Today, March 1, 2024 I had a vision/visitation from the Lord while in prayer this morning. It was raining outside and for the past 2 years I have done prayer walks throughout our neighborhood's 3 cul-de-sacs, but today I was only able to walk two and returned home to wait for the rain to let up. But according to weather reports that was not on the horizon. The Lord said: You can just go into your space and pray. So I did, and began coming into the Lord's presence, quiet before him, examining my heart, asking for the Holy Spirit to help me pray as I was heavily burdened for my daughter and what I was hearing outside my room. I felt overwhelmed and helpless to make these demonic attacks stop and cried out to the Lord for help on how to deal with this to set her free. I began praying in the Spirit as I had no words to express my feelings, when I began to cry so broken hearted before him, till the tears began to cease. I then experienced a visitation from the Lord himself in, I guess, a vision (?). The Lord appeared [this images is exactly how he appeared to me in this vision!] and he came up to me and gently took my teary face in his loving hands and said: "I am still here to wipe those tears from your eyes as I did when you were five, as I have never left you. I am still here beside you, as this battle is not yours but mine, as you are mine and all your battles are mine."
You can read this experience below. [The image I drew from my memory of what Jesus looked like from a five year old's memory drawn 30 yrs ago]
A Heart for God
I wanted to share my personal testimony, with the
hope that there are others like myself that are searching for answers also.
I came from a Seventh Day Adventist background. My mother’s people were Seventh Day Adventist,
and so were my dad’s. I was taught at a
very young age that the Adventists were the only “latter-day-church”. I was also told that I must ask Jesus into my
heart, and keep the Ten Commandments, that Jesus died for “past” sins and I had
to keep the commandments to keep my salvation – I must work for it. I recall
feelings of hopelessness at “being good enough” as it seemed I constantly broke
commandments especially considering I was one of eleven children and I was the
only one that seemed concerned about it.
One of the commandments that I had the hardest time
with was number four: “Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy” as my family did
not attend church unless I asked to go, then a few family members would
accompany me. You were not supposed to
do any work on Saturday (Sabbath Day) or watch television – that is what would
always get me! All the good stuff came
on television; it seemed to me, on Saturday, especially the mornings:
cartoons! Also every Saturday afternoon
“Science Fiction Theater” came on and I loved science fiction movies. Temptations were everywhere and I always had
to ask for forgiveness and felt like a failure.
I use to pray to Jesus and ask him: “why
do you even let me keep living as I can’t seem to ever go through a Saturday
without sinning.”
I had a heart for the Lord at a very early age: the
age of five. I began “talking” to this
personal invisible “friend” I had come to discover – Jesus. I use to pray to him about everything when I
was little. I use to climb into our
closet and during family crisis or a time of need I would converse with him as
my grandmother had taught me to do. Also
my older sister, Betty, taught me to say my prayers before going to bed each
night; I always prayed: “Now I lay me
down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Forgive
me for my sins today (I named them as they came to mind) watch over mommy,
daddy, Betty, and help me be good tomorrow, in Jesus name, Amen.”
Summers were spent with our Grandma Mascunana, on my mother's side who use to tell us bible stories, as she had no TV. She was a teacher and very knowledgeable regarding the Bible and use to tell us constantly that Jesus was returning very soon and we should get ready. I use to ask her: "Grandma, if I start being good right now will I get to go to Heaven when Jesus comes?" She would tell me that very soon the book of Life would be closed and no one else could be written in it - you would be either saved or lost. Also she stated believers would have to go through the terrible 7-year tribulation period that Revelation spoke about and that God would seal all that belonged to Him and protect them.
One summer while staying with my grandmother (on my mother’s side) I became very ill. My brothers and sisters use to run up and down the stairs to my grandmother’s apartment chasing each other, but I wasn't feeling very well, so I let my grandmother know. I became so sick that I can remember not being able to respond to her voice and questions about what was wrong. I could hear her voice but I felt like I didn’t have enough energy in my body to respond to her. I remember just staring up at her face while she wiped my face and body with a cool wash cloth – I had a very high fever. I remember feeling like each breath would be my last, as if I had no more energy to breathe another time.
One summer while staying with my grandmother (on my mother’s side) I became very ill. My brothers and sisters use to run up and down the stairs to my grandmother’s apartment chasing each other, but I wasn't feeling very well, so I let my grandmother know. I became so sick that I can remember not being able to respond to her voice and questions about what was wrong. I could hear her voice but I felt like I didn’t have enough energy in my body to respond to her. I remember just staring up at her face while she wiped my face and body with a cool wash cloth – I had a very high fever. I remember feeling like each breath would be my last, as if I had no more energy to breathe another time.
My grandmother use to keep us during the summers
while my mother and father drove tractor-trailers long distance from Tampa , Florida to New York
During this time I had an experience with the Lord
Jesus Christ that was to change me for the rest of my life. I do not know if what I experienced was a
dream or whether I was actually so close to death that my spirit was leaving my
body, I only know that I saw the Lord. I
was somewhere above the earth in a cloud with Jesus. I was dressed in a little white robe and
Jesus had his arm around me; I was crying as if my heart was broken and He
said, “Little one, why weepiest thou? Where I am going to take you, you will never
be sick or hurt again. You will never
remember the things that have hurt you and caused you pain. Where I am taking you, you will only remember
happy things, and you will never be sick again, so why are you weeping?” Somehow I knew I was dying, even as a
child. He placed his hands on each side
of my face and with his thumbs, wiped the tears from my face, but I began to
cry even harder. I said: “but I do remember and I am unhappy because
I want my mother to be there too. Please let me go back and tell her about you
and heaven so she will be there too.” Suddenly
I seemed to be descending down to earth, through the roof of our house – in the
kitchen, where my mother was cooking. I
remember running up to her, pulling on her clothes, trying desperately to
describe what I had just seen, but she told me to go outside and play as she
was very busy and did not have time. I
remember feeling sad – it was like the Lord wanted to show me what I was going
to be up against.
During this same ten day time period, I had another
dream or vision. I dreamed that my
mother and I were walking down what seemed to be a road filled with the cares
of this life – scenes like store windows showing: school rooms, parks with kids
playing, grocery stores, etc. when I saw this stairway leading up to heaven
along the way; it looked like golden transparent glass. On either side, every so many steps were
these beautiful happy beings in white apparel and they were smiling at us and
with their facial expressions and hands were gesturing for us to come up – it
seemed to me we were welcome to climb those stairs! I could see a strange light at the top of the
stairs – it reminded me of a sunbeam coming through a window with dust
particles floating around in it, only this was a very bright light with
sparkling dust floating within the beam of
light. There seemed to be a beautiful
park at the top, which intrigued me – I grabbed my mother’s hand and
said, “Let’s go up there” and I tried pulling her up with me but she resisted
and said: “I can’t go, you’ll have to go
by yourself”, and she pulled away. I
grabbed her hand again and pulled her back towards the stairs but again she
said, “No Sharron, I can’t go”. I ran up to her again pleading with her: Mommy, look: they want us to come – it
would make them happy if we went up there!”
But again, she answered:
“Sharron, I cannot go with you, you are going to have to go alone – I cannot go
with you.”
When I was about 14 years of age, I found out what
the Lord was trying to tell me through this dream-vision. He was saying: Sharron, you must make up your mind about me – you must choose
between me and your mother.” Well, I
chose Him and decided to seek His help in bringing my mother with me. While at a crusade at age 14, the minister
said: “You know Jesus said, if you are
ashamed to confess me before men, I’ll be ashamed to confess you before my
father in heaven and his holy angels, but if you confess me before men then I
too will confess you before my father in heaven and all his holy angels. I was one of eleven children – second to the
oldest and had all of our family with me at this crusade, but I heard the Lord
ask me: “Sharron, if you really love me,
I want you to go down there”. I knew
I loved him but did not want to go alone so I tried to get someone to go with
me – I was afraid I would get left or separated from my family, but no one
volunteered to go with me. My heart was
pounding through my chest – I knew I had to go and show the Lord that I loved
him but was torn over going alone when my mother said: “Sharron, if you want to go
down there, go ahead, we will wait for you”. I got up to go and after descending a few
steps, my grandmother (my father’s mother) stood and said she would go with
me. She told me she wanted to make sure
I was willing to go alone first. I got
baptized into the Seventh Day Adventist church the following Saturday.
After this I tried keeping the Ten Commandments,
confessing each night before I went to sleep, any sins I had committed. I would sometimes wake up in the middle of
the night and either remember some sin I forgot to include or fell asleep
without saying my childhood prayer! I
lived in fear of forgetting to confess something and on judgment day finding
out I did not qualify for heaven – it was tormenting! Sometimes I’d be so unhappy that I use to ask
God to let me die. I thought: what was
the use in living because, no matter how hard I tried or how bad I wanted to, I
just could not live a day without sinning!
I was just no good – a waste of God’s time; I was so unhappy over this
failure to measure up to God’s standards!
After I had been baptized I remember my dad saying, “Ah, you are going to hell just like the rest of us – you aren’t any better
then the rest of us. I made up my
mind right then and there that if God had made a way to get to heaven then I
would find it! I would show my dad that
I did not have to go to hell – if God had made a way to get to Heaven, then I wanted God to
show it to me!
When I was 21 years old, the Lord ordered my steps to
Georgia
The first time I attended the Baptist church service
I recall the pastor’s sermon – it was about coming out from among them and
separating ourselves from some of our friends that are not living for the
Lord. I was hanging out with people that
did not believe or live for the Lord so I had to find new friends, which I did
at this little Baptist church. I
remember when the pastor gave the invitation that first Sunday, I did not even
wait for the song to finish – I almost ran down the isle, thinking I had to be
saved all over again. When I got down
there and the pastor’s wife explained that “for by grace are ye saved through
faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest
any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)
She explained that all I had to do to receive eternal life was ask Jesus
into my heart and accept him as my personal savior. I remember thinking, you mean I had “eternal
life” all this time and I didn’t even know it?
All these years – since age 14, that I had done everything that needed
to be done to “get to heaven?” I couldn’t believe it was so easy and
wonderful! He, who the Son sets free, is
free indeed! I had been set free – for
the first time in my Christian life I was at peace with God and free indeed!
I hope my testimony helps you realize that Jesus is
“the Way, The Truth and the Life, no man comes to the Father except through
Jesus.
If you would like to guarantee that your name is
written in the Lamb’s book of life and that He will confess you before His
Father and all the Holy angels, please pray this simple prayer and only
believe, to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord:
Father, it
is written in Your Word that if I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and
believe in my heart that you have raised him from the dead, I shall be
saved. Therefore, Father, I confess that
Jesus is my Lord. I make Him Lord of my
life right now. I believe in my heart
that You raised Jesus from the dead. I
renounce my past life with Satan and close the door to any of his devices.
I thank you
for forgiving me of all my sin. Jesus is
my Lord, and I am a new creation. Old
things have passed away; now all things become new in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Scripture
References:
John 3:16 John 14:6
John 6:37 Romans
10:9, 10
John 10:10 Romans
10:13
Romans 3:23 Ephesians
2:1-10
2 Corinthians 5:19 2
Corinthians 5:17
John 16:8, 9 John
1:12
Romans 5:8 2
Corinthians 5:21
Beautiful testimony Sharron of the freedom we have when we trust in the righteousness of Christ & realize we have none apart from Him! So thankful that when God looks are my life He sees His Son in me...not my sin! Love & miss you sweet “sister”!
ReplyDeleteThanks! God bless all of you and keep you safe according to Psalm 91! Love all of you.
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