Introduction letter o{:o)

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

Praise the Lord friends!

You may want to print this...long, I'm afraid.... o{:o(

Well, I was informed that it is customary to write a letter of personal
introduction upon entering the group, and so I am doing so.

Three years ago I was not the same young lady I am today!  I was living a
life of sin and depression; brought on by a childhoood filled with brokenness
and pain.  You see, my parents divorced when I was five years old and my
mother moved out.  I grew up with my dad and two big brothers and became
quite the little tom-boy; going on hunting and fishing trips every weekend,
wrestling with my brothers, and competing in burping contests with great
regularity!  But, the envirnment was not always so pleasant...alcohol and
violence took their toll in my house.  

I had always been a troubled child, but as my teenage years appeoached,
things were worse than ever.  I had never been popular in school and so
desparatly longed to fit in.  In junior high, I finally found a group who
accepted me.  They were the "cool kids"  they drank and smoked and went to
parties and even did some drugs...I had never been interested in such things,
but because I wanted to feel that sense of belonging, I conformed to their
ways.  And although I had the company of these heathens, I soon began to
realize they wern't true frinds who cared about me...they justed wanted to
get one more person hooked on the misery of their sin.  Because of this
revelation I was once again filled with emptness.

I became severly depressed and even had suicidal tendancies.  I got suspended
from school two times and was made to go live with my mother.  I spent all my
time in my room, with the lights out and ungodly music blaring...and I would
cry for hours, mourning the emptiness that held my soul in cruel bondage.   

But, one morning at school, this girl Janna came to talk to me.  She wore
skirts all the time and never cut her hair.  I always thought that a little
odd, but I assumed her religion must be something special if she was willing
to live that way.  Well, she told me that her church was having youth week
services and that I was welcome to come and visit.  I had just bought a new
dress and wanted a chance to wear it, so I readily accepter the invitation.

That night, her family picked me up for church and I had no idea what was in
store for me when I walked through the doors of that sanctuary.  I settled
into my seat and began to look around in timid curiosity.  I was amazed at
this bold new style of worship...people claping their hands, and dancing
about and praying out loud together.  I had gone to a Church of Christ for
sunday school as a child, before my mom moved out, and that was the only
church i had ever known...so you can imagine the shoke of my first trip to a
UPC church!  

My contemplation was interupted as a yopung man got up to give a sermonette.
 He told of how he once was a sinner, involved in drugs and alcohol, and
crime, but that Jesus came and gave him a new life, delivering him from those
addictions.  I suddenly found my self weeping for a reason I did not
understand (obviously it was the conviction that floods the heart of a sinner
when they first experience the presence of God)  Then, Brother David Reever
got up and preached a message about Calvary, the saving grace of God and the
Home prepared in Glory for the redeemed.

He gave an alter call at the end of his sermon and I followed the other girls
up to the front of the church and knelt down beside them.  I didn't know how
to pray, so I just sat there, tears still streeming down my cheeks.   Behind
me I heard a woman crying and speaking in a language which I made out to be
Italian.  I didn't know Pentecostals cried when they prayed, so I thought she
must be suffering some great misfortune in her life.  I reached back to hold
her hand and comfort her....hahaha!...and that woman, Betty Whayne, from UPCI
Headquarters, led me through prayers of repentance and prayed me through to
the Holy Ghost that very first night!  You come to late to tell me tongues is
not real!  I din't even know what it was and i expirienced it! Praise God!

Well, mother was less than amused when I came home and told her that I had
been born again and needed to be baptised in Jesus Name.  But, she finally
consented, only with the permission of my father though. That task was easier
said than done however, because my father is both an Atheist and a
Psychologist...and deeply aginst fudamental religion!  But, with much prayer
and pleeding, my father also gave his consent and I went down in JESUS NAME!
 

I have been living in love with my Jesus ever since and enjoying every minute
of it!

Shorly after I came to Church, I began to get involved with youth
services...and one night they even asked me to give a sermonette.  I prepared
a little message on the impotance and power of prayer.  When I got up to that
pulpit I felt a rush of power flow through me that it literally made me
tremble.  I suppose I did alright, because I got incredible compliments from
every one at church.  Well, that was the first of *many* sermonettes to come.
 Gradually those "little messages" became more agressive and anointed.
 People began to tell me things like "Your going to be a little preacher
lady" and "God has a great ministry planned for your life"....but I took
their comments as nothing more than compliments and certainly not anything
the slightest bit prophetic, and I took my sermonettes as meerly a talent and
nothing more.  

However, their words sometimes came to me and I would wonder "could God
actually have a call on my life to minister the Word?"  but I told myself
that was impossible...my faimily wasn't even in church and woman wern't
supposed to preach in the forst place, were they?

Well, one night in a Sunday sermon, my Paster came down off the platform to
deliver a Word of Faith.  Usually these pertain to the church as a whole, but
this time Brother Smith came and laid hands on me and spoke "This child has a
great anointing upon her life and she will be mightily used in ministry for
the Lord"  Well, for all i knew that may have ment cleaning the church
restroom...that's ministry for the Lord in a since.  But, more and more I
began to wonder if by some way off chance God really did want me to be a
messenger of the Gospel.  It was upon receiving this Word of Faith however,
that I truly laid my life down before the Lord in sacrifice, to do what ever
work He would have me to do.

In a Sunday night service nearly 4 months later after much prayer, fasting,
and seeking the will of the Lord, He at last revealed His calling.  It had
been an incredable service...many were healed and others received great
blessings of deliverance and spiritual renewing.  The youth for the first
time in ages were drunk, many of them, in the Spirit, and others slain or
laughing.  The power of God in that sanctuary was so mighty it seemed
absolutely tangible.  People began to stand and testify of the works the Lord
had done.  I too felt prompted to testify.  I stood up and began to speak of
the "New Wine" nearly 2000 years old and still fresh!...An anointing came
over me and I began to exhort with boldness concerning our precious doctorine
and the need to uphold and defend it with our lives, and how it won't be the
Baptists, nor the Lutherans, nor the Catholics who see a mighty move of
revival and genuine outpouring of the Holy Ghost in the Last Days.  it won't
be the Charismatics, the Methodists, and the Mormans who are going to be
caught up to Glory to reign with the King of Kings on that great Wedding
Day...but that it would be those who have the revelation and Truth of
Oneness, Acts 2:38 salvation, and the essencial standards of holiness.  When
at last I say down, my entire countinance sobered as I herd the words from my
Pastor that flooded my heart....  

He said, "I beleive this child is going to be a great preacher of the Gospel,
and see many great works of God come to pass in her ministry."  Conviction
gripped the depths of my heart.  Sure, he could have been saying that just
meerly by his own ponderings of what my future may hold, but I heard from God
in those words he spoke....it was that conviction.

Well, at that point resistance came.  I tried feverishly to convince myself
it wasn't really of God.  There was no way God could use me to preach.  I
wasn't a preacher's kid...my family wasn't even in church.  God couldn't use
a woman to preach...and beyond all that I was totally inadaquate to ever
perform such a work for God.  But the more I resisted, the stronger I felt
His call.  He began to deal with me, assuring me that whom He calls He also
empowers, and that yes, I am completely inadaquate to perform such a work,
but it is not me who does the work...I am meerely the vessel for the one who
truly does the ministring.  So, gradually I accepted this call of God on my
life and daily He began to show me things and teach my things, preparing me
for His calling.

At the beginning of this year I was asked to take posistion of assistant
youth minister at my church.  It wasn't the title or position that excited me
though, but the opertunity!  God has opened so many doors to council and
minister to my youth.  It took a rough time of trial though...being tempted
by many of the rediculus sins curious Pentecostal teen agers face when they
experience rebellion, before I could have compassion for them rather than
condemnation...but, I am stronger now because of it and the Lord accomplished
the purpose of exposing my weaknesses and letting me know once again that I
am truly inadaquate and it is only by His Grace and Anointing that any of us
can be used in the ministry.

I have had planned for a long time to attend Gateway Bible College to study
Theology and I will begin there this fall.  As far as burdens and desires for
the future, I have a great burden to minister to youth, women, children, the
deaf and the mentally retarded.  I don't feel a particualr calling at this
time to Foriegn Missions, however, I will go where ever the Lord directs me.
 I feel more of a burden for Home Missions here in North America.  In seeking
in depth the call to minister upon my life, I feel that I will be in
partnership evangelism with whatever man God has chosen me for, and assist
his ministry in what ever way I can especially as his prayer warrior,
counsilor, and encourager.

My greatest burden is simply reaching the lost, but before this can be
accomplished, the people of God need to be reached...strirred...and tought
how to reach others.  My main goal in ministry to youth and adults and the
handicapped is to help them to reach inside themselves and find the potential
they have to work for God...to be used in ministry for Him and to share His
precious Word

Outside of Church, teaching bible studies, studying the Word, and
praying...(which as you all know is usually all-consuming)...I *love* to be
outdoors, hunting and fishing, I also love to draw and do devotional writing.
 I also do a lot of horseback riding: Pentecostal style, as well as spending
time with my Black Lab Elsah!

Sorry this Intro is so****l o n g****....I guess it's more like the Auto Bio
of UPCgirl o{:o)
But, I am glad to have joined this group and I look forward to contributing
to our discussions.

Many Blessings to you all!

Sister Jennifer

"Magnify the Lord with me and let us exhalt His Name together" (Psalms 34:3)

************************************by the
way**********************************************
I would imagine there are a few in this group who do not beleive in woman
preachers...please feel free to discuss it...I will take no offence! Promise!