Beltway Testimonies

Testimony unfolded: May 2009

A miracle with candles for those familiar with Jewish history and culture:

Had a small version of an ancient miracle! In the days of the Maccabees, one day’s worth of oil burned 8 days to allow time to prepare more. I lit candles for Shavuot last night, knowing it was not kosher to light them for Shabbat, since there are two consecutive days that fire is not to be kindled. You can light a candle from an existing flame. I also lit two yartzheit candles in memory of my Dad, and Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife who were murdered in Mumbai last December. Yarzheit candles usually last no more than 4-6 hours. I have lit them at night and they have been out by morning every time. But this time, after 24 hours, they are still going, and I was able to light the Shabbat candles to sanctify the Shabbat from an existing flame! ברוך השם שנסיו עמנו בכל יום ובכל עת!!!! Praise GOD whose miracles are with us every day and at all times!!!!!

Shabbat Shalom!!

Testimony Unfolded: May 2008

God brings energy:

I suffered from a chronic disease, which left me tired after activities. I had the healing team pray over me. I recently went on an overseas trip and was full of energy, more than I have ever had. THANK YOU LORD!

Testimony Unfolded: January 19, 2008

Thomas Wilson, a guitarist on our worship teams, shares how God miraculously intervened in technology:

This last Saturday night, me, Josh Mcqueen, Blake Holder, and Pascoal Mafuieque did our regular deal out in Albany, leading worship for their youth service “Fearless”. We arrived in that great village a couple of hours early to set up and practice. Everything was going well, we set up, and it sounded ok, but a little way into practice Blake’s bass head stopped working. He dismantled it as the rest of us continued on, but to no avail. He had taken that thing apart and had tried so many different things to get it to work that we knew without help it would never happen. Searching for a solution, we called Brenton Dowdy to see if he could hook one of our friends up with a head from the church so that when he arrived later, though Blake would have to play without having practiced, he would at least get to play. We never really found out what happened with that because we soon found the correct solution to our quandary: Jesus.

As Blake sat trying to figure something out, the rest of us began to be discouraged, realizing the songs would be pretty empty without bass, and a spirit of frustration seemed to have infiltrated our midst. At one point, it was so bad that we stopped practicing, and Josh took the initiative to lead us in prayer. we sat and laid down on the floor, praying that God would take away any barriers that would be in our way of experiencing him and that he would smooth out all of the problems we faced. We begged that he would return to us a spirit of peace and a heart of worship. Soon Josh prayed out loud and after he said “Amen”, we looked up, only to see Blake still working on his head. The only difference was that now, he was putting it all back together. I somehow knew he had prayed over it, but Josh apparently didn’t, so he unassumingly asked “dude, what are you doing?” Blake responded confidently that it was going to work this time. Josh simply asked how he had fixed it, and what he had tried differently to get it io work. Blake replied, “nothing.” So as he plugged everything back in and Josh turned it on for him, I remember thinking “it really is going to work. wow.” And sure enough, without changing a thing, he turned it on, plugged in, and began playing, messing with his EQ to get his bass to sound good as the rest of us sat praising God for his Glorious intervention. God heals. People, animals, electronics, you name it. He heals.

So at the beginning of worship, Josh told this testimony, and a great time of worship ensued for all…..supplemented nicely by a very much needed bass guitar.

A prophetic song that I had been given managed to transcend space. I was leading worship for my church’s regular Wednesday night service in which we were taking communion. It was not the typical format though, in that every person was personally prayed for with an elder or pastor to agree with them on anything they wanted victory or freedom in. This particular format created an opportunity for me and the team to play music and sing over them. During that time as well as many others through out the evening the Lord had guided me to sing a particular song over the people that He had given me about a month previously. There was one specific moment, the first that God had prompted me to sing it, that I introduced it as a song that God completely downloaded to me on the spot during a youth New Year’s Eve worship time.   

Immediately following the service I was approached by a man that is in my small group. He was quite excited to share with me that even though he had just returned to America (after spending six months in Iraq) he was certain that he had heard that song in the desert on his iPod. There wasn’t an ounce of uncertainty in his voice or delivery. I asked him if he was sure he wasn’t confusing it with another song and they answered with a certain, “No.” He then stated that he had heard the song sung in my voice and he knew the words already. He said it had been stuck in his head since he had heard it. We began to think through the timing when the Lord reminded us that just a few weeks before during a small group time of worship hosted by his wife at his house (while he was still in Iraq), we had prayed that those who were not with us in person would still be blessed and encouraged by our coming together. That God would meet them where they were at and bless them as though they were present. Soon after the Lord prompted me to sing that new song again. This man was entirely confident that he had spiritually heard the prophetic song we were singing that night. We asked God to bless him like he was present, and God played him a piece of our worship on his iPod! The chorus, rooted from Psalm 34:10, was this; 

 

“Those who seek the Lord

They lack not one good thing

They lack not one good thing”