I Made It Through

G.o.d"s call to America! He had opened this mighty door for us which no man can shut, and we must now walk through it. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. (Revelation 3:8 NIV)

The Holy Spirit had now created a new sense of urgency in our spirits. Knowing that being out of the will of G.o.d is a place you never want to be, as this is a place that G.o.d cannot go with you, we ftnally committed to His plan. "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn"t do it, it is sin for them" (James 4:17 NIV). Next we now needed to know exactly which of the fifty states that make up the huge United States of America G.o.d had in mind for us to go. This was way too big for our ftnite minds. After many, many prayers and multiple signs and conftrmations from the Lord, He led us to ftnally solve the puzzle and recognize that it was the great state of California.

It was precisely Southern California. This did not seem like great news to us at the time when we when found out how expensive California was. Lord, we are going there by faith? How? Nonetheless, in full obedience, we offered the rest of our lives to G.o.d and headed for the new territory He had called us to. Initiated and led by the Lord, our permanent relocation to America had to be brought to full manifestation and completion by Him. Knowing we could not possibly fulftl or fund such an impossibly large venture, G.o.d"s word that He was the provider became even more alive and real to us than ever before. We decided to give up our entire lives and net worth as seed, trusting Him for everything.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." (Matthew 19:29 NIV)

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33 NIV)

Sowing almost everything we owned to various Christian ministries, organizations, family members, and friends, I ftnally left England for the United States with our very young son. The date was August 18, 1995. By His guidance and wisdom, we decided to leave England in teams of two. I would go ftrst with our son and later be joined by my husband and daughter. He would stay in England for a few more weeks to complete the handover of our house and wrap up all our other affairs. We held on only to the funds needed for our airline tickets and some pocket change we had received as gifts from two Christian couples. Taking our greatest leap of faith ever, we leapt by faith over the mighty chasm of the unknown into G.o.d"s perfect plan.

This final audacious step of faith would be our response to G.o.d, and we were not looking back. We believed that because our move was wholly and solely in obedience to G.o.d, He would meet us on the other side, multiplying all our precious seeds into a bountiful harvest of souls for His kingdom. My plan was to ftrst fly to San Francisco which is in the northern part of California and then on to our ftnal destination in Southern California.

The way G.o.d reveals Himself in our most trying and stressful moments are truly precious and wonderful. He calms our fears and wipes our tears. I state this because I must testify to His devoted care as a parent to His children. Our son, who was just under two years old at the time, almost always insisted on being carried around by my husband. They were extremely close, and if anyone else even so much as blinked at him, he would cry. No one else was allowed to get too close or was popular with him. The only other two people allowed to come close to him occasionally to feed or play with him, and only if his father was unavailable, was his sister and me. All other times, he wanted to be lifted up and carried in his father"s strong arms. This arrangement was ftne with me as I could do with the break after having carried him for over nine months and then delivery.

However, this baby habit that we all used to laugh about, and until now had not been a problem, would add to my stress level as the departure date drew closer. We now realized it could be a big problem when it was time to take him from his dad at the airport.

The uncertainty of everything that lay ahead except for G.o.d"s word was already overwhelming for us both. My husband was trying to hide his concern about our son and me, leaving without him to care for us, and I was just out of it trying to focus only on G.o.d"s word and not think negatively. In those circ.u.mstances, the very thought of having to wrench an extremely upset baby from my husband"s arms and pacify him throughout the eleven- hour flight was too much for me to add to my already-full plate. However, our G.o.d is faithful and kind and truly cares about even the smallest details of our lives. His supernatural and mighty acts are not just for great occasions, such as parting the Red Sea, but also for separating very clingy and cranky toddlers from their weary parents!

The day we were to leave for San Francisco arrived, and as we drove to Heathrow airport as a family, we all dreaded the moment of their separation and quietly prayed. We had no strength left to spare on this little drama that my son would view as a major trauma in his little mind. But on this one occasion, and this occasion only, had this ever happened: we watched stunned as a move of G.o.d again unfolded before our eyes. Our son without a thought or any struggle happily relinquished himself from his father"s arms, let go of his dad"s hands, and quietly placed his little hands in mine as we walked to board our flight. G.o.d will surely take care of you.
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He was the happiest and quietest I have ever seen him throughout the entire fl ight. E veryone around commented on what a cooperative and happy son I had, and I knew who all the credit should go to. He would remain this way until we landed and throughout our entire stay in Northern California and later on in Minnesota, where we were reunited with his dad and sister. The faith lessons here are simple and best summarized by the following scriptures. We are not to allow stress and weariness to become a yoke, clouding our expectations even in the smallest areas of our lives. G.o.d"s promises are powerful, awesome and true!

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28–29 NIV)

"I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don"t be troubled or afraid." (John 14:27 NIV)

When we all finally resettled at our new Southern California residence, he returned to his usual personality, conftrming that this indeed had been entirely G.o.d"s doing. After arriving in the United States, I waited at the San Francisco airport with my toddler son for the Christian lady and her family who were to meet us at the airport and host us for a few days. This was something we agreed with them before leaving England. They never showed, so I placed a call and caught up with the wonderful Evangelist Christine Liddell just before she left the office for the day, who immediately sent someone to pick up my son and me. We spent the ftrst night at her place. Praise G.o.d; we had arrived safely on the other side!

The next day I proceeded with our son to the home of an intercessor I had met at the Scotland conference. Trust G.o.d to have worked things together for good. Because the other lady reneged on her promise to host us, I ended up staying instead at the home of a prayer warrior, the perfect location for prayer support and covering for such a supernatural venture. I guess the other lady must have suddenly got cold feet about walking by faith. However G.o.d never fails!

"So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your G.o.d will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you." (Deuteronomy 31:6 NLT)

"Don"t be afraid, for I am with you. Don"t be discouraged, for I am your G.o.d. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." (Isaiah 41:10 NLT)

My son and I stayed a few weeks with the intercessor and her family in Northern California, sharing with their family from whatever love gifts the Lord blessed us with. I then headed with our son to Minnesota to preach at a revival by invitation from some pastors there. All the praises must again go to our awesome and faithful G.o.d! He provided all the necessary funds, and my husband and daughter ftnally joined us in Minnesota for the weeklong conference. It was a joyous reunion. We had all made it through to the other side, arriving together safely in our place of divine appointment, the United States of America. G.o.d had brought all of us over victoriously.

After the conference we decided that my husband would stay and rest for a few more days in Minnesota with the children. I went ahead to prepare a home for all of us in S o u t h e r n C a l i f o r n i a . M a k i n g o u r n e w t r a v e l arrangements with the love gifts received from the ministries I had been privileged to serve, my journey to our new G.o.d-appointed place of Southern California was the most frightening one I"ve ever undertaken. As I said good bye to my husband and children at the airport in Minnesota, I was suddenly attacked by great fear. There were no more spiritual, emotional, or ftnancial crutches as I boarded the plane to California. My husband would not be on the flight with me, or we could have encouraged and reminded one other of G.o.d"s word and promises. Our young children were also not present, which would have helped pull me together in a show of courage for their sakes. I was now left, bare-knuckled, alone with G.o.d! "So Jacob was left alone" (Genesis 32:24 NIV).

The full weight and realization of what we had done by leaving our secure, familiar, and comfortable lives in England now slowly, clearly, and heavily dawned upon me. Alone, I was now headed to the vast new area of Southern California, a place we had no knowledge of and where we knew not one soul. I had almost completely given in to all the fear and trepidation of the great unknown, when the Holy Spirit came to my aid. He began to softly and vividly remind me of the many scriptures, prophetic encounters, and mult.i.tudes of conftrmations through which He had led us to this point. As the Lord gently calmed my spirit, I began to force myself to recall, recount, and repeat many scriptures throughout the entire flight.

"But all who listen to Me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm." (Proverbs 1:33)

"The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing." (Psalm 23:1 NIV)

"And my G.o.d will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19 NIV)

"Fear the LORD, you His holy people, for those who fear Him lack nothing." (Psalm 34:9 NIV)

"But He brought His people out like a ßock; He led them like sheep through the wilderness." (Psalm 78:52 NIV)

He will not let your foot slip—He who watches over you will not slumber." (Psalm 121:3 NIV)

This is a big key to faith when our minds are swamped by negativity, such as depression, guilt, shame, fear, loss, addiction, isolation, and so on. Whether it"s personal or we are trying to a.s.sist someone who is temporarily unable to help themselves, we must lay hold of G.o.d"s word. Grasp in the darkness of your mind for the light of G.o.d"s word, the scriptures. The power to escape from darkness into light is within them. This is really and truly the only effective way out. Whether we are alone in a hospital, receiving treatment for a life-threatening illness, or we ftnd ourselves in a very dark and dreadful place, we must run to G.o.d not from Him. As the airplane got close to landing, I began to see what seemed like a sea of little lights below. They represented the many Southern Californian homes and a mult.i.tude of strangers. The fears arose up again and almost completely engulfed me, but many more scriptures rushed to my aid, calming and rea.s.suring me to focus on G od and no t on our circ.u.mstances. We had given up our secure lives for what may look to others as irresponsible uncertainty. We now owned no front door keys to a house, keys to a car, or any other keys; it appeared that we now owned nothing. At this point, I had neglected another of G.o.d"s faith principles and the very ftrst scripture promise I had received from Him.

"The earth is the Lord"s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him." (Psalm 24:1 NLT)

"After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can"t take anything with us when we leave it." (1 Timothy 6:7 NLT)

We really had always owned nothing and were only stewards of the possessions and earthly blessings G.o.d had kindly allowed us to have. We will take none of these things with us when we leave.

Other thoughts also swiftly raced through my mind and with them the reminder of the fact that there were no longer any family members, friends, intercessors, evangelists, pastors, companies, or any other persons waiting for us on the other side. Every single one of those "sea of lights" belonged to a stranger. I could draw strength only from G.o.d"s word. This was the very ftrst time in my walk of faith that I could truly say there was nothing left to attach my life and faith to, and from which I could draw rea.s.surance. My education, previous experiences, ftnances, work experience, network of family, church, friends, and so forth were not going to help me in this awesome moment of great transition.

My old life with all its crutches (though I had not previously identifted them as such) no longer existed. We do not realize how much of our security we have rooted and connected to our family, where we live, grow, work, and fellowship and where loved ones, family and friends are all around us. Without realizing it, we may draw more strength and security from those ties than from our relationship with G.o.d. Many Christians within the comfort of our faith communities and familiar everyday lives are lulled into believing and thinking that we really

and fully trust G.o.d for all our needs. We often say to ourselves and others that we depend on G.o.d and have no doubt that He is our source and provider. However, in those very rare moments when the familiar; that is, people, surroundings, our good health, and other normal life structures are temporarily affected or removed, we may be surprised to fully experience how much we really know, believe, and depend on G.o.d and His word alone. When all these things are stripped away from us, we may gain an occasional rare glimpse into how much of our security and ident.i.ty are rooted in them instead of in G.o.d.