The Hero of Your Life Story, Continued | Guest Post

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Hello friends!

I am so thrilled that you are here.  Joy is away at the moment, but she asked me if I would be hostess for the day, and I happily said yes!  We may have met before– we may not have.  If not, I am so excited to make your acquaintanceship.  Allow me to introduce myself.   My name is Emily and my usual blogging home is over at Amity.  I live in a small-ish country town in Australia with my parents and my seven younger siblings – one brother, and six sisters.  

When Joy emailed me and asked me to pop over and host a little for her while she is away, I was excited (I always am – I love Joy heaps and always feel so honoured to write something to put on her beautiful blog!) but – also per usual – I sat there, my mind swimming, thinking What on earth am I going to write about this time???  After pondering for a while and coming up empty-handed, I got on the blog and looked up the post I wrote for her last year.  It was titled The Hero of Your Life Story.  As I read it, I was taken aback a little.  I realized that, though I had written it a year ago, I was only really letting it be true for me in the last few months, and am now on the next step, so to speak. 

This Sunday – the first day of November – I have been asked to share my testimony with the church at our family church camp.  I am also going to share it here.  I don’t want this to be about me – it’s not.  The Holy Spirit has been doing some amazing things in my life over the last few months and so this is really just a continuation of what I wrote last year.  I pray you are encouraged by it, and all glory be to Jesus.

My testimony really begins when I was born, for if the Lord had not tuned the ears of a doctor to a strange gurgling sound around my heart, I would not be here today to tell you the story.  I am always amazed and so grateful for that doctor – I don’t even know his name, but he saved my life.  Because he heard that noise, I was diagnosed with having holes in my heart, and was immediately scheduled for surgery.  Sixteen months and two open heart operations later, I was declared to be ‘good for now’.  I would probably need further surgery later in life, we were told.  I am believing otherwise. 

I have been blessed to have grown up in a Christian home.  I don’t remember it myself, but Mum tells me that I first asked the Lord Jesus into my heart when I was three years old.  I am thankful to have parents who have always endeavoured to instil the word of God in their children.

Allow me to insert a very important note right here: Your testimony – the story of where you used to be, how God saved you, and where He has brought you to now – is powerful.  You might think much of it, particularly if you have ‘always been a Christian’ or grown up in church.  That is a lie from the enemy.  Any life that is a testament to the goodness of God is a testimony worth telling and celebrating, because the same grace that saved the John Newton from slave trading, Mary Magdalene from demons and prostitution, and the drunkard and the addict from their past and their sins, is the same grace that protected you from similar evils in the first place. 

Growing up in a Christian home – and knowing that I had asked the Lord to forgive me at a young age – I took my salvation for granted and stuck to the very minimum of Christian living.  Actually, not even that.  As a girl, I hated family devotions – they were incredibly boring, in my opinion.  I never read my Bible or prayed except for when Mum figured out that I hadn’t done it that day and told me to go and have my Bible time.  It would usually run like this:

·      Read the devotion page in my kids study Bible as quickly as possible, skipping the scripture reading.

·      ‘Pray’ – “Dear-Lord-thankyou-for-today-amen.

Done.  I was free to go and do what I wanted to do. 

In the middle of all this, when I was nine years old, I decided I wanted to be water baptised.  Looking back, I’m not really sure why.  I think I was trying to convince some people – myself, my friends, and God – that I was a really good girl.  Somehow, I don’t think I fooled God, even if I managed to convince myself and those around me.  One thing I do know, is that I did not understand the significance of what I was doing.   I knew in my head what baptism was and what it represented, but I did not have a spiritual revelation of what I was actually doing. 

When I was about twelve or thirteen, I decided to become more faithful in my walk with the Lord.  Once again, I do not remember the exact moment, or what made me change my heart attitude.  It was probably a quiet movement of God in my life, gently moulding me, making me pliable.  At that time in our family, we were attending a different church and I was intrigued by the simplicity of the teaching that they presented.  Perhaps God used those messages to speak to my heart.  I rededicated my life to the Lord and strived to follow Him… on conditions.

In my defence I didn’t realize that I had a set of conditions that I has holding God to.   I am, by nature, very unobtrusive.  I hate to be the centre of attention, and I hate to put people out on account of me.  Somehow, though, I applied those tendencies to my spiritual life.  I didn’t want to ask God for anything and I didn’t want to grow in the spiritual gift He has given me because I knew that when the Holy Spirit starts growing and showing in someone’s life, it becomes noticeable, and I didn’t want that either.  I developed a strange sense of fear that was very strong and controlling.  It wasn’t what people would think of me, so much as it was I was scared God would use me in bigger and bigger ways that would make me unavoidable to the notice of others.  It sounds terribly silly like that, but it was very real, and I struggled against it for a long time when I recognised what it was. 

But praise God, He didn’t let me stay in that place.  With a little shove I found myself stepping forward at youth camp in August when the speaker called for all those who were afraid.  Normally I wouldn’t go forward for prayer because I was too scared, but I knew there had to be a change in my life somewhere and, praying for strength, I stepped forward. 

Another important note – God wants to use you.  Every single person has the potential to change the world, it’s just very few take their opportunities.  If you want God to use you in amazing ways, just step out and say yes.  Really.  It’s all you have to do.  James says to draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Step out and step into what He has for you.  You don’t have to have all the answers – or any at all – but just releasing yourself to the guidance of God will be so freeing and you will be amazed at what happens when you do.

I was prayed for at camp, and then I went home.   Three weeks later, I went to a women’s conference and once again, they called for people to come forward for prayer.  The speaker – Ps. Margaret – came and prayed with me.  To my amazement, she spoke exactly the same things over me that the speakers at camp had.  She was a little more detailed, but they were the same messages coming back to me three weeks later.   The main points were:

·      That old dreams I had buried and let die would come back to life.

·      That my hands would be powerful and would heal the sick and the hurting.

·      That I would receive power

And then Ps. Margaret added something else.  “You probably won’t thank me for this later,” she said with a smile as she embraced me.  She then spoke boldness into my life.  I was excited – but terrified.  I went home and thought about what it for the rest of the day.  When I was in bed that night, I wanted to pray and pursue all that had been spoken to me that day.  I was so distressed that I could feel my stomach churning and twisting.  I started to cry.  “Lord Jesus, I just need to not be afraid for one minute,” I prayed.  Instantly, everything was calm.  I was at peace both mentally and physically and I began to pray for those things I wanted to see in my life – boldness, courage and God-inspired dreams.  Since that moment, fear in prayer has not been a problem for me.  

The word about dreams and healing people was an especially exciting thing for me.   I have had some big dreams in the past involving children and orphans and adoption and so, and have been told to my face by well-meaning people that they would never come to pass.  Discouraged I stopped talking about them.  Instead, I decided to become a nurse – a paediatric nurse.  Still working with children, but more realistic for those who ask me what I plan to do.  When I got the word about healing I was thrilled.  Great!  I thought. I’m on the right track here.

Then a few weeks after that, I was talking to a friend about ministry and supernatural healing.  Something jumped within me.  I started praying and knew that God was telling me to give up the idea of nursing and pursue ministry instead.   I was so happy about that – looking back, I can see now that nursing would have smothered me.  But still, I waited.  I wanted to be sure – after all, I had been working towards nursing for some time now, and what if it was imagination running away with me?

A couple of Sundays later, the sermon at church was about worshiping in the middle – you have a word at the start of your journey and a word at the end, but where do you go in the mean time?  People were encouraged to go forward for prayer and once again, feeling lost and unsure about everything, I went.  It was our own Pastor that prayed for me this time.  Once again, she prayed for the dreams that I have tucked away.   Then she looked at me and said, “You think you’ve heard wrongly, don’t you?”  I nodded.  “You haven’t,” she said.  “You heard right.” 

That is pretty much where my story is at the moment, but how amazing is God??  Now, with ministry in mind, I am planning on begin a course at Harvest College next year called Bachelor of Arts in Ministry.  (Look it up – it’s awesome!)  Opportunities have also come up for me to join the ministry team at church.

My most common prayer at the moment is “What are you doing, God?”  I look at myself in the mirror and laugh.  Who would have thought that in such a short amount of time (not quite three months) I could go from who I was to who I am now?  I can only say – God.  Only God could have changed me the way He has. 

As I said at the beginning, I have not told all of this for attention – attention like that is something I am still find difficult to handle – but rather to encourage you, my fellow Pilgrims, and to glorify God who has redeemed us and brought us to Himself through Jesus and given us the Holy Spirit to be with us and guide us.  Praise His name forever!

I am a stay-at-home daughter, home-school graduate, piano teacher, big sister to six sisters and a brother, and a follower of the Lord Jesus.  I spend my days studying for my diploma, babysitting my little sisters, playing music with my siblings, scribbling poetry, writing on my blog Amity, and doing life with my family.  In the near-ish future, I hope to do paediatric nursing and, Lord willing, get married and have (and adopt) a whole heap of cute kiddies to keep me on my toes.  :)