Women's Refreshing Retreat August 10-11
     Testimonies

     "On a more personal note, I would like to share what this weekend meant to us. My daughter Rebecca and I have been in Alaska for the last two years with very little Christian fellowship there and we arrived at the retreat very much in need of refreshing.  Our tears fell throughout the retreat as we felt wave after wave of God's healing presence.  It seemed like a gentle rain was falling on those desert places within.  As you sang over Rebecca, I sensed a turning point in her heart as she heard you sing of God's desire for her life.  Words fail to really thank you both enough, but I felt that it was important to let you know the impact of the retreat on our lives.  God bless you!"  -Jenny Telles, Lubbock, TX

      "The retreat was awesome.  Every person was ministered to in just the way they needed to be...whether it was healing, refreshment, encour-agement, or something else..."  -Mia Lee, Lubbock, TX

  Healing Testimony: Fern Morey's Story

     A friend of mine told me one day when he prayed for me, "And don't be afraid to lay your hands on sick people as the Spirit of God leads you because the same healing anointing that is on your hands when you play the piano is the same healing anointing to lay hands on the sick and see them recover."  I really had never thought about it seriously until then.

      In December of 2000, I was ministering in Breckenridge, TX in Abundant Life Family Church on a Sunday morning.  I arrived a day early and was praying about what the Lord wanted to do.  The impression came to me that He really wanted to bless the act of baptism.  As I prayed about that more I grew excited and more reassured that He did in fact want to do what He said.

     Sunday, December 14th came and it was cold.  The baptistry wasn't heated and I thought that there were too many older people that could possibly catch a cold. As I prayed, the thought occurred to me to  pour warmed water over the head of all who would like to celebrate their salvation.  And I believed that there were many who needed to close the door to the power of the enemy in an area of their life where he had been attacking them.  I conferred with the Pastor Buddy Fincher and he agreed. This fellowship is full of child-like loving people who trust in the Lord and trust the Lord in me and so that Sunday about eight people were wonderfully blessed.  I must say that I was as amazed as anyone that the grace of the Lord was poured out so beautifully. 

Took my heart by surprise

     As I looked down the aisle, the last one to come was a lady with a great deal of determination in her eyes struggling to get out of her seat and move toward me.  Unfamiliar with her condition, I didn't realize that she had left her motorized wheelchair at home and suffered from many illnesses.

     I took her by the hand and steadied her a little and led her forward to the table where I was pouring the water over the heads of the people.  She bowed her head over the basin and waited for me to pour not saying a word.  As I began to pour the water, she began to strongly shake without control.  I thought to myself, "Father, what are you doing?"  I sensed  the awesome Presence of God but it wasn't until after the service that I would learn what all He had done for her.

Good news at the dinner table

     As we gathered to eat a covered dish meal afterward, it was then that Fern Morey smilingly told me along with her daughter Annie Girard exactly what the Lord had done for her.  I have decided to write in her own words what she told me that day:

"God has done so many things for me today.  You just don't know!  I have had a lot of physical problems.  A history of strokes and nervous breakdowns.  I was saved at 14 in a Baptist church but got away from the Lord and I have been in and out of many relationships.  I left my $6,000 wheelchair at home because I couldn't turn the wheels or guide it where I wanted it to go.  I just stumbled around with my cane.  Couldn't walk to the mail box for the last 7 months. My memory is returning since the prayer this morning.  God told me it was my day to be healed.'

Annie added: "The doctor had made her a ward of the state because she was not able to take care of herself, declaring her to be an invalid. She had lost the ability to balance, she couldn't hold things, she would move from anger to laughter quickly.  All of her motor skills were messed up, and her vision and hearing was impaired.  Cataracts, high blood pressure, glaucoma and going blind. So many illnesses. You have no idea what all God has done for her today. Praise His Name!"

Three months later Annie told me and her mother confirmed that she no longer reads with glasses as she had before and all of her anxieties were gone.  Used to, she couldn't sleep all night but suffered from insomnia but now she slept all night.  She still walks without a cane and no longer needs the wheelchair.

"Now I can enjoy my grandchildren,"... she smiled with that same smile that I have now observed for the last nine months. 

     Yes, it has now been many months. Fern Morey walked out of the building that clear sunshiny, cold winter's day carrying her cane and smiling. She hasn't used it again since that day.

     Praise His wonderful Name!  There is nothing magic about the water but our father is a covenant-keeping God  He keeps His word.  He is a great and awesome loving God!  Praise His Glorious Name!!