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Kept Safe By God's Hand

Joh's Story

"I praised the Lord for bringing me out alive..."

I just want to share what God has done for me lately. Last weekend - 7/8th of July I headed off on a holiday to visit the town that I used to live in. The town I was visiting is in the Wheatbelt area of Western Australia and they have had close to no rain in the last few months. The Thursday before I arrived the rain arrived also, making lots of roads wet and watering the crops. On the Sunday I went to visit one of the girls that I had worked with. The road I was travelling on was gravel and it was wet and slippery. I came up over a small crest and about 200 metres away saw a puddle in the middle of the road. I took my foot off the accelerator and prepared to go through it. I didn't apply the brake because that would have started a slide. When I entered the puddle the car slid to the right and I then overcorrected left and the car decided that it would like to roll around in the mud for a bit. I ended up on the side of the road and on driver's side, with the nose of the car pointing back toward the road. BUT I GOT OUT AND WALKED!!!!! The only injury I have is a small bruise on my left forearm. None of the doors were damaged and no windows were broken. I had to walk about 2 kilometres to the closest house and praise the Lord someone was home and I knew the family. Usually they would all have been at a hockey match that day, but Craig had decided to stay home with the kids while his wife went and played. From the time I got out of the vehicle to the time I got to the house I praised the Lord for bringing me out alive and without any injury. When we got the car back on it's wheels, I could still drive it - although five of the panels looked a little different. A few days before all this happened, I had a feeling that something was going to happen, I knew it would be a car accident but didn't know where or when. So when this happened I wasn't surprised and was able to relax while it all happened and put my trust in the Lord.

Praise the Lord, for He is good!!!!

Yours in Christ
Joh

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It's In The Bag

Cindy & Matt's Story

"We can march into the enemy's camp and take back what he stole from us."

On December 12, 1997, my son had a car accident which totalled his car. He had two of his frinds with him. Praise God that nobody was hurt. On December 21, 1997, he went to the Sports Center to play basketball with a group of friends. Everyone put their coats and things in a pile. Matt had taken his duffel bag along, so he put his shoes, pants, sweatshirt, wallet and key ring in it and sat it beside the pile of clothes. When they were ready to leave, the pile of clothes was there, but the bag was gone.

In his wallet were his driver's license, university student I.D. card, social security card, bank checking/Visa card, pictures and cash. The key ring had our house keys, 2 dorm keys ($60 each to replace), and his mailbox key ($10 to replace).

We immediately filed a police report and had the locks changed on our house. Very discouraged and with a loss of faith, Matt asked me what the third thing was going to be to go wrong since "bad things happen three's". I told him not to claim that! I also told him we were going to claim victory through God's promises and that good things were next, and then we prayed together.

The next day at work, I spoke with a co-worker of mine (who is also an evangelist) and he asked if I had done what I was supposed to do. I told him we prayed, but I really didn't feel the burden being lifted. he pointed out that the Word of God says we can "march into the enemy's camp and take back what he stole from us." He also told me that I didn't have to accept circumstances, but could rise above them with God's help. I thought about it all day.

That evening, I told my younger son we were going to march into the enemy's camp and laid my hands on everything in sight, rebuking Satan in the name of Jesus and demanded that he give back everything that he had stolen from my son! I said, "Satan, you can't have him or his things because he is a child of God, so leave him alone!"

For several days after that, I prayed for Matt's discouragement to leave and for his faith and joy to return. I also prayed for mine because when your child hurts, you hurt right along with them. On Monday, January 5, 1998, I got a phone call from the Sports Center. A man had brought in the bag, sat it down on the coutner and said, "I'm sorry". Then he turned around and left.

I picked up the bag after work and was thrilled to see that EVERYTHING was in it, even the cash. The angels of God had fought the battle and were victorious! Talk about a booster shot of faith for both us of! It has been the perfect opportunity for Matt (and me) to witness to others. In order for God to give us the desires of our heart, we have to give Him the desires of His heart and put our full faith and trust in Him! All praise and glory to God!

Driving Miracles

Margaret's Story

"I truly believe God has things left here for me to do."

On a Saturday morning in March, 1999, I had driven to Hamilton, Ohio from Dayton, Ohio to pick up my two grandchildren, Justin and Stephanie. It had poured the rain most of the way down. I had picked both of them up and we were on our way back home, enjoying each others company and discussing what we were going to do for the rest of the day.

I had just gotten back on Interstate 75, and was in the right lane. I was moving over to the center lane, and was about 3/4 of the way over and suddenly a car comes up beside me and cuts me off. Of course I was startled and put on my brakes and tried to move back over to the right. Due to the road being wet, my car began to swerve and then spun around and slid backward across the highway to the otherside, crashing up against the side of the bridge. Keep in mind, this is on an interstate and traffic coming both ways. I had absolutely no control of the car.

As the accident was happening, I was praying out loud, "Dear God, just be with us!". (I really thought it was the end for all of us, and really was just asking God to be with us as we left this life.) When the car stopped, to my amazement, there we were, all three of us, not even an inch off of our seats, and not a scratch on any one of us. I was in total awe. There was $6,000.00 damage to the car. Luck? Maybe some, but as far as I'm concerned, God had His arms around us and kept us safe.

In 1992, I had another experience in West Virginia when a rock rolled off the mountain and hit the top of my car, there was not an inch of the car that wasn't hit, as the rock broke into pieces and the windshield shattered, leaving glass all over me, but at that time also, I did not get even a scratch, even though the car was totalled. I truly believe God has things left here for me to do. In that instant when I thought I was dying, I wasn't afraid at all, just accepting of whatever was to be. I am truly thankful to be alive today.

The Keys To Happines

Rosco's Story

"So I turned the house upside down.....No keys."

I got a true story. It happened last Thursday. We came home from court and I needed to go out and chop some firewood, so I went out in the timber and cut until dark. Then I came back to the house and took the oldest boy back with me to haul in the wood. While I was out there I split all the big pieces so we could cart them.

On Saturday, we were leaving the house and I noticed that my keys were gone. That is one of my pet peeves, to take care of keys. So I turned the house upside down, went through my wife's car, the two trucks, and NO keys.

So when I went to church on Sunday, I was down in the dumps, and was thinking how I could replace the keys. Some of them I only had one copy to, and of course it was the lost copy. So when I got home, I was talking to God. I went out to where I was chopping wood - and found them! The funny thing is, that morning before church, I was over there looking for about twenty minutes and couldn't find them. When I went over the second time, I said to God as I was walking across the creek, "If the keys are here, please let me find them."

So I picked up a branch and dragged it across the ground three times and hit them. It took more time to cross the creek than it did to find them. I believe that God hears me. It is a small thing in comparison to some peoples' stories, but it made my day.

I realized my face was all wet and I felt a little silly standing out there in the field crying to God. But I knew He heard me and answered my prayer and helped me find those keys.

Life Has Value!

Carla's Story

"By the time I was 19 years old, I was addicted to using cocaine with hypodermic needles and addicted to alcohol... I had robbed businesses, homes, cars and people..... and used anything I could to get drugs, including myself."

I am 23 years old. I am a wife to a wonderful, affectionate man and a mother and stepmother to two very beatiful girls. But first and most important, I am one of God's children. But I say just one because we all are God's children. We all are brothers and sisters. I not only work for the YMCA, but I work for the Lord first! We all have a job to do for the Lord, whether it be teaching little children, helping the elderly, being a mother or father, or simply cleaning the church, being a missionary, mentor, or witness. I don't know what your specific job is and I don't always know what mine is, until I seek the Lord in prayer do I begin to find wisdom.

I feel the Lord telling me I must be obedient to him. I have something to share that may reach a lost and dying child of God. I love each and every one of you and because of my love for you and the Lord, I want to see people's lives saved. There is value in one life.

I lived a horrible life of abuse, but my life had value then as it still does today. Jesus took all of my sin to the cross and it died with Him. Jeremiah 29:11 reads: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future."Everyone's life has value. Whether you are lost or found, even the unborn child's life has value.

By the time I was 12 years old, I had abused alcohol, marijuana and over-the-counter drugs and regularly smoked cigarettes. By the time I was 14, I had become so withdrawn. I hung with the wrong people. My boyfriends were all much older and abusive. They too used drugs and alcohol. By the time I had reached 19 years old, I was addicted to using cocaine with hypodermic needles and addicted to alcohol. I had received numerous amounts of counselling from the ages of 11 until that present time. I did graduate high school amazingly. When I was in school, I was either high or asleep. I had robbed businesses, homes, cars and people, been abused and inflicted abuse on others, abused alcohol, and used anything I could to get drugs, including myself. I had absolutely no boundaries.

My parents were divorced when I was 2. I am the youngest of 3. I did go to church with my father every other week until I was 18 years old. I can remember always feeling so disconnected from everyone and that uneasiness always escalated while in church. I felt so desparate. It seemed as if no one could help me. My life continued to decline that 19th year.

While very high one night I called the Pregnancy Care Center of Union County, thinking I might be pregnant. This was the beginning of the end of this horrible life I was living. As Romans 8:28,29 reads: "And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknow, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers."

I did go that next morning to the center. At that time, I was not pregnant, but I did begin to feel God's love. I received prayer one-on-one, which brough me comfort. Those next months were quite a battle. The Pregnancy Care Center helped get me into a hospital in Lima for detox and counselling. I was literally beginning to die. Physically and mentally, I was withering away. I did come out of the hospital, though, and received more counselling from the midwives at the Newlife Midwives office.

However, I began to abuse drugs again, and started to live that violent life again. Circumstances became out of control again and to avoid prosecution, I agreed to go into a women's drug treatment center in Toledo, Ohio. Before I went into the center, I was placed for 2 weeks into the Psychiatric unit in St. Vincent Hospital for hallucinations and suicidal tendencies. While in treatment and isolated from society, I began becoming closer to the Lord.

Three months later, I got out and moved in with my mother and began going to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous and occasionally church. But I was still very empty inside searching for something to fill that void. I met a man in AA; after about a month, I realized it wasn't working. I broke it off - two weeks later, I realized I was pregnant. At that time, I was still smoking cigarettes, taking prescription medicine for anxiety and some stomach problems, taking anti-depressants and also suffering with some liver problems from all of the abuse I had done to my body.

With confusion and pain overflooding my mind, I had felt so dead within and finally realized that the void I was feeling could only be filled with Jesus Christ. With faith in Christ, I let go and asked the Lord to forgive me and to take over my life. I quit all medication, stopped smoking cigarettes and my stomach and liver were healed. Job 5:9 reads: "He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted." I was beginning to realize my life had value; as well as realizing my unborn child's life was also valuable.

But there was a time in that state of pain and confusion that abortion had crossed my mind. The Lord had already been moving me; as I look back now, it seems as if he had said, "Take my hand and come with me." Although I had let go of His hand and made many mistakes, He was still there, unknown to me at that time; but He was right there waiting for me to take His hand and walk again with Him.

Today, I am still facing consequences from my past, but with such joy in my heart, I can read to you Romans 8:1,2: "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."

I will face more trials, but I know that we have a God that loves us with an everlasting love; and in those trials, he will draw me near to Him with loving kindness. We each can consider ourselves a loved person, not because of our circumstances or situations, but simply because God loves us perfectly, totally, and eternally! Amen!