Joseph Herrin (11-30-08)

I believe that each person who reads this blog could easily write a book filled with testimonies of God’s presence in their lives. I have heard many people share of God’s protection and divine intervention in their lives before they ever came to know Christ. How much more are our lives marked by the presence of God after we are reconciled to God through the cross of Christ?

I want to encourage those who receive these blogs to take the time to consider what God has done in your life, and to write at least one testimony of Yahweh’s faithfulness and love. If you would take time to reflect on what the Father has done for you I am sure you will begin to perceive that there is a wealth of experiences that reveal His presence. I also believe you will be encouraged by taking the time to reflect on God’s presence with you.

Following are two more testimonies sent to be shared with the people of God. Will you also take time to testify to His goodness, and share a testimony with others?

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.

Yahweh Shalom – The God of Peace

Bro Joseph,

The testimonies of others who experience the Lord’s great goodness and mercy daily are uplifting and blessed. There are so many instances where He has intervened miraculously in our lives and circumstances that it is difficult to choose just one or two but here goes.

The first instance that came to mind was one that happened in about the mid 1980’s. My husband and I had been married for about 20 years and had 4 teenage children. Our marriage at the beginning was a very worldly one in that neither of us acknowledged our Father’s ownership of us and each lived entirely for self and worldly pursuits. Our lives began to change when our Father mercifully apprehended me about 15 years earlier. Our home life was family and God centered because of this miraculous happening, but my husband was still the same person and the years raising our children were very difficult ones. Each decision that I made was based on what the Lord would have in a given situation and mostly my husband and I would cross up in even very small every day decisions where the children were concerned. There were also some drinking and gambling issues. The children were raised in this atmosphere and the 3 younger ones have always had a heart for the Lord even through this difficult upbringing.
When our middle son finished his first year in college, he decided to go to Florida for the summer to work on a campus ministry related “beach project” where the young people go to a beach living situation and witness to vacationers after working hours. Unknown to me, my son was instructed to choose two people to pray concentratedly for while in this situation. He chose to pray for his Dad. In August of that year, our marriage was in trouble because of our different lives. Our daughter had made the comment that it depressed her to be around us because we crossed up so much. If I said anything was black, my husband would take the opposing viewpoint. I told him that I could no longer stand the turmoil and cross current in our relationship and that something had to give. Actually, what needed to happen was that there needed to be truth between us because of past sins. My husband told me that he could not get honest with me in a dramatic showdown moment and the Lord had me to tell him that I would help him.
Over the course of the next year, we prayed together about various instances when there had been betrayal in our marriage as my husband would be reminded gently by the holy spirit of each circumstance that was between us in a negative way. Since then things in our home have been very different…no more drinking gambling and skirt chasing. When I shared with my son that his Dad had changed, is when he told me that he had been praying for him all summer long. This son was the only one of our children that I felt led to share their Dad’s change of heart with at that time. Another 20 years have passed and though we don’t have a “perfect” marriage, we are still together and the Lord blesses us continually. We get along much better and our Father has done much work in killing the self life in us.

One other seemingly small but humorous incident happened last year after we had been on a vacation trip out west. Our grandson picked us up at the airport and we inadvertantly left a carry on canvas bag at the airport as we were loading the car. The most valuable thing in the bag was a borrowed book and some delicious cookies from the Doubletree Hotel. When we discovered our mistake, we asked the Lord to find the bag for us. This was on a Sunday afternoon. By Wednesday we had not heard anything from the bag, so I had all but given up on hearing from anyone regarding it. On Thursday I got a phone call from a baggage handler at one of the airline counters saying they had found our bag!!! Our Father is so faithful! Our daughter and son who were driving in from another state detoured by the city airport and picked up our bag for us and the missing items were returned! He cares about all of our circumstances and fixes our messes most sweetly and faithfully! The only thing missing from the bag was 1 big cookie and I wasn’t convinced that my husband had not eaten that without my knowing! Someone had to go to some trouble to find us because our name and address were in the bag but no phone number was in that information. I am grateful to the Father for answering our prayers and to the nice gentleman who called about our bag and went to the trouble to find our pnone number. I love belonging to Him who is faithful and true forever.

Please don’t publish my name with this testimony because I don’t want negative things about my husband to be misunderstood.

Name Withheld

Yahweh Rophe – The God Who Heals

Dear Brother Joseph,

Thank you for inviting us to share our experiences with one another. Each testimony makes us all stronger in The Lord, and brings us closer as a family. Although I am so very thankful to Our Father for many mighty miracles in my life, I feel led to share one, which does not come close to the seriousness of the ones which have already been posted. That way, we will have a collection of testimonies which show that even our small needs are met by our Yahshua Who loves us dearly.

Many years ago, I discovered a hard lump on the inside of my hand, right below my fingers. I kept asking to be healed, but I got no better. This went on for such a long time, and I was honestly afraid to go to the doctor. Why do we always think the worst? One day, I was at the doctor’s office with one of my children, and I got the courage to show him. He said that it had to be removed surgically. When I told him that I wasn’t going to do that, he said that I had to because, it would stop my circulation which would result in the loss of the use of my fingers. I asked him if it could go away by itself. First, the doctor said “no”. Then he said that it could, but that it wouldn’t. So I asked him how long that might take. He said months and months, and months. This was on a Thursday.

That night, I was reading Mark 11:24. “Therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” I read that over and over again. I said, “Lord, how can I believe that I’m healed when I’m looking at this lump on my hand?” I read it again, and this time, I just threw my hands in the air and said, “Lord, You’re God, I’m not. If You say that if I believe that I’m healed, I will receive it, then I don’t care how big this thing gets or how much it hurts….I believe that I’m healed now.”. That was Thursday night. On Saturday morning, the lump was gone. Thank you Yahshua. The world says that “seeing is believing”, but we know that “Believing is seeing”. I believe that my healing took place in the Spiritual realm upon believing The Word of God. It took until Saturday morning to manifest in the natural. So if you pray and see no results, just know that the answer is on the way. And keep thanking and praising our Lord for His Love and Faithfulness to those who put their trust in Him.

Patty H. Long Island, N.Y.

A Testimony and a Challenge

Dear Mr. Herrin,

Once again, I find peace and encouragement in the words I have read. This, of itself, does not surprise me, as I know intimately of Gods faithfulness, but it does make a difference to read other accounts. Your efforts to bring these to the fore is commendable, to say the least.
Just this morning, I was speaking with my son, Jacob, who has, as a result of some strange circumstances, come to live with me after a separation of some five years or so. Jacob is at a very critical time in his life, as he is searching for meaning, and stands confused by the world around him. I understand that this is an important stage for him, as I have been covering him in prayer for at least that long, and now, he questions the things of the world, and looks to the spiritual realm for the answers. Much to my disappointment, he seems unable to make the break from the fleshy world, but rather tries to “pick and choose” from both to justify the things he sees and experiences.
The testimony offered by Jena, regarding her son, was overwhelming. Not because of the result, as I am convinced that there is nothing impossible for God, but rather because of the process. Jena reminded me of the power of prayer, and I would like to, if I may, ask you to join me in prayer for the overcoming of the “spirit of the world”, in not only my son, but for all our young people who have mistakenly embraced those things that are not truth, but the lies of the enemy. I refuse to give up any more of our young people to the lies of the enemy, but I realize that we can be much more effective as a collective. Therefore, I have resigned to stand in the gap for our children, and would welcome your support in the form of prayer in agreement. In the hope that this will be read by others who follow your blog, and will agree to do the same, I am confident that we can take back our children.

The Father has blessed you with not only the means, but the ability, to exhort the body in these strange times, and my prayers include the petition that He not only increase you, but raise up many more like you, as you continue to glorify His Holy Name. Peace be with you.

Ando

More on the Goodness of God

A brother in Christ forwarded the following testimony to me which was shared on a Christian discussion group he is a part of.

I just had to share God’s provision to my family today. I feel so blessed and loved.

Last week we discovered that 15 pounds of venison we had frozen in our freezer had thawed out when the freezer became unplugged accidently. We were counting on that venison for meat to eat over the winter. I mentioned that at my weekly bible study that I attend on Tuesday nights. Someone handed me a Walmart gift card and said that I could use what was left on it. I was surprised to find that there was $50 on it. We sorely needed groceries. Thursday we went to my in laws for dinner, and was told that my mother in law has a tumor in her stomach, which she had had a breast removed earlier in the year from breast cancer. We think this is a totally separate tumor. She is having surgery a week from today.

Then today, I have a doctor appointment to get established with a new doctor. I take my service dog in training, Daisy the beagle. She does every task with out being told! She passed her public access test with flying colors, and even did some tasks, like retrieving a dropped glove, handing me her leash, and distracting me from a panic attack. So after conferring with my Service Dog group, we decide that she is an active Service Dog!

If we back up to Saturday night, at 1:30 in the morning Sunday I have Bruce at the ER because he is reacting to his meds and has restless leg, sort of, only it is restless body. We finally leave the hospital at 4 am. We see a deer cross the road in front of us, and he is a good size buck. We comment that it would be nice to put him in our freezer. Ok, back to today.

As I am leaving the clinic, right where we had seen the deer 36 hours before, he was laying there, dead!!! He was still warm!! Blood coming from his ears, and a couple of broken ribs. He had run into a vehicle head first and broke his neck. I loaded him into the van and brought him home. I called the DNR, and got a possession tag, and we butchered him. So we now have 80 pounds of meat to replace the 15 that we lost! We have an additional hide to tan to use for gloves.
Then at 6:30 this evening, I realized that we are all out of pain meds in the house. I call the Pharmacy and there is a script waiting to be picked up. It will cost $1.05. We are broke. I gather all of our pennies and head for town. My gas gauge is almost on empty, and it is 32 miles round trip. I am praying that God will keep replenishing my gas the same way that he kept replenishing the old womans oil and flour. I made it there and back with out the gas light coming on and staying on. Every time it would flash on, within a second, it would flash back off. At the pharmacy, I counted out all of the pennies. I had $1.06!

God covered our every need, right down to the penny!

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws
Parables Blog: http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063