...This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction Ecclesiastes 6:3

I admit that this is a difficult story to share with you…after all, I am a Christian and I like everyone to believe that my life shines for Jesus 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But honestly, I have a lot of faults and flaws and sometimes what goes on my heart isn’t at all what I’d like anyone to see. But God has made it clear that I am not alone in my struggles to live a righteous life for Him. It doesn’t make me or you less loved by Jesus because we fall or struggle through this journey with Him. In fact, I really only put my confidence in what Jesus says, and His Word says: Proverbs 24:16 For the righteous man may fall seven times and rise again. It’s a beautiful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God and His Word gives me hope beyond measure. I know I can fall and the Lord will pick me up and continue to use His Word to correct me and change me through and through. Daily He polishes me and refines me so that my light shines brightly in this very dark world. I am thankful for the work that Jesus painstakingly chooses to continue to do in my life daily. I pray that you call out to the Lord for His Word…this Word that can change anyone. This glorious Word can deliver you from anything that holds you captive!

...This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction Ecclesiastes 6:3

The dust flew from the tires of my black Saturn as I fishtailed on the gravel road. Finally regaining control of my car, I drove cautiously down the loose graveled road. I couldn’t help my eyes traveling to the side of the road where I saw a steep ravine several feet deep with a creek flowing wildly after a hard rain. I almost ended up in there, I thought to myself. I looked in my rear view mirror at the terrified look in my 4 year old twins’ faces.

My heart pounded in my chest as I drove the rest of the way to church. I quietly recollected my composure after that close call. What was I thinking? The truth is, I had been looking at myself in the rear view mirror checking my make up. This was something I had been doing a lot of lately. I had almost lost control of my car and caused harm to my kids because I had been primping myself in the mirror. A deep feeling of “vanity” came over me and I was sick to my stomach. I hated the feeling that I had, but wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. For the first time, I recognized that there was something deeply wrong with adoring myself.

The next morning, I awoke to start my day. I had this deep, nagging feeling all morning that I had dreamt about something, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I sat down in the morning to have quiet time with the Lord. I opened my bible and came before the Lord and immediately the Holy Spirit spoke six simple Words to my spirit. “Remember what happened to your head?” I thought to myself, “My head….?” All at once, as if I was having the dream all over again, I recalled every detail of the dream in specific detail. It came flooding back to me with lightning speed as if I was having the dream all over again.

In my dream, I was sitting around a table with several other men. I was looking at myself from the outside. As I was watched my body language, I could see that I was clearly flirting with the men around the table. I was positioning myself between the men to be the center of them and it was if I was drawing them to look at me. In the middle of the table, hanging from the ceiling, was an old fashioned lamp that was drawing a lot of heat from it, as I could see the steam come off of it. I stood up from the table and I was leaning in to draw the attention of the men and just as I stood up, the top of my forehead touched the hot lamp. I could hear the sizzle of my flesh and could smell the burnt hair from my head. I said in my dream, “Ouch,” and as a natural reaction put my hand on the burnt flesh. When I looked down at my hand, I saw a charred piece of hair in the palm of my hand. Alarmed, I rushed to a mirror to look at myself. As I continued dreaming, I could see the reflection of the lamp in the mirror and it was swinging back and forth. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I was horrified to see that I had a large bald spot where my hair had been burned off and a charred scab on my head.

I knew instantly that the Lord had something He wanted to speak to me. Honestly, I was a little bit scared about what He had to say. I was completely shocked at the vividness of this dream and I had no idea what it was all about. Quietly, I asked the Lord, “What does this mean, Lord, and what are you trying to tell me?” This had never happened to me before. God had never brought to remembrance a dream to me like this with such specific accuracy. I knew deep down He desired to speak to my heart and into my life.

I pondered the dream for a few minutes and then I opened up my book, “Where to Find it in The Bible” and searched for the word “scab.” There was one scripture in the bible and it had been a scripture I had never read before. There before me was Isaiah 3:16-17 and the Lord showed me clearly what He was saying to me. Isaiah 3:16-17 The Lord says, “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on their ankles. Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the Lord will make their scalps bald.”

Quietly I prayed with my head bowed and a deep sadness in my heart. I had no real words to say to my Lord. The Lord had corrected me firmly and I knew it. For the first time in my life, I recognized this beast called “vanity.” I knew in my heart I needed to repent of this and be changed by the Word. Fear gripped me, as this was a sin I had grown accustomed to, so much so I really didn’t even see it as a problem. But this day, the Lord opened my eyes and I saw it for what it really was...sin. That minute, I made a total 180 degree turn. I repented before the Lord knowing for the first time that this was a sin that would lead me nowhere fast…and far away from God in a hurry.

I rested in the Lord quietly for some time. And then it happened…deep down in my heart something moved in me. Instead of sadness, I had a glorious hope. I hope to be changed by God’s Word. Who was I that God would take the time to put this dream together, help me find the answers in His Word, and correct me…a correction that led to repentance! I knew without a doubt God loved me so much that He desired change in my life. This wasn’t the “change” the politicians talk about, but this was the real thing.

This was a morning that would change me forever. I’d love to say that after that day, I never struggled with this sin ever again. But if I told you that, I’d be a liar. I continuously need to bring my life, my attitudes, and my behavior before the Lord and into subjection to His Word. It’s something I always watch out for and continuously examine my motives, behaviors and intentions. But my God is faithful to see me through every hurdle in my life every day.

I pray this is a great encouragement to those who struggle with a sin in their life. Maybe it’s a sin that you have battled against for a long time. Maybe it’s a sin you’ve battled with for so long that you’ve just grown accustomed to having this lingering nuisance in your life. I’m here to tell you…If God can change me with His Word, He can change you. He is faithful to deliver us from our troubles, not just once, not just twice, but every time. He is faithful and His Word is true. He desires that you live free from the bondage of sin. His blood is so powerful…even if He shed one drop of His blood, it would have delivered the world, but He chose to shed every drop of His blood for you!

2Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Do You Believe God Heals?...Dare to Believe!

…to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit…But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 1Corinthians 12:9,11

It was late winter 2002, and I was working as a certified nursing assistant at a hospital in central Wisconsin. I had given my life to Jesus Christ just a year and a half before. I was a new Christian with a longing to know the One True God. As I learned from the Word and stepped out in faith, the Lord continued to show Himself strong on my behalf. He blessed me in so many ways I will never forget. In many ways, being a “baby” Christian was painful and hard, but in other ways, it was wonderful. I was like a little child who believed everything her parent told her. I innocently believed everything the Word of God said. I never questioned any of it. Because of my child-like faith, the Lord showed Himself to me in remarkable ways. I think back now and ponder it. If only we could take hold of the Word of God and believe, there would be nothing we couldn’t accomplish. All things are possible with God if we would only believe.

I didn’t know very much about the Lord, but I knew I had been miraculously transformed a year and a half before. I knew without a doubt it was only by the power of the Holy Spirit that my life had become dramatically different. Even through my struggles and constant pulls back towards the world, the Lord remained faithful to me. Even when I wasn’t faithful, He would not deny Himself. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. 2Timothy 2:13 So I prayed that the Lord would bring me a friend who loved Jesus. He answered my request and brought me my first Christian friend, **Anna.

Anna and I would talk for hours about God and all that He had done in our lives. One day as we sat and talked, she told me, “You should ask the Lord for a gift of healing whenever you are taking care of your patients. You never know, He may decide to impart a gift of healing.” I hadn’t so much as heard of healings, but I was eager to search the Word to find out what the Lord said about it. When I opened my bible, there it was tucked away in 1Corinthians 12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit. I learned the Lord did indeed give gifts of healing as He willed. I decided in my heart that I would ask believing that God would give me the desire of my heart. That was it. The Word was established in my heart and I had already received what I asked for by faith.

For about a month, I had been attending to a patient named **Janice. She had been in the hospital for several months with cancer of the stomach. I had never seen anyone so sick. Janice was about 65 years old and weighed no more than 90 pounds. She sat up all day in her bed and vomited continually. Her skin just hung off of her body and her backbone was like razor. You could see every vertebra in her back. You could count every one of her ribs. She had absolutely vomited up every calorie that her body so desperately needed. The doctors had written her off and had decided to discharge her to go home to die. My heart longed to tell her about Jesus.

I was working the evening shift and when it came time to do night cares and I would try to help her get ready for bed, she would lash out at me in anger. There were many times I would leave her rooms in tears wondering why she didn’t like me. As part of night cares, we gave our patients back rubs. I would ask to give her a back rub and she would be very stern with me. She would tell me to get out of her room and leave her alone. I was hurt by her anger towards me. But the Lord continued to give me encouragement by His spirit that I was to walk in love with her. Evening after evening, I would come in to her room with a smile and leave with a smile, no matter how she acted towards me. As I would walk away from her room, the Holy Spirit would whisper to me, “According to 1Corinthians 13:8, Love never fails.”

One evening, I asked her again if she wanted me to help her get ready for bed and get a back rub. This time her answered surprised me. She answered with her gruff voice, “I wouldn’t like a backrub…but you could rub lotion on my dry hands if you want to.” I was shocked, but I knew the Word of God was true. Love never fails.

I sat down next to her bed and pulled up a chair. I took her hands and massaged the lotion into one hand at a time. It was dark in her room, with just a little night light next to her bed. I was praying for her as I massaged her dry, cracked hands. All at once, she took hold of my hands and squeezed them saying, “You deserve to have your hands massaged.” I had my breakthrough.

The next evening, I came in to take care of her. She was sitting up in her bed holding her emesis basin like any other evening. She vomited nonstop. Between heaves she asked me if I had ever seen anything like this. I answered, “No, ma’am. I have not.” When I asked her if she would like a backrub, she gave me a nod.

I had no idea what was about to happen. As I rubbed lotion on her back, I called out to the Lord for Janice. This is not just any God, but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I asked my Lord two things. The first thing was that He would show Himself to her and that in her time of need, she would know that He was there with her. Next, I asked the Lord in a very simple way if He would touch her body and heal it. As I rubbed the lotion on her back, I literally felt the Holy Spirit enter the room. I can’t explain it any other way than being exposed to pure love. The One True God had entered the room and I was breathing into my lungs pure goodness. As I breathed in and out this perfect love, I was instantly taken up in the Spirit. In such a way that is hard to explain, I was in heavenly places and on earth all at one time. In my spirit, I pondered this amazing love. A dear friend of mine whose wife was miraculously healed of a horrendous brain aneurysm explained it like this – “The anointing of God that destroys the yolk came tangibly into the room.” I remember when he told me this that I couldn’t get it out of my head. I just couldn’t grasp what he meant. It would wake me up at night for months…this power that destroys the yolk. What kind of power is that and what would it be like to experience it? My Lord was answering my questions and giving me the opportunity to feel this anointing that destroys the yolk. I could tangibly feel the power of the Holy Spirit enter the room and the air was thick with love and power, the kind of power that would make the earth quake. I remained in this spiritual place for what seemed like hours, but in reality was just several minutes. All at once, I saw Janice lift her hands in front of her body. In an instant, I was brought back into my body and out of that heavenly place. I was shaken. I asked Janice, “Are you okay?” She answered with hesitation and trembling in her voice, “Yes, I am just seeing things.” I knew before the answer even came out of her mouth what she had seen. I asked Janice with great expectation, “What did you see?” With her frail, powerless voice, she answered, “I saw Jesus.” I knew without a doubt the Lord in all of His glory entered the room and He had imparted a gift of healing. I was totally shaken by the experience and walked around in a daze for weeks after this.

Janice would spend several more weeks at the hospital with no outward change in her condition. According to 2Corinthians, I walked by faith, not by sight. I saw her healed in the Spirit. Nothing changed with her prognosis. The physicians continued with their negative report promising her she wouldn’t live to see spring. But they didn’t know what I did. Because I found a treasure in the Word that says Jesus imparts gifts of healing and He was true to His Word. I treasured this experience in my heart and all that had occurred in Room 209.

The day came when Janice was to be discharged home. I helped Janice pack her things. She left the hospital with her suitcase and her negative report. These doctors had MD after their names and several other letters that to this day, I don’t know what they stand for. But these were, after all, doctors right? We trust them when they tell us our prognosis. She took home with her suitcase her negative report that said she didn’t have a chance to live three months. She was dying and all of her tests had proved it. That was the last day that I saw her.

Several months later, I sat at the nurse’s station with the surgeon who gave Janice the grave prognosis several months before. He was adamant that this type of metastatic cancer doesn’t go away, not even with extensive chemotherapy and treatments. He was an expert in his field and I had the utmost respect for him. I can honestly say, if I had any type of cancer needing surgery, he would be the first person I would have called, for me or any of my family members. I don’t know what made me ask, but I said to **Dr. Morrow, “What ever happened to Janice in room 209?” He looked at me with total and utter amazement. He drew his eye brows together, cupped his hands over his face. “She came back to see us, he said, and when we did the CAT scan, we found no evidence of cancer anywhere in this woman’s body.” I heard it over and over in my head. “No evidence of cancer, no evidence of cancer, no evidence of cancer, no evidence of cancer. I don’t understand it,” he said, over and over. I sat in front of Dr. Morrow totally speechless. I had no answer for him. I was taken back and I am sure every ounce of color had left me. I could feel my breath leave me as I sat there with nothing to say. I hated myself because I didn’t jump up and say, “It was God! He did the healing. It wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t something you did right. Jesus Christ healed her!" Because this amazing God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, entered the room that night and healed this woman who was as good as dead. If I had believed her doctor, she’d be dead and buried, but I dared to believe the Word of God and He produced the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and by it, I obtained a good testimony (Hebrews 11:1 paraphrased).

Today I want to challenge you…challenge you to believe the Word. Step out and believe Him. Don’t look at your circumstances; your finances, your health, your situations…Look to Him. He can move mountains in our lives if we would just dare to believe His Word.

**All names are changed to protect privacy

The Day Jesus Stopped the Rain

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the Name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

Philippians 2:9-11

In March of 2003, I arrived in Mexico City for my first missions trip. I was assigned to work in the dental area and was asked to assist a national dentist. I remember thinking how much I would have liked to be working in the aspect of nursing, since I was in the middle of nursing school. But something told me that the Lord had different plans. It would prove to be a phenomenal experience working with Dr. Ismael, one that would have lasting effects on my relationship with Jesus Christ.

One afternoon while we worked, Dr. Ismael shared with us the importance of stepping out in faith. He told us one evening he wanted God to show Himself to him. He called out to the Lord with boldness. That evening, it was pouring rain outside of his Mexico City home and he recalls running out in the middle of street with the rain pouring down, raising his arms up to the heaven, and crying out with a loud voice, “If you are really hearing me, then stop the rain.” He said instantly the rain stopped. I remember just being taken back by the whole thought of being bold with the Lord like that. I felt the fear of the Lord. As I sat there, this thought of boldly asking the Lord to show Himself to me started turning in my spirit. I asked Dr. Ismael question after question, “Didn’t you get scared testing the Lord like that?” He told me something that really changed me. He said, “No, God wants to show His power to you, and more than that, He wants you to ask Him.”

The afternoon came to a close, but Dr. Ismael’s testimony continued to move about in my spirit long after I left the field that day. I treasured the thought of asking God to reveal Himself to me in more powerful ways. Deep in my heart, I thought, “Does God really want to show Himself to me?” If He did, I was longing to experience Him.

For the next several days, I searched the scriptures to come to some peace. I first went to the Old Testament. There I found the work of the Lord through the prophet Elijah.

And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your Word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!” Kings 18:36-39

Here I saw how the Lord showed Himself so others would know that He was the One True God. The Holy Spirit then prompted me to the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament. You see, the Old Testament and the New Testament confirm each other. If I found the Lord showing Himself in the Old Testament, I knew I would find it also in the New Testament.

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” Mark 4:37-41

At the rebuke of His mighty voice, the Lord controlled the wind and rain, just like Dr. Ismael had shared with us in Mexico City. But I said to myself, “Yes, but that was Jesus.” Again, the Holy Spirit spoke to my spirit, “Turn to Luke 10:19.”

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19.

This authority that Jesus walked on the earth with was now transferred to me at Pentecost and I had the Word of God to prove it! Even serpents are under my feet. To me, it was confirmed. The rain would even obey me at the Name of Jesus. Not by my strength, but by the Spirit who lives in me day by day. For the first time in my Christian life, I knew this deep in my spirit.

I left Mexico City after 10 days and returned to my life in the little rural town of Loyal, Wisconsin. For me, life would never be the same after what the Lord had showed me on the mission field in Mexico and through His Word. More than that, I knew I had an awesome responsibility for Chad and Charlie, my four year old twins. The Lord showed this to me in 2Timothy and it literally jumped off the page into my heart.

When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also 2Timothy 1:5

It was up to me to show my sons the awesome works of Jesus Christ by faith and I knew it with all of my heart. I was on a mission to bring the faith that was in me to my sons and the salvation that Jesus had given me just three years before.

That’s when the awesome Day of the Lord happened. I remember it like yesterday. I can still smell the rain that fell on the hot asphalt of the grocery store parking lot. It wasn’t long after my return from Mexico City and the thoughts of God showing Himself to me were still moving about in my heart. The rain was coming down in sheets and it smelled so fresh and beautiful. But all I thought about was how wet I was going to get going into Festival Foods since there was no close parking place in sight. I drove around and around looking for that perfect parking spot right up in the front. It wasn’t looking good. I warned the boys to prepare themselves because were about to get wet. It was then that I believe the Holy Spirit put these perfect words in the mouth of my son. Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength Psalm 8:2. Chad voiced his heart to me and it was profound. He said with his little voice, “Why don’t we pray, mom?” It was then the Holy Spirit moved in my spirit and faith welled up inside of me so much so that I felt I could, by the authority of Jesus Christ, do anything. Inside of me, rose up this boldness in the Lord. I said to my sons, “Do you believe if command the rain to stop in the Name of Jesus that it would?” Both of them in unison answered, “Yes, we believe." As those words fell off of my lips, I wanted to bite my tongue. Why did I just say that? What was I going to do now? What if the Lord didn’t perform? Deep inside was this small seed of faith. The Lord met us where we were and took our child-like faith and moved mountains. What happened next would change my little 4 year olds to turn their hearts to the Lord and believe in the power of that beautiful Name...Jesus.

I said with all the authority that Jesus Christ had given me through the Cross, “Then in the Name of Jesus, I command the rain to stop.” As if a faucet had been turned off, the rain stopped instantly. It felt as though the world had stopped and everything was still for a moment. The black clouds separated and disintegrated like food coloring being dropped into a glass of water. The smell of rain filled the car, but not a drop fell from the sky. I heard the gasps from the back seat as my sons saw the mighty authority of Jesus. It was as if a light bulb turned on and they saw the Light. I could literally see it on their faces. They saw the power of Jesus Christ and were able to experience it.

This rain experience would prove to be pivotal in their conversion. A couple days later, I felt a prompting from the Lord to share with Charlie and Chad the saving faith of Jesus Christ. Even at 4 years old, the Lord worked in their hearts in such a simple way. It shouldn’t be a surprise…if the rocks knew it, God would give these little boys the wisdom to praise Him. There in my apartment as we sat and folded laundry, I shared with them how much Jesus loves them and how much He wanted to share eternity with them. In the center of our living room, Charlie and Chad prayed the sinner’s prayer and accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts and were saved from their sin.

Charlie and Chad are 11 years old now and are growing in the Word every day. Even after all of these years, they still bring up the day that Jesus stopped the rain with all of His authority. They can give me details about where we were and everything they felt that day. This power that Jesus showed them brought them to know the One True God and receive the forgiveness that we all desperately need. It not only brought them to know Him, but they continue to hunger and thirst for more of God and His Word.

I write this to encourage you to use every opportunity to point your kids to Jesus. Continuously show them that Jesus is the answer to all of life’s problems and all of life’s goodness. If your kids are looking for real love, real answers, real truth, Jesus is the real deal.

My Beautiful Love Story - by Stacy Gallego

As I approach my five year wedding anniversary, I look back in awe on what a beautiful love story the Lord created for me. As always, when the Lord speaks, He keeps His Word. This story is meant to encourage those of you who are waiting on the Lord for that special helper that God is preparing for you. Be patient and persevere, because the Lord will always keep His promises. Although our stories may not be similar in any way, be assured that our Father in heaven has a beautiful love story designed especially for you. I write this today in honor of my husband, Johnny, and the God who gave us His Word and kept it.

It was spring of 2001 and I had just moved from Phoenix to Wisconsin. I had just given my heart to Jesus December 21, 2000 and right after that, I lost my apartment, my job, my car, and mostly my sanity. I would only look back later and realize I was right where the Lord wanted me, totally and utterly dependent on Him.

Soon after starting my new job as a dental assistant, I started dating a man at work. I was a new Christian and not going to church. I was just reading the Word by myself and really had no one to help me grow in the Lord. I thought I was doing the “right” thing dating someone responsible who could provide for me. After all, he was a really nice guy. He was a dentist, well respected in the community, settled with a nice house in the suburbs. As I continued to be in this relationship, the Lord continued to convict me over and over. I would plead with him and reason with God about how this should be the person I should marry. He had everything together, unlike me. But the conviction got more and more until I could not leave a date with him without being in tears. I knew the Lord was telling me this wasn’t the person he had for me. At that point, we mutually ended our relationship.

It was a week after I had ended this relationship. I had just tucked my boys into bed and was sitting on my couch. I began to cry and call out to God. I was asking Him, “What about me, Lord? Do I need to raise these kids by myself? Is that what you have for me?” I just sat there in the dark and sobbed on the couch. Little did I know that God would speak to me so powerfully that it would literally change the course of my life. I sat on the couch a little while longer asking God these questions over and over again. All of a sudden, the Lord caused me to hear His Word. He said, “If you only knew what I was preparing for you, there would be no tears.” I jumped up off the couch literally and said, “Yes, I believe you! And from this day forward, I will not entertain any relationships or friendships with any men until I hear from you.”

This was the start of a faith walk that would challenge me and my trust in the Word of God. I had in my mind it would only be a little while before the Lord brought this to fulfillment, but I would wait almost two years before He fulfilled His Promise. Many people would say to me, “I have a friend and he’s a Christian and I want you to meet him.” I would look to the Lord and say, “Lord, if this is you, you will bring this to fulfillment.” Every time, nothing would come to it.

I had a married couple that lived down the road from my parents’ house. I would go over there with my kids on Friday nights. We would sing praise songs on the piano. We would read the Word, pray and just glorify the Lord. It was such a sweet time for me. About a year and a half after the Lord spoke to me on my couch, I was visiting with them. I just sat there and started crying. They were so compassionate. I will never forget it. They asked me what was wrong and I told them that I just didn’t understand why I didn’t have a husband. I know God spoke to me, but I just didn’t understand why He was waiting. It was then that they opened up the Word and God spoke to me again. My friend Paul said, “Let me read you a story.” He opened up to bible to Genesis 24. It was the story of Isaac and Rebekah. This story has such a deep significance as it is a foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus Christ. Isaac had just lost his mother and his father, Abraham, wanted to find him a wife to comfort him. So he sent his servant, Eleazor, which translates “Comforter” (also the Holy Spirit) to go to his land and find a wife for his son. Eleazor tells Abraham he will go but questions Abraham on what he should do if the woman will not come back with him. Abraham tells him that if the woman doesn’t come, then he would be released from his obligation. So Eleazor goes to their land and he comes to a well. When he reaches it, he says in his heart to the Lord that the first woman who comes to draw water and asks Eleazor to give him water and to water his camels would be the woman that God has chosen for Isaac. So he does, and before he finishes this thought in his heart, along comes Rebekah who draws water and offers it to Eleazor’s camels. Eleazor proceeds to tell her who he is and why he has come and that he was sent by his master, Abraham, to find a wife for Isaac and she is the one. Rebekah takes Eleazor to her family and shares this story with her father. The father knows that it is from God and says that he will ask Rebekah directly if she would like to go. Rebekah had never seen Isaac, had no idea who he was, what he looked like, how he acted, but by faith, she says, “Yes, I will go.” So Eleazor takes her back to their land and on the horizon Isaac sees her and they continue walking to each other, meet, and immediately get married and Isaac loves his wife.

After reading this story, my friend Paul says to me, “Isn’t this a beautiful story?” I agreed that it was a beautiful story, not understanding how this related to me or my life. Then he said something so profound…now we are going to pray together and ask God to do this for you. I agreed, not knowing quite what I was agreeing to. Paul, Anne and I all prayed together and had this powerful time in prayer asking the Lord to go before me on my behalf.

What came next really shocked me. Paul and Anne told me, “We think you should join eHarmony.” I laughed thinking why do I need eHarmony? Does God need eHarmony to give me a love story? We talked for a while and they convinced me that it was a Christian-based service, bathed in prayer, and what did I have to lose? So I went home and filled out all 200 questions and signed up for eHarmony.

I would continue on there for four months. Every time I would see Ann and Paul they would ask…so how are things? They really wanted to know if I had met anyone. I would communicate with some matches, but it would end after a couple of days. I was discouraged and not real excited about it at all. This went on for a few months.

The whole time this was happening with me, my husband was living happily with his family in Tucson, AZ. He had been married to his first wife, Hilda, for 18 years. He had two beautiful children and life was pretty much great for them.

Ten years earlier, John had a dream. In that dream, this woman came up to him and kissed him on the mouth. He remembers waking up and looking over at his wife and just feeling really guilty. He shared it with a friend of his at work who laughed at him and said, “No you kissed her.” John argued, “No, she kissed me.” His friend tells him, “No, it’s your dream, your thoughts, your desires, you made her kiss you.” It really skewed John’s thoughts and the truth that God speaks to people in dreams. He became just cynical about anyone who said God spoke to them in a dream and would repeat to the dreamers the same things that his friend told him. What he didn’t realize was what the Word says, “Do not stand in the counsel of the ungodly.” This friend of his wasn’t a Christian and he had no knowledge of the Word, but John took his advice anyway.

John’s first wife, Hilda, had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 27, just months after they had gotten married. It was a very aggressive form of rheumatoid arthritis and no treatments helped her. Through the years, she became more and more debilitated. John didn’t even notice it, until one day he saw her reflection in a window. He said to himself, “Oh my gosh, my wife is completely disabled.” He loved her and just never looked at her like she was disabled. She started to have problems with uncontrolled blood pressure and just several issues with her heart valves. The doctors said it was completely treatable and they just went on with their lives.

It was in January of 2004 when John would have a really amazing dream. John has a degree in math and he always thinks in terms of math. In the dream, he was sitting in a classroom and there was the teacher who wrote out an algebraic equation on a board. In the dream, he started to simplify the equation and then the teacher said, “and the answer is 24.” He remembers thinking in his dream, if it’s true that I control my dreams, then why do I know the answer before I figured it out. He was perplexed. He remembers the whole equation and the answers were 6 and 24. In the dream, God spoke to him and the impression was, “Not all dreams are your own thoughts and ideas, I speak to you in dreams.” He woke up and immediately told his wife. It had been 10 years since his friend squashed the truth that God speaks to people in dreams and the Lord confirmed it. That night, he went to his bible study that he was teaching and he showed them the algebraic equation and he explained to them what God had spoke to him. It was much later that God would give John the full understanding of the dream.

Several weeks after this, the Lord started speaking to his heart that the time he had with his wife was short. It was totally contrary to what the doctors were telling him. They were telling them that everything was fine and that what his wife had was totally treatable, but he continued to have this lurking feeling that the time he had with Hilda was short. He would start asking her things like, “Have I been a good husband? Have you enjoyed your life?” She didn’t understand it, but he needed to know how she felt. He would go up on the roof and pray at night and plead with the Lord to give him more time with his wife, but the feeling continued.

It was June of 2004, and he was teaching a bible study. He was in the book of Daniel and they were studying Daniel 3 where Nebuchadnezzar told Meshach, Shadrach, and Abed-Nego that if they did not bow down and worship him, that he would throw them into the firey furnace. These three men of faith told Nebuchadnezzar, “Our God can deliver us, however, if he doesn’t we will still follow him.” (Paraphrased) This really spoke to John and he stopped the whole bible study and for an entire night they talked about this. He asked them, “If God doesn’t answer your prayers the way you think he should, will you still follow Him?” He said it was an awesome study and it really got them thinking. Little did he know, he would be faced with this very question less than a week later.

Later that week, Hilda went into the hospital for a two day procedure. John watched as they inserted the tube down Hilda’s throat and he saw her heart. One side of it was huge and thick and pumping so fast. Then he looked to the left and saw her heart valves atrophied and it was sluggishly pumping the blood. The doctors assured him that this was totally treatable with medications and it was nothing to worry about. John went home that evening to get the kids settled. He planned to go to work the next morning and then about 11 in the morning, he would come back to the hospital for the rest of the procedure. About 8:00 that morning, he called Hilda’s room at the hospital to talk to her. The nurses told him that she was in the bathroom and couldn’t talk. He hung up the phone and five minutes later, the hospital called to apologize to John, “We are sorry. Your wife has gone into cardiac arrest.” John slammed the phone down and ran out of his work and into his car and sped down the road to get to the hospital. On the way there, he talked to the Lord. He said, “Lord, I know my wife has died, but I know that you have the power to raise her from the dead. But if you don’t, I don’t need to question you, and I don’t need to know why. You know everything that is best for me and I am still going to follow you.”

He ran through the hospital and up the elevator and into her room and there she was, lying there like she was sleeping. Hilda had passed away and left the man I love devastated and broken. For four hours, he prayed that the Lord would raise her from the dead, but God made it clear it was time for Hilda to come home.

Everyone was there for the funeral and bringing food and ministering to them. But days after the funeral, everyone goes home, but John and the kids’ lives were completely changed forever. They had lost their mom and John lost the love of his life.

A couple weeks after the funeral, the Lord started speaking to John that he would meet someone and remarry. This was not a welcomed thought at all for John. He had no plans to start over and get remarried again. He was still wearing his wedding ring and feeling sad and devastated. Over the next several weeks, Words from the Lord continued to come and over and over again. The Lord continued to assure John that this was in his near future.

Day after day, this feeling of meeting someone consumed him. He didn’t understand it and didn’t want it. One night, he got up on the roof and cried out to the Lord. His prayer was three fold. He told the Lord that he didn’t know what was going on and what his future held. He asked the Lord to reveal to him a little bit of future. What was going to happen to him? Then he told the Lord to reveal this woman to him that he was going to meet. “How am I supposed to know who she is?” he asked the Lord. The third part of his prayer was that he was going to wait on the Lord. He wasn’t going to go out and do anything stupid, but that he would wait on Him.

A few weeks after his wife’s funeral, John returned to work. He was standing in the lobby of his work, and all of a sudden he heard a huge crash. He looked out to the street and there was a huge car crash. He ran out to the scene and some other people came out after him. There was a woman and her two kids in one car and an older woman and her son in the other car. He came to the woman with her kids and she was crying and John helped her and her kids to the side of the street. Then John looked at his friend pulling the other woman out of the car. He yelled to John that he needed to get some help because the woman wasn’t breathing. They started CPR on her. The woman with the kids started screaming. She started telling John in Spanish that she didn’t have a license and had no insurance and she didn’t mean to hit the lady. She just was coming to visit her husband who was in prison. This woman started screaming and scratching John and John was talking to her and telling her kids to turn their heads because they didn’t need to see it.

Soon after they started CPR on the woman, they pronounced her dead and they put a yellow tarp over her. When the woman in the other car saw that she had died, she was just completely out of control. She was screaming and crying. John took her by the shoulders and said to her, “It’s ok. No one lives or dies without God. God knows you and He knew what was going to happen today. God knows this other lady. God chose you to live and for your kids to live and now you have to keep going. God chose you to live and now you need to keep living.” Immediately, as if he saw the words coming out of his mouth and entering into his heart, he knew that God was speaking those words to him. He walked away from the accident sobbing, knowing that God was telling him, “You have to keep living.” You are alive and I want you to live.” It’s amazing how God speaks to us in such simple, but profound ways. After this, his heart was settled. He was to keep living and continue on. As wonderful as his life was with Hilda, it was complete and God had a new chapter for him.

One night, his sister, who was living in South Africa at the time, emailed him. After he read the email, there was a popup and it was for eHarmony. He thought to himself, “That would be a good way to meet friends. I would be able to talk to some people.” He signed up for eHarmony and started talking to women who he thought were just friends. He started talking to a woman from Washington. They would text and email and talk on the phone. One night, she called and she was upset. She said, “What’s going on here?” He laughed, “What do you mean?” She said, “I texted you and you didn’t respond, I emailed you and you didn’t email me back, I left a message and you didn’t call. What’s going on here?” He knew immediately what he had done. He was hoping for friends, but these women were looking for something more. He apologized to her and told her that he thought he told her in the beginning, all he could be was a friend.

The next day, he talked with his friend at work. Pat, bless his soul, told him, “You’re in the wrong place to meet friends, Homer.” John thought he had totally gone out of the will of God. He vowed to himself that as soon as he got home, he was going to email everyone he had been talking to and apologize to them and get off of eHarmony.

That night, about 11:30, he started emailing all of the people he had talked to and started closing them out. In order to close them out, you have to open up their profile, go to the bottom of their profile and then click on “close out.” He closed everybody out and then there were three new matches. He went through the first two matches and closed them out. The third match was me. He opened it up and then went to the bottom to close me out, but something caught his eye. I want to say it was my picture, but that wasn’t it! He saw that I felt called to be a missionary. He thought in his heart how I must have really loved God. I love it that he had those fond thoughts of me.

He tried again to get to the bottom of the page but something else caught his eye. One of the questions on the profile asks, “What do your friends know about you that no one else knows? “ I wrote that I had letters written to my husband and that on my wedding day he was going to be able to read them. The Lord started giving John an impression that he was going to read the letters. He was reasoning with himself that the only person who would read the letters would be her husband. But he had this strong impression he would be the one reading them.

Next, he saw my pictures. I had four pictures and all of them were pictures of me and Charlie and Chad. He knew immediately what I was saying, “It’s a package deal and don’t even contact me if you aren’t interested in the package.” The picture was of me and Charlie and Chad peeking around a tree. He said it was then that God impressed to him that this family was important for him. He was confused and without understanding.




He tried several times after that to go and close out and cancel out of eHarmony, but he continued to be drawn back to my profile. It was 11:30 at night and he remembers it like it was yesterday. He had his chin in his hands reading my profile. He was perplexed by the feelings he was having and then he said aloud, “I wonder if this is the one.” It was totally quiet. There was a small light on in the hallway and then he heard it, the voice of the Lord. The Lord caused Him to hear His voice and He said, “This is the one.” John was so shocked he swung his head around and looked around. He thought someone was in the room with him. He wondered if he might be going crazy, but it was then he realized it was the Lord speaking to him. He had never heard it before in his life. He started shaking and his face was flush. He thought to himself, “Well if this is the one, then I can say anything to her and she will be the one.” That night, he sent a request to communicate with me.

The afternoon before this, I saw that there was a Johnny from Tucson, AZ who was a match. I thought to myself, “I hope he wants to talk with me.” There was nothing special about his profile and he was pictured with another gentleman on his profile photo. I didn’t even know which one he was, but something in me wanted to talk to him. It was the next afternoon that I got the request and I was kind of excited.

We started chatting back and forth on the email. I had done this a few times with other matches, but this was different. That afternoon he wrote to me that he had posted a photo for me to see. When it started to load and I saw half of the photo loading, God spoke to my heart and said, “This is your husband.” I was shocked.

Several other things transpired where God continued to confirm my feeling. Charlie and Chad were 6 years old at the time. Several weeks before I ever was matched up with John, the babysitter said to me that Chad had told her something interesting. I asked, “What did he say?” She shared that he had told her that someday he was going to have three dads; his dad Jesus, his dad Rick (their biological father), and his step-dad John. She looked at me with anticipation as she told me looking for any clues that I would have an idea of what he was talking about. I shook my head and said, "I don’t know any Johns and I don’t really know what that means." Amy, my babysitter, smiled and told me to be watchful because many times God will speak through the children. I treasured that in my heart and as these next few weeks unfolded, I realized that the Lord spoke through my six year old son long before the Lord caused these events to happen in my life.

A few days passed with exchanging emails and then John asked if I would like to talk on the phone. I was excited. He gave me his phone number and asked me to call. The first night we talked for almost three hours. About the third hour of conversation was when it happened. Out of the blue, I asked John, “Has God spoke to you about me?” I had no idea where that came from, but I realized that God was speaking to me about him and I wanted to know what God was speaking to him. There was a long pause and then he said it, “I consider myself to be a reasonable man. I am not crazy. God has spoken to me.” Then he told me how God spoke to him when he saw my profile and my picture. I then shared with him what God was speaking to me. Then I said, “So, I guess we are getting married then?” The very first time we talked and before we ever saw each other face to face, John asked me to marry him. We decided where we would live and where we were going to get married. It was so amazing.

A couple evenings later, John and I were talking and I asked him when his wife had passed away. We had never really talked about it and I had never asked. I guess I had no idea that it had been just a few months before. When I heard “June 24,” I was so upset. All I could think was how would I explain to people that just a couple of months ago, John’s wife died and now we were getting married. Following this, there was another confirmation from the Lord. While we were sitting there talking about it and I was freaking out, God gave John remembrance of the dream he had that past January. The answers to the algebraic equation were 6 and 24 and that was the month and the date that his wife passed away. This experience just caused us to glorify God. In God's Word, it says, it's the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. God gets all the glory. He concealed it for a while, and then revealed it, all to His glory. He is an awesome God!

John called a couple of days later. He had a huge step to make in this whole thing. He needed to let Cilicia and Johnny know what was going on. They had just lost their mom a few months earlier and this would be very difficult for them, especially with the circumstances of how we met and what God was doing. He took the kids out to Wendy’s that evening and started to share with them what God was doing. Little Johnny was so excited. He said, “I knew you were going to meet someone.” He was thrilled. John was not so sure about Cilicia. When he told her, she started to cry. He asked her, “Cilicia, I need to know what you are thinking.” She said, “I’m just thinking that God is so awesome.” She proceeded to tell John that she had had a dream and she believed it was from the Lord. She had mentioned this dream to John a few weeks before, but she didn’t share the whole dream with John. But there at the Wendy’s table, she told him the whole thing. She told John that all of them were in Hawaii and that John was with a woman with short brown hair and he was married to her and there was a little girl there with the lady. John was perplexed. He told Cilicia, “Well, Stacy has two little boys but she doesn’t have any girls.” He really wasn’t sure how it all related, but it really gave Cilicia comfort knowing that God had already showed her that this was going to happen.

This was like nothing I had ever experienced before. Quite frankly, when I asked God to make the meeting of my husband something supernatural so I wouldn’t “miss Him,” I had no idea it would be like this. But as the days went by, I started doubting it. I’d say, “Is this real?” The last thing I wanted to do was miss God and marry someone I wasn’t supposed to. I talked to John and told him that I was going to go on a fast and pray about it because I just had to have confirmation from the Lord. That’s when it got even more exciting!

About two years before, I had this awesome dream. In the dream, there was a man there and he put a ring on my finger and it was a diamond ring. Then he slipped off the diamond ring and went and washed it in a bucket and when he brought it back and slipped it on my finger, it was kind of a pink color. I remember thinking in my dream that this ring looked like the color of the ring my parents got me for my 16th birthday. I thought it looked like a June stone. So when I woke up, the month of June was impressed on my heart. I woke my friend up and told her about the dream. She suggested we go on the internet and try to find birthstones. So when we went on there, I saw the February stone and recognized the stone I saw was an amethyst. I told my friend, “Maybe I am going to meet my husband in June and marry in February. We were both excited because I knew in some way the Lord had spoken to me. Then June came and went and February came and went and nothing happened. The next June and February came and went and nothing happened. When the next June came and went, I started asking, “Lord, I know you spoke to me. Did I miss you? What does this dream mean?”

It was August of 2004 and I was in a nursing lecture. I had been fasting for three days and asking God to confirm whether this whole thing that just happened to me was from Him. I was sitting in my lecture and the instructor just got done talking. I can’t explain it any other way, except that five seconds before I didn’t know something, then all of a sudden I had a flood of knowledge from God. The impression was that in June I would get married and on my honeymoon in Hawaii, I would conceive a daughter and she would be born in February and her name would be Grace. The Lord told me that she would live a life of glory for Him. I was so out of it after I had heard the Word of God that I could barely make it back to my car. I was car-pooling with several friends who already thought I was crazy for even believing that this was God. They were saying, “What’s wrong with you?" I must have looked like I'd seen a ghost. I then told them what God had told me. To my surprise, they believed it! I realized that the months of June and February were very significant for me and that the little girl in Cilicia’s dream was my daughter! I was the woman that would marry her dad. It was all so amazing because John and I had not even decided when we wanted to get married and we had never even talked about a honeymoon. When I told John, he started crying and said he had in his heart to ask me to have our honeymoon in Hawaii!

We shared this story with many people and they watched and waited for it to be fulfilled. The amazing thing was, that all of this happened before I ever set eyes on my husband in person. It was a faith walk from the very beginning. I was amazed at the faith of John’s kids…they believed with all of their heart. In fact, when John’s church was remodeled, they ripped up all of the carpet and under the carpet everyone carved their names on the floor before the new carpet was installed. There under that carpet says “In loving memory of Hilda Gallego” and there carved on the floor is “Grace Gallego.” Before she was ever conceived, her name was written on the floor of a church. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen according to the Word of God. This was the real thing.

A week later, I went to the airport to pick up my husband to meet for the very first time. It was like a perfect Isaac and Rebekah. I had only seen one picture of him and wasn’t even sure I would know what he looked like. I sat there in the airport and it all came flooding back to me that God had fulfilled His promise to me on that night when I prayed that God would give me an Isaac and Rebekah love story. It was true. I came to pick up my husband by faith, not knowing what he looked like or what it was going to be like. It was all faith in God’s Word.

It was a beautiful day in June 2005. John and I were married in front of all of our friends and family. We said our vows and the next day arrived in Hawaii. Several weeks later, upon returning home, it was confirmed, we conceived our little baby Grace in Hawaii. God keeps all of His promises. When February came and went and Grace was still not born, we were completely shocked. We had expected our little girl would be born in February and I reminded the Lord that everyone was watching. Would the enemies of the Lord laugh? I started to question myself, "Did I hear you Lord?" Did I miss You? You know, the Lord is always on time and He is completely faithful. February 1, 2011, my daughter, Gracie, just one month shy of 5 years old, sat on her bed and invited Jesus Christ into her heart and was born again. I realized God had brought His promise to fulfillment with her second birth. This birth is even more important than the first. God had kept His promise to me and every tittle of that prophecy was to be fulfilled in His time.




The Lord has put together a beautiful family. One of the things that I prayed for before I met my husband was that God would not only bring me a husband, but a father for my kids. People would tell me don’t be surprised if that doesn't happen. But I believed God. He never does anything half way. The very first time my sons met John, they asked if they could call him “dad.” They have never called him anything else but “dad” and from the very beginning John told them that everything he has is theirs. They have been included in his inheritance, just like we have with God. Johnny and Cilicia also call me “mom.” They, by faith, believed that the Lord brought me as their mother and that is all they have called me.

God had fulfilled everything and He created a beautiful family. There were so many things that the Lord gave me that I asked for in a husband, but most of all he gave me so many things I didn’t even know I needed. My husband is perfect for me and we have a beautiful family, solid in the Word of God. I thank God for giving me a new life and making my love story to memorable.

I give thanks on my fifth wedding anniversary for a wonderful husband, six beautiful children, and an inheritance in Jesus Christ that I can never put a price on.