Living the Journey

Rachel had a serious car accident thirteen years ago. Her skull and cheekbone were crushed and a hundred pieces of glass were embedded in her head. This caused her to suffer many headaches. However, four years ago, she experienced a traumatic event in her marriage, and since then she has had a splitting headache every single day!

During the hour of prayer on Thursday evening of the Mother’s Journey to the Heart, she discovered a cause—a root of bitterness toward her husband. She confessed it to God and her husband and asked God to deliver her from all of its consequences.

The next morning she woke up without a headache. This was incredible! She felt her head to see if it was really true. All that day there was no headache. However, she was afraid to tell anyone, because she thought it might return. Sunday morning she again woke up with no headache! She realized that God had healed her. Her joy was inexpressible!

Rachel’s enthusiasm and excitement grew as she told everyone about her healing. A week later her husband affirmed that no headache had occurred since that day!

4 Comments »

In June, my sister and I were privileged to serve as leaders for one of the Journey teams. Right before the time of prayer and anointing for greater works, Mr. Gothard mentioned that he wanted to pray for my  health. I was puzzled as to why he felt led to pray for my health. I’m basically healthy; however, for more than 10 years I’ve struggled with heart palpitations called premature ventricular contractions (PVCs).

I knew I had allowed these heart palpitations to bring great fear into my life, even though my cardiologist has told me they do not harm your heart and you cannot die from them. I used to experience just a few a day, but over the past several years, my tendency to have them has increased. I’ve experienced days at a time with PVCs every minute. It can be emotionally draining and frustrating. I wasn’t sure what God was going to do through the special anointing session and time of prayer, but I had great peace in confessing my fears and yielding completely to His will.

After the time of prayer I was encouraged, and the day we left to go home, my heart seemed to be doing great. After I returned home I experienced a few… then they subsided. About a week later, they came on in full force. I was really discouraged. God reminded me that true joy could be experienced even in the midst of disappointment. I needed to trust God to work all this for good. One of my favorite verses over the past couple months has been Psalm 94:18-19:

If I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your loyal love, O Lord, supports me. When worries threaten to overwhelm me, Your soothing touch makes me HAPPY.

In His faithfulness, God reminded me that He was in control of my life and all that happens to me. I realized that if He was allowing the heart palpitations, it was for a reason—to grow my character! Whatever His plans are for my life, they are what I desire. I resolved not to allow the PVCs to steal my joy and hope in Him—that would only delight the enemy.

Since coming to those realizations, I’ve been amazed by the calm and steady heart beat God has blessed me with! I can’t explain it except by the grace and power of our God. It is truly miraculous to go throughout my day, to even sit here and type this out, without feeling any weird thuds from my heart!

God doesn’t always answer our prayers with a yes, but in His great love and mercy, He has strengthened my faith by doing the miraculous and unexpected in my life. Through all of this, He’s taught me that He will supply us with the grace, confidence, and peace to continue through challenging circumstances. He has the power to change our circumstances! He wants us to be totally dependent on Him so that we might see HIS GLORY manifested in our lives.

Yes, nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37)! The one who fears the Lord… is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid (Psalm 112:7-8).

~Jennifer Lavin
June 2009 Girl’s Journey

3 Comments »

Before I went to the Journey, I was withdrawn from other people and felt alone inside. My relationship with Christ was distant and not anywhere near where it should be. I had been abused for several years during my childhood and had stuffed the pain deep down inside, building a callous around my heart. I didn’t allow myself to show any emotion and had even forgotten how to cry.

Many other people had tried to help me, so when one of the Journey leaders pulled me aside, I expected her to tell me what I already knew and just deal with the symptoms. Little did I know that God was going to show Himself strong on my behalf and lead me out of this bondage of bitterness, anger, fear, confusion, lustful thoughts, and the wrong view of God which had resulted from my hurtful past.

Satan had fed me a lie that God was both good and bad. God showed me that He is good. He didn’t want bad things to happen to me. Sin caused the bad to happen, but God’s grace could turn that into something good.

God had really never left me. Oh, what unfathomable love I discovered in Christ! A love that told me of my worth to Him, a love that hurt with me, that cried with me. Oh yes! Jesus went through those hard days right with me—I was blinded and shut Him out, but now I was able to see. He was turning it all into good! I forgave my offenders and asked the Lord to help me to see them as He did. It surprised me how easy the tears came after years of bottling everything up inside. When He filled me with a love for them, I could not see their shortcomings anymore. Surely love covers a multitude of sin!

Then our team studied the “Tender Heart.” God broke me with the answer to the question, “Why Did God Let it Happen?” As the Lord revealed to my spirit from His Spirit, I began to write down the benefits of what I had been through. By the time I finished, I was in complete awe of my Lord Jesus Christ. He had captured my heart with His love, wisdom, peace, and amazing grace.

I ran to my leader with a heart full of thanksgiving, so happy that I laughed and cried at the same time. I had given my whole heart to Christ and was free from bondage. I am free! God is truly my All in All and the Lover of my Soul. Thank you, Lord, for everyone at the Journey, and thank you for showing me who Jesus wants me to be!

~ Barbara
September 2008 Girl’s Journey

6 Comments »

I was taken sick in December 2006 and could eat nothing but bread and crackers. After several weeks I began to eat more but then my health crashed again. That cycle went on for over a year. I had no energy and I couldn’t do anything active outside.

Then, on the Journey to the Heart, my team studied what God’s Word says about a fearful heart. I realized that my inability to eat was predominately caused by a deep-rooted fear that my stomach would be in intense pain as a result of eating.

I wrote out a list of about eight benefits that God intended for me by allowing this illness. For example, I realized that my sickness had allowed me to spend more time with certain people and get to know them better, whereas when I was well I would be outside by myself and not spending time with others. Another blessing was that I had learned to better communicate my thoughts and feelings. As I wrote out this list of benefits, I was able to fully surrender my health to the Lord and I experienced a tremendous joy!

When God took away my fear, I was able to eat a wider variety of food and I discovered that nothing bad happened! Now I can eat almost anything without pain and run and play games that I couldn’t for over a year. My family and I have seen an amazing jump in my health. I had prayed many times, and tried to surrender myself to God, but I had no results until I wrote out the benefits for my illness. Then I had true joy!!

~ Elizabeth
April 2008 Girls Journey

8/24 UPDATE: I have steadily improved and have seen the Lord’s hand providing healing. May Jesus Christ be praised!

2 Comments »