Tania's Testimony
On January 19th, 2009, I had my first encounter with God, and it sure was an impacting experience! Previous to this I had no Christian background at all; the closest I had come to God was listening to my father-in-law, Rodney and my mother-in-law, Jean’s stories. This, of course, sparked my interest ~ “If God is really real, how do I find Him?” Jean told me to ask Jesus into my heart. I did this every day for a whole year (each night) and prayed to ‘a’ God that I thought could be a figment of every one’s imagination. During this time of prayer I would get intense, angry swearing thoughts, and used to feel quite ashamed that my head could conjure up these obscenities. Well (three days before the day in question), my niece ~ who is a Christian ~ came to stay. I told her that I suffered from anxiety and that I was afraid of almost everything. She told me it was satan and that he was blocking me from God. She then told me I had to stand up to him next time I prayed to God, and tell him I wasn’t afraid and to go away! Well, that was easier said than done because I was afraid; so much so that three days went by until I got the courage to do it. Finally I sat up in my bed and told him I was not afraid, that I wanted to be with God and that was that. The next day I was casually sitting on the toilet when “whoosh” I got zapped with the power of God! He filled me with His Holy Spirit right then and there, and what I felt was pure Love ~ Love like I had never felt in my life. The presence was so overwhelming that I just knew, ‘Wow, this is God!’ I then became “a blubbering mess,” crying on the floor, yelling out forgiveness to everyone that came into my head. Almost immediately I knew I could see things, and had an ability I never had before. I saw body parts glowing in my mind and knew that they were things in people that needed healing. I knew then also that I had my own personal “telephone line” to God. I would ask Him questions and He would talk to me for ages, patiently answering them. This “honeymoon period” went on for two weeks ~ then it abruptly ended. I could no longer hear Him. I sobbed and sobbed, and asked Him why had He left me? A whole week went by when He came to me and said, “I never left you; you must never rely on your senses to know and hear Me. You must believe I am always with you, by faith.” I started attending Rodney and Jean’s “School of the Holy Spirit.” That helped me immensely to develop my giftings that the Holy Spirit had imparted into me. Rodney would talk about giving messages to people and I thought, “Hmmm, I would like a piece of that, so I prayed to God, ‘Please use me to impact others and give me messages for them.’” The next day I heard, “You will see a lady in a green dress; you must tell her the Lord forgives her.” When I heard this I thought, “Did I make that up, because I wanted it so bad?” (You have to understand that I never had the privilege of hearing God speak in an audible voice. He would speak to me through my own thoughts, so discerning God amongst the chaos ~ which was my very busy mind ~ was sometimes very daunting.) Two weeks went by and I saw one lady in a green dress. I asked God, “Is that her? How will I know?” He replied, “You will know.” Well, that first lady did not come with “flashing lights,” so I knew that it was not her. Two days after that I went to a shop called ‘Warehouse Stationery’ and lo, and behold, there she was. I knew immediately it was her, so I said, “No way” and ran out of the shop. Well, the power of God came down on me outside the shop and I felt His presence (much the same way as the “zapping” in the toilet) and He said, “You know it’s her!” I timidly went back in and tapped her on the shoulder, and said, “I have a message for you. I am a Christian and I hear God’s voice. I am sorry if I sound like a ‘crazy’ person, but can I please give you the message?” “Sure,” she said with a very concerned look on her face. “God told me I must place my hand on your shoulder and deliver the message.” Well, the impact was incredible. She looked shocked, and said, “I know what it is about; I know what it is about.” We both started hugging and crying in the shop ~ two complete strangers impacted by the power of God! As I was leaving, she replied, “Wow, God is good!” After this I got asked by a friend (who is a Pastor’s wife of a local church) to give my testimony. I agreed. This was my first time of public speaking, so it was very difficult; but at the end of my 20 minutes testimony the Pastor asked me to pray for people with him and his wife ~ which was very honouring.
THE ENEMY ATTACKED
When I arrived home (after giving my testimony), that was when my journey turned sour. This was to become my introduction to satan and his evil spirits. I felt very ill and very lethargic and cold, when my husband (Mark) said, “If God is real then so is the devil, and so are demons.” We downloaded a deliverance prayer from the internet and I went away to the bathroom to command anything around me to leave. Well, it was then I realized the root of all my fears, my anxiety, my anger problems ~ I had demons dwelling inside of my soul. After six deliverances over a period of six months I came to realize that these nasty creatures were very real, and they are powerful, and you need to arm yourself with “big-time spiritual warfare.” I read Scriptures out aloud for five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the afternoons (when I am able), and I take a stand against these things and pledge the Blood of Jesus over myself, my home and my family daily. It was then that I began to realize that God was training me in the deliverance ministry. I have learnt so much about these things, as the biggest hindrance to a Christian’s walk are the evil spirits coming against them. They create blockages and obstacles to the believer so they cannot grow in God ~ and cannot grow in their chosen giftings, which means that they are then unable to impact the body of Christ (which is other believers). I believe that ignorance is the biggest weapon of the enemy. When Christians are armed with knowledge they can then do battle and bring these things down in “a blithering mess,” “Because greater is He (Jesus) Who is in me, than he (the enemy) who is of this world” (1 John 4:4). I googled Christian deliverance websites to get a greater understanding of how these creatures work, as many Christians are fooled into believing that Christians cannot have demons. Demons cannot dwell in your spirit alongside the Holy Spirit, but they can live around you and inside your soul, and other parts of your body, sometimes disguising themselves as an illness or sickness. I highly recommend that all believers equip themselves with this knowledge, as ’Knowledge is Power.’ My journey thus far has been absolutely enlightening and incredible ~ not a day goes by without the Lord asking me to deliver a word or a message to others.
Mark and I now have our own Deliverance and Healing Ministry Team which also removes demonic spirits from peoples' homes. I am also part of some organisations involving the local churches. Many people think that finding God and handing your life over to Him that their life will become easy after that. Sadly, this is not the case. The Road to God is narrow, but no matter what comes against you release your burdens to God. He will always come through for you, no matter what. Having faith in God and trusting Him that whatever trial and tribulation comes your way, then He will give you the strength to come through, and you will become a much stronger person along with this. For every negative opportunity that comes your way, one thing I can say is: “If you seek God with everything you have, the supernatural happenings that come with having a supernatural relationship with God FAR outweighs anything negative. I would not change any of my journey for the world. He has made me stronger; He has delivered me of my anger; He has made me calmer and less afraid. I have even had the pleasure of personally praying for the Holy Spirit to dwell inside my children. When they received Him, the joy and sensation on my children was something that I will remember for an eternity. My testimonies have since brought my mother and many of my friends to the Lord who are discovering a love relationship with Him. A lot of people have said to me, “You are so lucky having such a personal relationship with God.” Yes! Yes! Yes I am! But anyone can have this relationship with God. “Seek and you shall find” (Matthew 7:7). Tell Him you desire to have Him personally in your life. Seek to hear Him and let Him lead you completely, totally for the rest of your life. But be prepared to have a journey of a few “home truths” being opened up to you along the way.
TESTIMONIES
I have some incredible testimonies of personal healings that I have been a part of. One time I was at home and I saw a uterus and an ovary glowing in my mind. I wrote this down and waited for more. Two weeks later a friend happened to mention her friend had polycystic ovaries and her ovaries were huge and she was in a lot of pain. I remembered my vision, so went immediately to pray for her. The next day she had a scan and one ovary was completely normal, but the other was still very enlarged and inflamed. Well, I “threw my toys out of the cot” and got very angry with God: “Why did You only heal one and not the other?” He told me to have faith. The next day I was at a healing seminar and the male speaker said most healings take about a month to completely heal and, as long as there was a change after praying, then you know God has answered your prayer and there will be complete healing in time. Almost one month to the day that lady’s ovaries were both completely healed. I had a lot of apologizing to do (to God). I myself had a heart murmur repaired by the Lord. This was examined by my doctor. The Lord told me one day that I had a leaky valve in my heart and that He would repair this. I felt a very intense pain in my heart for about six hours. Upon the next check-up the murmur was completely gone. Praise God!
DISCERNING THE SOURCE OF THE VOICE
One of my major struggles on this journey is discerning which voice is God’s, which is my own, and which are the evil spirits. I struggled with this for a long time. I could hear them all clear ~ just knowing “who was who” was the difficult part. God told me one day to have faith in the Holy Spirit for His discernment, “Because in your own strength you cannot do this, but the Holy Spirit’s first impression of the message will come with a peace and knowing. If you do not get this, write the message down and ask God for confirmation, and when it is God, then at a later date you will definitely get the confirmation with the peace and knowing.”
One of the first questions I asked God was, “Why do some people get healed and others not?” He told me that “Every one is healed; they just need to walk in it” (1 Peter 2:24). Not everyone is healed immediately, for there can be spiritual blockages and mindsets that can get in the way. Opening yourself up, and allowing others to minister to you, can set you up for the beginnings of your healing to take place. He has predestined a specific time and place that you will receive your healing. As long as you continue to make Jesus the Lord of your life you will eventually end up at that predestined place. There just may be some obstacles you have to face before you receive your answered prayers.
I hope my testimony gives hope to others who are praying and believing for their family members to be saved. Keep believing and have faith in the Lord, for I know He has a plan for everyone in the entire world. Our job is to sow the seeds so He can reel them in. God’s timing is perfect; it sure isn’t our timing, but when it is God’s timing it can never be wrong.
By Tania Francis