Author: LeahDawnRoot29

What is Your Testimony?

/ LeahDawnRoot29 / 3 Comments

“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Daniel 3:17, 18 NIV

Anyone who has ever experienced a hardship can certainly say, “I have a testimony.”  But what is that testimony?  Is it the hardship?  Is it the trial and the suffering endured?  Is it the wound we suffered?  No it’s not.

Someone in my life, a mate whom I deeply love, is engulfed in darkness-experiencing a hardship so foreign to them and no clue how to handle it.  The enemy is attacking hard, at times even giving this person no opportunity to catch their breath let alone have a clear thought to stand on God’s truth.   If you knew the details of the circumstance you’d be in awe at how ruthless the enemy truly is.  The devil clearly takes all as a prisoner and doesn’t hold back when you’re a huge threat to him.

A beautiful sister-in-Christ struggles with an undiagnosed illness that causes severe abdominal pain. She’s been in and out of the hospital and frequented doctors but still left mystified as to what is going on with her body.  Her dream to grow her family was even threatened by this illness. I use the word “was” because she is currently expecting her second child.

Another beautiful sister-in-Christ has a child struggling with a newly diagnosed illness also-one that could bring a lifetime of health issues including severe pain. I know a brother-in-Christ struggling with a brutal cancer and was recently told by one doctor there was nothing more that doctor could do for him.  Although I don’t know every detail of his cancer I’ve seen the ups and downs physically and through prayer requests that remission and growth in the tumor have brought to this man.

I too have faced darkness unknown to me and no idea how to handle it.  I have battled with unknown health issues and know what it feels like to see my child struggle with health issues also.  At this point you may be asking-what does all this have to do with testimony?  The answer-everything.

A few days ago, I was listening to some praise and worship music.  I was thinking a million thoughts at the same time because well, that’s just how my brain works.  I was thinking of my own health issues, my mate’s dark struggle, my friends’ struggles, and I just started praying.  I laid my hands on my throat and prayed for God’s healing touch because He has gifted me with a singing voice and the enemy has attacked it.  I prayed for my friend suffering with cancer, my other friend’s fears regarding her unknown health issues and the effects to her unborn child, my friend’s daughter suffering with a new illness and of course, for my mate and the darkness he is currently enduring.

While I was praying, the song “Overcame” started playing.  I was filled with the Holy Spirit and began declaring victory over each person’s struggle, including my own.  I literally heard myself yell out, “This situation will not defeat him/her/ me.  This situation is not his/her/my testimony-God’s deliverance, God’s redemption, and God’s almighty healing will be our testimony.  And then it “dawned” on me (I really don’t use this phrase a lot considering my first name is Dawn but saying it “Holy Spirited” on me isn’t grammatically correct.)  Our struggles are NOT our testimonies.  How God gets us out of the storms life brings to each of us, that is our testimony.

The book of Daniel is a prime example of testimony using a fiery furnace and a lion’s den.  Captivity was not Daniel and his friends’ testimony.  God’s protection and deliverance was their testimony. (Daniel chapters 3 and 6.)

In Genesis we learn that Joseph’s brothers assaulted him and sold him into slavery.  This was after he dreamt that his brothers would bow down to him.  He was promoted to the Pharaoh’s right hand, then falsely accused of sleeping with Pharaoh’s wife, and imprisoned.  But THAT was not his testimony.  He was promoted again to governor (Genesis chapters 37, 39, and 41.) In Genesis 42 we learn that a famine brings Joseph’s brothers to Egypt seeking food.  Verse six tells us “Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.”  Joseph endured a lot of unjust suffering, but what an amazing testimony he was gifted because of it.

The best example of testimony is Jesus’ Christ himself.  If you’ve ever watched The Passion (which I have yet to view entirely because I can’t stomach watching my Savior brutally tortured) you get a visual of what Christ endured.  But His suffering, the beatings, His barbaric death, was not His testimony.  We don’t celebrate Easter for His death.  We celebrate Easter to honor His life!  Christ’s resurrection was His testimony.  Victory over death WAS. HIS. TESTIMONY.

Are you stuck in a pit so dark you think you’ll never find your way out?  Are you or a loved one facing an illness that feels like it’s sucking the life right out of you?  Whatever hardship you are enduring-it does not define you.  It is NOT your testimony.  When you surrender it all to Jesus, when you cry out to Him and trust Him in the process, His deliverance, His redemption, His provision and healing WILL. BE. YOUR. TESTIMONY.  How do I know?  Because God delivered me from abuse, near homelessness, scary health issues and he even delivered my son from a life sentence of asthma.  I know because my life is a living, breathing, walking testimony and I give God all the glory!!!

Miracle Making or Miracle Baking?

/ LeahDawnRoot29 / Leave a comment

I am neither a butcher, a baker nor a candle stick maker.  In a nut shell-I am no “Martha Stewart.”  So when I heard a sermon recently about being the active ingredient in our miracles, I “googled” bread making for a better understanding of the concept.  I had to “google” it because, well, I’ve never actually baked bread.  I’m so undomesticated I felt I’d never be a Proverbs 31 woman simply because I also don’t know how to sew.  Thankfully I’ve had a few studies on that chapter to realize I don’t need to know how to sew or cook to be a Proverbs 31 kind of woman.  But I digress…

What does bread baking have to with miracle making?  The answer is, they both have an “active ingredient” and without the active ingredient, neither turn out the way they’re supposed to.  You see, in bread making, the active ingredient is yeast.  Why is yeast so important to the bread?  It makes it rise-it makes it fluffy-it MOVES the bread.  Without it, you have flat bread, plain and simple.

Yeast is a very sensitive active ingredient.  In bread-making research, I learned there is a special way you must prepare the yeast in order to properly activate it.  You only use a small amount, mixed with just the right temperature of water.  Too much yeast-your bread will over rise.  Get the wrong water temperature in your mixture and your yeast won’t activate.  All these tiny mistakes can lead to a big disaster in your oven.

There are a lot of references in the Bible regarding yeast.  Most are instructions given to the Israelites and specific to food preparations that prohibited the usage of yeast.  But there is one verse I found that really describes the power of yeast as an active ingredient.  Matthew 13:33 says; “…‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.’” (NLT)  Jesus was explaining how mighty the kingdom of Heaven really is-so powerful that everything is affected by it.  Here’s where the miracle making comes in to play…

God places desires upon hearts.  Psalms 37:4 reminds that if we delight ourselves in Him, He gives us the desires of our hearts.  But we also know that a God-given desire can take a VERY long time to come to fruition.  Abraham is a prime example from our biblical history showing us how God is not in a hurry, but always on time and He’s definitely not opposed to making us wait lengthy periods of time before our dream becomes our reality.  That’s where our role of being the active ingredient in our miracle takes place-in the waiting season.

God told Abraham about Isaac twenty-five years before Isaac’s birth.  And what did Abraham do? He left his home country and went where God told him to go.  He tried to manufacture his own miracle and fathered Ishmael.  But when God reminded Abraham what He had promised, Abraham slept with his wife and God opened Sarah’s womb to carry Isaac.  Romans chapter four reminds us of Abraham’s faith:  “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.  And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.” (Verses 20-22, NLT)

Like Abraham, we too, are called to be the active ingredients to our miracle.  When God shows us the dream, when He lights the steps we are to walk to make that dream a reality, we must get going and walk the walk.  Waiting is not about sitting around expecting fairies to plop our miracle right in our lap.  Waiting means walking in faith, trusting God’s process and in His perfect timing.  It also means being the active (not passive) ingredient to our miracle.  We are the yeast to our miracle-like the Kingdom of Heaven reference in Matthew 13, we are only a small portion of our miracle but because the miracle involves our life and His purpose for it, our obedience permeates every aspect of the miracle.

So when God gives you a dream-activate your faith, trust His process and ask Him to show you how to be the active ingredient in the miracle He wants to give you.  Why?  Because God didn’t just promise greatness to Abraham and the other guys in the Bible-His promises apply to everyone who has gone before us, everyone who will come after us, and everyone in present day, including you and me.  Don’t believe me?  Believe Romans 4:23-24 then, “And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (NLT)

Just make sure you’re activating correctly-activate too much and you’re manufacturing your own miracle.  Activate in your own strength and you’ll end up like bread with no yeast-going nowhere.

A Biblical Perspective on the Wizard of Oz

/ LeahDawnRoot29 / 3 Comments

My children and I watch the Wizard of Oz once a year.  Typically it’s done at Halloween time but this year due to traveling out of town we didn’t watch it until Thanksgiving weekend.  In watching Dorothy’s journey through Oz I found some amazing biblical wisdom from such a classical feature film.

How does Dorothy get to Oz?  A tornado carries her house to Munchkinland. She finds herself spiraling (literally) through a frightening storm and ends up somewhere far from home, in a land so strange and nothing like Kansas.

She doesn’t just land in Munchkin Land, the house falls on and kills the wicked witch of the East saving the munchkins from her evil wrath.  How many times have our storms been used to rescue others from the grasp of the evil one?  Romans 8:28 tells us God uses everything for His glory.  That includes our storms-the storms we walk through and come out of stronger and closer to God, He will use as a guide for others when they encounter similar storms or to stop them before they enter a storm.  Your storm could be the house that crushes the evil about to attack someone else.

Dorothy makes an enemy of the wicked witch of the West when she receives the ruby slippers that hold a mass quantity of power that is a threat to the witch.  We too, when we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior and wear the Ruby slipper of His salvation upon our hearts-become a major threat and foe to our enemy, the devil.

Of course, after crash landing in Munchinkin Land and encountering an evil witch, Dorothy just wants to go home.  But how can she?  She has to go to Oz and seek help from the wizard.  And how does she get to Oz?  Following the yellow brick road of course.  When we are lost, confused and just want to go home (back to the land of familiar and safety) we can seek Christ.  And we don’t have to walk down a yellow brick road through a forest of angry and assaulting apple trees, or be attacked by flying monkeys to get to God.  We just have to get on our knees and pray. Get in His word and read. Jeremiah 29:12-14 tells us, if we pray, He will listen.  If we seek Him, we will find Him, if we seek Him with all our hearts.  When we humble ourselves before Him, He will return us to our home, to the promised land He prepares for us.

Along her journey, Dorothy befriends a brainless scarecrow, a heartless tinman and a cowardly lion.  Each are seeking their own “healing” from the wizard.  So they travel together, to find the Wizard of Oz. Studying the scarecrow, tinman and lion, I’m reminded of God’s promises for wisdom (If I only had a brain), love (If I only had a heart), and courage (If only I were brave.) James 1:5 tells us if we lack wisdom, ask God for it and He will give it to us.  Ezekiel 36:26 promises He will give us new hearts, removing the stone from us and giving us hearts of flesh.  2 Timothy 1:7 promises God does not give us a spirit of fear (or cowardice) but of power, love and a sound-mind.  God gives us wisdom, love and courage whenever we ask Him for these things.  But like Dorothy and her friends faced much evil opposition traveling to Oz, we can face opposition seeking Christ.  The enemy’s flying monkeys may not capture us and lock us up in the tower of a castle but they can capture our minds when we entertained their confusion, their doubt, their fears and their disbelief.  Confusion, doubt, fear and disbelief all lock us up spiritually and keep us from walking with God.  Hebrews 11:6 tells us without faith it is impossible to please God.  Elisabeth Elliot was quoted as saying “Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.”  We have a choice-seek God for wisdom, love and courage-and trust Him to equip us, or believe the enemy’s flying monkeys’ lies and cower to confusion, doubt, fear and disbelief.

When Dorothy and her friends meet the wizard He masks himself as huge flaming animated head.  Goes for a real theatrical effect.  But Toto reveals the “little man behind the curtain” and they discovers Oz is just a man, and like Dorothy was blown away by a storm years past.  Thankfully our God does not mask who He is-nor is He just a little man behind a curtain.  Our God is mighty, all powerful and all knowing.  And He promises to deliver us, redeem us, guide us, love us, protect us, comfort us and equip us to be the man and woman He made us to be. He promises all of this repeatedly in His word!

The wizard will only help Dorothy and her friends when they defeat the evil witch of the west and return to Oz with her broomstick.  I think God equips us with wisdom, love and courage the same way-facing the Giants in our life and defeating the enemy’s lies with His truth.  We go through trials and grow patience, learn to trust Him more and ever increase our faith.  God is not a magic genie who hands out wishes.  He is our Heavenly Father who gifts us with trials to grow us.  But unlike the wizard, God equips us for every battle we face if we fully rely on Him.  And He is with us through every battle.  God will never send us to fight and wait in the land of Oz for us to bring back satan’s pitch fork.

In the end, evil is defeated.  The scarecrow, the tinman and the lion achieve wisdom, love and courage through the battle, but not from ridiculous gifts the wizard makes up for them. By facing their fears (courage) coming up with a plan to save Dorothy (wisdom) and putting their own life on the line for someone else (love.) Dorothy, by clicking her heels three times and saying “there’s no place like home” wakes up again in Kansas.

Our lives are a balance of good versus evil as well.  Paul tells us we aren’t fighting flesh and blood enemies but spiritual darkness.  In the end though, we win.  Our trials grow us in wisdom, love and courage.  When all hope is lost, we can pray and trust God to deliver us in His time and in His way back to the land He promised us.  But remember, Isaiah 45:22 tells us God is God, there is no other. We don’t turn to a wizard for guidance or salvation.  We turn to the One true God.  And Hebrews 13:14 reminds us that this world is not our home.  Someday we will all be fitted with ruby red slippers that take us to the emerald city with pearly gates, and walk the golden streets of Heaven-when God calls us to our real home.  And since we aren’t of this world but truly belong to Heaven, there really is no place like home.