Life Stories

Turn Youth Ministries got back yesterday from their annual summer camp. This year it was called “Road Trip“. God showed up in such a powerful way all the way through the weekend from start of sessions on Friday night to the close on Sunday morning.

We started with our very first session talking about “no plan is a plan”. Walking through life thinking that we’re ‘ok’, but really ending up on a crooked road instead of the one that God has planned for us. There were lots of rededications to Christ. The students then took a step of faith by taking what they were struggling with (their messes) and putting it on a messy painting, showing that they didn’t need to carry it any longer. During this portion of the service, a painter then continued to paint on top of all the mess a path to the cross. The second session (Saturday morning), we talked about 4 key components to getting back on the right road. Saturday concluded (after a bunch of fun during the day, of course) on the topic of receiving grace to stay on the road. We also had two testimonies from students that night that really showed God working in tremendous ways through and for the students at TURN Youth. God showed up and there were healings right there in service during the time of worship. It was truly amazing to see students receiving all that God had in store for them! Break-throughs were evident. We ended the weekend with our 4th session on Sunday morning where the students learned about what it looks like to be normal. The dangers in just going with the flow. We ended the session with the students signing their names to a Road Trip sign showing that this was their turning point to getting back on the right road. Every student moved forward and signed. They left the weekend with a 30 day devotional (made completely by the students at TURN youth ministries). This is their next step in staying on the right road and surrounding themselves with others that are heading in the same direction.

There is nothing like seeing God move in such a mighty way through the students!

To those that participated in anyway, thank you from the bottom of our heart. Here at Life Christian Church, we are about “creating experiences to grow and discover how to live by faith everyday“, and we believe that we accomplished that at this event. We will followup with more details on the testimonies mentioned above. It will encourage your faith!

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His hockey team was playing in a big district game.  Midway through the second period Trevor was injured and could not get up off the ice.  An orthopedic surgeon was in the stands and attended to Trevor’s injury on the ice.  After examining Trevor’s leg, the doctor said he believed it was broken where it meets the knee.  In the meantime, the rink had called an ambulance, and the doctor held Trevor’s leg immobile while he was being carried off the ice.  I asked the doctor where the nearest ER was (we were in Macomb) and he said St. John’s on 23 & Romeo Plank, but he also added that they do not do emergency surgery there, and that if Trevor needed surgery he would have to be transferred.  We declined the ambulance ride, but did have the attendants help us carry Trevor to the car and get him in.  I sat by Trevor and prayed over him in tongues all the way to the hospital.  At the hospital we ran into a woman from church with her daughter Ashley.  The ER doctor examined Trevor’s and immediately gave him pain medication.  They took x-rays.  The doctor showed us the x-rays on the computer monitor and confirmed that Trevor’s leg was indeed broken.  (Ashley’s mother was right there and saw and heard it all).  They gave us a prescription for pain medication, put Trevor in a brace from his ankle to his upper thigh, game him a set of crutches and instructed him to put no weight at all on his leg.  I still have the Discharge Instructions which read:  “FRACTURE LOWER EXTREMITY – A fracture is the medical term for a BROKEN BONE.  It will take at least four weeks for the fracture to heal.  FRACTURE KNEE – You have a FRACTURE (break) of a bone in the knee joint.  Depending on the severity of the fracture, this will take four weeks or longer to heal”.

We went home, and I remember telling Trevor that God’s best for him was not a broken leg.  And together we commanded his leg to line up with the Word of God in Jesus’ Name.  Also, Trevor agreed that if he woke during the night in pain, he could call me but he was not to say “OWWWWW My leg hurts” he was to say “OWWWW, by Jesus’ stripes I’m healed”.

He did not wake during the night with any pain.  The next day we went to see the partner of the ortho doctor who was at the rink the night before.  He had already spoken to his partner and knew what he was expecting to see.  He examined Trevor’s leg and said, “Well, it’s not currently presenting as a break.  We need to get a MRI.”  The final diagnosis:  A bone bruise and a sprained ACL.  No break, crutches only as needed.  And a 10 day rest from contact sports.  God is good and Trevor is back skating just like new.

I want to give thanks to the Lord for healing me and thanks to Pastor Marie and the congregation of Life Christian Church for their prayers of faith on my behalf.  I had fallen on ice in February and spent 3 days in the hospital in excruciating pain.  The pain continued for months at home and I was required to take pain medication.  The pain advanced to electrical charges down both of my arms and severe dizziness.  I could not put my head back or lay back on my pillow without nearly passing out from dizziness.

On Saturday, my husband left for a business trip to Germany.  That night he left I noticed that I did not feel dizzy but didn’t pay too much attention to it.  I got up late Sunday morning and continued to not notice that the dizziness was gone.  Soon after my husband called from Germany and asked if I was dizzy or in pain and I told him I felt great and was not dizzy or in pain.  I then began to realize that God had healed me !!!!!

I began to praise and thank God and with each hour and day that passed that week I felt less and less discomfort and absolutely NO DIZZINESS!!!!

I give praise and thanksgiving to my Lord God and the LCC body again and again for their prayers.  I will never cease to praise Him!!!

About six weeks ago, Pastor Marie was speaking at a More Service and gave each of us the instruction to write down on a sheet of paper a declaration about an area in our lives that we wanted to see change in.  She then told us to speak that declaration over ourselves.  That night I went home, wrote down my declaration and started speaking it over myself every night for the past six weeks.

During that time, I went back to work at Art Van and in the first two weeks of being there, I sold $50,000 and this month I sold $100,000 worth of merchandise.

As I looked at my success, I totally attribute it to the declarations that I had been speaking over myself for these past weeks.  I will continue on in declaring and continue on in receiving all that God has for me!

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-Tom

When Pastor Anton was teaching, Trevor saw a vision.  On the way out of the church parking lot after the service, he asked what was the deal with the smoke around Pastor Anton?  I asked, what smoke?  And he said, “didn’t you see all the smoke around Pastor Anton?”  I said no, but I knew God had allowed Himself to be seen by my son, and I told him so.  This is what Trevor saw in his words:

“When I started paying attention when Pastor Anton was talking about how communion was important, I looked up and saw steam coming off of him.  It was coming off of his whole body, like the team that comes out of your mouth on a cold day.  I thought everybody could see it, so I didn’t say anything.  It lasted all through the rest of the service, and when he prayed over the people at the end, the cloud of steam got bigger and bigger and then it left him and went up to the ceiling.”

That day many were touched by God through the hands of the pastoral staff at LCC.  Thank you Jesus for showing yourself to my son and to the rest of the congregation at LCC!

The Life Christian softball team took 1st place in the league and then continued to take the winning streak over to the championship tournament and took 1st place over 4 different leagues this past Saturday, August 14th.  The tournament ended after 4 grueling games in the heat and humidity of the day.  The final game started off slow, but the team pulled it together in the final 2 innings to claim the title by a slim margin of 4 runs.

LCC is so proud of this team.  Throughout the season there were plenty of times to get out of the fruit and let a ref or another team really have it…however, this team decided up front and prior to the season even starting that they were not going to be like every other team.  No matter if there was a bad call, an error in the field, a loudmouthed opponent or a change in the line-up…LCC softball team took it all in stride and didn’t let anything get to them and trigger a bad attitude or negative approach.  This is what winning is all about.  This is where God shows up for people.  When people refuse to give in to turmoil or difficult situations and keep a positive attitude, God shows up.  This team deserved what they received and God shined His light on them this season.  What an example this team has been.  Please take a moment, when you see the teammates of LCC’s softball team, to stop and let them know how much you appreciate them and their great ethics and character throughout the season.

Winning isn’t everything…but it sure feels good!!!  Thank you Jesus for such an injury free and spectacular season!

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What a team!  Some special thanks…

Chris M. (Coach) – thanks for being the coach for the past three years.  You stuck with it and got what you were looking for…nice work!

Nick M. (Manager) – the youngest manager in the league…but the best!  Thanks for being there all season with all the info.

Storks and Gibsons – the best cheer section in the world.  For the most part…never missed a game and kept the team encouraged. Thanks for being there.

The Team:

Chris M. – coach & center field

Ian – left field

Jason M. – left field

Rob – rover

James – right field, center field

Picari – catcher, right field

Eric T. – third

Jamie M. – short stop

GJ – 2nd base

Jeremy – 1st base

P.Anton – 1st base, catcher

P.Tom – pitcher

Eric Tupa – catcher

John – 1st base, center field (the catch of the tournament!)

Recently, Pastor Marie had spoken a Word which she received from the Lord regarding the construction of our new home which was that God said to wait.  This instruction seemed to be a confirmation of what we were getting, but it had been over a year since we closed on our property and still hadn’t begun construction for various reasons and the bank was beginning to pressure us to finish.  We stopped progressing on the plans to proceed, but had already paid ½ of the total price ($7500) for the helical piers we needed.  The helical piers were already on order and couldn’t be stopped at that point.  The piers were delivered the following week.  We had planned on using money from the construction fund to pay for the balance, but the bank would not give us another draw until the entire foundation was completed.  My husband and I agreed that if God gave us the instruction, he already knew about the piers and would have to take care of the balance of approx. $7200 owed on the piers.  We had no idea HOW He would do it, we just knew He WOULD do it.   We didn’t worry or fret, we just prayed and believed God would make a way.  In the meantime, we continued about our daily business.  Last week, the pier manufacturer called us to see if we could go up north to install big 38 pier job.  My husband began to inquire about the pier configuration they needed since each job may require a specific configuration.  Upon discovering that it happened to be the same configuration as the piers we had delivered for our house, my husband offered to let our supplier sell them our piers since the job site needed them as soon as possible and our supplier was jumping through hoops trying to figure out how to get them the piers quickly.  Not only is our supplier paying off the balance of what we owe, they are sending us a check for more!  In addition to that, we got the job in Escanaba which happened to be for the same amount as what we paid up front for the piers.  Every time we were tempted to worry or try to figure things out ourselves, we just kept saying out loud that where God guides, He provides.

We definitely needed a miracle to get out of this jam, but God gave us the choice to be obedient to His instruction, believe His word and watch His plan work out right before our eyes.  If we didn’t have the teaching we have at LCC, we could have gotten very angry at Pastor Marie and taken offense at her being a dream crusher.  But because the only God we know is one who has better plans for us, as we have been taught, we knew that God wanted to do something bigger and better and just wanted us to wait.  It has nothing to do with building or not building a house, but everything to do with exercising our obedience.  II Chronicles 20:20 says “Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.”(NLT)  Thank God we believed Him and His prophet!

Rick & Michelle

P.S. – We are building on land that we bought 1½ years ago for $60,000 below asking price.  The owner rejected our first offer which was $35,000 below asking price, Pastor Marie said our offer was too high and she told us to offer $30,000 below our first offer.   The owners rejected our first offer and countered only a few thousand below asking price.  Pastor Marie said just wait and see.  One month later they asked if we were still interested.  We said yes, but we wanted it $30,000 LESS than our first offer.  They told us to write it up and that is what we bought it for – $60,000 below asking price.

I was on my way to church near 14 mile road & 75. I saw a beige Lincoln cut off last minute to get off the exit ramp at 14 mile road.  The Lincoln flew over last minute and cut off cars.  As soon as I saw what was happening, I called out to Jesus and started praying for help.  A small black truck and the Lincoln connected and the black truck rolled over three times across all lanes on 75 to the left shoulder and spun facing oncoming traffic.  The Lincoln ended up on the left side of the shoulder also.  We all were able to safely stop without hitting each other and pull over after witnessing the accident.  It was surreal and seemed to happen in very slow motion.  I continued to pray as I made my way to the black truck.  The people in the Lincoln were fine and sitting in their car.  Quite shocked, they never left their car.  The other witnesses in front of me were already out of their cars and near the truck.  I said who was in the truck and a man, said I was.  He was ok.  I hugged him and thanked Jesus.  He walked out of the truck and had no scratches or injuries.  His truck was pretty banged up.  There were no other injuries, no other cars were hit.  Someone else said to the man, God was watching over you.

God protected all of us and his angels were there protecting each and every one of us that were behind these 2 cars.  There were at least 5 or 6 cars that pulled over.  The girl in the front of me was also on her way to church.  We were so relieved that everything turned out so well.  As I was leaving, I asked the driver of the black truck how he was and he said his back was sore.  I asked if I could pray for him and he said yes.  I laid hands on him and prayed to Jesus that this man would have no complications in his back or body from this accident and that all would be restored to him.  I want to thank God for Psalm 91 over me and all that were near me at that very moment.

Patty

My husband had been off work several times in the last few years. His last job was with a public school and at the beginning of the summer he was told he would not be called back the next year.  With 3 of our largest bills due in August/September we had no idea where the money would come from.  Until this point we had always been able to make all of our payments and the idea of not having the money was overwhelming.  Our savings was gone, empty, depleted, there was no more money.  We went over our budget and the numbers said there was no money and when the bills came we would not be able to pay them.  In July my husband still did not have a job.  But we tithe faithfully and do our best to be good stewards with our money.

I closed my eyes laid my hands on the bills and asked God to make a way for us to pay them on time.  That afternoon when I returned to work from my lunch break there was an envelope on my desk.  Inside was a check in the amount that we needed to cover all three bills plus a little extra.  All the time that I had wasted thinking about the bills not being paid, God had been working it out so that everyone in my office got a bonus that same day.  At the end of summer my husband had a new job with a school closer to home.  He has since been promoted and is making more money then he did at his old job.

Recently, I requested that Pastor Marie pray for an extension for my job.  I had been told earlier that my position would be extended until December but then was told that it would be only until early summer.

After prayer, Pastor Marie said ‘you will come and testify here saying that your job was extended’.  As it turns out my managers were waiting for a project to come, so they might retain me.  I praise our Almighty Lord Jesus Christ for extending my job.

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Praise the Lord Jesus for his miracle in my life. ~ Samuel