It NEVER ENDS! God is SO good!

Are you guys ready for #7?? Because God healed ANOTHER person of lactose intolerance! My friend Ana who I last posted about called her sister, and passed on her healing! Her sister had a VERY serious case of LI but now she is free because of the power and faithfulness of our God! And now Ana and her sister are going to call their other sister, and pray for her too! Lactose intolerance will be completely removed from their family by the love of our Savior. Come on!

Seriously, if you know ANYONE who is suffering from it, and they want healing, give them my phone number and God will take care of it! Or YOU can just pray for them!

The thing that inspires and empowers me the most is that every other sickness or problem has the potential to become a ongoing testimony like this one. I think that's a HUGE part of what the Lord is trying to teach me...that the very same power that keeps being released to heal lactose intolerance is available to everyone. I now have absolutely NO DOUBTS when I run into someone who has LI. I am completely assured that God will heal it right then and there. And I so long to have that same assurance when facing any disease or infirmity. The blood of Jesus covered all of that, completely, and for all eternity. All I have to do is step into that revelation by faith, and extend the borders of my tent (of my territory) according to what He has promised.

I hope you guys are encouraged and stirred up by this! I love you all!

Be blessed, and step into new territory BY FAITH,

Melissa

Another Blog to check out!

Just wanted to pass this on to you all! I just discovered that one of my fellow students (David D'Louhy) has an AWESOME blog with tons of testimonies and great revelation. He's got an amazing, sincere heart, and is in relentless pursuit of releasing the miraculous power of God everywhere he goes. I have SO MUCH respect and admiration for this guy, so this will just be a shout-out to honor him :). So, if you're hungry for more, check it out!

http://healingrevivalist.blogspot.org

Enjoy! Be Blessed!

Melissa

Another victory! :)

God healed my friend Ana of lactose intolerance! He is SO GOOD! My friend Kate and I prayed for her last week, and God was really touching her in a powerful way. There was some major stuff going on :). I had absolutely no doubt that she was healed but, like I was when my friends prayed for my healing, Ana was a bit intimidated to test out her stomach with real milk. But Praise the Lord, she told me yesterday morning that she had some pudding with a ton of milk in it, and she was completely fine! :D Lactose intolerance runs in her family so she's going to call her sisters sometime this week, and pass on her healing to them!

We serve a faithful God! Remember that any testimony in your life is REPEATABLE so tag! You're it, people!

Love you guys!

Melissa

Connecting the dots...

Hey Everyone!

Do you ever have one of those weeks where God brings up a whole bunch of different issues, some of which seem disconnected, but by the end of the week He ties them all together into a work that He's doing in your heart? Well, if you didn't guess by that intro, that's the kind of week I just had ;). And sitting where I am now, looking back on the things He was exposing and bringing to the surface, I have to say that I'm stunned by what He can accomplish in just a week. And no, I haven't forgotten that He orchestrated all of creation in 7 days (I'm sure some of you were thinking, "Well duh, Melissa"). It's just really astounding and humbling to me that the God of the universe is also the Lover of my soul, and that He loves me enough to not allow me to remain the way I am. That just delights me so much :).

I've got another amazing testimony for you guys! Get ready because this one is SO exciting and encouraging :). This past weekend, Bethel partnered with evangelist Mario Murillo in putting on three nights of services at the Redding Convention Center. It was a phenomenal weekend of worship and healings and salvations (I think the grand total was around 500 people, PTL), and God's Kingdom was definitely expanded in Redding. After the service on Sunday night, I went with a few of my friends (Erica, Libby, Paul) to Dairy Queen, and a girl named Angelina came with us too. Now, Angelina was SO FULL of the joy and presence of the Lord because that night at the service, she not only got SAVED but she was healed of 90% deafness in her right ear, healed of cervical cancer (by faith, I haven't heard the doctor's report yet but I have no doubts about what God did), filled with the Holy Spirit AND received the gift of tongues! How's that for a night of miracles! So once we get to Dairy Queen, she is so overflowing with what God has done for her that she proceeds to share her testimony with the two guys who are working there! My friend Erica (who's a CRAZY evangleist) started telling them about the service as well, sharing about the power of God and the Holy Spirit, and honestly she was freaking them out a little :). I'm sure they were thinking, "Okay, these people are nuts, and I am NEVER taking the Sunday night shift again." But don't worry because God loves to take every opportunity to make Himself known to those who need Him! Even as we were just standing there, sharing what God had done, He filled Dairy Queen with His presence. We all felt it very strongly, and so did the employees! After buying our ice cream, they were so open that we spent over an hour and a half talking with them about God and answering any questions they had about Him. One of the guys in particular, Matt, got really touched, and decided to come to the service with us the next night! Well, Praise the Lord, he got totally rocked and touched by God, and ended up getting saved that night! Erica and I and another guy from BSSM got to be the ones to talk and pray with him, and he was so excited to be part of our Kingdom family :). After the service, Matt came with all of us to In n Out, and we got to welcome him and encourage him and prophesy into his life! It was AWESOME! He left with a beaming smile on his face, 5 pages of prophetic words, his first worship CD (I gave him one of mine so he could jump right in), and a completely transformed life :D. And if that's not enough, he vistited us at school on Wednesday (got some amazing foundational teaching about the Deity of Christ) and was invited to dinner with my friend Karen's family on Thursday, where he got more prayer and even PROPHESIED over people with very accurate words from the Lord! COME ON, JESUS!!

I wanted to share all that with you guys not only to praise the Lord for the incredible works He has done in pulling His children out of the kingdom of darkness and into His marvelous light, but also to say it was transforming for me just to be able to take part in it. I've never had the opportunity to see someone get saved like that, or to be able to help them along as they begin their new life in God... it's truly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. With the purest joy and sincerity, Matt just kept saying, "My life will never be the same again..."

This testimony is the just the tip of the iceberg of what God has been working in me this week... The biggest thing He been trying to impart to me is that everything we do in Him and for His Kingdom all must come back to love. "For God so loved the world" that He made a way for us. It was all for intimacy, that the relationship He'd always intended for us to live in would be restored.... And after witnessing Matt's salvation a stirring began to happen in me, an unsettling revelation from the Lord that the salvation and the joy and the fullness of life that He has given me is not mine to keep. Through Christ, He has imparted to me hope for the world, and yet very often, I keep it hidden. It breaks my heart that I can pass by someone in a wheelchair or someone who is mentally ill, and shy away from that hope, and the power that God has put in my hands. It is for freedom that we have been set free. It is the longing of the heart of God that all may be drawn to Him in repentance, that all may experience His everlasting love; He does not desire that anyone should perish, and that is why He has commissioned me to carry His radical love. And with that revelation, God began to show me more... I'm very goal-oriented by nature so to me the weight of what God was impressing on my heart seemed so huge, like a responsibility that was beyond my ability to accomplish. But that's just it. He began to show me that the weight and importance of His call is great, but that it is balanced in it's simplicity. It's all about love. I just have to love the one in front of me. Just start with the one. I must feel the weight of His longing for His love to be seen in the earth, and know in my heart that He is with me everywhere I go, to enable and equip me for that very purpose.

So, that's just a portion of all that's going on in me right now :). There's A TON more but I wanted to give you a taste of it. I pray that what God has begun in my heart He will also begin to stir in yours. The harvest is white... So go with the revelation of the love of God, that it heals every disease, meets every need, and is for everyone, including the one right in front of you.

All my love and blessings on your week,

Melissa

Brace yourselves! This testimony is RADICAL.

Well, if there was ever a testimony that showed God's awesome power, loving care, and incredible attention to detail, this one is it. The story I'm about to tell you is the culmination and convergence of almost two years of God's faithfulness, and my part in the story began on Thursday during our Treasure Hunt outreach.

We left the church a bit later than usual (at about 4:30) and were only driving for about 5 minutes when I spotted a woman walking on the side of the road, pushing a stroller with 4 little dogs in it. Since my team leader Katie had "person walking dogs" on her treasure map, I pointed out the woman to her, and we all agreed that she stood out WAY too much for us to pass her by. So we made a quick u-turn, and Katie, Melody and I jumped out of the car to talk with this woman. We introduced ourselves like we usually do to the "treasures" we encounter on outreach ("This might sound a bit strange but we're doing a treasure hunt, and we think you're our treasure because God gave us clues to find you..."), and she was very open and friendly. Then, all of a sudden, she gets a phone call, and asks us to wait for a moment, and what we heard was absolute confirmation that we were right where God wanted us to be. She said something about being freaked out, not knowing what to do, and that she was contemplating calling the police because of whatever seemingly serious incident she was dealing with. Well, long story shortened, we came to find out that she had just been driving with her 33 yr. old son when he began to threaten her, and kept grabbing the steering wheel from her, threatening to wreck the car. Frightened by him, she just stopped the car, took her little dogs, and started walking down the road. And that's when we met her, at a time when she was distressed and at a total loss for what she should do. Needless to say, it was an incredible encounter. We were able to pray for her and the entire situation, releasing peace and protection over her and her son, and just asking God to have His way. We also came to learn that as an attempt to resolve the situation, Sue (the woman) had called her husband, and made him talk to Tracy, her son, and try to calm him down. The HUGE problem with that was that Tracy hadn't spoken to his father since he was 7 yrs. old, and had been harboring anger and resentment against him, so their phone conversation only succeeded in aggravating him even more. When Sue told us that, not only did it open the door for Katie (my team leader) to share her testimony of how God healed her once-broken relationship with her father, but we also were able to write out some prophetic words and encouragement for Sue to give to her son. (I know this is VERY long so bear with me. It's just about to get EVEN BETTER) After being there with her for about 15-20 minutes, we needed to leave to finish our outreach time, so we gave her a card with Bethel's address and phone number, telling her to call us if she needed anything, and after seeing the card, she began to tell us of an incredible experience she had at Bethel two years prior! She had lost her son in an unexpected motocycle accident right on their street, and the night of his death, a friend of hers had taken her to Bethel where she got radically healed! She had been having pain in her hips, and when they sat her down to pray for her, they discovered that one of her legs was shorter than the other so they just prayed, and God GREW OUT HER LEG! Anyway, so we are just getting rocked by this radical testimony of God's goodness in her life but we had to say goodbye and finish up our outreach. So, we went on our merry way and had an amazing time for the next half hour BUT little did we know the depth of what God was up to in Sue's life :).

So, after school, I'm TOTALLY jazzed about the day, and begin telling Maggie (the woman I live with) about what an amazing encounter we had with Sue. And I get to the part about her visit to Bethel two years prior and her healing, when Maggie stops me and says, "Wait a minute, did she have long blonde hair?" I replied with a yes, and then Maggie starts flipping out and telling me that Sue is actually our neighbor three doors down, that Maggie was the one who had taken her to Bethel on the night of her son's death, and witnessed Sue's healing right before her eyes! This woman lives ON MY STREET and I drive by the cross where her son died EVERY SINGLE DAY! And if that's not AMAZING enough, get ready for your mind to be blown by the other side of the story: Maggie is a third-year intern and normally doesn't go on outreach on Thursday but for some reason, she felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to join the Pastors-on-Call team that day. So she sat down with one of the teams, and wasn't really sure what she was going to do but then discovered that they didn't have an assignment yet. All of a sudden, God tells her that she needs to take the team to intercede at the cross where Sue's son died. COMPLETELY RANDOM. Little did Maggie know that at literally the EXACT SAME TIME that they were interceding (praying specificly to break a spirit of death, anger, and affliction) , we were praying with Sue in the crisis that had just transpired! How INSANE is that?! God is SO good!

Haha, well, if you thought it ends there, you're mistaken because God isn't nearly done with His work in this family's life :). All of that occurred on Thursday so on Friday, Maggie decided to pay Sue a visit, to ask her about what God had done and to fill her in with more details. While she and Sue were talking, this guy bursts into the house, and he has a really bewildered look on his face! It turns out that he was the best friend of Sue's son who had died in the accident, and he proceeds to tell Maggie and Sue that he had a VISION that morning. Now, this guy's a total nonbeliever, but he had a crazy vision in which his friend who had died came to him and told him that he knew the Lord and was safe in Heaven, and that he needed to go to Sue and ask her what had happened to her the day before! CRAZY! Needless to say, Maggie and Sue told him about everything, and I'm sure God's work won't stop there!

Isn't that AMAZING?? It just goes to show us in an incredible intricate way that when God begins to work in someone's life, He will invade by every possible means, using all sorts of people and circumstances, to show them that He loves them, sees them, and desires to fullfill His good will in their life. PRAISE GOD! I want more stories like this one!

I love you guys! We serve an awesome God!

Be blessed by His radical love,

Melissa

Dreaming with God!

Hey Everyone! Here's my latest Revival Report!

We've just wrapped up reading Dreaming with God, Bill Johnson's most recent book, and it was amazing. I highly recommend it to EVERY BELIEVER because we all need a better revelation of God's heart for us when it comes to dreaming with Him. There's SO MUCH addressed in the book but the basic premise is this: For so long, the Church has been waiting for God's next assignment but He has been waiting for the dreams of His people. He longs to partner with us as we express our desires to Him, and as we steward the promises that He reveals to us. In fact, that's really what my painting us all about. It's showing the heart of God (at the top) opening up to flood us with His desires. Of course, they are too glorious and wonderful for us to fully contain but to the heart that is open, His longings are partnered with ours, and can then be poured out in love and power into the world. When we truly learn to steward the dreams and promises of God, and understand that our dreams are priceless to Him, then we will begin to see the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our God :). Not only does this book offer an abundance of revelation, Bill has included a wealth of practical equipment for us to take up as followers of God.

Honestly, you should all read this book... I've said it about every book I've read thus far, and this one is no different. Each and every one has been an incredible opportunity to be transformed, and that's why I share all this with you, so you'll know that what I have access to is for you to lay hold of as well. So to the hungry, come and get it!

I love you all! Dream BIG with God this year! It is a year of acceleration and completion!

Run hard after Him,

Melissa

I've been neglecting my responsibilities!

It just hit me yesterday that I haven't been sharing as much with you guys about the awesome teachings I've been hearing! Not that testimonies aren't just as impacting but it doesn't sit right with me that I'm keeping all this wisdom and revelation to myself. I want to be a steward, not a hoarder! Hence, I want to share with you guys about the teaching we got this morning :). Bill didn't have much time to speak (because we spent much of the service hearing some PHENONMENAL testimonies) so he gave us the Reader's Digest version of what could've been a very in-depth teaching. He shared with us out of Exodus 8 and 10, and was teaching on the idea that God desires to use every situation for our good and His glory, and that often times, He will maneuver situations in our lives in order to bring the devil out of hiding and to expose his plans against us. Of course, we're not big on giving the devil attention but it's important that we do pay attention to what God exposes about him.

So with that as a premise, look at Exodus 8. We have the repeated confrontations between Pharoah and Moses about the release of the children of Israel from Egypt, and something Bill pointed out which I had never really focused on before was the fact that the conflict over Israel's release was all about worship. Verse 20 says, "Let My people go, that they may worship Me." And in the next few chapters the strategies of the enemy are exposed in how Pharoah responds to Moses. In what Pharoah says we can see four ways that the enemy tries to keep us from true worship, our ultimate purpose for God. Pharoah's first response to Moses, in verse 25, is "Go, sacrifice to your God in the land." The first ploy of the enemy is not necessarily to keep us from worshipping but rather to allow us to do what we want to do without us making any radical changes to our lives. He knows that we will still be limited if we remain in a place that is comfortable and familiar.

Moses responds back to Pharoah that remaining in Egypt is NOT AN OPTION because it is not what the Lord had commanded them to do. So Pharoah gives in a little bit and replies, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away." So the second ploy of the enemy in keeping us from true worship is, if he can't keep us from going altogether, keeping us from being extreme. The enemy tries to convince us to keep what we're accustomed to within reach... "Yes, go ahead and worship but don't get too crazy. I mean, you don't want to look like a fool." He tries to get us caught up in our own reservations because he knows what will happen when we step into the unknown for the Lord.

The third ploy of the enemy is exposed in Pharoah's next response in 10:11, "Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired." This one's a HUGE one! Satan is terrified of ENTIRE FAMILIES coming together in worship. He knows that if he can separate us, potential breakthroughs will be restricted! His strategy is to keep us from unity. Think about it: how often do we send the kids out before worship? Or how often is it said "Oh, let the fiery, younger generations be radical in worship to the Lord", while the rest are left to be the "diginified" ones? (Hear me without offense on that last one please. That is merely my observation so take it or leave it.) The point is that there is something to be said about the power that rests in whole families entering into true worship. Here, the enemy's hope is to "divide and conquer".

Finally, Pharoah's last response to Moses reveals something that is not often thought about. In 10:24, "Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and herds be kept back." I honestly had never considered the significance of this statement before, though I'd always wondered at it a bit. But here God reveals that, plain and simple, the enemy is terrified of our complete abandonment to the Lord. He 'll gladly say, "Go, worship the Lord! Worship Him with all your heart and soul even! But don't let worship effect your resources, your job, your wallet..." He KNOWS that if our resources become part of our worship, that if the fullness of our lives is poured out before the Lord, then he's lost us for good.

Like I said, so much of this I had never considered before...and now with this revelation, I'll be thinking on a whole new level about worship. It just blows me away how God worked through that whole conflict! God could have EASILY wiped out Pharoah in one blow, and Israel would've been free but instead, each time Moses petitioned Pharoah, the Lord hardened his heart that the strategies and lies of our enemy might be exposed, so now we can experience true worship as God desires! He's drawing us out of what's comfortable into a radical new realm where we come before Him in unity as a people, that we might offer all that we are, including the very tangible resources of our lives, for His glory! What an amazing God!


I really hope that stirs up Something in your hearts :). If you'd like to hear that message live, you may be able to find it posted on Bethel's website. Check www.ibethel.org sometime this coming week, and the streaming audio of that message should be available.

I love you guys! Keep me in prayer this week... I've been battling some fear when I go out into the marketplace lately, fear of approaching people, not knowing what to say... For some reason, that's been in my face again, and I need to know why. I've just been asking the Lord to overwhelm me with His compassionate heart for people, and with assurance and faith in Him because it's a crime for me not to share what I have been given. His love is for every single person on the planet... Who am I to withhold from them the Desire of their hearts?

Still earnestly seeking,

Melissa

And the saga continues! PRAISE JESUS!

We get to add yet ANOTHER testimony to the chain of lactose intolerance healings! While I was in Reno on my Firestorm trip, I prayed for the pastor's wife of the church we were ministering to. She had a SEVERE case of LI, to the point that she couldn't even use butter on her food. A TERRIBLE way to live if you ask me so I shared with her the testimony of what the Lord did in my body, and PRAISE GOD, I just found out today that she has been COMPLETELY HEALED! That's the fifth person that has been healed! And better yet, I got to share this extended testimony both in first year class yesterday and today in my Treasure Hunt outreach, and I was able to pray with two other girls in my class who have milk allergies and other stomach problems. I can't wait to hear those testimonies! At this rate, lactose intolerance will be removed from the earth during the course of my lifetime :).

I love sharing all of this with you guys because it just speaks again and again of what an amazing and powerful and faithful God we serve. Nothing, no sickness, no difficulty, no problem is too big or too small for Him. His love and the blood of Jesus convers it all! And because He is no respector of persons, His love and healing is for EVERYONE to take hold of. Isn't He great??

So take hold of it! Whatever the situation is, whether it's physical, emotional, relational, or financial, you have access to the healing power of God! He wants to bless you with every spiritual blessing!

I love you guys!

Be blessed and healed,

Melissa

And of course, NEW ARTWORK!

Yep! God kept me busy while I was home! Most of these were prophetic pictures that God put on my heart for my friends (they made awesome xmas gifts), and the others were pieces I painted during times of worship. I don't have time to explain them all right now but I WILL fill you in sometime soon!

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Melissa

Yep, I was busy painting too ;).

Back from Christmas Break, and heading into the New Year full-speed ahead!

Hey Everyone!

I've got so much to tell you! God has been doing so many amazing things that it's almost hard to keep track! I had an amazing time being home for Christmas break, and though I regret that I was so busy, God worked His wonders in and through the business. It was wonderful to be home with my parents, to spend time with them (though not as much as we wanted :( sorry mom and dad! you know I love you!), and to hear of all the things God has been working in them. It thrills me to no end that God is doing such similar things in them at home and in me here at Bethel... Of course, we ARE serving the same God so it's not all that shocking ;). Seeing friends was also amazing because I love them and miss them so much while I'm here. God blessed my socks off with SO MANY opportunites while I was home to see friends that I'm normally not able to catch! I even got to spend an evening with my Senior class, to reconnect and catch up on life! That was quite an eye-opening night, to see how each of our college choices has effected us, and yet to get sucked into that time warp and share all the same jokes and laugh together over nonsense, just being ourselves. It was quite fun, and I'm glad to have been able to open those doors of communication with them again ;). If any of you Seniors are reading this, email me! I love you and want to stay current on how y'all are doin!

Anyway, let's see... I could go on and on for hours about all the stuff God did while I was home but just so I can fit it all on here and not make you sit here reading for hours, I'll give you the highlights ;)...

• The saga of lactose intolerance healing continues! I found out while I was home that my grandmother has been healed of it too, plus God healed a kid in my youth group of another milk-related stomach problem! Praise Jesus! If any of you are dealing with anything of this sort, claim that healing! God loves you and is no respector of persons so He will just as willingly heal you as He will any other person :D.
• I had a totally INCREDIBLE divine appointment at my high school while I was home! I was roaming around, visiting teachers and friends, and popped into a classroom just to say a quick hello that turned out to be a set-up from the Lord! Long story short, I got to share with this year's Senior girls about what I've learned from my experiences thus far at Bethel AND got to exhort them on how to get closer to God AND got to pray over them and speak into their lives! It was AWESOME!
• (As if that wasn't good enough) I also had the opportunity to share some prophetic words and pictures that God had given me for specific individuals in my youth group. As far as I could perceive and from the feedback I got, they were pretty accurate and God was really moving on people's hearts. God's presence totally overshadowed the evening so not only did I get to share what He had given to me but He was flowing though my pastors and others in the group as well! It was such a blessing to see Him moving in power, activating people's gifts, and increasing His manifest presence among us.
• But wait, there's MORE! I had also been carrying a word for quite a while that the Lord had spoken to me about worship at my church, and I shared it by email with my pastors but I never expected what the Lord did next! Out of His goodness and favor, He made it possible for me to share the word He had given me with the whole worship team! Not only that, but my friend Shawn and I also were able to put together a set of new worship songs that we got to introduce to the team, as just a taste of the fresh anointing that God is longing to pour out on us. It was amazing! It never ceases to leave me in awe and wonder when God brings His word full-circle. And there's SO MUCH more!

Well, there's even more where that came from but those are just the highlights :). The Lord has been SO faithful and good, and I know that there are even more glorious things to come. Every time I come home for a visit, He gives me another glimpse of what He'll be up to next. I'm so thrilled for the new year to come, as it is destined to be one of restoration, accelaration and completion. Buckle your seatbelts, people, and get ready to move forward!

I love you all and release blessings over your lives for this year!

Expecting exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or imagine,

Melissa