TO GOD BE THE GLORY FOR THE THINGS HE HAS DONE--PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!!!
God answers prayer, and we thank Him for His unconditional love, His tender mercies, and His wonderful answers to prayer(s).
Here are just a few testimonies to the wonderful ways God has worked in our lives and the lives of those we have prayed for to date.
GOD brings peace & More in a time of uncertainty
Empower
Growth
Things were changing in Patty's department at work, and layoffs seemed inevitable. Patty, who enjoyed her job, began to fear she might soon be out of work, so she spoke with her supervisor about her concerns. Her supervisor had the department manager join them, and that's when Patty learned she would soon be moved into a new position, that her new training would start the following week!
For a couple days, Patty was quite upset; she felt singled out for a move she was not in favor of and was unsure she'd be able to learn everything she'd need to know for the new position.
Plagued with uncertainty for a few days, Patty struck up a conversation with a co-worker who asked how things were going. She told him she was uneasy about all the changes, her future job security, and now her being moved to this new position. Her Christian co-worker then began to tell her about a similar situation at his old job, where he and others were told they'd soon be out of a job, and everyone was upset. For weeks, his co-workers noticed how calm he was despite everything, and one day, one of them asked him how he could be so calm knowing he'd soon have no job and bills to pay. He said he looked at the person and said a lot could happen in just a few months. He said he put his faith in God and let the Lord guide his footsteps. “He leads me where I need to be,” he said.
"In the ensuing several months," her co-worker continued, "much did change, and everyone got to remain at the job for two more years. God had it all under control as I trusted Him and prayed." After hearing this, Patty continued to pray, asking the Lord to help her to trust Him through the changes she was facing and to be able to learn all that was necessary for the new position, and Father God graciously answered her prayers. He worked it out that she was paired with the perfect trainer, one who made her feel comfortable and made it easy for her to begin to acquire the needed knowledge and job skills for the new position. Additionally, it was not long before she realized that He had given her another answer to prayer: she now had His peace that surpasses all understanding even in the midst of this period of major change, and she was thankful.
GOD watches over his own & provides for their daily needs
Empower
Growth
Unfortunately, Callysta, a middle-aged woman, slipped on black ice one early spring morning when taking out the recycling, trying to get it to the curb before the County truck arrived. Down she went and fell hard on her right thigh before sliding down the remaining 5 or 6 steps to the bottom, all on that same side.
Sadly, months later, Callysta still had not regained her normal mobility but needed to return to work, where there was a very large parking lot that filled up very fast, especially the spots closer to the buildings. Knowing she had to work but could not easily walk far to access the main buildings--and not yet having gotten a handicapped hang tag--every work day, she asked God to go before her and provide a parking space for her close to the one building's entrance, only to experience God's daily provision for her--and day after day, she was grateful and thanked Him for his continued care.
GOD GRANTS A SCHEDULE CHANGE
For several years, Don had been working in retail and was normally scheduled to work on Sunday mornings, which meant he was not able to attend weekly church services. This began to bother him. He wanted to be obedient to God and to meet regularly together with other Christians to worship the Almighty, pray, and enjoy meaningful fellowship with Christian brothers and sisters, but he also needed to work as many hours as he could in order to make the money he needed to earn a living.
So, Don began praying he'd be able to get Sundays off to attend church, and after praying about this for a while, he approached his boss and asked if he could rearrange his schedule and be free on Sundays to go to church. To Don's surprise, his boss readily agreed and gave him the next several Sundays off in a row. God had worked things out temporarily to allow his child to honor and obey Him.
Subsequent to that schedule change, and not yet knowing about it, Don's brother asked Maranatha to pray for Don not to have to work on Sunday mornings, so he could join us for the service, and we did pray together to that end. We were then very happy the following Sunday to see Don come in to join us for the morning church service. (God had answered Don's prayers--and no doubt ours, for He knew we would pray, and He sometimes goes before our prayers, preparing the answers ahead of time.)
At present, Don is looking forward to being in “the House of the Lord” for the next few Sundays, and during this time, we will continue to pray that his future work schedule allows him, Lord willing, to continue to attend church in the future and still work enough hours during the week to meet his financial needs.
UPDATE: Don's boss has approved another series of work schedules that allow for Don to have consecutive Sundays off to attend church services. We are thankful.
GOD puts his people in place to help
Over the past 2-1/2 years, Alice experienced medical concerns and asked us at Maranatha to pray. We did, and through it all, including a more recent MRI, which frightened her because of her claustrophobia, God had His people there to help her.
First, Alice needed an ultrasound and found herself in the hands of a Christian technician. Then with a mass having been found on her pancreas and the test being inconclusive, she still needed more tests and blood work.
When she went to get her blood drawn, the man drawing her blood, seeing she had a possible cancer, asked if he could pray with her—and they prayed together. He then asked her to pray for his 2 adult children.
More recently, dreading the MRI and going into the facility with the plan to wear a mask to cover her eyes when in the machine, so she would not see it at all, Alice ended up with a technician she had seen before and who remembered she was a woman of faith, He assured her everything would be alright and told her there was now a way to make the test go much faster and still be accurate. In the end, the test was “not so bad” and shorter, and the man later told Alice, “God bless you!”.
So, although this was a difficult period for Alice--and her oncologist was convinced she had cancer--through prayer, God chose to bless her with caring people to be there with her, calming her, praying with her, and working in her best interest every step of the way. And when the MRI results came in, no cancer was found. Praise God!
GOD protects and Heals
baby evelyn
Michelle went into labor early Sunday morning, February 12th, and the delivery was proving to be difficult. To further complicate things, both she and her husband, Joe, had tested positive for COVID. A church member learned of all this, and we began praying.
More than 12 hours later, baby Evelyn was born, via a C-section, but during the delivery, she became separated from her mother's placenta and was deprived of oxygen for several minutes. The doctors feared she would have permanent brain damage as a result. Indeed, at birth, her oxygen level was only 60%. She had blue fingertips, registered only 1 on a test where 7-10 was considered normal, and had a high acid level in her blood. She was soon placed on a cooling tray in the NICU, put on a C pap for her breathing, and hooked up to a feeding tube. The doctors also feared that she might have seizures, which would further complicate things.
Church members and friends continued to get regular updates and to pray for Evelyn and her family over the following week, as she went through her first critical days, a “warming up” procedure—with higher risks of seizures, and an MRI. And all this time, neither Michelle nor Joe could be with her due to their COVID test results.
But praise God! As Maranatha—and others—prayed for Evelyn and her family all week, God protected Evelyn and finally healed her. Evelyn's MRI at the end of the week was normal, and she went home with her parents to her sister, Fiona, and their grandmother. Her development will continue to be monitored for several years, and we will continue to pray that she develops normally.
God is so good—and we are all so thankful for His having answered our prayers for little Evelyn.
GOD shows his MERCY
In January, Stan was tempted to do something wrong. The circumstances were confusing, and he fell into a trap and took something he should not have. Almost immediately, he was caught and charged with wrongdoing although he had been set up. He was in trouble with the law now but not seriously enough to be held behind bars. He immediately surrendered what he had taken.
The following Sunday morning, Stan admitted his wrong choice of action to his church family, explaining everything. He was sorry for what he had done--not only because he had gotten caught but because he knew he had not done the right thing at a crucial moment. Soon, he was scheduled to go to court, and he asked God to forgive him and Maranatha to pray for him. We did.
We later learned that being nervous just days before his hearing date, Stan asked God to help him, and when he was finished praying, he perceived a type of rainbow flowing down in front of him, from above his head down to the ground, and he immediately knew that God was going to take care of him and work everything out.
In the end, Stan received a minimal fine and was able to pay it and move forward positively in his life. God, in His mercy, had forgiven Stan and worked things out so there would be only a few negative consequences. Praise God!
GOd cares for his own in big ways
The year 2022 was a difficult one for many--and it was for Carla, too. In January, she found herself without a job--and she did not have her normal job for the entire year. With continual prayer, she did find enough part-time work month-after-month to be able to pay all her bills--on time--all year long though. Then in December, God worked things out for her to return to her normal job in the new year (2023). She is thankful for God's sustaining grace and continual provisions.
god also cares about the little things
Christine was going to meet her friend for lunch after the Christmas holiday, and the restaurant's parking lot was really full. Since Christine has been having trouble walking, when she drove to the far back part of the parking lot, where there were still parking spots, she realized that it would be too far for her to walk safely from there to the front door, so she prayed and asked God to have someone be leaving right near the front door when she drove back up that way. She then continued driving, and just as she approached the front door area, a car started to pull out a few feet from the restaurant's entrance. She was able to park in that spot and then thanked God that He had taken care of this important-for-her little detail.
