TESTIMONY
Luke Ch 1 v.46 "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour"
Luke Ch 1 v.49 " For the Mighty One has done great things for me - Holy is His name"
and Luke Ch 1 v.51 "He has performed great deeds......"
I just can't help, but want to mirror the words of gratitude that Mary uses in Luke Ch 1. No, I am not expecting a baby, but the Lord has most certainly done many wonderful great things for me during the past 8 months and so my spirit rejoices in God my saviour, and I want to give all the glory to His name forever!!
Firstly, here is a little background regarding my Christian walk with The Lord. I asked Jesus to come in to my heart at the tender age of 8 years old. I was fortunate in having been raised by Christian parents, and my mother in particular had an enormously deep, deep love for Jesus. Jesus meant everything to her! I am speaking of her in the past tense as she is now with our Lord in Heaven having lost her life to a battle with cancer, but even as she went through the horrendous pain of cancer, she never once asked "why me, Lord? Why have I got cancer?" She in fact reasoned ‘If one in four get cancer, then why not me’ She never gave up her love for Jesus as she knew that Jesus hadn't given her it; that it was from the devil who first brought sickness into the world. Even when she had become so weak, she still loved Jesus with all her heart and was not even afraid of dying because she knew where she would be going - to a place where she would see her wonderful saviour.
My dear mother was an awesome witness to me for the first 29 years of my life.
I have always loved Jesus very much and have always been aware of God’s presence surrounding me, but last July a friend and I attended a 'Holy Spirit' crusade in London organised by Benny Hinn Ministries. Although I had been baptised in the Holy Spirit at 18 years of age (and even though I had the gift of tongues, I had not practised it as often as I ought), however at the crusade I felt such an enormous sense of God's Glory and Presence surrounding the place, and I will never ever forget the way that the Holy Spirit so lovingly revealed Himself to me in a most awesome and tangible way there............and my life has never been the same since then.
At the crusade, I met brother Isaac Ladipo of Calvary Ministries. I was immediately struck by the great love he possessed for Jesus. His face was beaming so brightly as he spoke about Jesus and 'the joy of the Lord' was displayed all over his face. My friend and I spoke at length with him and then right there on the spot, he kindly offered to pray for my ankle, which had caused me much concern as it had swollen up rather badly during my coach journey down to London (due to a circulation problem in the veins of my left leg) I was very anxious about the same thing happening on the coach journey back to my home, so brother Isaac prayed that this would not happen; that God would bring healing to my ankle….The next day, I boarded my coach for the journey home. It was a long journey, but 'Praise be to God' my ankle was not swollen at all throughout the whole length of the journey. I reached home and my ankle was absolutely 'normal!'
…….After returning from the crusade, I couldn’t help noticing that my life had completely changed phenomenally. ‘Praise the Lord’ for He has given me such a deep joy in my heart and an unquenchable longing to completely focus all my thoughts on Him everyday’ and consequently since then I have witnessed the Holy Spirit moving in my life in such amazing ways and I can never thank God enough (that through His immeasurable grace) He has bestowed this new relationship with Him upon me. I remain in contact with brother Isaac as he has been such a great spiritual mentor to me. He is a true friend and always such an encourager and inspiration and brother Isaac of has been most instrumental in supporting me in my prayer needs.
My father has been suffering with prostate cancer for just over a year and a half, and whilst I was at the 'Holy Spirit' crusade, Benny Hinn gave an invitation for all those that were seeking a healing to call out upon the Lord's name for that healing. I cried out to the Lord, from the bottom of my heart, for my father to be healed of his cancer because I had already experienced the pain of loosing both my own mother and then more recently, my step mum to cancer, too. I cried out my father's name, over and over again during the healing service as I could not bear to loose yet another parent to this dreadful disease. I have also asked brother Isaac to continue to support me in prayer regarding my fathers’ health needs and he has prayed several times for my father. I later shared with him how God has heard our cries and petitions and is already working on this request. ….My father has to attend hospital every 3 months for a blood count check, to receive a special injection of medication to prevent the spread of the cancer and to have a regular 3 monthly consultation carried out by his Oncologist. At the penultimate visit to his oncologist, my father bravely asked the Oncologist to be totally honest with him about his life expectancy. Well, he was truly surprised to hear the oncologist words, which were "Mr -, you have no reason to be anxious, as far as I can tell, you have probably got years ahead of you, but nonetheless I will see you again for another routine consultation in 3 months time" ...............I was so overjoyed to hear this wonderful news and realised that it was a clear sign that God's healing touch was already in motion. Then when my father went for his most recent visit to the Oncologist the news he received on that day was even better! The Oncologist said "Mr -, my nurse will see you again to administer your injection when you come in 3 months time, but I don't feel that there is any reason why I need to examine you, so I will not need to see you again for 6 months this time!" - Well my heart danced with grateful joy for these precious words because it is clearly obvious from the Oncologist’s statement that there was a great improvement in my father's health..........'Praise the Lord' - Normally when someone has cancer, the visits to the Oncologist become more frequent, not less so, so it is wonderful to see God's healing hands at work in my father's life in such an awesome way and I am believing for my father to be totally healed – Amen.
Soon after I returned from the crusade, I made the decision to take a ‘gap year’ out from my studies at university and I began to look for a job, however I did not realise just how scarce suitable jobs were in my home-town or how many applicants applied for jobs that became available, thus the competition was very high. I scoured the local newspapers every week for job vacancies and applied for them and attended interviews, but to my utter surprise, after four months I was still not in employment. I began to get rather anxious about this as the academic year had already begun at my university and I was still job hunting! The bills were beginning to mount up and again, I asked brother Isaac to pray with me for God to lead me, not just to any job or to the job that I wanted, but to the job that The Lord wanted me to take.
At the end of September, I required some much needed prayer for God’s healing touch upon myself as rather alarmingly, I began to experience bad pain in my left breast. The devil used this opportunity to fill my head with anxious thoughts that led me to wonder if this pain was an indication that I too might have cancer. Not only had I had a lump removed from the same breast when I was 21 (though thankfully the lump turned out to be a benign cyst), but my aunt had died of breast cancer, my mother had suffered with stomach cancer, my step-mum had lung cancer and latterly my father was told he was suffering with prostrate cancer, so really it was hardly surprising that I thought the worse especially when the pain became more intense. Thank God for brother Isaac as he knew how much the pain was worrying me and he prayed on many occasions for my healing; praying that I would be totally cancer-free from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. I asked my doctor to examine me to see if she could feel a lump, but she could not feel any, however as I was still getting pain she agreed to send me to the hospital to be examined by the consultant and to have a mammogram taken to make sure that she had not missed something that could not be felt. Despite the devils lying symptons, which were manifesting themselves as extreme pain brother Isaac kept reassuring me that God’s healing was taking place gradually and he kept encouraging me to believe God for a miracle, which I did.
By now it was December and brother Isaac kept reminding me that 2007 was the ‘Year of Completion’ and reassured me that God had told him that before the end of the year God would provide me with a wonderful job, but firstly he wanted to heal me because there is no point in me having a great job and then not being well enough to work there.
About one week before I was due to attend the hospital, I was suddenly aware of the fact that all the pain in my left breast had completely disappeared………….Wow, ’Praise God’ for He is always faithful to us. He had heard our cries for His healing power and had answered in His timing. I still attended the hospital, but not because I had any doubts that God had healed me, but to receive the confirmation of my healing in spoken and written word. The consultant examined me and could not find any lumps and when I received the result of the mammogram, I was told that not even a trace of cancer could be found in either breast………’Praise The Lord and Hallelujah, for God is so awesome!’
About a week later, despite the fact that I couldn’t help feeling very concerned that I was still searching for a suitable job, suddenly I was contacted by an Employment Agency, stating that they were very eager to send me to a certain client for a job interview. Brother Isaac prayed that God would show divine favour to me if this was the right job for me and that consequently, those that I would come into contact with during my interview would not be able to help themselves from choosing me for the vacancy if this job was in God’s will for my life. Brother Isaac said, that when God shows favour, the people will react in a way that has been divinely ordered by God without them actually realising why they are saying or doing the things that they do.
Now interestingly, even though I had attended other interviews previously, as I walked through the entrance doors to this particular company, God gave me a strong sense that everything was going to go particularly well that afternoon. As I waited in the reception area, to be called through to the interviewer’s office, I was delighted to notice how exceptionally friendly and welcoming the receptionist and another young lady who was also stood behind the receptionist’s desk were towards me and immediately I felt at ease. Not long afterwards, the manageress invited me in to her office. She explained that she had interviewed another lady that morning and was going to interview a few more candidates the following week, but this did not faze me as I could tell that The Holy Spirit was definitely present in her office as I felt most at ease during my interview and it felt as though she and I had met before as we seemed to have such a good rapport going on between us. In fact it didn’t feel like an interview at all because I just found it so very easy to talk to the manageress, that it was sad to have to eventually close the conversation and leave.
The manageress walked me back to the reception area and she thanked me for coming and after shaking hands with her she turned to walk back towards the corridor and just before she disappeared out of sight (probably without realising it because that is how God’s favour works), she turned her head and said ‘Bye now, see you soon!’ As I walked out the door, I couldn’t help wondering if this was a sign from The Lord, that He wanted me to work for that company as it is usually normal practice to wait a few days after an interview for the interviewer to make up her mind after interviewing everyone. The employment agency told me that they would call me the next day to see how I thought the interview had gone. I also knew that the company wanted to interview some more candidates the following week, so I was really surprised when my mobile phone began to ring just 15 minutes after I left the interview and found that the employment agency were calling me one day early. They asked me how I felt that the interview had gone and I told them that it seemed to have gone very well, but I said that I wouldn’t allow my hopes to get too high as I knew that the company wanted to interview some more people the following week. The recruitment agent asked me if I liked the people that I met there and I replied ‘Yes, I did, very much’ then she said ‘Well that’s great because they liked you very much too. They were so impressed with you that they want to offer you the job immediately’ I was flabbergasted to hear such good news so early, and said to her ‘Are you quite sure because they told me that they definitely were intending to interview other candidates next week?’ She replied ‘No, they have asked us not to send anymore applicants as they want you to have the job, if you would like it’……..I was so overjoyed with gratitude to our Lord for showing such favour to me. I asked them if they wanted me to start in two weeks time as that is when the job was meant to begin, and was told, that they would be more than happy for me to start as soon as I could. I said that I could start working with them in 5 days time, but the company were so delighted that I was happy to accept their offer that that they invited me to attend their Christmas evening meal, which was being held in a local restaurant even though I had not actually begun working for them at this point.
Since I begun working in an administration position for the company who make ‘signs’ and are in fact UK’s leading signage company, I have been very aware of The Holy Spirit being mightily at work in my work environment as He has been in my home too, since I first attended the Benny Hinn crusade.
I am so grateful for brother Isaac’s prayer support and encouragement and I have even further news to share regarding how The Holy Spirit has been moving in my work place, but maybe I will write about that later, but for now I want to encourage everyone who visits this site to put your entire faith in The Lord Jesus Christ for He is the same, yesterday, today and forever and through His Holy Spirit you too can receive your healing and answers to any prayer needs that you have. I also know that brother Isaac would be only too delighted to lift up your prayer needs to our Heavenly Father, through the intercessory group that he runs through Calvary Ministries.
Miss Angela
|
