his wife approached me. "What would you like the Lord to do for you?" she queried. With tears streaming down my face, I replied, "All my life I've been told that there is no God. If He is real, I want to know Him!" They led me through the sinner's prayer, and immediately I began to sob as never before. Suddenly, I felt as though a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders, and I had been cleansed from the inside out. Or as my loving daughter puts it; I had a shower inside! As I turned to go back to my seat, I saw my teenage daughter standing in the aisle, watching me, and weeping. Then the most incredible thing happened. I felt the walls between us come crashing down! It was almost a physical experience. The many years of abuse had formed an impenetrable wall around my heart, and in one fleeting, beautiful moment, the Lord ripped it down as though it had never existed! I was overwhelmed with a new love for my child, and since then, this has never changed. Praise God! My salvation was my first miracle, and my new relationship with my daughter was my second. Two miracles in less than ten minutes! Three years passed by, and as I grew in my Christianity, I had numerous small miracles that many would chalk up to "coincidence." I know better. I found that I was still very much in love with David, although he never answered the many letters I had written to him. I missed him terribly, and wrote to him telling him all about Jesus. I was sure he would think I had lost my mind, but I didn't care. I hoped he might understand, and in turn find God. I would pray, asking the Lord to somehow restore my relationship with David . It was a tall order. We hadn't spoken in three years. One night I prayed, "Father, please show me if I am wasting my time. If we aren't meant to be together, I need to know." Three nights in a row I had dreams of David. In each dream, as I tried to speak to him, he would turn his back on me, and walk away. I felt such sorrow. The Lord had taken me through His healing process for my abuse, and I so desperately wanted to share this with David. I thought perhaps we could start all over again, now that I was made whole. "Ah well, Lord. Your will be done." I sighed and began one final letter to David, a letter of farewell. I told him of my dreams from God, and how I still loved him, but that I had been shown it was not meant to be. I wished him well, and said goodbye. Over the months that followed, I would daydream about being married to David, watching him play bass guitar with a church worship team. Then I would take a reality check and get on with my life. Seven months later, I had another dream about him. This time he didn't turn from me. We walked together, and I told him all about Jesus, and he listened. In the morning, I began to write to him. Then doubt crept in, and the fear of rejection followed close behind. I put the pen down and threw the letter in the trash. Several days later, I related my dream to my house-group leader and dear friend, Mary-Lou. She urged me to write to David immediately. "You have nothing to lose," she said. So I prayed, and put pen to paper. Two weeks later, a package came in the mail with David's return address on it. My heart pounded! I was sure he was returning all the letters I had written to him as a final "leave me alone." With trembling hands, I opened the package and discovered a tape he had made for me, a four-page letter, and some photos! About nine months later, I was attending a service in Rock Lake, Manitoba. As I lifted my hands in praise and worship, I felt a gentle nudge from the Lord. "Look!" He said. "See what I have done for you, because I love you so!" I opened my eyes, and watched my husband, David, playing bass guitar with our church worship team. This time there was no need for a reality check, because God had done the impossible! I fell to my knees, and as tears of joy coursed down my cheeks, I prayed a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. ~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~ Remember those in prison, as if YOU were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as though YOU yourself were suffering. (Hebrews 13:3) ~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~ I was an atheist, far from God in rebellion to him, a drug addict, suicidal, cut arteries to die, was hospitalized for life, given all treatments, nothing worked. After several years as a patient in the hospital I escaped to kill myself and on the way Jesus met with me, He touched me, He healed me, He forgave me, He set me free, and then I asked Jesus to be Lord of my life! I turned from sin with His help. and thirty years later am serving Jesus as my Lord and Savior, my friend! Jesus said go out into all the world preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons (I don't think Jesus would tell us to cast demons out if they were not there). Jesus set this captive free. Praise His Name. God hasn't finished with me yet; I am not perfect but am forgiven! |
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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Corinthians 1:2 NIV)
