WELCOME TO FREE LIFE CHURCH

During the recent fast in October, one of the elders prayed for me to have dreams. I have not been one to have dreams very often, or at least none that I remember. That same week, I had a dream that was so clearly from the Lord and I knew it was important for me. While I don’t fully understand the dream, it was encouraging that the Lord spoke to me through this. He provided me with peace in what seemed quite a dark situation. I was able in the dream to walk through whatever attacks or barriers were taking down others, and arrive peacefully on the other side. The Lord is so good to reveal truth in His timing. I trust He will provide more understanding when it is needed. For now, I feel encouraged and emboldened for the journey ahead. 

-CO 

In a recent trip back to my home of younger years…

A few months ago my sister had gone into the doctors complaining of major pain, swelling and the toes and lower leg turning green and black.  The results of the exam were not good and he tells her that she has no blood flow into the lower part of the leg, the small toe has gangrene now in it and if she does not have the leg amputated above the knee she could lose the whole leg and possibly her life.   She left very down and called a few of the family members to include me.  I asked her what she was going to do and how should I pray for her.  She said she wanted to be healed and she absolutely was not going to have her leg cut off.  I prayed for her on the phone but felt prompted of the Holy Spirit to call Her son.  He is a strong believer and I reminded him that the same power that raised Jesus he also had within him to go and lay hands on her leg and cast out the sickness. He did so and frankly I had dismissed It as being healed.

I walked in her apartment last week, looked down and asked “so, when did receive your healing?” and she said all within 30 days that her leg started getting color back in it but her little toe got real black and became hard. The swelling was going down and the pain went away.  Then one morning she woke and the little toe had fallen off, separated from the foot cleanly as if surgically removed and all the color, feeling had come back with no more pain. As I looked at the severed toe and leg; I was amazed at His works because I know that I know His promises to be so true and I was so thankful for His goodness and mercy He shows all of us through His son Jesus and in His name.

-DW

-MJ

I got delivered from anger in the summer of 2019. Since then, I have been walking that freedom out in my daily life. It has been really hard – but I could see some fruit in small ways. I spoke over myself often, “I am free. I am free. Even if I don’t feel free, Christ has set me free.”

In the summer of 2020, I got delivered from a deeper level of anger (I see the fruit of it in a greater measure). God gave me a prophetic picture of my situation, which I talked about with some of the leaders to get help understanding it. They encouraged me to meet for a Living Free session to have the issue dealt with and healed on a spiritual level.

Since that meeting, I’ve realized that the anger isn’t part of my character, as I had thought it was. It’s now easier to be nice to my husband, and easier to practice patience with myself, my children, and my husband. My responses to situations are different. In fact, I’ve even experienced a joy and underlying peace to it all. I’ve also found it easier to read my Bible.

-DP

On May 15th I unexpectedly lost my job of 8 years in a company-wide reorganization that reduced the workforce by 600 people.  Fortunately, two days before our life group (Kingdom Life) studied a chapter in Bill Johnson’s “Strengthen Yourself in the Lord” about thanksgiving.  Give thanks to God in all things, and all situations, to strengthen yourself.  Thanksgiving opens the door for peace to enter in. Peace is the portal for rejoicing. As the verse says, “ We enter his gates with thanksgiving in our hearts, we enter his courts with praise(rejoicing)”  I had started practicing thanksgiving in my daily prayer times and I have had peace throughout this transition. 

Here is the awesome part: I was contacted by a recruiter a couple days later who had an interesting opportunity that I agreed to pursue.  It only took about two weeks, and signed an offer letter yesterday which includes better benefits and a 10% increase in salary.  This feels like a promotion. Our God is a good good Father and gives great gifts to his children. 

Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.“

– GH

I haven’t been able to see my family much during the quarantine, and when I have, it’s been with social distancing. There’s been a lot of fear around all of this with COVID and with my family seeing me.  It’s been hard for me emotionally for many reasons, including not being able to see my sister’s newborn baby. Today I saw my mom and for the first time since all this started, we hugged, said she heard from the Lord about loving me and coming along side me in this time. We agreed we needed to fight whatever fear was coming against our family. Such restoration and transformation in a short period of time with my mom, all from the Lord speaking to her regarding not fearing and stepping out in love. I’m believing for continued transformation in my family. I want to encourage you that the Lord is on the move! Thank you Jesus!  

– MB

My son, a toddler, had a close encounter with a copperhead snake. My daughter (a few years older) and I were pretty shaken up by it. My mind kept going over all of the “what if” scenarios for how badly that encounter could have gone, and it was making me terrified of possibilities in a situation where we’d already been saved (also making me afraid to take my kids into the woods again without being super on-edge). My daughter was acting afraid that the snake would now hunt her down.

My mom was nearby and said, “Thank goodness we have a big God,” just in passing, but it was a wake up call for me. I began focusing on what God had done to protect us and save us from this venomous creature. I repeated these things out loud to my daughter, and we even told fear to go and prayed for Jesus to give her bravery…but mainly we focused on thanking Him. The atmosphere shifted and now she even talks about it as if it was just a big adventure we had, without the overwhelming fear. It taught me how easy it can be to shift an atmosphere, and how important it is to do so, even when we are past a situation that already worked out in our favor. It surprised me how quickly and comfortably my mind went into the negative tailspin after something that was actually a good outcome.

Yes, we narrowly avoided a copperhead, but we DID, and God protected us. Thank you, Jesus, for protecting my children, my mom, and me!

– KC

Last week, we asked our Life Group to pray for my parents’ business, which has been affected by COVID. They have lost business, but have continued to keep on all employees and have even done work for one customer for free, because it’s what the Lord put on their hearts. Also, they did not get the PPP stimulus, even though they qualified, because the money ran out.

 We prayed, and this week I heard from my parents. Firstly, they are still super optimistic that God is going to take care of them through all this. Second, they received a Small Business grant from their county for a few thousand dollars. Finally, after they dropped off a deposit, their bank called to inform them that there was an extra check that they missed, and the bank adjusted the deposit to account for it. It ended up being about $200 more than what they had intended to deposit.

– KC

My family has been has been getting updates from extended family in NYC where a close family friend, in normal health and not at-risk, was diagnosed with the coronavirus. His condition went downhill quickly to the point where doctors coordinated a phone call with his mother to say goodbye, and the phone was held up to his ear. Some of my family and I decided to fast and pray together for his healing and recovery. The morning after the phone call, we received reports that his condition was improving and stabilizing, unlike those around him. Doctors were able to identify specific issues and begin treating them. We are continuing to pray and trust, as people in my family in VA and those in NYC are being encouraged in their faith – at ALL levels of faith – because of what God is doing in this man.

– AC

I’m a chiropractor and am still working at the office. Virginia has declared chiropractic essential healthcare, so praise God I still have a job! One of my patients expressed to me she was very fearful and worried about her work situation. She said they have already cut her hours to 1/3 of what it was previously. She didn’t know how much more they were going to cut her hours and she was getting concerned that she would have to file for unemployment.  Her husband currently has a steady work situation, but I could tell she was very worried about hers. She is a patient with whom I’ve had some spiritual conversation, and she is open to many worldviews, and I have shared mine with her. Today I asked if I could pray for her before she left the office –she smiled and said yes.  I simply prayed for provision for her and her family and her business, and that the Lord would bring blessings and provide, as it is His nature and part of who he is. After I finished praying, she was in tears and I gave her a hug. She said she was very grateful that she had not delayed her appointment, as she had planned to. 

– MB

Almost immediately when the fast began, we started experiencing a downturn in our business.  Clients were leaving every day over the littlest things. It wasn’t making sense in the natural realm but we knew it was a time of testing in the spiritual realm.  While we lost 10-20 clients (mostly lower-fee), we gained a focus and strength from the fast that we needed just in time for that 2-week period before things settled out.  I’m happy to report now that God has provided new clients during this fast (and continues to do so) and we’re moving through this “shift” in our business toward more health and growth.  We’re excited about how He continues to bless and use us through our CPA firm.

– CT

Well it is still amazing to see what God can do.

Back on Jan. 5th I prayed with a leader for miracles to become real in my life as I faced cancer surgery. I know that he was in it from the beginning even in the miracle of finding out that I had cancer.  I had no symptoms of issues…but an MRI revealed a tumor that was odd shaped and out of the edges. It ended up being a Gleeson score of 7, which is not the most aggressive but can become deadly if left to its own way. 

God led us to a doctor in Houston that uses a unique combination of existing technology that’s only being used in 3 places in the US.  It uses a laser to burn the cancer instead of trying to cut it out with damaging other nerves and structures while the whole procedure is being observed in real time in an MRI machine.  Details of each cell type are identifiable in order to remove all of the cancer without damaging other things. 

We prayed that it would be gone, and though it wasn’t, it did shrink to where it could be removed without causing more harm. Now, after 4 weeks, I have no side effects of the surgery or of ever having cancer. 

God is truly a gracious, loving, and merciful to us.

– JS

I was cooking in the oven with a cast iron pan. I had just taken it out of the oven and it was sitting on the counter top. I wasn’t thinking when I was preparing dinner so I grabbed it–burning my ring finger (thankfully it wasn’t any more of my hand). I had seen a friend pray for her daughter’s finger the previous day so it encouraged me to pray for my finger. I ran it under some cool water and prayed over it. The next morning I woke up and was reading and thought wait, I burnt my finger last night it should hurt. I started rubbing it and saw that there wasn’t any mark, and no pain at all. I keep rubbing it out of surprise because I genuinely thought it should hurt more, but it was completely fine–not even a shiny mark from a small burn!

– MB