How I Was Led To Begin A Website

In October 2020, GOD led me to leave a home prayer meeting I had been a part of since I was 7 years old. It was devastating, but I knew it had to be done based on experiences and dreams GOD gave me. When I left I knew I wouldn't be able to find any place to worship like I was accustomed to, and I really wasn't desiring to look for another place anyway, I just knew I needed to do something, so I thought a website of my testimonies would be a good thing to do. I did start writing my testimonies on a website builder I found, but I didn't know how to publish the site, so I put it on that invisible shelf when we don't know what to do at the moment. In the meantime, about a year after leaving the home prayer meetings, there was a couple that I had known since I was a teenager I started spending some time with them. They also had left the same home prayer meetings I was a part of and were going to worship in another place, but only been there a few years. They would ask me sometimes if I wanted to go, but I wasn't interested in going. They told me it wasn't the same as the prayer meetings we knew, which didn't surprise me and likely was the main reason I wasn't interested. It was about a year later that I decided to go only because someone was seeking the Holy Ghost that was going there too, and I wanted to be a part of that to pray them through. When I got there, I ended up getting touched the first time I went and felt GOD knit my heart with the people there. Long story short, I attended services there for about 3 years and felt led by GOD to leave there too due to some things that happened I couldn't agree with and be a part of. Before I left, one day I was mowing my lawn and as I was pushing the mower, I asked GOD, "What does it take for people to understand the truth?" and he answered with a scripture in Revelations 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. I feel this experience was confirmation from GOD that it was time to work on getting my testimony on a website and here it is. It may not be fancy, but Jesus never was, because seeing things inwardly is more important than what you see outwardly and that's what testimonies and experiences help you do. I have learned you always wait on GOD before doing anything, even if it looks or feels like it is a great idea. Our experiences and testimonies are the lifeline to GOD through Jesus and that is the only way we can achieve GOD's will to please him to receive eternal life with them.

How Website Was Named "Pure Warrior For Jesus"

One day my mother told me how I got my first name when I was born, and it was her best friend's sister's name. I can't remember if she told me then or some other time that my middle name was the same as hers, I know she said she didn't like that name. She had named my brother after her father, and so I asked why didn't she name me after her mother, since she didn't like her middle name. This is kind of funny, but this is what she said. "I was drugged up with meds having you, and the doctor came in asking me what I was going to name you and I told him your name without any thought!" I didn't really like the middle name either and her mother's name would have been prettier, but at the same time it wasn't bad enough I ever thought to change it. Later, I don't know when exactly, but it was when the internet was available to search for the meaning of names. When I found out that my first and middle name meant Pure Warrior, needless to say, I was glad GOD led mom to give me the name I have, because if my middle name had been her mother's name, it would have meant Pure Bitter. I am not going to disclose my name, because I feel it is safer right now for me not to, plus I have other reasons too. Anyway, the reason I don't want to share the middle name I might have received that was my grandmother's name, is to not offend anyone that would have that name. With that said, it doesn't always mean your name will define who you are, because my grandmother was a very happy person. She never showed a bitter side when I was around her, though I wasn't able to spend much time with her since I lived about 9 hrs away from her. I never heard anyone else say she showed a bitter side who had the pleasure of being around her often. On the other hand, Pure Warrior does fit me, because if you read all my testimonies you will see how true that has become through the dreams and experiences I have received from GOD. Also, I hadn't thought about using Pure Warrior when I started my 1st website, which feels like it was another sign that GOD was helping me, because it was time to begin this website.

My Parent's Experiences Before and After I Was Born

I am going to start with my dad and I wish I could share my father's testimony in his own words, but I am not able to, due to copyright laws protecting it on another website. I will not be sharing his name either, because that will protect me from crossing any fine lines of the copyright laws as well. Anyway, his testimony is about GOD, not him. He was only a vessel used, like we all need to be. There will be some things that I know about that he didn't tell on the other website, which will be good to share too.

I will start with his childhood, so you know how it was for him as a child. My dad told me his family was wealthy at one time before he was born in July 1936. It was the 1929 stock market crash that caused his family not to be wealthy anymore, because they had bought most of their stock in gas. Probably due to this, his father was bitter and unloving and his mother may not have been like his father, but I don't remember him ever saying he felt loved by her either. His dad didn't ever go to church and his mom grew up Methodist, but she had never been to church since she married. My dad told me he would get whipped every day by his dad, it didn't matter if he had done something wrong or not. Dad had an older sister and a younger sister and I never thought about asking if they were ever treated the same way. I don't think they were, but I do remember him saying he didn't look like his father's side of the family, like they did, so that's why his father and his side of the family didn't like him. His father was an excellent wood carpenter though, but didn't want to show my dad how to do that. There were other opportunities his father could have shown him to do, but he didn't. I want to add this note, if my dad had the wealth, loving family or better opportunities to make a living, he wouldn't have been living a life for God like he did.

When he was a teenager, his sister married, but ended up divorcing him, though he still would come around and visit. One day he asked my father if he wanted to go to a church with him and dad said he would. Dad told me that was the first time he had seen a holiness meeting, and it scared him, because they were jumping, shouting and running around, and he didn't know what to think at the time. Dad said he was never asked to go to church again, but if he had, dad said he didn't want to go anyway. I also remember dad saying he never laughed or made fun of what he saw, he felt he needed to respect it even though it scared him even if he didn't understand it.

After dad graduated from High School, dad said he knew he needed a good job and I think I remember him asking his dad about what job he should get. His dad helped him get a job with the glass factory, because his father knew some people there. I can't remember how long he said he worked there before thinking that he should enlist in a branch of service, because it was also during this time the government was drafting men and dad wanted to make sure he got into the Air Force. Dad wasn't a pilot or anything like that. He just refueled the aircraft, which was fine with him. He just liked being around aircraft anyway. He was stationed in Korea for a while and then stationed at Mac Dill AFB in Tampa, Florida. It was there he met mom at some party through mutual friends. My parents got married and moved back to where dad's family lived in Indiana and went back to working at the glass factory.

Dad and mom lived in Indiana for about 6 years and had my brother during that time. Mom was raised in a Methodist church and mom wanted dad to go with her, and he did and ended up claiming to be saved and was water baptized. He said after doing that, he really didn't feel like anything changed in him or in his life.

My parents wanted to live south, where they were about halfway from my dad's family in Indiana and mom's family in Florida, so they ended up in North Carolina. My dad did say he would have preferred moving to Florida to be closer to mom's parents and there was a moment it almost happened that he could transfer to a job with the glass plant, but it fell through. Dad found out later that someone that didn't like dad being hired there influenced someone to not hire dad and that's why it didn't work out. Dad said he was furious, but when he started living for GOD, he realized he wouldn't have had the life GOD had given him if this guy hadn't done what he did, so he was able to not hold any grudges and be bitter about it.

My parents started looking for a church after moving to NC. There was another Methodist Church they tried and dad said he "got saved" and baptized in water again, and again wasn't satisfied. Eventually, he stopped going and tried other places and sometimes there were a few years they didn't go anywhere.

Dad told me GOD helped him from the habit of smoking, which he started after graduating from high school. Dad said he would smoke them after meals and while watching ball games on TV. He said cigarettes were getting in his way and thought if he could get through not smoking any on Saturday and Sunday, then he knew he could quit and, sure enough, he did. He never smoked again and didn't have any desire to either.

My parents started going to another Methodist church after Dad was invited by a guy he worked with. I don't recall how long they had been attending when Dad said they asked him to become a deacon, and later, chair of the board of deacons. All I know is they were there long enough to renew their wedding vows, because I remember Mom wearing a pretty green dress. Mom said when they first got married, it poured down rain, and it turned out that when they renewed their vows, it also poured down rain on that day too. I also remember I didn't like the Sunday school teacher; she was not a nice lady. Anyway, back to the story of Dad being asked to be a deacon: Dad said this scared him because he knew about the scriptures in 1 Timothy 3 concerning the life of a deacon. He knew he didn't qualify, so he kindly told them he couldn't accept their offer, and he ended up leaving there too.

Dad started being a part of the Full Gospel meetings around the mid-70s. While he was attending those meetings, Mom one day was watching the PTL Club and learned about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and wanted to know more about it. He asked some of the men he gathered with from Full Gospel, and they said it was nothing he had to have; it was just an extra blessing.

A few months went by. I think every Saturday morning, Dad would get up very early to meet with the Full Gospel men to pray for their city. While they prayed, Dad noticed that some of them would pray in tongues, and he liked the feeling he felt when he heard them. After they were done praying for the city, Dad asked them to pray for him to receive the Holy Ghost, and he did receive it on September 22, 1975. During this time, my parents also attended bible studies at the homes of Full Gospel members. My mom found a gospel tract about receiving the spirit, enjoyed what she read, and started ordering other tracts. However, these tracts were not affiliated with the Full Gospel ministries.

My mom was watching the PTL Club one evening when my dad came home from work. Jim Bakker was praying for a person who had a sore that doctors said couldn't be healed. Dad had a sore like that himself. As soon as he heard what Jim Bakker said, Dad felt the power of the spirit fall on him and knew he would be healed. He could feel it all up and down his body. The healing did take two years, but he eventually discovered it was gone. One day, he needed to apply medicine to that same area for a different issue. That's when he heard an audible voice telling him not to apply any more medicine, because both problems were healed.

My dad told me that when he was looking for something else in his concordance, he saw the word "praise." The moment he saw it, he knew he needed to find all the scriptures with that word. After studying the word, he realized God loved and required his children, with His spirit, to praise Him. Not long after his Bible study on that word, he was somewhere listening to a quartet from the Full Gospel sing. While watching and hearing them sing, one of the men in the quartet started praising God, and Dad started praising God with him. Several people around him rebuked him, and he quenched the spirit, but as a result, he felt horrible from head to toe. It wasn't a physical sickness; it was spiritual, like a heaviness, a burden, or a correction from God. From that experience, he knew he needed to find a place that truly did praise God, but for now, he stayed with the Full Gospel and trusted God would help him find a new place.

Dad said there was this lady he would sometimes see at the Full Gospel Meetings, and they would talk, and she would invite dad to their home prayer meetings that her husband was the pastor. Dad went home to discuss it with mom, and it turned out it was the same pastor mom had been ordering the gospel tracts from. They decided to go visit them soon, and they were only a few blocks away from where we lived, and they did and after meeting them they went to the next home prayer meeting they had. Note here, when I told this part of the story to people, I thought they didn't realize it was the same couple until they met them for the first time. I didn't realize it was before they met them. I think I like my version better....lol. I love the fact that God was working on them from both sides to end up in the same place.

My parents went to the first meeting and people were praising God like dad wanted to praise God! He saw shoes flying, people dancing and everyone enjoying the spirit falling in the meeting that day. Dad knew he found the place he wanted to be a part of due to the people praising God in that prayer meeting. One thing he noticed was that no one took up a collection to pay tithes and offerings, so dad asked the pastor about it when visiting him at his house. The pastor said he could just pay him and so, every week when dad got paid, he would visit the pastor to pay his tithes and offerings.

A month and a half had gone by, and I heard the pastor say something that I don't recall him saying before when visiting him at his house one evening. He said that no one is saved until the end and the Holy Spirit is the new birth experience. It scared dad when he heard that because everywhere he went before, he said you had to be saved and believe you were, or you had no hope. Dad told the pastor someone had not told him the truth, and he had to go home and pray to find out and that is what he did. The pastor was glad that dad wanted to find out what was true, so dad left and started praying right when he got home. When dad prayed, he liked to go on the railroad tracks that weren't far from the house. He went there every night. When he started praying, he first asked God was the Holy Spirit the new birth? He said the spirit started from his feet, went up through his body, and it went up through his arms as he started raising his arms to praise God! He kept feeling the spirit, never like that before, but it confirmed that the pastor was telling him the truth. Then dad told God, I will never believe in the saved doctrine or tell anyone that lie again. Then the spirit started from his hands and moved all the way down to his feet and dad told me he felt like he was walking in the air, because he can't remember feeling the railroad tracks under his feet. He said it was a wonderful experience and thankful God let him understand and believe the truth.

I remember dad having very bad headaches. He wasn't getting any relief when taking medicine for it. There were a few nurses that went to the prayer meetings and told dad he needed to see a doctor right away. I can't remember the details, but I remember dad telling me his blood pressure was high enough that it could have caused him to die, because I remember crying when he told me. Thankful God kept him alive until he was able to get it under control.

Dad had another medical issue that occurred in his neck. It was very intense pain, and he was miserable, because it was so bad. He went to the hospital in town and the hospital out of town, and he couldn't ever get any relief. This one lady, who was a nurse who attended the meetings, wanted to help dad, but wasn't sure how, so she prayed God would help her help him. She came over to our house and I can't remember the details, but she was able to get him relaxed enough to get him to finally be able to sleep. It turned out it was a ruptured disk in his neck, and they had to operate on him to fix it. I never heard him have any more pain before or after the operation.

Dad was going to fly with someone who invited him to ride with him in a 4-seater plane this person owned. Dad lived in Henderson, NC at the time, but the plane was at an airport in Louisburg, NC and on the way there dad said the spirit fell on him to pray. He prayed in tongues the whole way to the airport, but he didn't know why. Finally, they got to the plane and took off okay, but not too long after taking off, the plane began to have engine trouble and I think I remember it stopped running all together. The man that was flying the plane was able to glide it into a farmers field without it crashing into anything or hurting them or anyone else. Dad then realized why GOD had him to pray, because if he hadn't, the story would likely have been a different outcome.

I am sure my dad had other testimonies and as I remember them I will share them. Come back to see if there is anything new if my father's testimony encouraged or helped you in some way. If I do think of something else, I will try to include it where I think it happened within the time frame above.

My dad passed away in June 2011.

ow I want to share my mother's life about how she grew up and came to God. I wish it was in her own words, but unfortunately it isn't. I will start it like dad's testimony, sharing how things were for my mother as a child. She was the 2nd child of 5 siblings, 3 sisters and her brother was the youngest. Her father was kind of a quiet person and was able to paint portraits and her mother was more outgoing and could get along with everyone. Mom had the talent for drawing with colored pencils and chalk, so she took after her dad there. She tried to have a close relationship with her mother, but she felt she couldn't quite have it like her sister, who was born after her, who was 3 years younger. When mom tried so hard, she always ended up messing something up that made her feel more of a separation than she already felt from her mother. Her mother, though, wasn't the kind of person to hold grudges, so it wasn't like that, but mom could still feel she couldn't get it right to receive the acceptance she wanted from her mother like her sister received.

One thing I remember mother telling me that I thought was so sweet and made me wish I had done the same thing as a child, but I never thought of doing it. My mother had started a scrapbook at a very young age, and it was various things such as flowers, leaves or anything like that she thought was pretty or neat looking. I think she named the scrapbook something like "God's Creation", but can't remember for certain. I knew that she loved doing it until one day she showed it to a girl her age and the girl said it was stupid, and she didn't care to look at it. My mother said it made her feel so bad for the girl to say that, so she stopped doing the scrapbook. That was so sad to me that she was influenced to stop doing that, because of how neat it would have been if she had continued it and maybe had a big collection of scrapbooks to share.

Mom told me one day she was alone at home and was watching TV when she was a teenager, and it was someone preaching something. The preacher asked while she was watching the program, "Do you believe in Jesus?", or it may have been "in God." I can't remember which she said, but she was touched and started shouting, "I believe," and she said this more than once while tears flowed from her eyes.

One day when mom was in school, maybe a couple of years before graduating, she realized that she would need to marry, because she knew she didn't have the ability to take care of herself, so she prayed that God would send her a good husband and he did. After graduating from high school, mom worked at a bank, but it was a behind-the-scenes type of job, which they called them clerks, and they just added columns, filed papers or helped out with other things like that. I don't recall her saying she loved the job, but I don't remember her saying she didn't like it either, but while working there she did meet my dad, but it wasn't at the bank. She ended up quitting only because she was getting married.

She was 19 when she and dad married, and she left home for the first time to live in Indiana, where his family was. It was very difficult for mom when she met dad's family. It was worse than what dad said it would be like, and she tried to go back home, but her mother said she couldn't come back. I am not sure why her mother said that, but I think I remember mom saying her father wouldn't have minded. Anyway, she managed to get through it and had my brother in June 1961. They lived in Indiana all together for about 6 years, I think, and they moved to Henderson NC when dad was able to transfer to a job there.

She ended up becoming depressed and had to start taking medicine at some point, but I can't remember exactly when started taking meds, it it was before moving to NC or after. She did tell me she was taking tranquilizers while she was pregnant with me and I didn't move much while she carried me. She was concerned about me not moving much, but I was doing well enough to be born June 1971. I do remember my parents had to move to a bigger home before I was born and that was the home I was raised in until I was old enough to move out. Mom worked off and on while raising me and my brother, but she was a homemaker most of the time. She took up smoking at some point, but I can't remember when she did that, but she smoked a lot while I was growing up.

I remember mom telling me one day her and dad decided to pray together. After they finished praying, they both said they each heard that they were not saved. I don't recall her telling me what led them to pray together. They just did and that was what happened.

When mom watched the PTL Club and saw someone speaking in tongues, dad walked through the door coming home from work, and she told him she wanted that. Mom sought the Holy Ghost for years, before she finally got it in the summer of 2004. I will share later how she finally received the Holy Ghost. I am trying to keep it in order the best I can remember.

When mom was visiting someone's house, they had a gospel tract, and she started reading it and the moment she read it she knew what it was saying was right. She would order and pass the tracts out to anyone that she could, because she knew it was the truth. This was at a time my mother worked and there was a guy she worked with that was the son of the man who wrote the tract, but I never recall him saying he ever told my mother this when I met him after we started going to the prayer meetings. I only remember him saying he remembered her puffing on a cigarette talking about GOD. Anyway, this is around the time she met the man that wrote the gospel tracts and my parents started going to their home prayer meetings.

As my mother got to know the people more in the prayer meeting, it got to a place where my father was accepted more than she was. I think my mother was very sweet and nice to people and when they weren't in return she never knew how to deal with that. When she tried to confront someone about it, they would say she was a victim. Anyway, she managed to endure it one way or another for many years and during all that time she sought for the holy Ghost, only to see other people getting it. She saw dad, my brother and I got it too, but she was the first that started seeking it. She couldn't understand what was going on. Note here, I do believe part of the problem for it taking so long was due to someone telling her she had it, instead of God confirming it. I think mom did it unintentionally, because she just didn't trust herself, so she always had to confirm it with someone, but when she did get the holy Ghost, she had no doubt she got it.

When I graduated from high school, I went to live in Lexington, NC with someone that was about 12 or 15 yrs older than me. Before a year was up, she found someone and married him and I lived in the rental for a little while longer. Later, I decided I wanted to move back home and I went home to bring mom back to the place I was living to help me pack up some stuff over the weekend. Mom wanted to go back home sooner than we planned, so we did after I got my car worked on earlier that day. When we were on the highway for about an hour and while passing through the Burlington, NC area, my car started to stall while driving on the highway. The lights started dimming, then going off, and the radio turned off, and I had enough roll to exit 147 in Graham, NC, in a fast food parking lot acrose the street from the exit. No cars got in the way during this whole experience before I was able to park. Mom was so nervous and didn't know what to do. The manager let my mom call dad to let him know what happened. It turned out the person that I had lived with in Lexington moved to Graham and lived just up the road with the man she had just married. We called and asked if we could stay the night due to my vehicle breaking down, and they came and got us so we could. Mom broke down crying, because it scared her for some reason. I think she told me later she felt like GOD was punishing her, because I think I recall her saying he wanted her to quit smoking, but she had bought a carton of cigarettes that day and started smoking a pack already. She gave the cart to the couple who let us stay and told them she didn't want to smoke anymore. The woman told me she held onto that carton of cigarettes for a very long time before she threw them away, because GOD had mom go through that to help her be scared enough to stop smoking for good and mom did. She didn't have any withdrawals after putting them down that night either. It might have been an unusual way GOD used to help my mom to quit smoking, but the important thing: GOD knew what it took and that is all that matters.

In 1998, I moved to Burlington, NC and my parents were still in Henderson, NC, but a few years after moving, I wanted my parents to be in the same area I moved to. It wasn't until 2004 that it worked out, though, and we actually moved into the same house together. It helped us both financially to live together, but it also helped as my parents got older too. Anyway, over the years my mother did a lot of crocheting and made a lot of crocheted afghans of so many colors for people in the prayer meetings. One prayer meeting after just a couple of months of moving here, mom went up to the pastor feeling desperate and crying, saying she had done everything she had known to do to get the Holy Ghost and didn't know what else to do. The pastor had compassion and God put it in his heart to tell everyone in the prayer meeting to bring their afghans to the next Sunday meeting. When the next meeting came, just about everyone did, and it was so beautiful to see all the work mom had done for so many people. We are talking about men, women and children with their afghans, and I guess it was around 75 people and maybe more. It thrilled my mom so much to see the afghans all around the room and somehow that helped and encouraged her to push through to receive the Holy Ghost she always wanted. There again, it seems unusual, but sometimes that's how God works, and we need to be ready to do the unusual, so we don't miss out.

After dad died in 2011, mom and I really became close. I was very glad God did that before she died in March 2020. I think her death would have been much harder on me if we had not become close during that time. I took her to appointments then to lunch, and we enjoyed doing things like that together. She loved getting a hazelnut iced coffee from McDonald's and then going to the lake and sitting in the car looking at the water. She has always loved looking at a lake for some reason. I think she said it was peaceful for her.

This is all I can remember about my mom and her testimony she had from God. If I think of others, I will share them.

When I Was Conceived

I wouldn't have known this if my parents hadn't told me, but it is important to share, because I see GOD was going to make sure I was born. My parents had different blood types that would cause problems with them having children after they had their first child. It is called the HR factor and, for some reason, the first child isn't affected by it. Only children conceived after their first. My mother did have a miscarriage. I think about 5 years after my brother was born, and my parents didn't plan to have any more children. I think it was about 4 years after the miscarriage I was conceived, which was a surprise to my parents. By the time I was born, though, the doctors found a way to save babies in cases like my parents had. I have searched the web about it, and it looks like years before I was born they knew how to save babies from this issue, but since medical technology moved slowly to doctors, there were certain areas that hadn't heard about it yet, so fortunately they knew by the time I was born. Anyway, I was born at 8 months and mom told me that the doctor said if I had gone full term I would have been stillborn on my dad's birthday. I was born a blue baby though, and that was due to the HR factor and to be able to save me, I had to have 2 blood transfusions. Dad told me I was very small, and he was able to hold me in the palm of both hands together just slightly, my feet dangling off, because I only weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces after I was born. I was in the hospital for a month and was able to come home.

Being Healed Before I Was Five

When I was maybe 3 years old or so, I was sitting in mom's lap while she was reading a book to me and, all of a sudden, I hit my head on my mom's chest. She quickly realized I was having a seizure and my parents took me to the hospital. While there, I had another seizure and my parents were told that I would have to take medicine for the rest of my life due to this. This bothered my mother, and she knew of Earnest Angley and his anointing to heal people. Somehow my parents found out he would be in driving distance to go to one of his healing ministries. I remember going with them and when it came time for him to pray for people, mom and I went up on the stage, and he laid hands on me to be healed. I can't recall mom ever telling him why she wanted him to pray for me, but I was healed and mom had faith to not give me anymore medicine and I never had another seizure.

Hearing An Audible Voice

I was at an age to be able to wash dishes, but had to stand on a stool to reach the sink. Anyway, I was mad at mom for some reason, maybe for having to wash dishes, but thinking I was alone, I said something disrespectful. After saying whatever it was, I thought I heard my mother's voice say my name in a tone of correction and firmness, but when I looked around no one was there. I didn't see anyone, and it scared me to the point where I was too afraid to be mad anymore and continued washing the dishes.

How I Received The Holy Ghost

It was January 4, 1981, and I was 10 and a 1/2 years old. It was a Monday night prayer meeting and, for some reason, that night I wanted to stay and listen to the meeting. There was a girl that was just a year older than me who didn't want to listen to the meeting and talked me into going into the back room of the house that night. She said we could read the Bible back there, and so she convinced me to go with her instead of staying in the prayer meeting. We took turns reading the Bible, going back and forth reading a chapter. I can't remember where we were reading or even how long we read, but we started hearing people getting prayed for. She left me sitting there, but I remember wanting to finish reading the chapter I was on before going in there to get prayed for. By the time I finally finished reading the chapter and went in to be prayed for, everyone had already set down and finished praying. I just stood there after entering the room, but not long before an elderly man spoke up asking me, "Do you want to be prayed for?" and my response was, "I sure do!" I went up for prayer lifting my hands and immediately began to cry when people started praying for me. It went on for a long time when I finally faced this elderly woman as she knelt down to my height. She was speaking in tongues while holding me by the shoulders and while she did that, I had the spirit say to me, "Speak back to her speaking in another tongue." and I did without any hesitation. That was when and how I received the holy Ghost. When the elderly woman was speaking in tongues, she had no thought of doing that to encourage me to speak in tongues and I never felt that way while she was praying for me. I just had the faith to believe what the spirit told me to do, and I did it.

A Dream Of Jesus Coming Back

When I was young, maybe around the age of 11 or 12, I had a dream about Jesus coming back. Before going to sleep, I was lying in bed thirsty, but I guess I was too tired to get up to get a drink of water. I went to sleep and dreamt of getting up and going to the bathroom to get some water. As I was drinking the water, I looked outside through the window in the bathroom and the stars were falling and disappearing before they hit the ground. Then they stopped falling and started circling around in the sky to the right and as they circled, Jesus came through the circle like a superhero saying something in a loud voice. When I saw him, I raised my hands and started speaking in tongues. Then the scene changed and Jesus was calling out names of who would be saved. When I heard him calling my father's name, I went up to Jesus and asked him if he could wait for my father. He took a moment and nodded yes and that was the end of my dream.

These verses have some similarities to the dream, in Matthew 24:29-31 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. In Mark 13:24-27 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. 25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. I didn't realize at the time there were verses of scripture in the Bible that came close to what I dreamed.

The part about Jesus waiting for dad. I didn't really understand that part of the dream until years later and after my father died. I decided I would start writing all my experiences in a journal. When I was writing out my dream and I got to the part about my father, GOD showed me the meaning. In the summer of 2010, my father was in ICU, and they were saying he wasn't going to make it. Just about everyone we knew came to see him. The whole situation was overwhelming and the thought of losing one of your parents for the first time was hard to believe. Anyway, I went into this bathroom outside the door of the ICU. I started crying and praying, telling Jesus I was not ready for him to take my father. My father made it through the night and fully recovered to come home. GOD allowed him to stay alive about one more year, and he died in June 2011.

GOD Scared Me Reading A Scripture

I was maybe 13 or 14 years old, I can't remember now, but I was reading 1 Peter 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? I don't recall what led me to read the scripture, but all I do remember was going to my mother crying and asking her about this scripture, because it scared me so much after reading it. I pointed to the part that said the righteous will scarcely be saved and asked her how anyone can make it in heaven. Of course, she really didn't know what to say, but I think she said something like, you will have to trust in God. I do feel like this was the first seed planted in my heart to direct my path towards him to do his will and not to be influenced by people that looked right.

My experience reminds me of the scriptures in Matthew 19:25-26 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? 26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Also in Mark 10:26-27 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? 27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Although these aren't scriptures God used to scare me like he did with 1 Peter 4:18, the scriptures I am about to share parallel well with the one God scared me with. In KJV Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

When we die, that's it for eternity and there is no coming back to have another chance if we didn't get it right the first time. One thing I have learned, it takes humility to learn and understand the truth. This life is a vapor here compared to eternity with God. It doesn't matter what you, or I believe, what is the will of God for each of us, that is what we have to find out to have salvation.

Hummingbird Experience

One Saturday morning I was on my screened in porch drinking my coffee and just thinking about a recent testimony I heard. This guy was telling us at a home prayer meeting about what happened while resting for a bit before starting to work again in his yard. This hummingbird flew up and was face to face with him and startled him at first, because it was so close. When he saw that the hummingbird was just looking at him, he relaxed and enjoyed the experience. After thinking about that experience he had, I whispered to myself, "It will be years before that happens to me." During this time, I felt like I wasn't pleasing God and had made a lot of mistakes and just didn't feel I was worth much to God. I wasn't on the verge of committing suicide. I knew if I had done that, I wouldn't make it with God, because one of God's commandments is "Thou shall not kill", which would include not killing ourselves either. I may have been considered depressed, but I wasn't one to take medicine, so I never went anywhere for counseling. Anyway, I finished my coffee and started working in the yard picking up limbs before I mowed. While I was doing that, I heard something behind me and turned around and noticed something moving around in this bush maybe 15 ft away from me. A few seconds later 2 hummingbirds came from the bush and flew right in front of me, about an arm's length away, and they were close enough for me to hear them communicating with each other. A few seconds later one stayed while one flew around the back to check out something, then seconds later joined the one in front of me and they both flew off. I stood there thinking what I whispered that morning, and I was so thankful that God encouraged me to let me have that experience with two hummingbirds, not just one. God hears our whispers too and really loves us and cares how we feel!

Made Up Mind

When I started working for a banking institution, I worked at the front desk, then the teller line and ended up in the loan department. There was a lady who was over me in that department and enjoyed telling me what to do. Other co-workers saw it, but there was not much anyone could do about it. One day GOD gave me a made-up mind to do everything she says to do without any complaint, no matter what her attitude was towards me. Not saying I wasn't already doing what she said, but I had a better attitude. This went on for about 2 or 3 months, I really can't remember how long, but I got to a place she could stay or leave. It didn't matter to me, because I humbled myself to the point she didn't move me anymore. One day there was a memo in my box saying she was promoted to manager at another branch. You are thinking I would have jumped for joy, but I didn't, because I really got to the place of not caring if she stayed or left. I went to her office and with sincerity I congratulated her, and she thanked me. Then I headed to my office and the moment I went through the door of my office, the spirit said to me, "She is leaving because you got it right." It was worth humbling myself to hear the spirit say that!

God Said The Word Complacent

Let me share with you how God said the word "complacent" to me. Sometime around 2004, I was on a trip with my dad, pastor, and the pastor's daughter, to Clinton, Iowa to deliver some diaries and other items to a museum concerning someone on my father's side of the family who was in the civil war. Somewhere along the trip, we stopped and ate and when sitting there eating, I said the word complacent without realizing it and I said it a few times before I heard myself say it loud enough to hear it. No one looked at me and asked why I said it, but I knew it was loud enough for them to have heard it. I guess God had them to have deaf ears to what I was saying, probably because I wouldn't have known what to tell them if they asked. I had to find out what it meant, because it wasn't a word I knew to use, which I believe was why God used that word. It may not have made the experience feel as real using a word I would have known. Anyway, I remember asking the pastor's daughter what the word meant and found out the meaning is showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements. I had to ask God what he was saying, because I didn't have any idea. I even broke down the definition by starting with "showing smug", which means, showing an excessive and annoying sense of self-satisfaction, often with an air of superiority. Then I looked at what uncritical satisfaction with oneself meant. The meaning of this is the feeling of being smugly and unthinkingly pleased with oneself or one's accomplishments, often to the point of being unaware of potential dangers, deficiencies, or the need for improvement. None of that sounded like me after breaking it down like I did to get a clearer understanding of the word complacent. The only thing that felt right was that God was saying he was satisfied with the way he made me, no matter how others think or feel about me. The people I worshipped with were always thinking I lacked in some way or another, especially due to being raised by a mother that suffered with depression. People were trying to fix me that God didn't need help with. If this isn't what God meant, I don't think it is wrong to believe it this way, because God is still righteous even if he wants to be smug about it. There is a righteousness of God that goes way beyond what humans can understand.

Anyway, while I was writing this testimony, I do feel God made me realize something I haven't realized before. I can see God planting a seed in my heart to deal with something that happened about 5 years later. Which is my next testimony, "Do You Want To Be Right Or Righteous". I never put that together before, but it fits, because the pastor's daughter, the way she treated me in that testimony would fit that she was complacent. When God had me say the word, it helped me later, but it likely was a warning for her at the time, because I did ask her what the word meant. Even if it didn't sound like a warning to her, it doesn't have to, because in the spirit of God things operate differently that this flesh can never understand. It is the matter of the heart and it is up to the person to keep it and guard it, so it will heed to warnings or anything you need to continue to grow in God.

Do You Want To Be Right Or Righteous?

I will have to say this testimony, I think, was the start of GOD really working on me spiritually. I didn't know it at the time, but when I got through to the other side of it, it was worth going through. It started when the pastor wrote a book and those that requested it from the website, their names were put on a list to contact them about a month or two later to get feed back after reading the book. I decided I wanted to try and help, so the pastor's daughter was taking charge of sending out the list and those that wanted to help out she would show how it worked and what to do.

I got my first list, I worked on it when I could and every now then would have questions. One time I wasn't sure about something and asked her about it and saw that she was right about it and did what I needed to. Something else came up, and I asked about it and thought everything was going like it should. When I heard people got a new list, but I didn't, I was wondering what was going on. The other list wasn't finished, but I knew something wasn't right, and so I called her. I think I called her a few times before she finally picked up. I asked her why I wasn't getting the new list, because I heard people got it except me and didn't understand. Her response was "I know you don't understand", which was so condescending and belittling I was floored by her response. I can't remember how the whole conversation went after that, but she was planning to come to my house to talk more about it later that day. I called the pastor and told him what happened, and he acted like he didn't want to deal with it, but I kept talking to him anyway. I can't remember any of the conversation I had with her now, but at the time I was able to tell the pastor, and it turned out all my responses to the pastor's daughter would have been what he would have said to her. The only thing I didn't tell her he said I could do was refuse her to come into my house when she came. I said okay, so when I hung up with him, I called her and got her voicemail and told her something like, I don't want you to come to my house, because ( I added) you're a little bit too big for your britches. I think I said more than just that, but I really can't remember now.

Later, the pastor called my dad and said our daughters are not getting along, and so he asked my dad if we could come to his house to discuss the issue. I do not know why dad was put in the middle of this, because we were adults, not children, and I was about 8 years older than the pastor's daughter. We got there and the people that I spent time with doing things together were there too, which again, I don't know why they were also put in the middle of this, but we got started. I really can't remember how it all went, but I think I started, and then she said what she had to say and why she stopped sending me the list. It turned out she didn't agree with some of the responses I was sending people. During the discussion I didn't really sense anyone taking sides, which was good. Though there was one thing that did happen I will never forget and that was after we finished settling the disagreement. The pastor's daughter looked at me and had the sweetest disposition and then said, "I love you!" You would think with her being the pastor's daughter, you would love to hear her say that to you, but actually it felt horrible, and I was even surprised it did. I almost felt like I was wrong in feeling that way, but I just sat there after she said that, while the others in the room were saying Awww, and I sat there feeling Ugh after she said it! At the time, I didn't understand why I was feeling that way, but now I can see it was a manipulation tactic, and it was just the start of me learning how to discern evil spirits like that.

I started working the lists again, and it wasn't long before I asked her something concerning a response I wanted to send, and she told me to do it a different way and I disagreed and was going to do it my way, but she never told me that it was the pastor that said to do it the different way. He texted me saying I was hard-headed and didn't listen and went on and on saying things like that. I told dad about it, and he just said to take it and be calm about it or something like that. I didn't feel he was taking his side, and I remember him saying something like I don't understand why he is saying all of that to you either. The end result of this was, the pastor's daughter thought she had proven a point she was right about me.

When I was around her, she had a way she would act around me to rub it in my face about her being right, and I was wrong. I can't remember exactly how long this went on, but it felt like it was months, but maybe it wasn't. Anyway, the thing of it is, no one around noticed it, only I could feel it and see what she was doing. It was so subtle, but I discerned what she was doing even though it wasn't obvious. Finally, after a Wednesday night meeting, there were some pictures of her family she had just got done that she was laying out for people to take, and I went over and got a few of them. As I was going to the door to leave, I felt the spirit tell me, "Go over to her and let her know how much you love the pictures, and she will stop doing what she is doing to you." I went to her and told her how much I loved her pictures and she smiled and said thank you and I left. It was so encouraging that the spirit told me that, because I knew God was telling me I was discerning correctly her doing that to me, and she did stop.

The next experience was icing on the cake! I was about to iron and while I was getting the ironing board set up, I was thinking about what had just happened and started to ask God a question, and it was, "How did all this happen?" Before I could finish that question, the spirit spoke to me and said, "Do you want to be right or be like Jesus?' That was an easy answer for me and I answered," I want to be like Jesus. Although I didn't understand completely what that meant exactly at the time, I was so thankful that the spirit spoke to me and was humble enough to hear it. I wrote her an email telling her thank you for all that happened and told her it was worth going through it to be able to hear what the spirit said. I told her what it said, and it was in the center of the email I sent. Her response was, that is good, but I don't understand what the center of the email means. I knew then, she didn't understand, because she wanted to be right instead of being like Jesus, which confirmed what I was feeling from her.

A couple of years later, we were going over a different book the pastor wrote, and we started talking about Satan and what he was like. The pastor was saying he wanted to be right, have his way with no mercy. While listening to the meeting, God reminded me of what the spirit told me a couple of years ago and changed it: "Do you want to be like Satan (right) or be like Jesus"? The next meeting we were talking about Jesus and his righteousness and mercy and God brought it up again and changed it: "Do you want to be like Satan (right) or (be like Jesus) righteous?" I love how when you are living in the spirit everything comes together and connects. Worshipping any other way will always have missing links.

Getting An Answer I Didn't Expect

This testimony is a little funny, but I think it is worth telling, because it is so true. I was at work and was going to the restroom and this question popped up into my head to ask God, "Why didn't you make us so we wouldn't have to use the restroom?" and I went on to say, "Inknow you could have done it too." I don't recall why I wanted to ask God, except I was just curious on why he made us this way. I didn't expect a response, but he did and said, "It puts everyone on the same level." I knew what he meant, no one can change that regardless how rich or smart someone gets. God's answer led me to think this as well, it reminds us daily that this flesh stinks too!

Getting A Spiritual Embracement

One day after a Sunday prayer meeting and after eating lunch, I got tired and took a nap. It isn't normal for me to take naps, but this time I did. I set down in my recliner to lay back for a nap and I can't remember how long I was there before I felt this presence behind me. I really can't recall if I was asleep or not, but the presence started embracing me. The next thing I remember, I said something to the presence, and it is kind of strange for me to have said this, but I remember doing it. I told the presence, "not too hard" and I actually remember feeling it honoring my request. I didn't feel pain or really anything that would have provoked me to say that. When I was done napping, I wondered why I would have said that, because what I felt was really wonderful. The only thing that I could think of was, it was a way for God to help me to realize it really happened, and it wasn't a dream.

A Vision Of My Father

I was at a prayer meeting and sometime during the meeting someone shared a dream. I think that dream and the message that night may have had to do with something I said to someone a few days before the meeting. What I said I think got thrown out of proportion and context, and it is hard to explain here without going into detail, which isn't needed to share this experience. Anyway, before the meeting ended, people were getting prayed for, and I may have been one of the last to go up and when the pastor started praying for me, he started speaking loudly into my ear, loud enough so others could hear him too. He was saying something like, "When are you going to let go of the past and be happy in God"? It was something like that, and it made me so embarrassed, and it caused me to cry, because of him doing that to me, but I went to my seat as the meeting was coming to an end. I was sitting in the back row, which allowed me to lean my head back on the wall and close my eyes. I wasn't asleep, but at the same time I don't recall anything that was said either. While sitting there, I saw a vision of my dad just looking at me, and he had no facial expressions. As he was sitting there, Jesus was walking behind him and as he walked by, he nudged my father and said she was about to get over something soon. When Jesus did that, a huge smile came over my father's face, it was a smile of being happy for me. If anyone is wondering what Jesus looks like, I have no idea. I can't say how I knew it was Jesus in my vision, I just knew. Later, I went to tell the pastor and his response made me feel he had already heard about it, because I had told the girl that had the dream, because we spent a lot of time together. Anyway, he just asked me what you think you will be getting over soon. I told him I didn't know, and I didn't, but I felt that he thought it would be something he was still thinking I was holding on to from the past. I can't remember any more of the conversation or how it ended, but I do know I was encouraged more by God than the pastor.

You Believe The Whole Truth

One fall afternoon after a prayer meeting, I walked next door to pick some muscadines that someone grows every year for those that attend the prayer meetings. It was a beautiful sunny day, a little cool with some clouds in the sky. While picking, I was thinking about the meeting and what was preached that day, and I was in awe of what was being said that day. The funny thing is, I can't remember now what he preached, but it caused me to ask God a question at the time. I asked God, not expecting an answer, "Why are we able to hear the preaching that we hear? I am sure hardly anyone hears the preaching we hear." While picking the grapes and at first not realizing God was using my own voice to answer the question, I was maybe half-way finished before realizing he had answered my question. You will recognize the words that he used to answer the question, but God changed a few words. God said to me, "Because you believe the truth, the whole truth and nothing, but the truth." I can't remember the exact date of this testimony, but I believe it was somewhere between 2013 and 2014. Let me tell you what I didn't believe and still don't at the time of that experience that just about everyone believes today. I don't believe in any ceremony such as water baptism, foot washing, communion, praying for people with olive oil and other things like that I can't remember at this time. Now ask yourself, are you going to believe my experience that I am sharing with you that's from God or the millions of people that believe in ceremonies?

I shared this testimony once with someone and their response was that no one can believe the whole truth. I don't think he said it exactly like that, but I knew that is what he meant. I was shocked that he even said that, especially since I had a testimony from God that it could happen. To me, it is sad that he felt that way, because when someone can't believe a testimony that is from God, they are very poor spiritually. This particular person is looked up to as a leader of this place of worship, and they think he has a lot of knowledge of the scriptures. I fear for him and those that listen to him, because if you can't believe someone's testimony from God, then you are believing things that aren't true and not from God.

What I Use To Think

When I got to the place in my life to realize how important it is to please God, I thought for a long time if I pleased the pastor then I would be pleasing God. I can't remember how I started thinking that way, I just did. Anyway, there was one day I was feeling down about something, but can't remember now what it was about. I decided to watch a movie and mom was watching it with me, and it was about this woman struggling with her marriage and she met this elderly woman that was helping her learn how to get through it by praying. Later in the movie, there is a scene where the struggling woman seems to break through to say, "My joy isn't from my husband or my job." And after she said that, I raised my arms and started praising God and said, while looking at mom, "My joy doesn't come from a pastor either". Something about that helped me realize my thought of pleasing the pastor didn't mean I would be pleasing God. Later, the spirit showed me I had pleased God, but not always the pastor. That did something in my heart that was wonderful. To give you an example of the change God made in my heart, there was something the pastor would say when you pleased him, at least that was the way I took it. He would start by asking you, "How am I doing?' and you would respond, "You are doing fine", and then he would say, "You are too." In the past, I was happy when he did this, because usually it meant I was pleasing him, thinking I was pleasing God too. I did something which caused him to say that, and I remember thinking he was only saying it, because someone he trusted said something positive about me and I knew it wasn't motivated by God telling him. That was the first time I hadn't felt happy after he said that to me. That could have been what my vision meant of my father when Jesus said to him, "She is about to get over something." I am really not sure, because unfortunately I didn't write my testimonies as they happened, so it could have been for something else. I am just thankful I was able to learn that you need to make sure you are pleasing Jesus, because he will be the one we face on judgement day, not the pastor.

God Saying "I Love Ya"

One day I was at the store getting groceries. Going down one of the isles, I saw this elderly man on the cell phone and as I walked by him, I heard him telling the person before hanging up, "I love ya". When I heard it, I just said under my breath, that was sweet and went back to my shopping. I was at the front of the store having to call mom about some yarn she needed and there was more than one shade of the color and I asked which one she wanted. She told me, and I was about to put the shade she didn't want somewhere it didn't below, but decided that wouldn't be right to do, but I also realized I had forgotten the bottled water that was in the back of the store. As I was headed for the water first, there was an employee on the phone with someone, and she was finishing the conversation with "I love ya" as I passed by. I just said under my breath this time, there's a lot of love in the store today, which I thought was great, of course. After I got the bottled water, I went in the direction of the yarn and as I was passing the infant department, someone yelled out to someone saying, "I love ya," and this time, I started tearing up asking God, "Is that you telling me you love me?" I said, God if that is you, let me hear it one more time. When I went to the yarn, I put the color back mom didn't want and as I turned the cart around to leave, there was the word love written in red on a vase. I was crying while I walked to the register to check out and when I was leaving the store I saw love written on someone's shirt too. The next morning, I was thinking about what happened at the store and realized God hadn't let me hear it a 4th time as I asked, and he said to me, "You got the point after you heard it the 3rd time", and he was right, I did. Just to top it off, mom wanted me to get red-colored yarn and the brand is called "Red Heart."

Qualities Of God

I want to share what I have learned from my experiences concerning love, mercy, patience, compassion and all the other qualities of God. If you go to anyone you trust for an answer and lets say it is the same answer God would have provided to help someone, you will lack something only God can provide and is one of the qualities you need with the answer. God will use people you trust to help you for a time, but you have to get weaned off them and start having your own experiences and connection with God. The person you trust may have those qualities themself, because they went to God for their help, but they can't transfer those qualities to you with the answer. If you go to someone for help and advice, also go to God to see if God agrees or not and if he agrees he will provide you with the love and any other quality needed to help someone. By doing this, you may have left out something that wasn't said, because God sees it all and knows it all and it may weigh the scales in a different direction. I have found that our walk in God is a 2 way street, when there is a problem between 2 saints, both need to go to God, because God is right and sees every detail. The saint that may be right, needs help from God to stay humble and receive the qualities needed to maybe help the saint that isn't right. God is looking at both hearts and he wants both to love one another with his kind of love and we can only do it through God.

With my experiences from God, I really didn't know what was going on at the time. I feel like now when I look back on the experiences I've had with people, I receive more understanding. It is like going through growing pains, but instead of it being in the flesh, it was spiritual. People that accused me of something, they would go to someone other than God for their answer. I looked rebellious, because I wouldn't receive their help to change like they thought I should. At the time I wasn't intentionally rebelling or had any thought like that, but instead the holy spirit in me was protecting me from receiving that kind of help, because I would become like them instead of like God. Actually, they had good intentions, but it is no good if you don't get God's help to help others. That is what the spirit does, it will protect you even when you don't realize it at the time. I am so thankful for what God has done for me and that's why God has put it on my heart to share my experiences with you!