Read "Beauty from Ashes"

Read "Form of Godliness"

Read "Church, can I have some more?"

Read "To Believe or Not to Believe"

Read "Pray for a bike?"

Read "Translation in Spanish"

Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines it as follows:

2 a : firsthand authentication of a fact : EVIDENCE b : an outward sign c : a solemn declaration usually made orally by a witness under oath in response to interrogation by a lawyer or authorized public official
3 a : an open acknowledgment b : a public profession of religious experience

So then a testimony is “a firsthand authentication of a fact” or “open acknowledgement.”  Often, in the church, people think of a testimony as when someone came to belief in Jesus when, in fact, that is merely the beginning of the testimonies that are to come.

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Why post testimonies?

Is it for our glorification so that we can feel better about ourselves?  No.  We are simply available while Christ does all the work; it is truly a case of being at the right place at the right time.   

My stepdaughter Melissa called me the other day, after Mercier told her of the happenings of Friday last (December 5, 2003), and said, “Bridget, you have to put that on the web page… It’s building my faith and it will build the faith of others.”  And herein we have the answer just as John the apostle said there so many miracles accomplished by Jesus that there isn’t enough room for the books that would be filled with all of the happenings (John 21:25)

Reading some of this testimony can build the faith of any believer.  Also, we know that many of you are in prayer for this ministry and so we want to build up your faith:  God is answering your prayers.  Thank you for your intercession.

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What is our testimony?

In short our testimony is this:  Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  If you open your eyes and your heart, you will become aware of the daily miracles around you.  If you ask the Lord to use you for His Kingdom, He will.  He is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth—in their reality.

The only way we can really explain how going out to Anaheim on Friday nights is to say it’s like going back in time and living in the Book of Acts.  Listed on this page are a few testimonies; however, we encourage you to come out with us and write your own testimony. 

Testimonies are truly that:  faith builders.  With Jesus nothing is impossible and we’ve seen the impossible.  May you be blessed, in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Read "Beauty from Ashes"

Read "Form of Godliness"

Beauty from Ashes

December 5, 2003

            While at the Arena, we were surprised to have found out that a family with a single mom and seven children, two of which are active participants in the memory verse program, had experienced a fire that week and were moved to the Tahiti in Stanton.  We were heartbroken and in awe, wondering why the Lord had allowed this.  Derek, an eleven year old boy of this family, had often memorized six verses in one night. 

            We had been thinking of dropping the Tahiti because another church, The Bridges, has really taken care of them and even has Wednesday night bible studies there.  Knowing that this family had been moved there, we had to go so that Derek wouldn’t be disappointed to not receive a memory verse card and to see what that family might have needed.

            After leaving the Arena, we went to the next motel, The Valencia, at Lincoln and Dale.  Here we have mobile church: worship, teaching, and prayer for the people there.  We also offer them clothes and a meal.  The worship commenced, the gospel was preached and a lady asked to accept Jesus and another recommitted her life to Jesus.  Wow Lord, You are so good.

But that’s not all.  We had prepared trays of macaroni and cheese for both the Arena and the Valencia, only there weren’t many people out at either one due to the horrible flu going around.  We were really concerned that we had too prepared much food, but it gave us one more reason to have to go to the Tahiti.

            Boy were we surprised!  Not only was that family of seven children at the Tahiti, but there were several other large families in need of meals that night.  We had the exact number of trays of macaroni and cheese.  And what of our worrying!  It’s our lack of faith.  The Lord inspires us even to cook the right amount of food!  Jesus is really into the details:  even down to the right amount of food.  It’s amazing to see what He does when we follow His guidance.

            But that wasn’t all.  We began to see women come down from the upstairs and out of their rooms and ask us, “What can we do to help this family?”  “What do they need?”  “What size of clothes?”  They went back to their homes, brought extra blankets, pillows, clothes, toiletries, and the like and began to give them to the family who had experienced the devastation of this fire even at 10:00 p.m. at night.  We just stood there, taken aback, at how much this motel had changed in the last nine months.  When we had first gotten there, the people’s hearts were hard, and now they were giving out of their own need, just like the widow’s might.  It was truly beautiful and a miracle, indeed!

            As if that weren’t enough, a lady comes out of her room asking how much food they needed.  She had just gotten a bunch of non-perishables and wanted to box them up for the family as well as some men’s clothing she had.  She had just recently gone back to church but was under some heavy condemnation and depression.  She said that had we not come, she would have committed suicide; that was her plan that night.  In fact she said that every time she considers suicide we show up.  She began to pour out her heart to us and we encouraged her in the Lord.  She stood up, got her drugs and flushed them in the toilet.  We prayed with her and she was filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory.  Truly she was changed that night.

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Read "Beauty from Ashes"

Read "Form of Godliness"

Pray for a Bike?

June 17, 2005

Here's an example:  We go to a motel and do outreach on Friday nights.  There are a dozen and a half of us -- so we don't all always know what "happened" with each person.  Last Saturday morning a gal came up to me at the men's breakfast (I was serving coffee) and said she had a girl's bike she wanted to give away and would that be okay or cause a problem.  I told her that it is probably the answer to someone's prayer.

That night I did the Angel City Cafe gig.  My friend Julie (who goes out with us on Fridays) passed us on the freeway after the gig and called my cell.  She mentioned that her daughter went garage sale-ing and passed out one of our business cards (to pickup the leftovers) and she was sad there wasn't a bike.  I told her that Dayna wanted to give us a bike and she like freaked.

Last Friday (6/11) Julie was ministering to a lady named Nikki there.  She was like ya I don't have any prayer requests but blah blah blah.  And blah blah blah later, she said she'd like her daughter to have a bike for her birthday since most of the kids at the motel have one.   So Julie said That's something to pray for! 

That request was answered in 12 hrs.  We're delivering the bike tonight.

6/20:  The bike was delivered and both Nikki and Katie were blown away.  We were glad to share this testimony during circle time.  It's so great to know that God not only meets our needs, but He chooses to bless us with just what we really wanted.

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Read "Beauty from Ashes"

Read "Form of Godliness"

Translation in Spanish

July 15, 2005

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Read "Beauty from Ashes"

Read "Form of Godliness"

Form of Godliness

December 11, 2003

            To prove God uses every detail of our lives for the good for those who love God and are the called-out ones according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), here is my tale.  Frustrated with a form I was creating in Dreamweaver MX, I logged onto the Macromedia Dreamweaver Forum, hoping for some help from anyone more proficient in Dreamweaver than I, which would be nearly anyone.  I browsed around, saw some topics I was interested in, and posted some comments.

            In one particular forum, META tags were discussed, the relevance today, etc.  I said that I had three websites, listed them off, and said that without those tags, I couldn’t get my pages listed.  About 30 minutes later I get an email that blew my socks off.

            This lady in the forum had clicked on www.moreofjesus.com and had seen the notice on the essay, “Wreaking Havoc?”, and had read it.  She wrote that she had become very bitter toward God, blaming him and complaining and wallowing in self pity for some truly tragic things that had happened in her life, like the murder of her 21 month old child ten years ago, a close friend having cancer, and on and on.  She said this had really turned her heart around to think about serving others and ministering to others.

            All I could do is sit in my chair and thank God that my stupid form didn’t work (it still doesn’t) because it had caused me to go to that forum.  It’s amazing that He directed me to even post my web pages and talk about META tags.  The details are what amaze me.  God is not a far off “being” that is uninvolved; rather, He is very involved in all aspects of our life, even this secular job and a secular web page (www.evansroofing.com). 

            Often I think we categorize our lives where work is work, home is home, church is church, and God is something separate when, in fact, He is part of all of our beings.  The Bible says “whatever you do, whether eating or drinking, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

            I wrote her back, encouraging her, praying for her healing, and she wrote to me again.  She told of an experience where her car broke down.  Bummer, right?  The tow truck driver who came to get her was crying and she asked what was wrong.  He had lost his son in a car wreck last week.  She said she knew what he thought, and he disagreed.  This opened a door for her to speak of her experience loosing her daughter years earlier.  She knew her car broke for a reason:  a divine appointment.

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Read "Beauty from Ashes"