So this past Saturday there was a women’s meeting. Last week something really cool happened which I will tell you after this, and I had a testimony. I had also had that dream about “pressing in” with Lynn Hiles and the women and wondered if I should share that. A couple weeks ago Kathy had told me that she felt like I was supposed to share at the women’s meeting, but that she had scheduled my mom to share for this one, so I would have the next one. I was surprised but not nervous, and wondered what it was that I was supposed to share. So when this testimony happened, and I found out that my mom was going to Gorham and wasn’t going to be at the women’s meeting, I wondered if I was supposed to share this (past) Saturday. But, when I got there, Kathy had prepared something that had to do with the convention, so it didn’t go and I didn’t end up sharing.
BUT, we did pray for people, and I shared a few things. We prayed for someone, and I had this picture of her picking strawberries. And they were little fruits, but then you zoomed out and she was in a strawberry field that went on as far as the eye could see. I didn’t really get it and didn’t know if it was just in my head. But then Lori said that she felt like this girl was sad, and that she was trying to touch this situation, and that situation, and that there were things all around her, but she felt like she was having no impact, but that in the future, the things that she did would have effects that WOULD touch people’s lives. So then my little vision made perfect sense, and I shared it, and said that, to this girl, the fruit she’s picking is small, but if you zoom out, the big picture is that it could feed multitudes! Super cool. God is humorous because he chooses to use things that don't make sense to us in our own natural thinking.
Then we prayed for another lady. Her brother is going through some stuff and she is really feeling burdened about it all. A bunch of people prayed and prophesied to her.
Now let me interject that the night before the meeting, I was unable to sleep. It was the first night my hubby was home and his snoring was keeping me up. I ended up reading some Psalms, and Psalm 46 just really stuck out to me. I read it about 4 times. But the part that stuck out was that it said,
“Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth…”
And I was like—that doesn’t sound good!
But then it continues, “He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
‘Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.’
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
So, in other words, the desolation it was talking about was God’s destroying WAR! Destroying division! Destroying weapons and defenses, and the effects were that the nations would exalt Him.
Since this lady was burdened by her brother's divorce, this fit perfectly. When I had left for the meeting Saturday morning, I felt like I should take my bible because that Psalm was for someone else—and it turned out to be her. It also spoke of the river that makes glad the city of the Lord [where the Lord lives (us!)], which went right along with what someone else had been praying before I shared the Psalm. It was all very cool.
Then Kathy said to me that she had seen a movie recently that had Clint Eastwood in it, and in this movie there was a guy who was digging for gold, and there was this huge boulder, and he knew that there was gold under it, so he and Clint Eastwood were trying to break it to get under it. Then the “bad guy” came, who was huge, and in an effort to try to scare Clint and his buddy, the guy slammed that huge boulder and cracked it open. Eventually Clint and pal reaped the benefits, and she was saying that-- what the enemy means for evil against me will be turned into God’s goodness toward me, and a testimony. This goes right along with what Kathy G. has said to me in the past, that what was supposed to destroy me, God would make my testimony.
I’m not sure what these words are referencing at this point. They could be any number of things, but they definitely confirm each other.
Anywho. So My other super cool story is this. About a month ago I bought a music CD on Itunes—Kim Walker. I don’t know how I found it. I think maybe I was looking up someone else that I liked, and it said “people who bought this also bought this!” And so I clicked on it, and saw that 5 out of 10 tracks were spontaneous. So, this caught my attention of course, and I wrote her name down.
So I finally bought it (called "Here is My Song") and it was FANTASTIC. Totally spontaneous, good words, totally anointed CD. I kept telling Lisa about it, but she was busy and hadn't looked into it.
I decided I would just BUY Lisa the CD so I went to Morning Star and was surprised to find that there were no CD’s by Kim Walker there. I asked the girl working there if she had heard of her, and she said no. She looked her up in their system, and she wasn’t even available to order! So I thought maybe I got the name wrong, and the girl googled her, and there she was, but there was no way for her to order the CD for me. I told the girl it would be my mission to get those CD’s in that store! Haha. So, I put that on my list of people to connect.
Side note: I’ve felt like I’m supposed to connect certain people lately, like what happened with Blair Wingo. You see, I listen to this podcast called Indie Feed, for performance poetry, and there’s been ONE Christian poem since I started listening a year ago. The podcaster said he would like to hear more, so I wrote to him and told him about
Blair Wingo. He wrote back and said he’d check her out, but that he preferred not to “cold-call” poets, and that it would probably be more effective if I talked to her. So I wrote to Blair and told her about the podcast, and suggested she submit some poetry as an alternative to the terrible messages that were being “cast” out there. She wrote back! And said that she definitely would, and thanked me for informing her about the podcast! It felt so great to know that I had just acted on a nudge and now there is a possibility that people who have never heard the gospel in a powerful way may now hear it from a poem by Blair through that podcast!
So I felt like God told me that I was going to be a “connector” for a time, and so I’ve got this list of people to connect with each other, or with books, or CD’s, etc. So I said—Kim Walker, you are going to meet my Christian Bookstore! There are people that need anointed music like that, and it’s so hard to find.
So that was on my list, but I hadn’t acted on it yet. However, last Thursday I was working and I was listening to a preaching message that I had downloaded on my podcast. I don’t know where I got it, because I thought I had gotten it from Keith Moore’s website, but when I went back later to check it out, it wasn’t there. So at this point, I don’t know how I got it. The preacher was giving a message on “The Language of the Spirit” and it was all about how God uses unusual ways to communicate with His people because A: It’s adventurous, and faith is FUN, B: It’s the glory of God to conceal a matter and the honor of kings to search it out, and C: only people who really seek Jesus will get these messages because they take discernment and actual THOUGHT. It was a great message, and related to things happening with me anyway. So, the preacher’s name was Bill Johnson.
So that night, I wanted to look him up because I wanted to hear more, but as I said, I couldn’t find his message on Keith Moore’s site, so I had to go back to my Ipod to look up his name. So once I saw it was Bill Johnson, I googled him, and came to the website of his church, which is—get this—4 hours from Carmel! If I had known I SO would have wanted to visit that church! They have miracles REGULARLY. He was saying how it is his goal to not perform miracles and have people circle around HIM, but to impart to people the faith that THEY can be the vessels that God uses to heal the sick. Miracles are a regular occurrence at that church, because people EXPECT God to perform them. They have this “prayer room” that basically, if you go there, you WILL be healed.
Anywho, so I’m looking all through the website, and I see “music,” so I click on it and I see a big list of CD’s. But the must surprising thing was that on the first CD I see: “Kim Walker.” Kim Walker? Kim Walker! And the next CD: Kim Walker. And the next, and the next. Turns out she is a worship leader Bill Johnson’s church: Bethel Church in Redding, CA! Amazing. And there are a lot of CD’s that look GREAT! I can’t wait to order more!
What a blessing. So I wrote to “Jesus Culture,” which is the name of the people who put out the CD’s, and more specifically, to Kim, and told them what had happened and asked them how we could get those CD’s in our bookstore, and if there was anything I could do to assist, I would. I got an email back the next day and someone said they would pass my email along to the product accountant to see how they could get them in there, but haven’t heard back yet. I pray they write back! It would be A-W-E-S-O-M-E to have those CD’s in there. They are so anointed. They are real worship!
I just thought it was so cool that God gave me a task, blessed me through the music AND through the message by Bill Johnson, and then just strung it all together and lead me right to where I needed to be to complete the task. I don’t feel like the testimony is done yet. I was thinking I would share it on Sunday, but I didn’t feel the release to, so I waited and told Pastor Steve I might want to share something this coming Sunday when he’s gone [he’s going to NC for Bishop’s son’s wedding].
So that’s my story! Glad I finally wrote it down so I won’t forget in the future.
Note I wrote to myself while cleaning last Thursday:
- Jesus intended to pass the boat by until someone called out to Him. (Mark 6:48) [I had just written a question mark by this passage a few days before hearing the message by Bill Johnson in which he mentioned this passage!]
- If the message God has given you is not released, it will die in the house. [just like my dream with Lynn Hiles]
- Pray for someone else the way you would want them to pray for you—with specificity and fervency.
- If God only moved through Bishop or whoever, we can expect nothing to happen until someone like that comes back. But the same Spirit that is in them is in us. All we need to do is focus on Him and listen to what He is saying.
- Do not cease pressing, or listening, or it will dissipate. It’s the honor of kings to seek out God’s mysteries and discover them.
UPDATE: Here is the response letter I received today (March 9)
Hi Melissa,
Thanks for emailing us! Yes, we would love to get our cds in your local bookstores!! We run all of our orders through online, and we offer a discount of 40% off if you order 10 or more of an album - www.ibethel.org. I know with the exchange rate and shipping this can still be kinda hard, so other than that- itunes is amazing!!!
Thanks for emailing us!! So glad God led you to Kim's music!! She is amazing!!
Blessings,
Jacquelyn
So, Maybe I can't get the CD's in the bookstore, especially since I don't work there. But perhaps this whole thing was just to lead ME to that website. Because honestly, it has very much bolstered my faith. To be able to watch testimonies, almost daily, of people experiencing miracles, and to find anointed music CD's. Not to mention the preaching is SO good. Also, to share it with people in my church.
So, for future reference, here are some links.
Bethel Church, in Redding, CArecent testimonies from Bethel ChurchBethel Store, with music, books, etc.Bill Johnson MinistriesJesus CultureLabels: Holy Spirit, supernatural