Full Quiver Ministries

Testimonies from a Hurricane…

I had something else I was going to upload this week. Something way different than this, but I felt like I was supposed to share some of our testimonies from this last couple of weeks. It’s definitely been wild! Before I start telling stories, I want to make sure that you understand these stories are not about my involvement. I’m not trying to point to me or my involvement as the focus. I want to point to the faithfulness and love of Jesus! 

For the past month, Psalms 126:3 has been on my family’s mind and in our hearts. We’ve taught it to our kids and we recite it together. 

The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with Joy.

Psalms 126:3 (NIV)

I needed hope. I heard a speaker the other day say that the word for steal in the famous scripture about the Devils game plan (John 10:10) can be translated as embezzlement. It’s a slow burn. Over the summer, I feel like my hope was embezzled, so I looked for something I could recite to change my mind. This scripture showed up in my daily reading and has been amazing for me. It’s like I heard Steffani Gretzinger say once before about singing. She said something like, “Sometimes you sing a song because you believe it, sometimes you sing a song until you believe it.” That was me. I was declaring the greatness of God until I believed it again. This is where our testimonies start. 

The House:

Thursday was a difficult day at work and I was pretty drained. In the middle of this mood or funk, if you will, I felt like I heard the Holy Spirit tell me that my kids and wife were afraid and that we needed to do something about it. I felt like He said I needed to anoint the house with oil and release peace and grace in the house. He brought a class back to mind that had recommended this for a different reason. So we did. When I got home and had showered and gathered my thoughts, I grabbed our E-V-O-O and went to roughly the four corners of the house and anointed them. We declared peace and grace to be released in our home and the Holy Spirit to have dominion there. Then I went to bed. My wife woke me up and I heard the noise of a tree falling in the yard.

 It was about 5:30A.M. and the worst of the storm was going through. It sounded like a roar. It sounded like everything that you’ve ever heard a hurricane sounds like. It sounded horrific, and the more I sat there listening to it, the more weirded out I became! I was still groggy, but my morning routine when I wake up at that time is to turn on some worship music and read my daily scriptures. My wife gathered all the kids and everyone else onto the couch in the living room. The kids started to sing the songs that were playing. They started to worship in a hurricane! They began to recite Psalms 126:3 and then they started playing video games and going back to sleep. After that moment, I sent them back to their beds. I was sure that we were protected, no matter what it sounded like outside. 

The tree that we heard fall, that frightened my wife the most, was a giant oak. It missed our house by about 2 inches. Some leaves were touching the brick but no branches did. Another tree crushed our chicken coop (All the chickens survived!) but that’s not the miracle in question. The miracle was that my family came together in the middle of 100 MPH winds, in the middle of Georgia, with trees falling all around,  to praise God and recite scripture. It told me that the Hurricane has nothing in my family and that the Lord was truly great to us!

The Water:

We love our property. We love living on land with chickens and trees and a well. All of that’s great with power. It becomes very challenging without power though, because you don’t have water! Friday morning after surveying the damage outside of our home, I felt like I needed to find a source of water. My parents had mentioned that there were rumors about turning off the water in their county, but my job still had water so I decided that’s where I needed to head to get water. I loaded up our little enclosed trailer with all the water containers I could find, big and small, and got ready to leave our yard. 

I decided to listen to the Holy Spirit and see where that would take me. I asked which way I needed to go and He said, “Left” out of the driveway. That’s not the right direction to get to work. I figured He was taking me a back way to the highway. A road less traveled if you will. I asked for the next direction. “Left,” He said again. The Next direction was the same and that put me in the middle of nowhere, riding on a road that I know leads me deeper into the sticks and not towards the town my job is in. I drove about 15 minutes, weaving in and out of the trees that were laid into the road by Helene. I came upon a few cars in the road and one in the ditch. They were trying to get a really nice Cadillac out of the mud on the side of the road. 

One of the vehicle’s drivers flagged me down and asked where I was headed. I told him where I was trying to go and he gave me directions that would’ve taken me back by my house! I was completely lost! I told him why I was going there and he said that if I needed that he would turn on his generator and give us water from his well. I followed him to his home, where we began to fill all of my containers with water. Afterwards we prayed and the Holy Spirit gave me a few words of knowledge to bless those guys with. One of the words was specific to the man giving me water. He had run a political campaign and the Holy Spirit told me that his campaign had failed because he wanted to bring Kingdom policies to our counties. There had been spiritual warfare. He asked me if I had followed his campaign, which I hadn’t. The Holy Spirit was giving me details about his campaign that they had found doing their campaign autopsy. I blessed the group of people in the way I felt the Holy Spirit lead. He showed up and gave me connections that I wouldn’t have made any other way than by looking for water after a hurricane. The connections are the miracle here. The water was the need that created it!

“Grandpa”

With trees down, and no money for land clearing, you find yourself in need of a chainsaw. And to be completely honest, I want to cut those trees up myself. It looks like fun! A lot of work, but fun! 

6 years ago, I inherited a chainsaw from my Grandpa. He moved in with my parents and no longer needed his tools, so some of them came to be with me. I set it on the shelf for a few years and didn’t do anything with it until I got a bug to see that chainsaw run. It needed a few new parts like a filter and a priming bulb and a new fuel line, so I purchased a kit off of amazon that should’ve been fit for a complete rebuild. It even came with a new carburetor! I put all those pieces on except the carb. It didn’t fit. I filled it with fuel and tried to start it. It would turn over, but it never ran. While I was walking around surveying the damage, I realized my need for that chainsaw. 

I had heard a message by Bill Johnson that talked about the word “wait” in Isaiah 40:31. He said that it was used 53 times in scripture and that only five times is that word used as “wait”. The other 48 times, it’s translated as “groaning as in childbirth” or “twirling in the dance”. It’s a picture of engaging your emotions in prayer. My prayers should match the situation I find myself in. Side note, this is difficult to do if your emotions are turned off. So I approached my chainsaw with this idea in mind, I needed it, and I was going to engage my emotions in praying for my chainsaw to work. I went into my garage, placed hands on my chainsaw, and began to earnestly pray and weep over my chainsaw. I declared supernatural life over my chainsaw! My prayer matched the need I was experiencing. I saw a vision of a hand adjusting the screws on the carburetor while I was praying. 

I finished praying and brought the chainsaw to the yard, full of wonder, full of faith from the tree and the water. It still had the gas in it from 3-4 years prior. I primed it, choked it, and pulled the cord. The chainsaw turned over to my surprise and delight! I adjusted the choke to run, and pulled the cord again. The chainsaw roared to life, warmed itself until it was ready to idle. I was stunned! I believe in healing, but healing a chainsaw?!?!? That’s something I wasn’t prepared to receive. It broadened my expectations about where Jesus wants to intervene.

The chainsaw is still cutting things up around the yard after a week of hard use! The gas tank has been filled multiple times, the blade has been changed, so has the chain, and it’s still kicking! I decided to name the chainsaw “Grandpa” in honor of the patriarch of Faith in our family. The greatest gifts we’ve been given in this season are hope and faith. He’s chosen to give them to us in miraculous ways and we are just in awe of His tender love and care for us!

The Righteous, The Wicked

Monday we got running water. We didn’t get our power back, but my parents were able to procure us a generator that would be able to run our water pump. Tuesday, I needed to get some more gas to help out with our needs and the neighbors. We were all running generators and banded together in a little community to help meet each other’s needs.

 I had been told by a friend that the community down the road had gas and was largely unaffected by the hurricane. I headed East to go get gas and hopefully a HOT cup of coffee! On the way to the gas station I asked the Holy Spirit who He wanted to minister to today. He said “Blue shirts, brown hair. Just tell them I love them.” Now a man on two missions, I made my way to the gas station in this little town. There were no lines for gas, which was a miracle in itself! I couldn’t pay at the pump, so I walked into the store to pay. I was greeted by the sight of a store filled with employees whose uniform consisted of blue shirts and who the majority of them had brown hair! I didn’t make it around to all of them, but I did tell some of them about Jesus’ love. I went back outside after paying for my gas and filled up my cans and my wife’s car. After filling everything I could with gas, I went back inside to get the second part of my mission, HOT coffee! 

The way the coffee is situated, you have to walk all the way across the store and your back will be towards the door while you fill your cup. I told another lady about the love of Jesus and went to fill my cup. As I was doing this, a man with a booming voice entered the gas station and said, “Why does God punish the righteous with the wicked?” He didn’t receive an answer from anyone and posed the question several times. Honestly, I was kind of stunned by it. He made his way over to the soda fountain, which is beside the coffee. As he was passing me, he asked again, “Why does God punish the righteous with the wicked?” I turned and looked at him. He was an older gentleman. He didn’t have a mean look in his eye or seem to be bitter. He just seemed to be questioning. 

My conviction is that it’s not a passive Father that allows injustice and devastation, it’s a lawless devil that steals, kills, and destroys. I looked into this man’s eyes and said, “He doesn’t. That’s not who He is.” He seemed to be a little stunned. I don’t think he anticipated anyone actually answering him. 

He made his way to the counter with his drink and I ended up behind him in line. I finally took in the man’s appearance and noticed that he happened to be wearing a navy blue shirt and had a mix of white and brown hair on his head. It was my duty to tell him that Jesus loves him! So, I motioned to the woman at the counter that I would cover his tab. I sneaked by him and put my card into the reader. I was a little stunned that the bill was 26 dollars, but finished what I felt like I was supposed to be doing, paying for his bill in the name of Jesus. He asked the teller about his bill and she told him that I had paid. He turned and looked at me bewildered. “For my gas too?!?” I told him “Yes sir. I just want you to know that Jesus loves you, and so do I.” I shook his hand and we walked out of the door of the gas station. I asked if there was anything else I could pray for and he said no. We parted ways and went to our respected vehicles after one more blessing. 

He never lost that look of bewilderment. He got into his car and drove off. I’m sure that at least the next few minutes were spent contemplating the goodness of God. He left at least uncertain as to whether the Lord punishes the righteous with the wicked. It’s the seed that others can water. 

Jesus Does Answer Prayers:

Monday I found myself in line at the local RV store. I needed to get some cables to be able to attach my generator to the electrical panel in my house. I stood in line for 2 hours to get the cables I needed! While in the line, I asked the Holy Spirit if there was anything else I needed to do while I was there. 

He said, “Buy 2 generators.” That’s the reason most people were in the line. The staff had come out and reassured us several times that they had enough generators for everyone in line, so I wasn’t worried about taking something from someone else. I questioned the Holy Spirit about it, because I wasn’t sure who needed one in my circle. He reminded me that some of our covenant friends were still without power. I tried to call my friend to ask him if he wanted a generator, but he couldn’t answer. The cell service last week was spotty at best and usually non existent. I just decided to trust that I was hearing the Holy Spirit correctly and committed to do what I heard Him say. 

 I made it through the line, found what I needed to make everything work at my own house, grabbed the 2 generators and headed for the register. I loaded everything up and headed out. While I was exiting the parking lot, I called my friend and when I got no answer I tried his wife. She answered and I asked her, “Do you guys want a generator?” 

“Hang on,” she said, “let me hand you to my husband.” 

When he was on the phone, I asked the same question. Next I heard some thumping and some shouts and some fumbling about. He regained control of the phone, citing the excitement of his children at the prospect of power as the reason for the chaos. They were just around the corner from where I was and we agreed to meet at their church. When I arrived at the church, I got out of the car and greeted my friends. My friend is an introvert, and while somewhat affectionate with others, not overly affectionate. He hugged me 6 times in our encounter! Then he proceeded to tell me about his son. He said that he and his wife had decided not to shop for a generator. They had tried and been somewhat overwhelmed by the prospect and decided that rather than spend the time shopping again, to focus on others’ needs and leave it in God’s hands whether they got a generator or not. He told me that his son had not had a pleasant reaction to this decision. “Jesus never answers my prayers,” the son said. “All I wanted was a generator, and Jesus never answers my prayers.” My friend told me that this situation was going to rewrite the story for his son. Instead of a Jesus who never answers prayers, his son would get to see a Jesus who is listening and answers prayers. I’ve never been so excited to be involved in something with Jesus!

I hope that these encourage you. I felt like I was supposed to share these to build faith and hope. It’s what I needed before the storm and what I felt like Jesus gave me through it. God bless you and I speak peace into whatever storm you’re facing. Jesus is in your boat, and you’re going to be ok! God bless!