Scripture of the Week

Psalms 90:12

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

  Two days after being laid off, I was told that the client I interviewed with wanted to hire me and that I could start in 4 days.  God saw the whole thing coming and had me completely prepared with an even better job!  How good to us is God Almighty, our Heavenly Father!

I wanted to share with all of you what an amazing experience the first CFFM Family Camp was this year for my family. My two sons, ages 10 and 6, and I attended and received such tremendous healing. I want to share just a portion with you so you know the true deliverance that can take place in our Father's family of believers.

  My family has been through a rough time these last 11 months dealing with divorce, while having just moved to a town with no fellowships or true support. I had allowed hurt to separate me from God. God never left me but I wasn't turning to Him with believing. I poured my heart out but had such feelings of failure and condemnation that I was sure I couldn't receive anything from Him. I came to family camp thinking that I had no right to be there. I hadn't read my Bible in 7 months, certainly hadn't ministered to anyone or brought healing to anyone's life - or so I thought. My babysitter told me I saved her life but I knew otherwise. I knew that I had no right to be with the wonderful believers of CFFM who are so on fire for God and His Word. (And as crazy as that may sound to some of you, to me as I write it, there were others there who had similar thoughts and I know there will be those reading this who have similar thoughts - SO WRONG!) I knew I wasn't good enough but decided to come anyway for my boys. I told myself that even
if I didn't really believe in God's deliverance for my life anymore, I had to give my boys every opportunity to beleive in God and to know Him as their Heavenly Father.

  So we came to Family Camp. At first I just sat back and observed. Wondering when someone would realize I shouldn't be there. Wondering about the teachings...would they be about the 'perfect' family (whatever that is:)? The world may say you can't ever REALLY know someone, or that it takes a lifetime. I can tell you, as can everyone that attended, that in less than 4 1/2 days we were able to know each other's innermost hearts and become a tight knit family that we've all dreamed of even if we didn't know it. We all came with different challenges and struggles. We all had different
opportunities to see God go to work in our lives and yet the challenges were similar - fear, doubt, condemnation. I saw that the devil wants us to feel isolated - whether by phyical challenges, geography, emotionally or mentally.

  Our theme verse was Ps. 133:1 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethern to dwell together in unity. This verse was referred to several times during the week but never taught on specifically. And yet we all learned how important we were to one another and that we need to be with other believers to be in unity. With each passing moment in camp I was reminded of God's love and able to bask in it. Each person there contributed to that - not only as they loved me and my boys but as I observed them with each other. With every moment my heart softened and the shackles of failure
and condemnation fell off. There were opportunities during the week where I was tempted to fall back into the old ways of thinking, those thoughts of fear and failure, but I only saw love, no condemnation or criticism of any kind from my family. Afer the second full day of camp, after tucking my boys into bed, I was able to pour my heart out to God and read Ephesians for the first time in a long time, knowing it was to me from my Heavenly Father. I was then able to minister to my boys and bring deliverance to their lives. With every teaching I was delivered more and more and by Wednesday morning I knew that I was finally free. The teachings after that just strengthened me
and allowed me to build on that deliverance.

  My children came away noticably changed as well. My oldest son started out camp wanting to leave meal time to go play as soon as he was finished eating - and missing out on a lot since eating was the least important thing going on during that time. By the end of camp he was not only staying through the meal and activities but volunteering to help lead songs! And he SIT for the first time! My younger son - well beaming describes him best! This is just our story - one of many. Call someone who attended and they
will tell you their story of deliverance! When the Household is functioning the way it is suppose to, with the love of God at the center, tremendous things happen! I'm so very thankful to be a part of it! Never get talked into thinking that you aren't good enough to receive from God or to be with the Family. If you do just immerse yourself with other loving believers - don't let the devil isolate you from what God has made available.

Love and blessings to you all,
Robin Sutherland
Clarksburg, WV

  This is just one of many of my testimonies of what God has done for me.

  I hope it encourages and inspires you.

  In 1980 when I was 18 years old I lived in London. One day I was foolishly standing on a folding chair in my very first flat, I thought I was being very clever painting a door frame because the ladder was being used by someone else. I wasn’t being clever and when I tried to lean back to take a better look at what I was doing the folding chair decided to fold….with me on it!

  My lower back hit the top edge of the back of the chair and it was terribly painful. Over the next few days I couldn’t move comfortably and I thought it was just bruising as I was black and blue where I had landed on the chair.

  I went to see my GP and he said that I had a slipped disc in my lower spine. I was given pain killers and went to the hospital for traction. I spent 6 weeks off work and then the pain eased and finally I only had pain when I stood or sat too long, I also couldn’t lift or carry things. I managed to cope with life even though I was often uncomfortable.

  12 years later in 1992 I had a fall down a flight of steps on my back, I don’t really know how I did it, I just lost my footing I think, anyway my back was injured again. I found it difficult to stand and then I couldn’t walk. After the bruising came out I was in a bad way. I went to see my GP and he said that I had a prolapsed disc; this means that the disc had a split in it and the liquid inside it was oozing out and hardening on my sciatic nerve. I was in agony and couldn’t get comfortable in any position. I was given pain killers again but they didn’t help very much. I was sent to the hospital and it was decided that I needed surgery.

  After the surgery the surgeon came to see me, he told me that I had extensive damage to my sciatic nerve. He said that there had been a lot of scar tissue around the disc and that he had trimmed it to reduce further damage to my nerves. He also told me that as a consequence of the surgery I was officially 1/4 of an inch shorter and would have to have my passport amended. I thought he was joking but he wasn’t! After I left the hospital I had a long convalescence and eventually I was able to walk around again, but I was in constant pain and small areas of my legs and feet that were constantly numb. I was told that I would be likely to always have pain in my back and left leg. I learned to cope and life went on.

  In 1994 I had another incident where my back was injured; I hit the bottom of my spine against a large radiator. I knew I was hurt but had no idea how badly. Within 2 weeks I found out that I had a prolapsed disc again. I moved to Bath to be near my family. I saw a GP here and I was sent for yet more surgery and once again had extensive damage to my sciatic nerve.

  After the surgery the surgeon came and told me that I had serious damage to my sciatic nerve and that they had removed a piece of my pelvic bone and had attach it to my spine to prevent that section from moving and therefore hopefully keep it stable and protected from further injury. Once again I was told that I was 1/4 of an inch shorter and to change my passport to reflect my new height, in total I was now ½ an inch shorter! I was told that further spinal surgery was not possible as my body created large amounts of scar tissue and this was fusing with my damaged sciatic nerve which was damaging it still further. I was sent home to recover which took nearly a year.

  From this point on I was in ever increasing pain. I was on very high doses of pain killers and anti inflammatory tablets and started to find it more and more difficult to walk, sit, stand or lay down. The area of my body that was numb began to extend up my legs and eventually I had no sensation from my toes to halfway up my ribcage.

  I was in chronic pain and gradually became more and more immobilized by it in my back and legs, in the end I was only able to walk a few feet with the aid of crutches and if I needed to go any further I had to use a wheelchair. I was put on the disabled register and given an orange parking badge. My left leg and lower back were so painful to move that I used to spend most of my time crying in agony. I also suffered from depression and insomnia due to the pain. On top of all this, the pain killers were making me ill.

  Over the next 4 years I saw so many doctors that quite frankly I lost count. The news they gave me was the same each time.

• They could not operate again.
• They could not ease the pain.
• I was going to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.
• I was going to spend the rest of my life in chronic pain.

  One day in 1998 I spoke to my mother and told her that I couldn’t go on as I was, I told her that I couldn’t face life in a wheelchair in such terrible pain. I told her that I didn’t know why I bothered going to the doctors for help when all I got from them was negativity and hopelessness.

  My mother (who is now asleep awaiting the return) was born again and had tried hard to convince me to accept Christ but I had always resisted. I believed in God and His son Jesus Christ but that was as far as I was prepared to go. To be honest, with all the pain I was in, God was not uppermost in my mind.

  The one thing I knew for sure was that when my mother prayed she got results and that was why I listened to her when she said to me that we should pray about it.

  My mother prayed that the very next doctor I saw would say to me “Mrs Micallef (my name at the time) I have the very thing that is going to help you. We both thanked God for this and then my mother said that it would happen, and that I just had to believe it.

  Three weeks later my mother went with me to my appointment to see the doctor at the hospital. When the young lady doctor walked into the room I was surprised to see that she had a hump on her back and a club foot and I felt a strange kinship with her. She introduced herself and then she said “Mrs Micallef I have the very thing that is going to help you”. I HAD GOOSEBUMPS. My mother just looked at me and smiled serenely. What she was offering was another operation but this time it was to implant a Neuro-stimulator under my skin which would be attached to an electrode which would be implanted in my spine. This device stopped my brain from receiving the pain signals coming from my damaged back via the sciatic nerve. They did the surgery and after a long convalescence I was able to walk without the crutches and have not used them since.

  I am now able to run, walk, stand, sit, lay down and anything else I want to do.

  All without pain.

  God worked with me to help me in a way that would be undeniable and would show me that he was there for me.

  I cannot express what having the ability to walk and be pain free means to me. But God knows.

  God did this for me when I didn’t even know who or what he really was. He thought me worthy of his great love. My life has changed since that day, I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior and been born again and now I am on a journey with God, telling everyone and anyone who will listen what God and Christ has done for them and about the Kingdom.

  Each day my life gets better and better, the more I seek the Kingdom (Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.") and the more I live for God and in harmony with him and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  This is my testimony of just one of so many things that God has done for me.

  If this is what God has done for me, what has God got in mind for you?

  Husband is at work today, and we are thankful and praising God that He is working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure(Philippians 2:13)! 

Join us, won't you?
DJ