Have you a Friend whose wondrous grace
Lights up with joy the darkest place,
Who to the end will still prove true?
“Tell What the Lord Has Done for You!”*
If the Lord has done something for you, will you not share it with us? We hope to read your testimony soon!
Oh, tell what He’s done for you,
Of His love, so strong and true,
Oh, tell, what He’s done, what He’s done for you,
Others may need Him, too.
Note: Due to limited space, we have felt it best to combine the sections “Letters From the Heart,” and “Meet a Princess,” into “Tell What He’s Done for You!” as both letters and interviews should be testimonies as well. Please feel free to write as you would normally for any of these separate sections—he only difference is that they will all be under one title.
—Editress
Dear Sisters,
I just received the Fall 1999 issue of DP. It was (again) such a blessing! Many of the articles dealt with issues I’d been pondering on lately. I really needed the encouragment on page five, “Do not let the devil tell you it is boastful or prideful to write and share what God has taught you—you are only glorifying the Teacher, which we are commanded to do.” That’s exactly what I’d been thinking!
Abigail’s letter from the editress was “right down my alley.” Basically, the Father has been asking me, “do you want what is good or what is best? Many of the things/ways you want are good but what I have cut out for you is best.” Thank God for His Divine help in submitting our wills to His perfect one!
Another thing the Lord has been showing me (He does it so gently!) is that the desire to be a wife and mother is not at all wrong (we humans tend to go to one extreme or the other, God wants us to be balanced). What is wrong is when it’s an obsession, when it consumes most of our thoughts, when being a wife is so glorious that being a daughter/sister is almost contemptible; when you’re so busy dreaming of the service done for a family of your own that you overlook the multitude of opportunities with parents and siblings, when your dreams turn into rebellious thoughts of “at least then I’ll do things my own way,” when the thought of wife/motherhood enters your mind without an “if the Lord wills,” when you begin to worry and fret about if and when and how and where God sends a man for you, those are the warning signs that it has gone over board. I’ve given and regiven (and I’m still doing it!) all my plans and hopes to God. It’s not easy (praise God we have His help!) when they’ve been there for years, but “brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13) I have no doubt that His calling for me is far and above anything I could imagine or hope for (Isaiah 64:4). And no matter what He does or doesn’t give me, He Himself is more than sufficient for me!
I hope and pray God continues to use and bless this publication as He has. It’s such an encouragement to me to know that there are other young ladies out there with the desire to draw closer to their Lord. I can relate to many of the letters…. Is this new year/century/millenium going to find you plodding along the same as always or will it find you with an earnest desire to live daily on a higher plane, more in sweet communion with your Savior?
God bless you all.
Love in Christ,
Chelsea Townsend
Hillsboro, OR
The Prayer of Faith Shall Save the Sick…
“And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James 5:15)
Greetings in Jesus’ Name! The Lord has been very gracious to me in healing my body a few months ago and I praise Him.
One afternoon in late September, we came home from doing errands. I had felt fine all day, but shortly after my stomach started feeling “off.” I didn’t eat that night, but just went upstairs to bed. I had never been in bed for sickness until the year before when we had trouble with the flu. I thought it was probably the stomach flu and I would feel better the next day. (The stomach flu the year before was really bad. We couldn’t eat, and even tiny sips of water would make our stomachs unbearably painful.) Well, the next day was no better, nor was the next day. As with the stomach flu, I didn’t eat, and I had only enough water to keep me hydrated. Actually, with the third day, it got worse, in that I had a sharp pain in my lower right side, along with the stomach flu symptoms. Mama brought me a heating pad and that helped me some. Of course, she and Daddy were concerned. The pain in my side made us think of appendicitis. Daddy had it when he was young, and my great-grandmother had died from it. Our family has long believed in healing; my parents did not feel they should take me to the doctor or anything. I am not saying that there is no circumstance in that you go to a doctor, but only one time in my whole life (I’m 14) have I gone to a doctor. So we left it up to God. Daddy and Mama began praying and fasting. Daddy annointed me with oil and laid hands on me according to the scripture in James 5. The next day (Monday) I felt better, and we were encouraged. Daddy and Mama stopped fasting.
But that night was terrible. The pain in my side became so intense I couldn’t stay still (giving a new meaning to “writhing in pain” for me). The heating pad did no good, lying in any position, or sitting up. I started crying and prayed. The pain gradually lessened until it was quite bearable. I went to sleep and woke up better, but not as well as I was the day before. So Daddy and Mama started fasting again. That day Daddy went to see my grandpa (my mother’s father), who had been failing in health (he had congestive heart failure), and was able to pray with him for his salvation. Praise the Lord! Daddy had been talking to him about the condition of his soul for a while. Grandpa kept saying he “wasn’t ready yet.” Because of his sickness he had been living with us off and on for three months and was exposed to things of the Lord in a very intense way. No one else in our extended family is a Christian. It was amazing to see how physical battles tie in with spiritual ones.
I slowly but surely got better after that. It wasn’t till Friday night, seven days after I went down, that I got up and dressed. We went to see my grandpa that night. He had fallen and gone to the hospital. My walking had improved (before I had to hunch over, or else the pain would be too great) though I was rather slow. It hurt to walk fast. I hadn’t eaten anything all week, but was drinking water, so I was pretty weak. Countless times on that trip Mama asked me, “Are you okay?”
Through the following days I improved, and by the next Friday I was totally better. We went to my grandpa’s house every day that week (it takes an hour to drive there), and on Friday he passed away. He was saved ten days before he died. We are praising the Lord for His mercy to him and what joy we have in knowing Grandpa is with the Lord! He was 77 years old.
I did not go to the doctor. God alone healed me of whatever I was sick with. He is truly the Great Physician!
Your Sister in Christ,
Elisabeth Kingery
Castle Rock, CO