Participants: John Lomacang (Host), Merlin Beerman, Vonda Beerman
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY016026A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:06 Mending broken people 00:11 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:33 I want to spend my life 00:39 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:50 Mending broken people 01:06 Hello, friends, and welcome to 3ABN Today. 01:08 My name is John Lomacang, 01:10 but you may know that 01:11 if your part of our 3ABN family, 01:12 but if you're not, 01:14 and this is your first time welcome. 01:16 I would like to encourage you to remember this channel 01:18 because we believe that 01:20 this is the channel for the hour in which we live. 01:23 We believe that Jesus is soon to come. 01:25 And we know that your prayers 01:27 and all of your support whether financial 01:29 or whether you volunteer here with us, 01:31 will help in getting people ready 01:34 for the coming of the Lord. 01:35 We have two wonderful guests today 01:37 that we are thankful are here. 01:38 You get to meet them in just few a moments but, 01:42 I'd like to thank you for all your prayers, 01:45 3ABN is continuing to grow, our challenges are increasing, 01:49 sometimes we remember that the Lord is in charge 01:52 when the pie seems to be small. 01:54 But anything that you can do to advance 01:56 the cause of God through this ministry is greatly, 01:58 greatly appreciated. 02:00 Now because our guest is a singer 02:03 and they are both involved in ministry, 02:05 I would like to go ahead and introduce them now 02:07 before we often go to the music roll. 02:11 We have the musician here today 02:13 so let's welcome them at this present time. 02:16 Good to have you Merlin, and Vonda Beerman, 02:18 welcome. 02:20 Good to be back. 02:21 I tell you, it's so good to see you guys again after, 02:23 you know, we sometimes cross paths, 02:26 either singing somewhere 02:28 maybe either with the Voice of Prophecy 02:31 or some kind of event that's taking place 02:33 or at ASI or General Conference 02:35 or sometimes you're here 02:37 in the Southern Illinois area taping at 3ABN 02:39 and but it's so good to have you back again. 02:43 For those who are watching and listening 02:45 to the program now, 02:46 some people might say, Vonda, Merlin hey, 02:49 they're on television today, but other people might say, 02:51 who are they? 02:52 So briefly, Vonda, 02:54 let our viewers and listeners know who you are, 02:56 where you're from and what you do right now? 02:58 Okay, well, I'm a musician for the Lord, 03:01 and traveling, sing praises to His name. 03:04 Been doing it for about, when we figure? 03:07 Somewhere in 90s. 03:08 Twenty six years, we've been traveling. 03:11 Wow! Wow! 03:12 I've been raising four children, you know, 03:14 most of that time so it's always been part time, 03:17 but now as these last couple years 03:20 we've been full time on the road. 03:21 Wow! Wow! 03:23 When you say, 03:24 we that's you and your husband travel together now. 03:26 Yes. 03:27 He doesn't sing but he's very much 03:28 a big part of this ministry 03:30 so when I say we... 03:31 Right, I got you. Yeah. 03:32 You know, the same thing 03:34 when my wife and I travel together 03:35 they often say, "Does she sing?" 03:37 and she says, 03:38 "No, I'm here in the role of a support." 03:40 Oh, but she does run audio for me 03:42 so that really is good to have with you. 03:44 But, Merlin, good to have you here today. 03:46 Yeah, he says, he carries 03:47 the twins in the family, literally. 03:49 With mixer and the speaker so. 03:51 Okay, so the mixer, the speaker, the CDs, 03:53 but even more than that 03:55 the husband is always good to have support 03:57 when you're on the road. 03:58 Amen. 03:59 And so, right now you guys are going through 04:01 the empty nest syndrome as your children have grown up. 04:04 That's a good thing to give you more time to spend together. 04:06 Pretty close, we got one at home still. 04:08 A one more at home. 04:10 Well, he is of age 04:11 but he's back home for a little while. 04:13 Going to community college so. 04:14 Okay, well that's a good thing. 04:16 But Merlin let our viewers and listeners know 04:18 we just kind of alluded to it 04:21 but kind of give us a more detailed 04:23 overview of what you do right now. 04:25 Well, I work part time in hospital, 04:28 practicing in brain cancer. 04:30 And the Lord has blessed me 04:32 with enough hours outside of that 04:34 to do a publishing ministry 04:36 which was kind of birthed out of 04:37 Vonda's music ministry years ago, 04:39 when we got invited into prisons and longer story, 04:42 but in the process of trying to nurture the prisoners, 04:45 we end up starting a correspondence Bible school, 04:48 which eventually turned into a publishing ministry. 04:50 Wow! 04:51 We're gonna talk about that in just a moment. 04:52 I'm excited about what you talked about off air about, 04:56 you know, when God gives you a dream, 04:58 it's not something that might happen. 05:01 There's not a possibility but more of a probability 05:04 because God does not give you any dream 05:06 that He does not bring to fruition. 05:09 And I'm excited about what you just told me here 05:11 and we'll let our viewers and listeners 05:13 know in just a moment 05:14 how they can find out more about that. 05:16 But, Vonda, about how many years has it been 05:17 since you've been connected to the 3ABN family. 05:21 Well, we're sitting here thinking about it was 1992, 05:24 makes me feel so old. 05:27 I'm a little wiser and a little fatter. 05:31 You know the wonderful thing about that 05:32 as we grow in the Lord 05:34 and but thank you so much for being part of our family. 05:36 You get a chance to do concerts in Southern Illinois 05:38 whenever you come here though, that's a nice thing. 05:41 We were glad to have you at our church 05:43 when you came last 05:44 and I think it was Frankfort Church, 05:46 maybe the Marion Church, 05:48 but we always appreciate what you do for the Lord. 05:51 We're going to get to your story 05:52 because you have a great story 05:53 that you want to share with our audience today, 05:55 but I want to start first 05:56 with this publishing ministry that 05:58 you alluded to when we were getting ready for the program. 06:02 Tell us about the dream 06:03 and how the Lord brought that to fruition 06:06 and what's happening with it right now? 06:07 Okay, well, our ministry 06:09 the publishing part is called 06:10 Revelation Publications International. 06:13 And you can see the graphic here of our ministry building 06:16 which the Lord blessed us with a couple years back. 06:20 The next graphic shows some of our projects basically, 06:24 our ministry produces Bible study guides 06:28 using some well known books like, 06:30 Steps to Christ, Great Controversy, 06:32 Christ Object Lessons, 06:33 those are used as the commentary and the guide 06:36 and we always ask a question 06:38 pointing you to the Bible for the answer 06:40 and these are the blessing that follows. 06:43 I won't go into the detail how this came about 06:45 but over the years 06:46 we've been blessed to produce a number of those. 06:50 Next is our website. 06:53 This is very exciting. 06:55 I'll just take a second to give a little history here. 06:59 Four years ago, 07:00 last time we were here interviewing, 07:02 we had just started this little ministry, 07:04 had been going for about three weeks. 07:08 In a nutshell one day I was on my knees 07:10 before a world map in my office. 07:12 Pleading with God, 07:14 how can we take these to the world 07:16 and He impressed me to make this website 07:19 and put these Bible studies on there for free download. 07:22 And I'm thinking, okay Lord, 07:23 I'll do that but I don't really understand 07:25 because people either need to know my web address 07:28 which nobody is going to 07:29 or they're going to do a Google search 07:31 for free Bible studies 07:32 and I'm going to end up on page 15 07:34 and nobody's going to come. 07:36 I said, okay, Lord, 07:37 I'll be obedient started put them on there 07:39 and sure enough the first year 07:41 there is maybe 30 or 40 at the website, 07:44 the next year maybe 50 or 60. 07:46 Next year maybe a 100 07:48 and then a neighbor came over one day 07:50 and told me about something called Google AdWords. 07:52 He said, "Yeah, you can go into Google 07:54 and you can make a little ad, 07:56 either a picture ad or a text ad 07:58 and you give keywords 08:01 and people when they're searching, 08:02 your ad will come up, 08:04 they click on it go to your website." 08:06 I thought, that sounds pretty exciting, 08:08 I wonder if this would work for the Bible studies. 08:10 So that night I went in and made this little ad, 08:12 that's the next picture here. 08:14 In fact this is the very ad, you can see the picture ads, 08:18 at the top is the text ad, it basically says, 08:21 you know "Christ says, 'You come to me 08:23 and if you're worried I'll give you rest." 08:25 And started running the ad and within the next morning 08:28 there were seven people at the website. 08:30 I was pretty excited 08:32 that's more people that came in a month you know. 08:34 Well it gets a lot better 08:36 next day there were 30 some and the next day 80 some. 08:40 Next day, a couple of hundred, 08:42 so we started upping the budget 08:44 because once the budget spend, 08:45 Google's not going to advertise for free, right. 08:47 We're up in the budget 08:49 and pretty soon there's 500, 800. 08:53 I think when we were here after about three weeks, 08:55 there was just a couple of hundred. 08:56 And we were sitting here all excited. 08:58 But believe me it gets a lot better. 09:01 Overtime a few weeks we're up to 800, 1000, 09:05 a couple of thousand, 09:08 the day of Pentecost 3000 in one day, 09:12 but these aren't people that came the day before 09:14 and the day before... 09:15 These are just new hits. 09:16 Google knows the address of the computers 09:18 and doesn't count them with a return people. 09:21 Pretty soon we are up to 5,000, 8,000, 09:26 numbers keep climbing 09:29 and I think the next graphic is the world map 09:33 showing excitedly what's happened to date. 09:36 I made this slide a few weeks ago, 09:37 we were at 7.6 million bit. 09:40 As of today we're at 7.9 million 09:43 at this website in four years. 09:44 Wow. 09:46 And the exciting part is 09:47 we're putting this before people 09:49 for two cents a person. 09:52 I mean where can you just put the gospel 09:55 in front of somebody that's looking 09:56 from the other side of the world for two cents. 09:59 Since then we went nonprofit, 10:01 we were calling for supporters to help us, 10:04 so we have our daily budget that right now 10:07 we're at about 8 to 9,000 people a day 10:09 that keep coming to this website 10:11 day after day after day. 10:13 In fact, a little while ago I looked on my phone 10:15 ten minutes ago, 10:16 and there were 40 at the website. 10:18 I mean God is good and at that same map 10:22 if we could bring that up for a second. 10:24 If you notice anywhere you see blue. 10:27 That's where God has taken these Bibles studies. 10:30 You mean the light blue? 10:31 Any blue and the darker the blue 10:33 is where it's been the most, the most hits. 10:37 Right now China, 10:38 yesterday it was 2,000 in China alone. 10:42 There's been a couple hundred thousand 10:45 in the last year in China. 10:47 We put Arabic on the website about two months ago. 10:50 There's been over 20,000 people 10:52 in that language around the world. 10:54 Unbelievable. They just keep coming. 10:56 Praise God and all glory to Him. 10:58 There is only one little country, 11:00 which one is it? 11:02 For a long time we didn't have any of North Korea 11:04 but somehow we got around that wall 11:06 because somebody is downloading in North Korea now. 11:09 And there's one desert, 11:11 there's probably not internet out middle of that desert. 11:14 Oh, that's what I'm talking about, yeah. 11:15 God has heard my prayer, that prayer I prayed that day. 11:19 That is amazing. That is amazing. 11:21 You didn't tell us but in a capsule 11:23 you were praying but just kind of 11:25 you talked about prisoners 11:27 and this desire to put a website 11:28 and I'll get Bible studies. 11:30 What is the untold story? 11:32 Has birthed out of Vonda's music. 11:35 We got invited in the prisons. 11:38 We would go in and share, and then we'd leave 11:40 and there really wasn't a presence, 11:42 anybody presence nurturing them. 11:44 And so that's when we felt impressed 11:47 to start the Bible School and people started asking, 11:51 we'd give Steps to Christ, this awesome little book. 11:55 If any viewers don't have that I'm sure 3ABN will be 11:57 glad to put that in your hands. 12:00 This little book we would share in the prisons 12:02 and these prisoners would write back 12:04 and say we're being very blessed by this book, 12:06 but we don't understand all the big words. 12:09 So I started looking for a simple English version, 12:12 you know, it was written 12:13 with Victorian English in the late 1800s, 12:16 and so I started looking 12:17 for something in more modern English 12:18 and there really wasn't anything out there 12:20 than the other is 12:22 so I started paraphrasing it 12:23 one paragraph at a time 12:25 at the end of my devotion each morning. 12:26 You did Steps to Christ. 12:27 Steps to Christ, and as I was doing that, 12:29 I was looking up to texts and I was just been so blessed, 12:32 and one day the light bulb came on, 12:34 this should be a Bible study, not just another book. 12:37 So that's how it was birthed and then the concept... 12:40 other prison ministries in Texas and Oklahoma 12:43 asked if they could use them. 12:44 We said, sure, 12:46 and eventually they said, 12:48 "Well, when gonna write some more." 12:49 And I said, "Well, 12:51 I'd love to but I got four kids and a full time job 12:54 and two ministries 12:55 and I'm writing for 400 prisoners, 12:57 I don't have a lot of time." 12:58 They said, "Well, let us take your letter writing 13:01 and why don't you focus on publishing." 13:02 So that's kind of how it all came about. 13:04 And right now millions have attended that website. 13:07 God is amazing. 13:09 And the numbers are gonna only grow, you know, 13:11 you don't ever grow down, you always grow up 13:13 as it becomes more aware, and I know that 13:16 by the viewers and listeners of this program, 13:18 when we give the address, 13:19 people are gonna start tapping on their keys 13:22 and finding through their cell phones 13:24 or whatever device they have... 13:25 Can I add some... Sure. 13:27 I want to say this, 13:28 because it shouldn't be our ministry on the front page. 13:31 It needs to be all of our ministries 13:33 and this is something 13:34 any ministry out there could do, 13:36 take advantage of this powerful tool. 13:39 There's something called Google Grants 13:42 and this is where 13:43 if you're a nonprofit and you qualify, 13:47 they will give you up to $10,000 a month 13:49 of free advertising. 13:51 And by God's grace we qualified for that about two months ago, 13:55 and that's reaching a lot of people. 13:57 But that's in the text ad, you know, 14:00 I mentioned there's two kinds of ads, 14:01 there was text ads and picture ads. 14:03 Right. 14:04 Picture ads are, is where we get 98 percent of our hits, 14:06 they come up when you're doing whatever, you know, 14:09 those irritating little ads that come up. 14:10 Yes. 14:12 That's why Google is making billions a year on those 14:14 from people who like me risen for God's glory, 14:18 but any ministry can take advantage 14:19 and the picture has a very cheap, 14:21 the text ads are quite a bit more pricey. 14:25 And so we're using that Google Grants to... 14:30 that 10,000 a month is getting us about a 1000 hits. 14:33 The donors who are there are giving us 14:35 5 to 500 a month. 14:37 God bless our donors. 14:39 At two cents each, 14:40 we're able to get 8000 from a lot less budget, 14:44 so I don't want people to think, oh, 14:46 they don't need our resources, we do. 14:49 I mean God has provided in that area, 14:51 it's a blessing but we're still looking for two things 14:53 we're looking for people willing to get involved 14:57 to donate to a nonprofit 14:59 and let us send you a tax receipt 15:01 at the end of year and be our partners. 15:02 I'll send out a e-mail map each month 15:05 like the one you saw showing 15:07 where your money is gone and tell you what's going on. 15:10 And the second thing is we need translators. 15:12 Right now we have 14 languages 15:13 and every language is a new mission field, 15:16 I mean literally around the world. 15:18 I mean even with 14 languages we're hitting the whole world. 15:20 Right. 15:22 You can imagine what we could do 15:23 if we could get another 10 or 20 or 30 languages 15:25 so anybody that's qualified and fluent in other language. 15:29 Okay. 15:30 Since we're giving these away, 15:31 we don't have money to pay people 15:33 but if people are willing to donate their time 15:34 and they have the ability, they go to our website. 15:37 The bible-lessons.org. 15:39 And if they don't see the language they're fluent in, 15:41 please contact us, we'd love to have your help. 15:43 Wow. 15:44 Thank you, Merlin. That's amazing. 15:46 So your ministry is all a part of this 15:48 and it's amazing that little vision out of 15:50 what you had already been doing, 15:51 the Lord birthed this new ministry. 15:53 But, Vonda, very much the minister of music. 15:56 You have music that you have produced, 15:58 you have a number of CDs, 15:59 we'll talk about that in a moment. 16:00 We want to highlight some of your music 16:02 today on our program 16:03 and, but just kind of lead us into... 16:06 I want to kind of highlight this first song, 16:08 then we gonna come back with an amazing story 16:10 because you've had some experiences 16:11 that God has allowed you to go through 16:13 that strengthened your ministry. 16:15 But that song, 16:16 "No one ever cared for me like Jesus, 16:18 " people have heard that before but you said, 16:20 the Lord had come to you with a special impression 16:23 as to why this song should be a part of your project, 16:25 kind of lead us into that before we bring the song up. 16:28 Yeah, okay. 16:29 Well, you know, 16:31 one day, I was just sitting at my desk, 16:33 just having my time with the Lord and I've always, 16:37 I've done several projects, I think it's about seven, 16:41 seven now. 16:42 And on every one I always pray over each song. 16:47 And about halfway through this album, you know, 16:51 I just asked the Lord to please impress me, 16:53 bring songs to me 16:54 because I'm not my own songwriter, 16:56 God just, you know, brings people to me. 16:58 And so I was sitting there 17:01 and I had over half of the songs 17:04 picked out that I felt like they were 17:07 what I call sermon songs 17:09 'cause I like to sing songs with a message. 17:11 And I said, "Lord, just speak to me 17:13 because, you know, 17:15 there's a few more spots left and I just, 17:18 I want to hear your voice. 17:20 I don't want to just pick another song, 17:23 you know, that's just me." 17:25 And before I could finish the words 17:28 that were coming out of my thoughts and my head. 17:30 You know I think, it's Isaiah where it says, 17:32 "Before you speak, I will answer." 17:34 And Isaiah 30:21 also says, 17:38 you know to what is it... 17:39 Hear the voice behind. 17:41 "Hear the voice behind you." 17:42 Saying, "This is the way." 17:44 And I heard that voice behind me 17:45 and it was so obvious, 17:47 I knew it had been from God 17:49 because there's no way 17:50 I was even thinking of that song. 17:52 Besides, he interrupted my thoughts and he said, 17:54 "No one ever cared for me like Jesus." 17:57 And I said, "Wow, Lord, is that you." 17:59 Okay, and I start to ponder and think about that 18:01 and when I said, "Lord, is that you." 18:04 I heard that voice again, 18:05 "No one ever cared for me like Jesus," 18:07 because I want you to tell my people. 18:10 How much I love them more than anyone else could. 18:13 And so this song 18:15 it just becomes so meaningful and so personal 18:18 because of that. 18:19 Wow, that's a wonderful lead, 18:21 and let's listen to this wonderful song of ministry. 18:38 I would love to tell you 18:41 What I think of Jesus 18:45 Since I found in Him a friend 18:49 So strong and true 18:54 I would tell you how He changed my life completely 19:02 He did something that 19:05 No other friend could do 19:11 No one ever cared 19:16 For me like Jesus 19:20 There's no other friend 19:23 So kind as He 19:29 No one else can take the sin 19:33 And darkness from me 19:39 O how much He cares for me 19:56 Every day He comes to me with new assurance 20:04 More and more I understand 20:08 His words of love 20:13 But I'll never know just why 20:16 He came to save me 20:20 Till some day I see 20:24 His blessed face above 20:29 No one ever cared 20:33 For me like Jesus 20:38 There's no other friend 20:41 So kind as He 20:46 No one else can take the sin 20:50 And darkness from me 20:57 O how much He cares 21:02 O how much He cares 21:06 O how much 21:09 He cares for me 21:30 Thank you so much for that song Vonda, 21:32 "No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus" 21:34 is a very real experience 21:37 not just words and music and lyrics to you, 21:39 but a very real experience 21:42 as people that are on the road, 21:43 there are always these opportunities 21:45 to have blessings 21:47 but then there are also challenges. 21:48 You had a challenge, 21:50 I want you to talk to our audience about 21:52 that was a time where you were not even able to travel, 21:55 you were out of commission so to speak, talk about that? 21:58 Okay, well, I had a shoulder accident. 22:02 Actually, I should say 22:03 it was several shoulder accidents. 22:06 And I just kept bumping into things really hard 22:11 and several times doing that 22:14 in the doorways and countertops, 22:16 and then one day 22:18 I was jogging and tripped on the bridge 22:22 and I went flying like superwoman, 22:23 it was terrible. 22:25 So you know... 22:26 So you just had this continuously 22:28 hit my shoulders and I report 22:29 and let me go ahead and hurt them right now. 22:30 Exactly. 22:32 So not to go into all the details of that 22:34 but I developed what's called frozen shoulder 22:38 and maybe some of the viewers have experienced that 22:41 but what it is, is when you are hurt, 22:46 God has created our body ability to spew out 22:52 I guess for a better word 22:55 fibrous tissues to wrap around that area to protect it. 23:01 Well, because I kept inadvertently hurting it. 23:05 I think that, you know, 23:07 they don't know what the cause is. 23:10 I've looked all that up. 23:12 They think it might be hormonal 23:14 but sometimes your body just goes wacky 23:18 and it just keeps spewing out these fibrous tissues 23:21 and it wraps around like a rubber band. 23:22 Have you ever seen these balls of... 23:24 Yeah, when you kind of tape it. 23:25 It just goes around the capsule here 23:28 of your shoulder around and around 23:30 and it just keeps going and pretty soon, you know, 23:33 you're babying it anyway and you're not moving it much 23:36 because it hurts. 23:38 Then you get to where you're just frozen 23:39 and that's why they call it frozen shoulder 23:41 you can't, you know, 23:42 I couldn't lift it over my head, 23:43 I couldn't lift it behind my back. 23:45 I can only lift it to about here and that was it. 23:48 And how long did you go through that? 23:50 Six months. Wow. 23:51 I was out of commission, 23:53 I was not traveling for those six months either, 23:55 because it is the most painful experience 23:58 I ever went through. 24:00 I have to ask, Merlin, 24:01 as a person in the medical field, 24:04 what was your feeling about this at that time? 24:05 You know, obviously you're in pain 24:08 when your spouse is and night after night 24:10 she's in a recliner in the living room, 24:12 icing and heat bags, and praying and crying, 24:15 and going to physical therapist, 24:18 going to chiropractors, going to MD's. 24:20 And with this there's... 24:22 most things have a first line of... 24:25 first plan for medically they know what successful 24:28 and they'll try this and then this and this. 24:29 Well with frozen shoulder, 24:32 none of them have a huge amount of success, 24:34 some of them have limited and so. 24:36 They just have you bouncing from one thing to the next, 24:39 and nothing was bringing her pain relief 24:41 but it's like somebody taking an ice pick 24:43 and jab it in your joint. 24:46 It was worse at night. 24:47 I mean I could handle it during the day, 24:49 it was, you knew, 24:50 it was there and it's painful but you're busy. 24:53 But and I had, you know, painful, 24:56 more painful moments at times in the day to bit, 24:59 at night I don't know what your body is doing 25:02 but I mean it was just, 25:03 it was terrible about three or... 25:06 between two and three somewhere around there 25:08 usually around 3 A.M, 25:10 I'd have to wake, you know, 25:11 it would wake me up 25:13 and I get a little bit of sleep but something's going on 25:15 and just felt like somebody was just 25:17 taking knives and stabbing, 25:18 I just couldn't sleep, and so 25:20 I try to have my time with the Lord. 25:22 You know, you don't want to waste that time, 25:24 you're up for hours, 25:25 trying to get your mind off of it 25:27 but literally, John, I just couldn't, 25:30 it got to the point to where it was accelerating 25:32 so bad that I couldn't concentrate 25:36 on even the word, you know, 25:39 reading the Bible. 25:40 And so one particular evening, 25:43 I woke up, did my routine, 25:46 you know, go and get the ice 25:48 and try to numb it. 25:49 And I felt this dark oppression over me 25:52 and I recognized it immediately 25:54 because I know my redeemer 25:57 and I felt his power 25:59 and I've also felt the power of the enemy, 26:01 and I knew that oppression was, 26:04 it was something that I could not, 26:07 I could not control myself. 26:10 And so I began to pray and cry, 26:13 and I just rocked back and forth on that couch, 26:16 holding my shoulder just sobbing to the Lord, 26:20 and I said, "Lord, I don't know what else to do, 26:22 this cannot be your will. 26:24 I know it's not your will that I am, 26:26 that I can't travel and sing praises to you. 26:29 I know it's not your will that 26:30 I can't even open the Bible and read it." 26:32 I said, "What is the deal tell me what," 26:34 you know, I've... 26:36 By the way I'll be backtrack a little bit, you know, 26:38 as things were progressing and getting worse, 26:42 I've had people lay hands on me two different times. 26:46 God has chosen not to heal me that way. 26:50 Then the natural remedies idea came in. 26:54 And I was doing all kinds of stuff. 26:55 "Oh, Lord, he wants to heal me through natural remedies." 26:58 Hot and cold. 26:59 Yeah, this is a blessing. 27:00 This will be a blessing to other people 27:02 as well, as me and I, 27:03 you know, I was cheerful for a while, 27:05 oh, the Lord's going to do this. 27:06 Turmeric by the way, 27:07 it works great for anti-inflammatory, 27:09 take lots of turmeric like two teaspoons of turmeric 27:12 I was taking every four hours, 27:15 because when you take Advil after a while, 27:17 you know, it just makes your stomach sick. 27:19 Yeah. 27:21 So anyway, no, 27:23 the Lord didn't choose to heal me that way. 27:26 So this is why I was in such deep darkness at that moment 27:31 because I was at a crossroad. 27:34 I could either go this way and say, you know, 27:37 like a road I could either go this way 27:40 and say," Lord, you know, 27:42 I don't understand it 27:44 and just doubt him and feel like he's not near, 27:47 he doesn't care." 27:48 Or I could go this way. 27:50 And I could say, "Lord, I refuse to doubt you. 27:53 I know you have a plan in this, just help me, 27:55 help me to know." 27:56 And I've been in that crossroad before many times, 27:59 and I've told my story about losing my voice 28:01 last time I was here, 28:03 and although I could write a book, John, 28:05 of all the miracle stories, 28:07 the miracle stories how God has miraculously 28:11 healed us or did something for us, 28:14 and I just didn't understand what was going on. 28:18 So finally, you know, 28:21 it always happens in your darkest moment 28:23 when you're finally just giving up 28:25 and not trying to figure it out any more. 28:27 It's not going to be natural remedies no, 28:30 healing, you know, through touching with, 28:33 you know, them touching 28:34 my shoulder and asking for that. 28:36 You know, all those things are good 28:39 and God uses those but God had a different plan. 28:41 And once I finally totally surrendered, 28:43 "Lord, you know take this darkness from me." 28:47 And of course, when you start to pray 28:49 and you praise especially out loud, 28:52 when you're speaking out loud the word of God, 28:55 the enemy cannot be anywhere near. 28:57 That's true. 28:58 And praise God, you know, 28:59 he was, it left but he was, 29:02 he was putting things in my mind like, 29:04 you know, what have you done. 29:07 You know your God is not hearing you anymore, 29:10 you know what it's, so anyway. 29:14 So I started having this conversation again, 29:16 it's kind of like the song we just talked about, 29:19 and I was just having a conversation with God 29:23 and I said, "Lord, just speak to me 29:25 and he interrupted my thoughts." 29:27 And I heard that voice behind me distinctly say, 29:31 "Hold on, I'll give you strength, 29:33 someone will be blessed through your pain." 29:37 Hold on someone will be blessed through your pain, 29:40 and I heard it twice and am like, "Oh, Lord, 29:44 there is a purpose in this, I can hang on. 29:47 Thank you." 29:48 And just this peace flooded me 29:50 and I was able to sleep for a little bit, 29:52 and you know, every night after that I think, 29:55 it was a another week or two I think of that 29:58 but every night, John, I could say, 30:01 when I got up, I was cheerful I was like, 30:04 "Lord, you've got a plan, 30:06 I know you're not going to fail me, 30:08 and I thank you for this pain 30:10 because it's going to bless someone." 30:12 And so then the next thing 30:17 I think was we decided to get on Google 30:21 and type in frozen shoulder again, 30:22 you know, we've done that before 30:24 and all we could find at the time was you know 30:27 we did a little research on 30:29 what causes it which they don't really know 30:31 but how to heal it. 30:34 You know how, what are the options for me. 30:37 We've looked at that before and all we found 30:40 and saw were these testimonies of kind of like 30:42 these Indian rituals that 30:46 almost like a hocus-pocus kind of thing. 30:49 Right. 30:50 Poof and you're well, and I'm like no, 30:51 that's not the Lord. 30:53 I don't, I don't want to go there. 30:54 I know that's not God's will. 30:55 So we never really found anything 30:57 but we felt impressed to look again, 31:00 this was like I don't know months later 31:03 and we come across to this doctor. 31:07 The only one that does this procedure 31:09 and it never popped up before Trigenics clinics 31:12 Dr. Allan Oolo Austin is his name, good man. 31:17 So we saw that and I got a little excited 31:19 because he said that it was 98 percent successful. 31:24 It was a non-surgical procedure 31:27 and there was no hocus-pocus about it, 31:29 you know, that he was actually a regular doctor 31:32 and so we started looking into it a little more, 31:37 and Merlin as smart as he is, you know, 31:40 he was the... 31:42 I'm just a skeptic. He was very skeptical. 31:45 At some places he was saying, "Not a 100 percent successful." 31:49 And then they were showing all these testimonies 31:51 and of the before and after and so I was intrigued. 31:55 So I'm looking, okay, 31:57 if somebody doesn't like something 31:59 you're going to hear about that... 32:01 In the testimonies, right exactly. 32:02 On the Internet. 32:04 Like the hotel review... 32:05 Exactly. 32:06 Don't go there anymore, great hotel, horrible service. 32:08 Exactly. 32:09 So we went on and are looking and everything's positive 32:12 so we started digging deeper. 32:14 Well, he even typed in scam and his name. 32:18 And somewhat it was all good. 32:20 It was all good. 32:21 So we got on our knees we prayed about it 32:24 and we felt like the Lord was leading in that direction 32:26 and I was still saying, 32:28 "Lord, I don't know what your plan is, 32:29 somebody is going to be blessed through this, 32:31 but I'm just going to move forward and do 32:32 what I know what to do." 32:34 I want you to hold, 32:36 I want you to give me the rest of that story 32:37 because I know where it's headed, I'm kind of, 32:38 I want that cliffhanger 32:40 where I want you to go right now 32:42 though is in the darkness, 32:45 in the immo... 32:46 of being immobilized wondering 32:49 what the purpose of all of this is. 32:51 You talked about there was this, 32:53 there was this moment of darkness 32:54 that came with that. 32:56 How would that song choose to believe 32:59 fit into this scenario because, you know, 33:01 there are times when we wonder, 33:02 "Okay, God, why did this even come 33:04 and what's the purpose of this." 33:06 Now we're going to talk about how God brought it to fruition 33:08 but lead me into that song, Choose to believe. 33:10 Well, it is perfect, John, for this situation, 33:13 because even though I recorded this song before I had this, 33:18 that was a divine thing too. 33:20 This was recorded, 33:22 Judy Arvesen wrote this song 33:23 in fact several songs that I did off of this album. 33:26 And it was written for a difficult time 33:30 that person had went through. 33:32 It's perfect for my situation too, 33:33 because I in the middle of that darkness, 33:36 I said exactly that. 33:38 I said, "Lord, I refuse to doubt you, 33:40 I choose to believe 33:42 that even though I cannot see what's in front of me. 33:46 You have to have a plan. 33:48 I know you love me." 33:50 And that's when he finally spoke and I heard it, 33:54 that still small voice. 33:56 Well, I want, as you listen to this song to think about 33:58 that trial that the Lord allowed 34:00 Merlin and Vonda to go through together. 34:02 And if you're at that place, 34:04 I would say the song will encourage you 34:05 to also do the same thing, Choose to Believe. 34:22 Into to which life, some rain must fall 34:28 But lately it seems 34:32 I've had it all 34:35 Just when I felt the storm was over 34:42 Out of the blue there came a God 34:48 But you never promised, that life would be easy 34:55 And I'm starting to see 35:02 Sometimes it takes the worst in life 35:08 To bring out the best in me 35:14 So I will choose to believe 35:18 Though I cannot see 35:21 How you're working all things for my good 35:27 And I'll hold your hand 35:31 Though I don't understand 35:34 Still I trust and choose to believe 35:51 Though you may know 35:54 Just what I'm needing 35:57 It's hard to let go and trust your needing 36:04 Just when I thought I lost control 36:11 You're always there you're always pleading 36:17 So for today, Lord help me to trust you 36:24 I need your strength not my own 36:30 And when I need a friend to turn to 36:37 You will be faithful and true. 36:42 So I will choose to believe 36:47 Though I cannot see 36:49 How you're working all things for my good 36:56 And I'll hold your hand 37:00 Though I don't understand 37:02 Still I trust and choose to believe 37:10 Walking by faith not by sight 37:16 It's so very hard to do 37:23 But as I grow 37:26 I come to know 37:29 That your love will see me through 37:35 So I will choose to believe 37:39 Though I cannot see 37:42 How you're working all things for my good 37:48 And I'll hold your hand 37:53 Though I don't understand 37:56 Still I trust and choose to believe 38:02 Lord, help me to trust you 38:07 And choose to believe 38:24 As you can hear that song 38:25 really does make a difference 38:27 when a person is in a dark tunnel, 38:29 a dark place in his or her life. 38:31 And as I've said to someone before, 38:33 when you cannot hear God, 38:34 it does not equate to the absence of God. 38:37 And so, Vonda, 38:38 you both choose and I would say, 38:40 I say both of you 38:41 because you're both going through this together. 38:42 You choose to believe 38:44 when the answers don't seem to be coming. 38:46 Let's keep walking through the story 38:47 because this is a place 38:49 where the very thing you want to do the most 38:51 you can't do and that's singing. 38:53 And you've been in those places before. 38:56 I like what you said a moment ago 38:57 before we went to the song. 38:59 I was saying boy, 39:00 you could write a book on trials 39:02 and you say, I can write a book on miracles, 39:04 and I thought how wonderful, don't accent the negative 39:06 but highlight the positive. 39:08 Talk about that 39:10 in the midst of people having difficult lives, 39:11 God is good. 39:12 Let's talk about that for a moment before we... 39:14 And then take us to that story 39:15 which I'm holding on for that cliffhanger. 39:18 Well, I just want to encourage the people 39:21 that God has a plan even in your pain 39:26 that if you seek Him and you trust Him, 39:28 He will give you the answers. 39:30 And faith the Bible says, 39:32 is the substance of things hoped for, 39:34 the evidence of things not seen. 39:36 So faith has to be exercised 39:38 and the only way we can exercise our faith 39:41 is by the word of God. 39:43 He is the word, He is in the word. 39:45 And so when those dark moments come, 39:48 I just want to encourage people, 39:49 pray every day for the power of the Holy Spirit in your life 39:54 and claim promises as your own, 39:57 claim the word of God, 39:58 take those promises that apply to you. 40:01 And say them out loud if you can and say, 40:04 Lord, you said, you said, 40:06 and, you know, 40:08 this is what I'm claiming 40:10 and it will help your faith to grow. 40:13 These are some of the things that have really helped me 40:15 and I've seen him just do marvelous things because of it. 40:20 So life is hard but God is good. 40:23 And as we see in our churches, God is good all the time, 40:26 all the time God is good. 40:29 Now before we bring that song up, 40:31 I want you to tell me. 40:32 Let's our audience know that's listening 40:35 and they're waiting to find out well, 40:36 why all this pain why so long. 40:38 Where was God going with all of this? 40:40 What was God doing through this? 40:42 Where was He leading you? 40:43 Well, I didn't know at first, 40:45 and so I started to doubt after we had called the clinic 40:49 and got an appointment, you know, 40:50 we were like two months out, 40:51 I had to wait two months because he's, 40:53 you know, gets a lot of people. 40:55 And by the way, I had it... 40:59 God worked it out that I was able to go earlier than that 41:03 because I had a series of concerts in Spanish planned 41:07 a year back that I never canceled yet, 41:10 we were going to Columbia for. 41:12 And so once we had scheduled this 41:16 then I had, 41:17 I wrote to the assistant and told him my situation. 41:22 I said, if there... 41:23 Look, I said, "If there's any cancellation, 41:25 you know please remember me." 41:26 And I told him my situation. 41:28 I was a musician, I know what I was doing 41:30 and he called me a day or two later 41:31 and he says, "Look, there was this lady 41:33 that had issues with her passport. 41:35 She's going to have to postpone, 41:37 there's an opening but you have to tell me 41:38 real quick because it goes fast." 41:40 And I'm like, oh, yes. 41:42 I think so, you know 'cause I asked when is it? 41:44 And he says, in two week. Like a week later. 41:47 In two weeks I think. 41:48 And so, I said, "Well, let me call my husband." 41:51 Well, I called my husband at work 41:53 and he said, "Oh, honey that's great. 41:55 Take it. 41:56 I can't go because I have patients, 41:58 and you know I can't change that 42:00 but you need to go." 42:02 And I said, "I'm not going without you. 42:04 You know when we're in terrible distress like this." 42:06 You want your spouse by." 42:08 I said, "I think I'll wait the two months, 42:09 I just can't go without you." 42:11 And he said, "No honey, please take Nicky." 42:13 Nicky is my oldest daughter, she's my little nurse, 42:16 she is a nurse, but I call her my little nurse. 42:18 And you're supposed to take somebody with you 42:21 because you have to do these certain exercises 42:23 that you have to be watched. 42:25 And so I said, 42:27 "I just can't go without you, 42:29 " so I hung up the phone. 42:32 And that's when the Lord gave me the dream. 42:34 I dreamed a dream 42:36 I had like this déjà vu moment for a second. 42:41 Have you ever had those, it's like, wait a second. 42:43 Something clicked when he said my daughter Nikki. 42:47 It was a dream that 42:48 I had back a couple of nights before 42:51 and it was right in the middle of the night 42:52 I guess because usually remember your dreams 42:54 if it is right when you wake up. 42:55 Right. 42:57 But I started to ponder on that, 42:58 did this happen and then the more I pondered, 43:01 I thought, yeah, I dreamed this, 43:02 I dreamed I was at that clinic and my daughter was with me. 43:07 And I had to ponder on that and think is this real 43:10 and the more I thought about I was like yes, 43:13 I did dream this dream. 43:14 And then I heard the voice of God again, 43:16 He said, "Go, go." 43:18 And then that's when I realized 43:21 God had a divine appointment for me. 43:23 I didn't know it was somebody 43:24 that was going to sit next to the plane, 43:27 next to you on the plane, 43:28 if it was the nurse 43:30 or if it was the doctor himself but I knew. 43:32 I got chill bumps I was like, "Wow, Lord you are amazing." 43:36 In other words, the door starting to open up, 43:37 you're starting to see the light coming through. 43:39 Yes. Okay. 43:40 But just to back up a little bit, 43:42 I was having these doubts about going because again, 43:45 I had this little dark oppression over me saying 43:48 you shouldn't be doing this. 43:50 Look at all these other people that go through 43:51 what you do and they just wait it out. 43:53 You know, you're spending thousands of dollars 43:55 to go and fix your arm. 43:57 Look what you could do 43:59 for the gospel with that you know, 44:00 right. 44:01 I mean just all of these, you know... 44:03 Right, the devil is trying to impose 44:05 what God is trying to do. 44:06 Of using thoughts, yeah, 44:08 and then it took me a little bit 44:09 but then I realized wait a minute. 44:11 That doesn't come from God. 44:12 And, John, I have to tell you that we... 44:15 I have learned in many years of my Christian walk 44:18 to examine yourself talk. 44:22 If you ask the Holy Spirit to show you every day, 44:25 you examine yourself talk. 44:27 We can be brutal to ourselves, 44:29 and realize where it comes from, 44:32 stop and analyze and say, 44:34 "Okay, does that come from God 44:35 or does that come from somewhere else, from enemy." 44:38 And I realized, Lord, that's not from you. 44:40 You've got to give me peace, 44:42 you've got to give me peace that 44:44 I'm going there to get you know this procedure done 44:47 and it's your will. 44:49 And that's when you know I just want to back up 44:50 and tell you that because 44:52 and that's when he, 44:53 they called and got me in earlier 44:55 and he showed me that I had this dream. 44:58 So then I began to get very excited 45:00 and planning the trip out, and everything and so... 45:05 Anyway we went and the procedure my... 45:08 you know, my daughter came with me. 45:10 The procedure went really well. 45:13 The doctor is very compassionate person. 45:16 And what did you find out about him 45:17 particularly, specifically? 45:19 Online. 45:20 Yeah I found him on, he's the one that we Googled. 45:23 What plan did God had for him though that's the key... 45:25 Oh, what plan did he have? 45:26 Yes, I'm getting to that. 45:28 So then I didn't, you know, 45:30 I didn't meet anybody on the airplane 45:32 so I was like, "Okay, Lord, I knew this 45:33 but I prepared this gift bag." 45:36 And I said, "Lord, please help me not to fail you. 45:38 I don't know what divine appointment this is. 45:41 Am I supposed to talk to someone, 45:43 am I supposed to give someone something, 45:45 so I want to be prepared, don't let me fail you." 45:47 So I made a gift bag and I put it in my CD in there 45:51 and I put a couple of pamphlets 45:54 and I put Steps to Christ 45:55 which is the best book on the character 45:57 and love of Christ in my opinion. 45:59 And then God impressed me, 46:01 I usually don't give these out very often. 46:05 God impressed me to stick in prophecy, 46:07 Daniel and Revelation disk. 46:10 Foundations of Prophecy 46:11 Foundation of Prophecy, 46:13 and so long story short, 46:15 we get down with procedure, the enemy saying, 46:18 "I can't leave this out." 46:20 He wanted to hypnotize me because he said, 46:23 "If I hypnotize you won't feel any pain." 46:27 And I said, Lord, is this... 46:29 what have I done. 46:31 This is like you know not your will. 46:34 So I told him I said, "No, thank you, 46:36 my Lord will get me through it." 46:38 So just fast forward, 46:41 we went through it and then 46:45 I handed him that bag. 46:48 And he looked in that bag 46:49 and he said, "What is this 46:52 and he pulled that out 46:53 the one that had the Daniel and Revelation seminar." 46:56 He called me back into the office 46:57 my daughter and I 46:59 and he said, 47:00 "I've been looking for something like this." 47:02 Praise the Lord. 47:04 He said, you know, there's more to the story. 47:07 I wish I can, I had time to tell you 47:09 but he's been in contact with me. 47:10 That was it. 47:12 I mean he was so ecstatic, 47:13 John, my daughter and I got in the car we were. 47:16 Did this really happen. 47:18 I cannot believe this really happened. 47:19 So what you found out the Lord 47:21 and through all this trial was leading you 47:23 to this doctor who is looking for the truth. 47:25 Amen. 47:26 So life is hard, but God is good. 47:29 I tell you, I do it all over again, 47:31 it was such a endorphin feeling... 47:35 A fulfilling moment. God used me, yeah. 47:36 You know as you listen to this song. 47:38 Life is hard but God is Good, 47:39 just think about that through your trials and difficulties 47:42 sometimes God lead you down a dark road 47:44 that at the end of that darkness, 47:46 the light of God will be reflected in someone's life. 47:48 Listen to the song. 47:50 We'll go to a newsbreak 47:51 and then we'll come back for some closing thoughts. 48:10 You turn the key 48:12 Then close the door behind you 48:17 Drop your bags on the floor 48:24 You reach for the light 48:27 But there's darkness deep inside 48:31 And you can't take it anymore 48:37 'Cause sometimes living takes the life out of you 48:45 And sometimes living is all you can do 48:54 Life is hard, 48:57 The world is cold 49:01 We're barely young 49:03 And then we're old 49:08 But every falling tear is always understood 49:14 Life is hard 49:20 But God is good 49:33 You start to cry 49:35 'Cause you've been strong for so long 49:40 But that's not how you feel 49:47 You try to pray 49:49 But there's nothing left to say 49:54 So you just quietly kneel 50:01 And in the silence of all that you face 50:08 God will give you 50:10 His mercy and grace 50:17 Jesus never said It was an easy road to travel 50:24 He only said that you would never be alone 50:31 So when your last thread of hope 50:34 Begins to come unraveled 50:37 Don't give up, He walks beside you 50:41 On this journey home 50:47 And He knows Life is hard 50:54 The world is cold 50:58 We're barely young and then we're old 51:05 But every falling tear is always understood 51:11 Life is hard 51:18 Yes, life is hard 51:25 But God is good 51:54 If you would like to know more about this ministry, 51:56 you can write to Revelation Publications International, 51:59 38275, Jasper Lowell Road, Fall Creek, Oregon 97438. 52:05 That's Revelation Publications International, 52:08 38275, Jasper Lowell Road, Fall Creek, Oregon 97438. 52:15 You can call 800-952-4457. 52:19 That's 800-952-4457 52:22 or you can visit their website at bible-lessons.org. 52:27 That's bible-lessons.org 52:31 If you'd like to get some of Vonda's CDs, 52:33 you can order online at RevelationPublications.com. |
Revised 2016-09-29