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My Testimony
My Testimony
About me
1 of 3,318
I grew up in a little town outside Tulsa, Oklahoma occasionally, you’ll hear all y’all slip out. I came by it very honestly I was raised primarily by my mama. My dad was there, but he was not present. He wanted nothing to do with God or the church, but my mama did and she did a great job of raising me and my sister. She loved Jesus and had us in church every time the doors were open Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, prayer meetings, kids camp. She worked really hard to make it happen she believed in proximity. It is so important to have your kids in church. My life is a product of proximity. My life is a reflection of a loan parent praying and hauling her kids to church. I made Jesus Lord of my life at five years old. I remember it so clearly I was in the bathroom and I would go in there and I would talk to myself because I love to talk. My mom said I could have a conversation with a fence but she called it the gift of gap I remember looking at myself in the mirro
I grew up in a little town outside Tulsa, Oklahoma occasionally, you’ll hear all y’all slip out. I came by it very honestly I was raised primarily by my mama. My dad was there, but he was not present. He wanted nothing to do with God or the church, but my mama did and she did a great job of raising me and my sister. She loved Jesus and had us in church every time the doors were open Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, prayer meetings, kids camp. She worked really hard to make it happen she believed in proximity. It is so important to have your kids in church. My life is a product of proximity. My life is a reflection of a loan parent praying and hauling her kids to church. I made Jesus Lord of my life at five years old. I remember it so clearly I was in the bathroom and I would go in there and I would talk to myself because I love to talk. My mom said I could have a conversation with a fence but she called it the gift of gap I remember looking at myself in the mirro
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Joel Johnson
Joel Johnson
I grew up in a little town outside Tulsa, Oklahoma occasionally, you’ll hear all y’all slip out. I came by it very honestly I was raised primarily by my mama. My dad was there, but he was not present. He wanted nothing to do with God or the church, but my mama did and she did a great job of raising me and my sister. She loved Jesus and had us in church every time the doors were open Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, prayer meetings, kids camp. She worked really hard to make it happen she believed in proximity. It is so important to have your kids in church. My life is a product of proximity. My life is a reflection of a loan parent praying and hauling her kids to church. I made Jesus Lord of my life at five years old. I remember it so clearly I was in the bathroom and I would go in there and I would talk to myself because I love to talk. My mom said I could have a conversation with a fence but she called it the gift of gap I remember looking at myself in the mirror, telling Jesus, I believed in him and something solidified in my spirit that I knew I was saved in going to heaven now I had a grandma who loved the Lord. She was a fiery Pentecostal small little lady. She loves God to this day loves the Holy Spirit, praise and tongues and instead of my mama and I saw how real and genuine that was in their life but around nine or 10 we started attending a Baptist Church because that’s where my aunt went and my mom didn’t wanna go to church alone since my dad didn’t come so it’s a little Baptist Church probably half the size of this room. The whole church could fit in. It had pews and hymnals. There’s one piano right in the middle of the stage and acquire director and this CHURCH love God love his people loved his word and such a solid foundation for the word in my life, but they didn’t believe in speaking in tongues or that the gifts of the Holy Spirit war for this day and age and I remember during drive home I was on a van from youth camp and I’ve had such a fun time at camp, but I was really struggling with this feeling that I couldn’t name and I leaned over to my friend I said don’t you feel like something is missing don’t you think they’re supposed to be more to our walk with the word than this and me really wrestling with that thought at 16 I began dating my first boyfriend dating a guy from our church great guy, solid leader super involved in everything that the CHURCH was doing and I remember being on the phone with the young man and it back then phones were plugged into the wall we were talking about God in the church and he makes an awful comment about speaking tongues, and how it wasn’t for today and people who do it are crazy and I remember pulling the phone back away from my ear and looking at the phone and knowing that this was gonna be a determining choice, I was about to make. I put the phone back up to my ear and I said that’s not true. I’ve seen the evidence of my mom and my grandma that it’s genuine for them. This is real and I remember him being so shocked take off the phone very quickly little that I know he called her faster. It was like hey this is what she says, and believes in the past was like well, she’s wrong. Call me back with his arguments, and I wouldn’t pledge because I had seen the evidence of my own eyes, and I had experience with my mom and my grandmother that this was real to them and you can bring all the arguments or what you want, but it doesn’t Trump experience and he broke up with me. He broke up with me and I didn’t even speak in times at the time, I just know that it was true fast forward around six months. I went to a big youth rally with a friend in Tulsa Oklahoma. Is that a big church much like the boom nights that we do here and the pastor spoke on the Holy Spirit and he spoke about the gifts the Holy Spirit and the baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues and I remember going forward being prayed for people laid hands on me and I felt absolutely nothing no warm fuzzies no prayer language I remember telling them thank you and going back to my seat on the car ride home my friend‘s mom turned around and said you know what we are getting praying hunts all the way home if you don’t have the words just tell him thank you tell me love him so they begin to start praying in tongues and I whisper God I love you, God thank you and then I said God, I will not fake this this has to be you and immediately I got my prayer language and it was just one little sentence and I said it on repeat over and over on that drive home knowing in that moment I had found what I’ve been missing in my relationship with the Lord I would love to say that I have not spent a day outside his presence or a day, not taking the Holy Spirit for granted since then, but that is not what happened very quickly. After that encounter my parents marriage quickly deteriorated in Fidelity substance of youth a lot of anger I was counseling my parents’s position. No child should be in and just like a mark 419 says that the cares of this world will come and choke out the word and it becomes in fruitful my walk with the Lord became one of survival, and I let the worries and cares and hurts and trauma choke out what the Holy Spirit was wanting to do in my life. Now I never not walked away from the Lord. He was my savior I firmly believed in him, but I halted the beautiful process of making him Lord of giving him everything of giving him my hearts, and my worries of giving him full control. I went to church I served, but I lived at the fumes of Sunday morning. I started equating a successful relationship with the Lord to my attendance and my service. I crammed the Lord and the workings of the Holy Spirit into a cute little box that I could pull them out when I needed it, and I can control it and manage it and for years, I managed my relationship with the Lord with checklist and filling out my Christian résumé and I had an extensive résumé. I’ve been in church since two months old. I’ve been serving in the church for over 20 years. I’ve been in every mission trip you camp kids camp I had served in children’s ministry in nursery you name it I had done it and these those were all great but without intimate knowledge of the father or a personal ever-growing relationship with the Holy Spirit, those were just empty titles so once you start managing your relationship with God, the next pitbull is familiar reality familiar familiarity is when we become accustomed and apathetic to the Lord and what he’s doing it’s when we subconsciously believe we’ve seen it all and we know it all. It’s when we lose our expectancy and settle for yesterday‘s manner familiarity is when you quench the Holy Spirit see, I had undervalued the Holy Spirit unless I was an emergency situation. I didn’t realize the helper I had been given. I didn’t know the deep well of what the Holy Spirit offer to my life. It wasn’t until years later that I was checking one of my checklist of daily readings are and I was reading and Jude and I had that thought the same thought I had in that van after you’ve camp there has to be something more to this something else missing and then my eyes landed on Jude 120 and it says when you pray in the spirit you build yourself up and you’re most holy faith and it hit me like a lightning and I begin to repent Lord Holy Spirit. I’ve taken you for granted I’ve subconsciously pushed you to the back burner. I haven’t let you do a work in my life and I begin to start praying in tongues every day I begin to see him with my whole heart and you know what kills familiarity the fastest praying in tongues yielding to the Holy Spirit why because the Holy Spirit is living water so it’s never dry or redundant living water is another word for moving water. It’s never the same. It’s always new. It’s impossible to ever be stagnant with your walk with God when you have living water the Holy Spirit is what brings a word to life. He is still small voice, directing your steps. He is a very spirit of a living breathing God who moved heaven in earth to die for you and give you eternal life with him for Corinthians 211 says for who knows a person thought except his spirit within him in the same way no one knows the thoughts of God, except the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit knows the mind of God and he communicates his character and his love and his truth to u
I grew up in a little town outside Tulsa, Oklahoma occasionally, you’ll hear all y’all slip out. I came by it very honestly I was raised primarily by my mama. My dad was there, but he was not present. He wanted nothing to do with God or the church, but my mama did and she did a great job of raising me and my sister. She loved Jesus and had us in church every time the doors were open Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, prayer meetings, kids camp. She worked really hard to make it happen she believed in proximity. It is so important to have your kids in church. My life is a product of proximity. My life is a reflection of a loan parent praying and hauling her kids to church. I made Jesus Lord of my life at five years old. I remember it so clearly I was in the bathroom and I would go in there and I would talk to myself because I love to talk. My mom said I could have a conversation with a fence but she called it the gift of gap I remember looking at myself in the mirror, telling Jesus, I believed in him and something solidified in my spirit that I knew I was saved in going to heaven now I had a grandma who loved the Lord. She was a fiery Pentecostal small little lady. She loves God to this day loves the Holy Spirit, praise and tongues and instead of my mama and I saw how real and genuine that was in their life but around nine or 10 we started attending a Baptist Church because that’s where my aunt went and my mom didn’t wanna go to church alone since my dad didn’t come so it’s a little Baptist Church probably half the size of this room. The whole church could fit in. It had pews and hymnals. There’s one piano right in the middle of the stage and acquire director and this CHURCH love God love his people loved his word and such a solid foundation for the word in my life, but they didn’t believe in speaking in tongues or that the gifts of the Holy Spirit war for this day and age and I remember during drive home I was on a van from youth camp and I’ve had such a fun time at camp, but I was really struggling with this feeling that I couldn’t name and I leaned over to my friend I said don’t you feel like something is missing don’t you think they’re supposed to be more to our walk with the word than this and me really wrestling with that thought at 16 I began dating my first boyfriend dating a guy from our church great guy, solid leader super involved in everything that the CHURCH was doing and I remember being on the phone with the young man and it back then phones were plugged into the wall we were talking about God in the church and he makes an awful comment about speaking tongues, and how it wasn’t for today and people who do it are crazy and I remember pulling the phone back away from my ear and looking at the phone and knowing that this was gonna be a determining choice, I was about to make. I put the phone back up to my ear and I said that’s not true. I’ve seen the evidence of my mom and my grandma that it’s genuine for them. This is real and I remember him being so shocked take off the phone very quickly little that I know he called her faster. It was like hey this is what she says, and believes in the past was like well, she’s wrong. Call me back with his arguments, and I wouldn’t pledge because I had seen the evidence of my own eyes, and I had experience with my mom and my grandmother that this was real to them and you can bring all the arguments or what you want, but it doesn’t Trump experience and he broke up with me. He broke up with me and I didn’t even speak in times at the time, I just know that it was true fast forward around six months. I went to a big youth rally with a friend in Tulsa Oklahoma. Is that a big church much like the boom nights that we do here and the pastor spoke on the Holy Spirit and he spoke about the gifts the Holy Spirit and the baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues and I remember going forward being prayed for people laid hands on me and I felt absolutely nothing no warm fuzzies no prayer language I remember telling them thank you and going back to my seat on the car ride home my friend‘s mom turned around and said you know what we are getting praying hunts all the way home if you don’t have the words just tell him thank you tell me love him so they begin to start praying in tongues and I whisper God I love you, God thank you and then I said God, I will not fake this this has to be you and immediately I got my prayer language and it was just one little sentence and I said it on repeat over and over on that drive home knowing in that moment I had found what I’ve been missing in my relationship with the Lord I would love to say that I have not spent a day outside his presence or a day, not taking the Holy Spirit for granted since then, but that is not what happened very quickly. After that encounter my parents marriage quickly deteriorated in Fidelity substance of youth a lot of anger I was counseling my parents’s position. No child should be in and just like a mark 419 says that the cares of this world will come and choke out the word and it becomes in fruitful my walk with the Lord became one of survival, and I let the worries and cares and hurts and trauma choke out what the Holy Spirit was wanting to do in my life. Now I never not walked away from the Lord. He was my savior I firmly believed in him, but I halted the beautiful process of making him Lord of giving him everything of giving him my hearts, and my worries of giving him full control. I went to church I served, but I lived at the fumes of Sunday morning. I started equating a successful relationship with the Lord to my attendance and my service. I crammed the Lord and the workings of the Holy Spirit into a cute little box that I could pull them out when I needed it, and I can control it and manage it and for years, I managed my relationship with the Lord with checklist and filling out my Christian résumé and I had an extensive résumé. I’ve been in church since two months old. I’ve been serving in the church for over 20 years. I’ve been in every mission trip you camp kids camp I had served in children’s ministry in nursery you name it I had done it and these those were all great but without intimate knowledge of the father or a personal ever-growing relationship with the Holy Spirit, those were just empty titles so once you start managing your relationship with God, the next pitbull is familiar reality familiar familiarity is when we become accustomed and apathetic to the Lord and what he’s doing it’s when we subconsciously believe we’ve seen it all and we know it all. It’s when we lose our expectancy and settle for yesterday‘s manner familiarity is when you quench the Holy Spirit see, I had undervalued the Holy Spirit unless I was an emergency situation. I didn’t realize the helper I had been given. I didn’t know the deep well of what the Holy Spirit offer to my life. It wasn’t until years later that I was checking one of my checklist of daily readings are and I was reading and Jude and I had that thought the same thought I had in that van after you’ve camp there has to be something more to this something else missing and then my eyes landed on Jude 120 and it says when you pray in the spirit you build yourself up and you’re most holy faith and it hit me like a lightning and I begin to repent Lord Holy Spirit. I’ve taken you for granted I’ve subconsciously pushed you to the back burner. I haven’t let you do a work in my life and I begin to start praying in tongues every day I begin to see him with my whole heart and you know what kills familiarity the fastest praying in tongues yielding to the Holy Spirit why because the Holy Spirit is living water so it’s never dry or redundant living water is another word for moving water. It’s never the same. It’s always new. It’s impossible to ever be stagnant with your walk with God when you have living water the Holy Spirit is what brings a word to life. He is still small voice, directing your steps. He is a very spirit of a living breathing God who moved heaven in earth to die for you and give you eternal life with him for Corinthians 211 says for who knows a person thought except his spirit within him in the same way no one knows the thoughts of God, except the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit knows the mind of God and he communicates his character and his love and his truth to u
