The first day of the fast I prayed that my dad would be healed. He was having same heart tests and there was a possibility he would need open heart surgery. On Friday, the week that the fast started, my father called me to tell me that his test results came back and he did not have to have any kind of heart surgery.

I was so thankful to God!

It was that Wednesday that I got filled with the Holy Spirit and received my prayer language. I thank the Lord for saving me from drugs. I have been without drugs for about 5 years now and it is all because of God’s grace and mercy. God truly saved me and my 3 year old son. I thank God that we are here and living a life for Him.

AMEN!

As I sit here meditating on your first Awakening message, I’m reminded of my own testimony of release from drug addiction. I was a stripper and twice convicted prostitute. I had tracks on my arms from shooting cocaine for years.

One day my mom begged me to go to church with her for Mother’s Day. I showed up at that little Baptist church in my strapless dress with slits up the sides (it was the only kind of clothes I owned).

I can’t remember what the message was or who else was there that day, but I know that something was tugging at me the whole service. As I sat and tried not to cry, tears streamed down my face. They had an altar call at the end, and I remember just hurrying down front to meet whatever it was that was calling me forward.

Jesus met me as I knelt down and asked him to help me. I never stuck a needle in my arm again, and I never went to that strip bar again.

I moved in with my mom and dad and served the Lord with all my heart for many years. That was in 1987.

In February of 1991, my father died of cancer and 10 weeks later my brother died of AIDS. I prayed for healing for them, but God took them home anyway. I was so crushed, I punished God with the silent treatment for 5 years.

During that time, I drank alcohol to blot out the pain and grief. My employer intervened in my situation and sent me to treatment, ultimately landing me in a 12 step recovery program.

I have not had a drink in 11 years.

I knew in my heart for a long time that God wanted to use me in women’s 12 step recovery ministry and use the despair of my life to help other hurting women coming out of the dark.

God placed me at Celebration Church three and a half years ago during the “Unleashing the Power of Everyone” series. I attended leadership training and began living God’s amazing call on my life by leading a small group. The “Spiritual Journey” small group has seen God work in nearly 90 women’s lives. They have experienced freedom in the areas of emotional pain, abuse, resentment, childhood trauma, drug and alcohol addiction and eating disorders.

Praise God for moving Celebration into the areas of healing many churches are not willing to go. And thank you Pastor Stovall for being so open about your own life. It gives others the courage and liberty to face and share their own truths.

For the past month or so, we’ve been playing a short promo video for The Awakening series during our main weekend services. Not too long afterwards, we received a testimony from a mom about the video and her son. You’ll find her testimony and the promo video below.

A Mom’s Testimony

I have been coming to Celebration Church for about 6 months and last Sunday my son finally came after I have been begging him to try it for months. He thinks that churches are out of touch and don’t do anything for him or to him. I noticed he seemed to be responding well to the service (even bobbing his head a little at the music).

At some point during the service, a video was played about drugs with the Pastor’s voice. After my son saw that very powerful video he did not say a word the rest of the service.

I noticed his eyes seemed a little watery.

When we got in the car after church, I asked him what he thought and before I could finish the sentence he said, “I am sorry, mom, for doing drugs.”

He then told me how he had been trying drugs for a couple of weeks with some friends and that the night before he was offered coke. He did not do it but wanted to.

After seeing the video that was amazingly cutting edge, he said that it hit him so hard. He had never seen a video on drugs in church, let alone a video so real feeling and daring to talk about it on a Sunday morning. He told me that something about it and the environment changed his mind and maybe even his life.

When we got home he gave me a bag filled with marijuana and asked me to get rid of it.

We went to dinner that night as a family and it was like he was in 5th grade again - the sweetest innocent boy.

I was hesitant to write in because I did not know how long he would feel this way, but everyday he has asked me about church this weekend and today he called me from work letting me know that he had read online about LateNite and was going to check it out this Saturday.

He is 20 years old and I haven’t seen the life of God in him in years.

Thank you Celebration Church for your video and for letting God use you to change an entire generation’s perspective of what to expect at church.

The Awakening Promo Video