Remember the story Brother Branham tells about the little sheep that kept going astray from the shepherd and the flock? The shepherd knew that one day the sheep would get killed. So what did he do? He broke its leg. As Brother Branham tells, this seemed like an awfully cruel shepherd. But was he? When asked why he broke the sheep's leg, the shepherd explained that he had to do so in order to make the sheep depend on and love him so that he wouldn't stray anymore and perish. The testimony below came from a young sister who had gone astray and went through many test and trials at a very young age. But like the sheep, God wounded her and caused her to love and draw closer to Him. He delivered her through every obstacle.
I have had my testimony on my heart for a while and want to share it with the Bride of Christ around the world.
I was not raised in a Christian home; my mother had been raised in a message church, but went out in the world as she grew up. So as I was growing up we did not go to church at all. I was allowed to go with my aunt and grandmother whenever I wanted because they went to a message church; actually my uncle is a message preacher. My mother always told me that how my aunt and grandmother and other family members lived was correct, and she would answer questions if I ask. My mother prayed that God would show me the truth, but she felt that she had went pass the day of her grace because she had remarried, and she had lived wrong knowing the truth.
When I had gotten on up in my early teenage years, I was struggling with peer pressure, and just the normal teen stuff. I met a boy the first day of my 8th grade school year and started an adult relationship. I was pregnant on my 15th birthday. Well of course my parents were crushed, but they stepped right in to help me raise my son. They wanted to let me be mom, but he was also like theirs. I know that it was wrong the relationship I was in, and the circumstances that my son was born, but it changed my life. I was headed down a road with the friends I had chosen that was very destructive.
When I got of age where I could have had a little freedom, which was 16, my mom would not allow me to take my son, so I did not want to leave him. So I got away from the friends except for Steven, who is my son's dad. My mom allowed him to come over each day after we were out of school, and take care of our son as much as we possibly could. My mom sent us to church with my grandmother when he was a couple weeks old to dedicate him back to the Lord. Steven had been raised in a Baptist church, but she explained to him that he had to be dedicated at a message church.
When my son was 2 1/2 yrs old, God started really dealing with me. I know that God had knocked many times before that in my life, but I was scared of how my life would have to change to serve Him. This time was different; I could not get any peace for several weeks. So one night around 10:00 I was really upset and I talked to my mom. She told me I didn’t have to be in church to give my life to God, so she had me call my grandmother and talk with her. I called and woke my grandmother up, and she told me to just repent and give my life to God right there. So I did.
The next day, I was terrified about going to school. I got up and went to school, and I was so upset I could not stay. My mom called the school and signed me and Steven out of school so we could go to my grandmother’s to talk. Steven was really upset, and he and I both talked to my grandmother and went to church on Sunday and were baptized.
I have to say it was really hard. I went from wearing worldly clothing and makeup, to trying to dress right, and washed my face, and my relationship had to change with Steven. As you can understand, it put a strain on our relationship. Even though we both started church, the Message was really hard for Steven. He had been raised Baptist, so after awhile Steven and I broke up. He stayed in our lives because of our son and still came to see him daily. There was a lot of anger and betrayal between us. I was hurt at the time, but then I saw why God had to split us up a while, so we could grow in Him. I was more worried about pleasing Steven than pleasing God.
During this time of being alone, I was able to really grow spiritually and as a mother. I knew that if God did not work it out between Steven and I, that I would never be able to marry. I had made a promise to Steven that I would marry him when we became of age. This realization was so hard, because I was not sure if he and I could ever work things out. God would really have to change things for us and heal some scars that I had on my heart.
For about a year, I prayed and Steven ran from God. But one day God changed everything. Steven started back to church. Because of our son, Steven had stayed a part of our lives, and we began to heal our relationship. On our little boy's 3rd birthday, we became engaged and were married four months later. Our son is now 5 years old and we have been blessed with another boy, who is now eight months.
Now you would think things would be so easy, our family was together and we are serving the Lord. But that is when the devil brings out the big guns. My mother had given her life back to God and she was battling her past. She knew there was no way to undo the things she had done, but she had to serve God from now on. My dad (step dad) is an unbeliever, but I know that one day God will bring him in. He has been a good dad to me, my son, and my husband.
It seemed like the one way that the devil could get to us was through our precious first child. He started everything possible to try and take his life. My dad even said one day, since you all have started living this way, he has been sick. He had asthma since an infant, but it had gotten much worse even with us claiming his healing. He was just staying sick weekly. If we had two days a week with him well, that was a good week. The doctor just kept blaming it on him being in day care. He came up with a place on his arm that kind of looked like ringworm. We decided to take him to a different doctor, and they done blood work and found he had something called MRSA. He also had some major problems with his kidneys. They sent us the next day to the hospital for an ultra sound on his kidneys. They thought he may have cancer in his kidneys, and the reason he had been so sick was because of his kidney function. But thank the Lord there was no tumor.
They sent us to a kidney specialist, and from that a kidney biopsy. This was a long struggle. We had taken our son to the elders of the church and they prayed over him. We committed him to the Lord. To make a long story a little short, for one year we claimed his healing, even though the symptoms were still there. His urine was mostly blood, and they took blood every couple of weeks. The blood work showed no improvement; he was literally ill vomiting or pneumonia all the time. His body could not fight off anything. But we had no hope except that God had healed him. We stood strong, claimed God’s promise, and a little at a time he started getting better. So thank our Lord, he is well!
Now came our precious other son, who was perfectly healthy at every baby check up. One Thursday afternoon the day care teacher called. Something was not quite right with his breathing pattern. So I panicked, my first thought was he is going to have asthma. They assured me that he was in no immediate danger, and they had a nurse monitoring him, but he needed to go to the hospital. I called my mom, and I ran to day care to pick him up. She met me and we took him to the hospital. He was really fighting to breathe. His heart rate I could tell by just looking at him was really fast, but he seemed comfortable, not suffering like I had seen when our first child was having an attack.
The nurse at the hospital took him straight back and they started working on him. We could tell that something was seriously wrong how the nurses and staff were working, but they were trying to keep us calm. They hooked him up to a heart monitor and started getting his oxygen level and took an x-ray of his heart. His heart rate was 260-290; the normal heart rate should be around 130. They told us they were just completely baffled, he should be blue. But our Lord had His hand there, and even though he was fighting to breath and his heart beating too fast, he was perfectly happy. My mom and I just started really praying and begging God to heal him. The doctor finally came in and said something was wrong with the heart, it was enlarged, and it was past his expertise. He had called for an ambulance to transport him to the children’s hospital in a nearby city, where a pediatric heart specialist would be waiting to do an ultra sound on his heart.
While we waited, my mother sang a song to my baby, “Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome In This Place.” On the way to the other hospital, the devil started to work hard. His oxygen level started dropping. Fear was trying to really set in, but then God stepped in and gave me a faith that I have heard Brother Branham describe many times. It took over and I knew that he was healed. No, the monitors did not show it yet, but I knew.
They found nothing wrong on the ultra sound, and his heart rate got a little better, but they were not sure what was causing the problem. They kept him in the hospital for two days hooked to monitors. Each day the heart-rate slowly came back to normal. The doctor never could say what had caused the heart to be enlarged on x-ray, but normal on ultrasound, and had no idea about the heart rate. We knew God healed him in that 30 minute ambulance ride.
I have given my children back to God, and I know without a doubt that He will always keep His hands on them. I pray that this be an encouragement and faith builder for the Bride of Christ around the world to know that God is still doing miracles today. He will never fail His people.
This story holds a valuable lesson, and is a heartening testament of God's amazing grace to bring back His little lost sheep. We hope this sister's testimony has encouraged you not to take the wrong path she took, but will give you hope "that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."