Stories of our Savior
Latest StoriesAround 15 years ago we ran a church in a village named Kadalur (in South East India.)
One of the ladies who lived in the area, Dhanakottie Amma, had cancer in her mouth. She was around 45 at the time. She had grown up believing in the Hindu gods so she went to Hindu temples seeking healing but nothing happened. Finally, she went to the hospital but the doctor told her there was nothing they could do and that she would die within one month.
She came to our church, crying, so me and my church fasted and prayed for her. We prayed for her at the church and went to her house, laying our hands on her, and praying for her.
After one month she went back to the hospital and the doctors were amazed because, by the grace of God, she was completely healed! Before, she was unable to eat, but after she was healed, she could eat normally again and is still alive and well today.
“I was a wannabe gangster. Tryna fit in. Started doing drugs, alcohol. I started going to the club because I was tryna find something to fill me up. But it wasn’t working.
I was already baptized in the Holy Spirit and under water, but I kept running away from the Lord. I was like in and out the door.
And then one night I told the Lord, I’m like: “give me one more year to have fun. To do the worldly stuff.” And then, New Years Eve came by. I drank for the last time. Got drunk. Got into a couple of fights.
And then I sat down one night, I’m like, “Lord I’m over it, I just want to die today.” And I was like, “If you’re real, Lord, send me somebody, have someone call me right now.” And then like 2 or 3 minutes later someone called me, and I was like “woah, that’s crazy.”
And that person was asking if I was ok, and I was like, “I’m not going to lie, I’m not OK.”
And then, I was like, “Alright Lord, if you’re real, I’ll give you a week – if you don’t get me back to Kona, I don’t know what to do with my life.” (I was in Texas then)
And then a week later and a couple of days, one of my homies sent me a ticket back to Kona that he had bought. And I’m like, what the heck. And he’s like “yeah, you’re going back Kona, Monday.” And I’m like, woah – that is crazy!”
So I’m like, alright bet, once I get back to Kona I am going to go straight to ministry night.
And it was perfect timing – I got here like 5 on a Monday night, right before ministry night.
And then its crazy cause, at ministry night, Frenchie and one of his homies were saying “who wants to give their lives back to Jesus”
I was like – that’s me right there. So I looked at my homie Alec, I’m like, “Hey, what bro, think I can go up there?” And he said “bro, go up there!” I’m like, alright, bet.
I ran to the front, I’m like, “Lord I want to come back.”
And he’s been restoring me slowly but surely.
I’m really thankful to be here.
I went from a wannabe gangster to a real Christian. And the most gangsterous thing I did was giving my life to the Lord. I was blind but now I see. I was once dead, but now I am alive. Thank you God!”
I was in a time of prayer one day when, in my mind’s eye, I saw a picture of myself walking on a path. It began as a straight path and immediately took a sharp turn onto a jungle trail, over a bridge, and into a village.
I knew immediately that a change was about to take place for my family. We had been serving with Youth With A Mission for a number of years, but after this vision, I knew we were about to move to a different location. It wasn’t long before we were asked to lead a new base in the jungles of Panama.
This vision mentally prepared me for this transition. Then, when we arrived in Panama, on my first trek in the jungle, the path was exactly like I had seen during prayer! I knew then that God had led us exactly where we were meant to be.
Our family was at our very first worship night with Youth with a Mission. I had just finished reading Is That Really You God by Loren Cunningham, a book about hearing God’s voice. As we were singing, in my mind’s eye, I saw us on a ship, worshipping on deck. I saw my feet in flip-flops and the wooden deck of the ship.
Over the next twenty years our family kept feeling led to work with YWAM’s ship ministry. We did other ministry but never with ships. Then we accepted the position of pioneering a base in the remote Bocas Del Toro region of Panama.
We had been there for about six months when we got word that YWAM Mendocino was bringing us a boat. It arrived at our dock and the crew tied her up so I could jump on.
As I swung my legs over the side of the boat and my feet hit the deck, I looked down and noticed I was standing on a wooden deck, in flip flops. Twenty years later the prophetic vision that God had shown me in that time of worship had come true!
In 2010 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Guillain–Barré syndrome. It affects the central nervous system and causes paralyzation when triggered by stress, loud noises, falling, or any type of physical stress.
The first time I was afflicted I was paralyzed for 3 months. I had an attack from the disease every year like clockwork. I was not walking with God when all this was going on. It was a really rough time. I didn’t have a job, my dad died, and then I was diagnosed with this.
After I’d had the disease for five years it became part of my identity, how I lived, and how I saw myself. At the time I couldn’t use the stairs, I had to be on flat ground; I couldn’t go on gravel because it could make me fall and go into another episode.
Then I started trusting in Jesus and following him. He showed me that the disease was not my identity. I kept hearing him say “you are not sick” but I had been sick for so long that I had a hard time believing that maybe something had changed.
I was on a lot of medication and God showed me that it was making me numb from the inside out. He put it so strongly on my heart that I needed to change things that, one day, I took a leap of faith and flushed all my medication down the toilet (not medical advice, ok, but it is what I did.) Three weeks later, having gone completely off my medicine, I started to feel hungry again and I felt my body coming alive.
Since then I have not had a Guillain–Barré episode. It has been 7 years since I got off the medicine. I listened to the Lord and did what he asked me to do. It was so scary. I thought, “Either I am going to die, or God is a good God and he will do what He has said.” He did what He said.
On a missions trip with YWAM in Cambodia we visited a village a few times to share about Jesus with people. On our second visit we passed by the home of an elderly couple, probably in their eighties. They had heard the gospel before but had not decided to follow Jesus. The husband was paralyzed in half of his body, so he walked with difficulty. He was also blind.
On one visit, our team shared the gospel with them. This time they understood and responded, entering into new life in Christ. After praying with them, I felt an urge that we should also pray for healing, so I asked them if we could pray for them. They agreed.
We gently put our hands on them and began praying. We did not see anything change, but we told them that we had faith that God was going to bring healing to them and then we left.
The next week we were returning to the village and we met a team from Canada who were staying in the same place. They said to us, “do you remember a blind guy that you prayed for? Well, throughout this week, his eyesight has been improving more and more each day.”
We were on the opposite side of the village from their house and I did not know if I would be able to see them. When we had finished the day’s activities, we were walking in different groups when, all of a sudden, someone in another group said, “hey, he’s here!”
I walked over to see him. He was behind his house, cutting firewood, and as I got there, he looked up and in that moment I could tell he could see me!
He was so joyful and said thank you over and over again to us! It was an experience I will never forget!