God Sustained my Family

Praise be to God Almighty because his" promises are yea, and in him Amen". Over and over again my family experienced the goodness and mercy of God during a four year period in which He only became our hope and help.

During this period my husband was a student and the family's monthly income was barely sufficient to take care of bills and put food on the table. Despite this, we held on to God and made sure we pay our tithe because we believed strongly in not stealing from God. Sometimes, even though what we have will not cover monthly rent, we still go ahead to pay tithe and each time God opens financial doors that tides us over to the next month.

One particular Sunday, we did not have enough gas in the car to get to church for worship service. The distance between our apartment and the church is about 20 miles, with the gas tank reading empty, we drove the car to church, praying all through that we will get to our destination and God did it. We had thought we would be able to get a little financial help from a friend, so we could buy gas before going home, but alas the friend did not come to church that day. With great fear and prayers we returned home with the same empty tank. God in his mercy moved that car without gas in it.

Another way in which we saw God move on our behalf was in the area of health. A family with two kids and no health insurance risks a lot but God was faithful in keeping us all healthy. It became a habit anytime we share Holy Communion in church to lay claim to excellent health by the blood of Jesus. There was a time that one of the kids was running a fever, I stayed back at home to take care of her, but being Holy communion Sunday, I asked my spouse to bring back my own. On getting it, I prayed over it and gave it to my sick child. Within an hour, the fever was gone and got well.

The greatest challenge we had apart from paying bills was paying school fees for my spouse. Apart from the first year in which he was able to pay on his own, he resorted to school loans which are due at the beginning of the next semester. In the last term of his program, the school demanded that the backlog of school loans must be cleared up before He will be allowed to register for classes. By then the arrears was about $15,000. Before the school resumed, all avenues to raise the amount was not successful.

On resumption, the school held firm and did not allow him to register. During this process, we fasted and prayed for divine intervention and kept believing God for breakthrough. Three weeks after registration had closed; by then my spouse had missed about six weeks of classes; God made a way and within a week we were able to pay of the total amount to the school. The school bursar was so surprised because they had already put debt collectors on my husbands trail, he went ahead to write a note to the school registrar to allow my spouse register for classes even though registration had closed. My spouse was allowed to register and he graduated with honors soon after.

From that period to now, we have learned to totally depend on God for all of our needs. He is more than able to keep us and take care of us. He has never failed or disappointed us. To those who need such breakthrough, I encourage you to keep holding on to the promises of God and soon you will laugh and rejoice. 

Yours in Him,
Betty


God is Good all the time. He is ever attentive to our prayers. Jesus we pray that you will give us the grace to wait patiently while you are working things out for our good amen.

Things to note:

In order to make it easy to send in your testimonies, I have created a "Share your story" page. It can be found under the page header above. Also there is an update on my study of the book of Philippians on my reflections page.

Have a wonderful week.

My heart crys out!

My heart desire is to be a vessel that will keep telling people about God our Father, the power of Jesus name and the comfort that the Holy Spirit gives. A recent event made me to realize I have to keep on striving to be what God wants me to be. He is ever faithful and full of love no matter what am passing through. I felt blessed during church service last week and words filled my heart and mind. I started scribbling in church and it continued when I got back home. It's an heart cry "Lord, make me a Testifier!"

Make me a Testifier!
Heavenly Father, maker of heaven and earth, I come before you with heart filled with gratitude for who you are, what you have done and what you are about to do in our lives. To you be all the glory, honor and praise. Through all generations you have revealed yourself to those who you have called by name. To Adam you were "Elohim the creator", to Abraham you were "God Almighty" and to Moses "Jehovah", the I am that I AM.

 We come before your presence and ask in the name of Jesus that you begin to reveal yourself to us in ways and manner that will make us testifiers of who you are. That our experience of your goodness and faithfulness will be like fire shut up in our bones and we won't be able to keep quiet but proclaim you are God. For those that need creative miracles in their bodies be the Elohim, be Jehovah the unchanging, eternal, covenant keeping God to those that need to be set free from every bondage. To my brother and sisters who have been hungry for your love, for acceptance be their Shalom. For those that have suffered lose in various ways, be Jehovah Jireh and restore all that has been lost.

We need you, God Almighty and confess that you are the all powerful God who makes rivers in the desert, makes every crooked path straight. Many have sang or testified about your love, mercy and goodness, may we join with them to proclaim your glory.

At the Red Sea, Moses declared " Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today"." The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still". Arise O Lord and fight for us, let us experience deliverance and victory in every area of our lives.
May we be able to declare "When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."

David, a man after your heart testified "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." Forsake us not but draw closer to you, reveal yourself, open our eyes and ears that we may experience and have a deeper knowledge of you. Lord may our lives be pleasing to you and help us to be stars that lead others to the glory of your name. Grant us boldness to tell friends, family, neighbors and strangers about you, your faithfulness, mercy and loving kindness. 

Jesus testified "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. "I knew that You always hear Me;" John 11:41-42, may we be able to stand before a cloud of witnesses with assurance and testify that you always hear our prayers. Help us to overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. Thank you for making us testifiers in Jesus name. Amen.

Things to note:

• To contact me, use the contact form on the left hand side of the blog or itestifytoyou@gmail.com.
• I encourage us to share our testimonies or praise report of God's faithfulness. It does not matter whether old or recent. They are memorial stones pointing to God.  
• Click on My Reflections above to get a glimpse of what am learning from my bible studies.

" I was Favored "

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email that really lifted my spirit and encouraged me greatly. The writer shared:

 "Thanks for the platform to share testimony of God's faithfulness. The posted testimonies have ‎opened my eyes to more dimensions of God's power to His children and some have brought tears to my eyes.

Please find attached my testimony if it will be worthy of sharing on the platform".

Every testimony is worth sharing! God is unlimited in his power and none compares to him. He saves to the uttermost in extraordinary ways using extraordinary means and also in ways that seems unremarkable to man. Each new day we experience is a blessing because the mercies of God are new every morning and great is His faithfulness. Let's be conscious of the presence and power of God every single moment of our day. An assembly ground prayer that we recite when I was in Elementary School is still relevant today.

God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing.

Words: Sarum Primer, 1558

Esther's Testimony*

I stand amazed of how God fights on behalf of His children, raises help for them when helpless and speaks on their behalf when they have no voice.

I became pregnant four months after I got a job and as my pregnancy advanced was visibly weak and tired but I kept pushing myself to deliver expected results at work. When the pregnancy was 27 weeks old, I almost collapsed at work and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Not too long  after that incident, I was given opportunity to work from home, which was a huge favor.

I started working from home at about 34 weeks, by that time I felt better and was eagerly awaiting my baby's arrival. At 37/38 weeks, I started having contractions that lasted several hours and close to 5 minutes apart. I thought it was time but later the strength of the contractions waned and finally stopped. I went for a check up but I was only 2cm dilated. The wait for the next ten days was not easy for me and felt I was already overdue because my first child came at 37 weeks.

Finally at 39 weeks and 3 days, the contractions resumed, it was on Saturday/Sunday morning. I made it to Church in the morning while the contractions continued and gradually intensified. I was also able to attend house fellowship that evening but had to round up early. By the time I was admitted at the hospital, I was about 7 cm dilated. My water broke when I started pushing and the color showed that baby already had a bowel movement. Our baby girl arrived close to midnight. ICU team was on ground to clear her nose and airways.

After we were moved from the delivery room to the recovery room, I was not able to use the bathroom within the expected period of time. The nursing staff informed me a catheter will be used to assist me. I requested for more time to use the bathroom without aid. I was very sore because of the fresh stitches and called on God to intervene. To the glory of God, before the nurse came back to insert the catheter, I was able to go. Baby was on observation for 48 hours after which we were discharged.

I went back to work one year after my baby was born. She is just 18 months so all that happened at work is pretty recent. I am still holding on to God to establish my feet, make my work excellent beyond reproach and lift me up to His glory alone. Thank you.

                       

                         "For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD."
                                                                   Proverbs 8:35

One of the literal definitions of favor is "an act of kindness beyond what is due or unusual". There are times and situations that we experience an act of deliverance through the favor of God. Queen Esther prayed and found favor with King Xerxes in order to seek redress against Haman and his plot against the Jews. The salutation of the angel of God to Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus was:


                                "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God."
                                                                      Luke 1:31

 I pray that each one of us, our families and friends will begin to find favor with both men and God. The favor of God that distinguished Daniel will begin to manifest in every situation we find ourselves. May such favor and blessings come even when we don't know we need it and cause breakthroughs that have never been seen or experienced before. May the favor of God open every door that has been closed in our lives and may such favor enable us to dwell in high places Amen.

* Not real name of testimony sharer.

Good Plans

If there is anything that we must know and be confident of ; it's that God has a plan for each person he knitted together in the womb, we must also be confident that God loves us to the uttermost and that he is Sovereign. I have realized these facts and am still realizing them as I go through life and His plans for my life. When we read or hear a testimony of what God did in someone's life and we have also passed through a similar one with a different outcome, we wonder why, we ask questions, and we might even begin to doubt the love of God.

I would like to encourage us to Trust in God always for He has plans for you and will make that situation to work together for your good. You might see and experience the good yourself, the good of it might also be for another person to come to know Christ. There are a lot of examples in the bible of God using someone's challenges or difficulties to bring others to the knowledge of him and of his power, Daniel and Paul to mention a few.

This weeks testimony is culled from an article that was published on the web, it's an excerpt from a newly published book by Shelene Bryan titled Ridiculous Faith. You can click on the blue subtitle link below to read the whole article, I was blessed reading it.

Ridiculous Faith: The Faithful Hand of God:

 … who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions… — Hebrews 11:33


Several years ago, along with our church’s media team, I was co producing and hosting What’s Your Story?, a cable TV program. This show about inspiring stories in the lives of everyday people always started the same way.
*
Bruce and Jaimie were college sweethearts. They met at The Master’s College in Southern California, where Bruce, a high school basketball star, was attending on a full-ride basketball scholarship. They discovered they both enjoyed the game of basketball and the Los Angeles Lakers in particular. Building on that connection, they fell in love and soon were married.
Bruce and Jaimie were enjoying the beauty of young love and getting used to the ups and downs the first year of marriage can bring. They planned to wait a few years before starting a family so they could settle into their careers. But less than a year into their newlywed bliss, Jaimie became pregnant. Although the news was unexpected, Jaimie and Bruce were thrilled about it. They let their families know and began celebrating the miracle of the growing child in Jaimie’s tummy.
*
“Mrs. Watson, I’m sorry to tell you this, but… you’ve had a miscarriage.”
Those words hit like a ton of bricks.
What? How can that be? Jaimie thought.
“You can tell that from the ultrasound?” she asked. “Well, to be frank, we simply can’t find anything on the ultrasound,” he said. “I went back to my office to check your urine sample to make sure we had the right diagnosis, and you did have numbers indicating you were in fact pregnant. At this point we are going to need to do a dilation and curettage, commonly called a D & C.”
Jaimie had no idea what a D & C was, but it certainly did not sound good.
“But I don’t have any signs of a miscarriage — no bleeding, no cramping, I feel fine.”
“I understand, but we are going to need you to come in on Friday to perform the procedure on you.” The doctor explained that a D & C involved scraping the uterine walls to make sure no tissue was left behind to become infected.
“Uhhh, okay,” Jaimie said, overwhelmed.
She called Bruce and told him what was happening. They made plans for her D & C.
Two days later, on Friday, Bruce took Jaimie to her appointment. As she was changing from her clothes into a hospital gown, she began to have a feeling that something was wrong.
“God, please help me through this,” she prayed. “Please guide the hand of the doctor.”
*
“Everything went very well,” Dr. Hansen said. “Jaimie should not have any cramping because I took extra time to clean everything out.”
“Okay, thank you, Doctor,” Bruce said.
Within a few hours Bruce took Jaimie home, and just as the doctor had advised, she took it easy for a few days. Bruce and Jaimie spent that time together mourning the loss of the unborn child. But a week after the procedure, Jaimie confided in her mom. “You know, Mom, it’s really strange, but I feel more pregnant than ever.”
“Jaimie, honey, you’ve been pregnant for a couple of months, and it takes time for your hormones to get back to normal.”
“That’s probably it,” Jaimie said.
About a week after her D & C, Jaimie was startled awake at six in the morning by a phone call.
She groggily picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Hello, Ms. Watson?” an efficient sounding voice on the other end of the line asked.
“Yes.”
“This is Dr. Hansen. How are you feeling?”
“I feel okay.”
“Are you in any pain?”
“No, I’m not in any pain,” Jaimie answered cautiously.
“Why? Is there something wrong?”
“Are you sure you’re not in pain?”
“Yes, I’m absolutely sure,” she insisted.
“Mrs. Watson, remember how I told you that we routinely send the D & C tissue samples to the lab to be sure we got all the fetal material?”
“Yes.”
“I just got word from the lab that no fetal tissue was found.” “What does that mean?” Jaimie asked.
“It means that you must have an ectopic pregnancy and the baby is implanted outside the uterus, probably in the fallopian tubes, and that’s quite dangerous. I need you to get to the hospital right away for emergency surgery. And have someone drive you.”
“Okay,” she said, “I’ll leave just as soon as I can.”
“Mrs. Watson, I’m serious. You need to get to the hospital — now. I called you this early because I wanted to be sure you do not have anything to eat or drink. I have called ahead, and the doctors are waiting for you.”
Jaimie hung up the phone.
God, why are You doing this? she thought as she turned to tell Bruce the news.
Fifteen minutes later, Jaimie was being rushed to the hospital. When she arrived she was whisked into an emergency room with curtains for walls.
The ER doctor walked in and introduced himself. “We have been called by your doctor. I understand you have an ectopic pregnancy. Let’s see what’s going on.”
He hooked Jaimie up to the now familiar ultrasound machine. After a few minutes with the wand, he said, “Excuse me, I’ll be back shortly.”
A few minutes later he reappeared with another doctor, who looked intently at the screen for what seemed like several minutes.
The two doctors began talking excitedly and finally said that they wanted to get Dr. Hansen on the phone.
“Okay,” Jaimie said.
Finally, the ER doctor reentered Jaimie’s room and sat down next to the hospital bed. “Mrs. Watson, I don’t know how to tell you this.”
Oh no. Do I have cancer? she thought. “Tell me what?” “It’s… well… it’s your baby.”
“What baby? I don’t have a baby — at least not since the D & C,” Jaimie told him.
“That’s what I have been told, but… well, I don’t quite understand this, especially given that you supposedly had a D & C. But Mrs. Watson, your baby is right there in the womb, right where it should be.”
“What… what are you saying?”
“I am saying you are still pregnant with what looks like a normal pregnancy, with your baby right where it belongs.”
“How can that be?” Jaimie said. “I thought the D & C would have sucked out everything.”
“It should have. There is no medical explanation for this, and I certainly don’t understand it,” the doctor said with tears in his eyes. “All I can say is — it’s a miracle! It’s the hands of God.”
Seven months later a beautiful, healthy little girl, Sabrina Watson, was born.

 http://www.faithgateway.com/faithful-hand-god/#

Thanks be to God for his mercies and loving kindness that never fails and to Jesus who is on the right hand of God interceding for us. There are many that have suffered loss of a child or are even still waiting for such blessing and Joy, we pray our Almighty father that you will remember them, wipe away their tears and fill them with laughter. May every heaviness of heart be made light, let them experience newness of life in their wombs and restore all they have lost. We join hands with them to declare your praise, goodness and love. Unto you who answers prayers we have come and receive in Jesus name, Amen

Enjoy listening to the music below. It's a song of reassurance.

A moment of your time please:

If you have a testimony or life story to share or know a friend that has one, send me an email and I will endeavor to publish it as per your instruction. My email is itestifytoyou@gmail.com.

Also check out http://itestifytoyou.blogspot.com/p/my-reflections.html to see what am learning in my bible studies. Remember to share and encourage others.

Thank you.