Healing and Pictures
I served at the Women’s Empower One this year. When it came to serving time as a prayer minister I was attacked with a stomach ache. I prayed to God and said, “I know you called me to serve you right now, I can’t if my stomach aches. In Jesus’ name heal me. I reject the enemy’s scheme; God’s plan is much bigger.” Within 5 mins, my stomach ache left my body and I was able to pray for the ladies for the next 2 hours.
Earlier in the week, during my fasting time, as a passing thought, I thought if I prayed in word pictures, it’ll be cool. As we were in prayer time, the Holy Spirit just downloaded pictures into my mind to prayer over the women. Very cool!
The Bible teaching was on Joseph’s story. This story has always resonated with me. God reminded me to surrender my broken family relationships in my natural family to Him. I do not need to agonize over it. If He wills, in time the broken relationships can be miraculously mended. God reminded me that He has granted me a huge spiritual family that has been through various life stages with me. Christ’s body lifted me up in prayer, we witnessed miracles together, and He is helping me grow a stronger faith in the Lord Jesus.
I am thankful to Jesus for a spiritually soul refreshing time at the 1st Virtual Empower Women’s Retreat. Nothing can hinder the Holy Spirit from working…not distance, not space, not even different time zones.
I See You, My Dear, I Do!
It was a short and sweet time with God and many women at the Empower Retreat. The most memorable moments from the retreat were God’s swift and humorous response to me: “I see you. my dear, I do!”
The theme of the retreat was centered around the breaking of lies. On the first night, we were asked to write down the lies about ourselves in the mirror. My lists were not quite uplifting: I am a loser, not as good as others, unworthy, no one looks at me. Then a voice answered me, “I look at you. Yes, I do!”
At the retreat, I realized that so many women were like me, who suffer from low self-esteem. They think they are unlovable, desperate for other people’s love and acceptance. They want to perform well so that others would look at them and pay attention. Even for long time Christians and we still sometimes fall into Satan’s scheme. Thanks to God who spoke to my heart that night. He confirmed to me who I am, a beloved daughter of our dear Heavenly Father. He does not need me to do anything in return. He made me, and He knows me well. Read more →
Dream BIG
By Keaton Wong
Near the end of November, I had a dream that all my friends at school and I were giving out gifts to people in need. This dream actually happened right after Operation Christmas Child. Throughout my life, it hadn’t really occurred to me that after all the years I’ve been at church, this Operation Christmas Child event hasn’t gone past our church boundaries; all our boxes and gifts were all being donated and packed by our church community. I felt like that this opportunity of gift giving should be available to everyone and not just our church. This actually became a reality on December 18, 2020 with our first Healing Grove Christmas outreach. During that event I saw a lot of people…people who brought their own friends from school and just in general, a lot of people I didn’t know, which was really good because I was able to work with people of all backgrounds to give to people in need, which was really cool.
What I learned about God through this is that He can do anything. I didn’t know that one simple dream could bless over 500 people! I thought I needed months to plan this but you know, through prayer and the right connections, it worked out really well in the end. In addition, what I learned about myself that day, is that if you ever have a dream, big or small, you should never keep it to yourself because you never know that it could actually bless multiple people in just one day.