Before I go into my story, I want to give thanks and recognition to my loving husband of thirty-years. He is my collaborating editor, and because of his ideas, he has improved so many of my posts.
Thirty-five years ago, something happened to me that instantly changed my life forever.
Prior to that day, I was doing all I knew to do to be a dedicated Christian and to please God. I was attending church three times a week, I tithed on the gross, not on the net, I didn’t have any vices, and I only listened to Christian music.
However, the pressures of life were literally crushing me. I was exhausted from working two jobs, while my stay-at-home husband watched over our three children and refused to do housework.
That particular day I hit the breaking point when three insufficient fund notices arrived in the mail. We were sinking financially and I was powerless. There were no cell phones or online banking, so I had no way to verify what was going on.
Little did I know that my husband was stealing money from our account to buy drugs and was messing around in bars, while I was working the night shift.
That day as I wept violently, I screamed out to God, with everything in my being and said, “just talk to me and tell me what to do. I will do anything, anything!”
Almost instantly and to my surprise, a sense of peace descended on me that I had never experienced. A presence filled the room that was comfortably familiar.
I felt as if a warm blanket were being wrapped around me, and inside my chest area there was a knowing that this presence was speaking to me and saying, “I’m here and I will show you what to do.”
Over the next six months, I can’t even begin to list the multitude of miracles that occurred as I was led by God out of a toxic and rapidly becoming dangerous relationship.
During the time that God was leading me to freedom, He showed me so many things in the Bible, in the gospels, and in the prophets.
I was meeting Christ for the first time and understanding his teachings, because I was experiencing them. I understood what it meant to be spiritually born again. I understood the parable of the valuable treasure chest in the field that when you find it, you are willing to sell everything and purchase the field to possess it forever.
It was a very tough, but an amazingly beautiful time in my life.
During those six months, I was learning to hear the voice of God and He let me know what my purpose in this life is.
He said, you are called to reprove the Church.
Now, vocabulary was not one of my strong points in my younger years, so I had to look up the word “reprove” in the dictionary.
Also, I was bewildered because I didn’t know there were any problems with the Christian Church.
However, the biggest question I had was, “God, you have always used men to do this job, so what makes me think that you would be calling me, a woman, to do this?
And God said, turn to Jeremiah chapter 31 and start reading, and when I got down to verse 22 and 23, I saw it:
How long will you go about, O thou backsliding daughter? For the Lord will do a new thing in the Earth, a woman shall compass a man.
Thus, saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; as yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.
Notice how Jeremiah says, “they shall use this speech.” This was not just a word for me, but there are other women with this calling.
That was 35 years ago, and I am finally ready to do what God has called me to do.
I’m excited to share all that God has shown me through these blogs, and hopefully meet other like-minded people.