MY JOY IS OVERFLOWING

by Donna Ridenour (Sarasota, FL)

I arrived for my Encounter weekend with an open heart and a longing to hear from God. I did not have any real expectations as I felt He had kind of forgotten me, or I wasn't that important to Him anymore. I had just gone through a year long battle that started with my back, left me unable to walk amid in chronic pain, and eventually left me contemplating suicide. I got saved in 99 and delivered from 35 years of drug addiction and everything that goes along with it. I had gone through years of abuse, starting as a child, and carried it through my adult life. Suicide thoughts were nothing new before I met the Lord - but after I met Jesus I had joy unspeakable.

I danced, I praised, I worshiped with my whole heart! I had surgery on my back in May, and I had progressed to having moderate pain most of the time. I believed that I was as healed as I was going to get, and I was grateful to be able to attend church ,etc. but my joy never returned to the level it was before and I felt an underlying sadness that I couldn't identify or get rid of. At the Encounter, actually starting at the pre-encounter, I felt the sweetest presence of the Lord I ever remember feeling. The whole weekend was a weekend of God letting me know how much He loves me. I felt like God had come to spend the time with ME - I am important to Him and He wanted to heal me of all the shame, pain, abuse, rejection, abandonment - all the scars of my past life, as well as my physical body now.

Since the Encounter I have had days pain free, and they are becoming my normal now. My joy is overflowing and has started to "leak" on others - my faith has never been stronger and my love for other people has started to become very important again (as I have stopped thinking about me, and started thinking about HIM) I have been blessed beyond my imagination by your faithfulness to do the Lord's work.