Category Archives: Testimonies

Testimony: Katie’s Victory

“God continues to show up and show off in mighty ways for the children of LSC! As I faced the final moments in a very long journey of seeking justice for the season of domestic violence I endured, I was struck with God’s merciful hand gently leading me to the cross. On 4/15 the altar was opened up for those needing to forgive others for deep wounds. My name was on that plumb line of carpet, the spot was saved for me. God knew that this was my moment to be freed from the chains of un-forgiveness. As I felt a rush of pain leave and a healing balm cover the deepest, darkest hurts, I knew I was free and the door was now open for me to leave the prison of bitter hurts and dance in fields of forgiveness! In the days to come I soaked in the reality of this horrible pain finally gone from me and joy unspeakable filling my days! God is NEVER late! God met me at the perfect moment and gently took from me the pain I was carrying, not prying but being so gracious in offering to shoulder the burden of it for me. A true gentleman! I had one final court date to walk through before knowing this chapter was closed and justice was served. Through God’s mercy and grace and unfailing love, I was able to stand strong and shine for Him in the court room. I was able to release a statement, declaring my forgiveness for the man that caused so much pain. I was able to speak seeds of life to a dead situation. I was able to overcome this terrible season of hurt. God led the morning perfectly! I was reminded that I would be nothing without His love and grace, that found me stained with sin and shattered beyond recognition. His grace found me, His grace thought of me on Calvary and knew that I would need this help at this moment. WOW! I will serve Him all my days, I will give my life to the cause of Christ. I will raise my voice for the voiceless. I will never know why He chose me to cover the sins and wash me so clean, but I know I will never stop living a life of worship and gratitude for all He has done, continues to do and promises to do! Friends, never under estimate the power of forgiveness. God’s incredible forgiveness to you for your shortfalls is life changing if you accept it. And the power in forgiving those that have hurt us so deeply is what stirs the fires of revival. Loving the un-lovable and reaching the un-reachable can only be done when we love them and reach out to them! Don’t stay locked in a prison of un-forgiveness a second longer, let go and run out to the brand new day, dance in those fields of forgiveness, I will be dancing with you!!!! A very heartfelt thanks to the extraordinary support that the beautiful LSC family has given to my daughter and I since the very first day we arrived on campus. We love you all!!!”

Testimony: Maiatu’s Second Chance

“I left Baltimore on Nov. 10, 2011 for Sydney, Australia, to visit my elder sister, her adult children and their respective families in other parts of Australia. I arrived in Australia on Nov. 14 and on Nov. 23, while sitting at the dinner table, I suffered a brain aneurysm. I lost consciousness, was admitted to two separate hospitals, underwent a 9-hour brain surgery, and was hospitalized for close to one month. I had to remain in Australia for three additional weeks after my discharge before I was cleared to return to the U.S. I share this experience with my fellow church members because I think my God allowed me to survive this experience for two reasons: one, to draw me closer to him, and two, to allow me a chance to see my two year old grandson just once more before he took him home to be with him. Let’s think about the odds I had against me in having this aneurysm somewhere other than where it happened; somewhere where I would not have been able to get the immediate help that I received. I boarded five separate flights between here and Sydney including an 11 hr. non-stop flight; I drove a 3.5 hour road trip, alone, each way, to a remote area in California (on my way to Australia) to attend a wedding. Yet my heavenly Father spared my life during all this time and only allowed that aneurysm to burst while I was in my niece’s (a registered nurse) home, with a telephone. In addition, He gave me enough time to say “I have a headache unlike my usual headache,” to my niece before I fainted. That statement enabled the paramedics to look at my head first and they were able to find the bleed before some serious damage was done. Well, you can tell by this message that through His power, mercy and grace, I am here today to tell this story. My doctors are amazed to see how remarkably I am recovering. I’ve since lost my grandson and am still grieving his loss but I cannot question my heavenly Father for He sees beyond what we (humans) are capable of seeing. I trust His decision and believe in Him. He has brought people into my life that I did not know existed and has shown sides that I did not know existed of people I already knew. I need no further proof that my heavenly Father is guiding me every step of the way. He has brought me this far and will continue to carry me. I am totally trustful of Him and know that He knows what’s best for me and my family. He has made many things happen for me and continues to do so and I will continue to trust and depend on His goodness and mercy as he has proven his love for me. Please keep me and my family in your prayers as we continue down this journey. I pray to God to help me continue to grow in faith as He has proven to me that He never fails. My sincere thanks to my church, Evangel Cathedral/Life Source, for your support, most especially for my grandson, Lorenzo’s recent memorial service, the beautiful houseplant sent by Pastors Mike, Becki, and the assistant pastors of my church; and to Pastor Mary and Burt Rosenberger, Bob McDermott and the hospitality team. I know I am a part of God’s family in this great house of God. May God bless us all!!”

Breakthrough

“Over the past few months God has continued to move in my life in various ways and areas. God has intervened in my spirit of addiction to smoking marijuana which I have done since I was 15 years old (I’ll be 37 in May). On 1.1.12 God delivered me from the strong desire for that physical pleasure I had been enjoying for so long. Since then I thought that I wanted to do it again and when I took those 3 inhales on the day in February, I began to feel sick and realized that things had been changed for me. I have even realized that I was smoking in an effort to bring comfort to myself by enjoying the one thing that made me feel loved and accepted in the world. Smoking was also a place of escape from the frustration of the day, it allowed me to zone out & no longer feel the heaviness of life (temporarily anyway). I know now that the fruit that smoking marijuana was producing was bad fruit financially, emotionally, mentally, and physically. I am not gonna lie the desire and thought of doing so has crossed my mind but I praise God that I have not given into it (by His strength not mine in anyway) and He continues to reveal the reasons why I was smoking to compensate & avoid things that I wanted to escape from. He has given me breakthroughs in my faith walk in regards to my daily devotional (no longer too high and tired to complete it), my prayer life (no longer too high to hear from God), and even fasting (no longer dealing with munchies that cause me to eat more). While it’s not perfect, it’s definitely better than it was & continuously growing stronger & better. Every Sunday is a new touch of heaven, Jesus being heaven. Today (3.25.12) is a prime example. During the 1st service Pastor Mike answered a question I asked about Baalam on the OYB devotional page a few weeks ago and the answer was as on time as the God we serve and then during 2nd service he spoke about people feeling like they don’t belong & Lord knows that is me. I am a single african-american female with no children and no blood family in our church. When Pastor would preach about family, marriages, and children I would try & think of how to apply this to my future that I am believing God for but I still felt empty and lost for where I am now (pre family, marriage, and children). How do I live as a single christian woman and even how to deal with the opposite sex and dating. I would feel so lonely when pastor would say get with your families or spouses and pray or pray with your children and I would be so desperately lonely (still am sometimes). I even considered that maybe I should change churches as I didn’t fit into this church because for a long time I didn’t see anything wrong with smoking marijuana and wondered how can I grow spiritually in a place focused on the things that I don’t have (family, children, spouse). God knows how many times I have cried in my loneliness and smoked because I felt like I had something that made me feel accepted no matter what and also made me not care about what wasn’t (family, spouse, and children). Even attending different church functions made me feel like an outsider at times because I am also a vegetarian and there was rarely food that I could eat at our functions. The devil used every angle to make me feel slighted including the fact that I grew up in a racist town & have a hard time feeling like Caucasians truly love me in spite of color. I trust God that He is the answer (as spoken today during service) and the more I allow myself to be involved in our church activities the more I feel like part of the body of Christ in spite of certain differences. It’s all still a work in progress that I give God praise for. He has started a good work that I know He will finish, praise God for what He has done, is doing, and will continue to do in my life and through me for generational revival. I testify that God is showing me that I belong to Him. He is showing me how He loves me, forgives me, & sees me and helping me see, love, and forgive myself the way that He does. I am a walking, living testimony of the grace, mercy, and favor of the Lord. Praise the MOST High God, He truly is AWESOME in all His ways in spite of our ways. I love you Life Source Church, thank you for having me.”

Harold Carlsen’s Testimony

“My name is Harold Carlsen. I have been going to Life Source for around 12 years now. I have been saved for over 42 years. This testimony is long but it reflects how God will take care of you all through the steps of your journey with Him.

I was not very knowledgeable of biblical things when I first got saved. People told me I should tithe. I did not know what tithing meant so I prayed about it and went to the word of God to determine what I should do. The word was very clear. I never have prayed about it since. Didn’t need to – to me it is one of God’s “absolutes” that you read about. Just read them once and it’s done. You just do it after that. The next step was should I tithe on the gross or net. The way I see it is this – God gave me the job – so He determined the gross. Man determined the net – so I tithed on the gross. I have never missed a tithe in all my years of serving Him. I don’t tithe so God will bless me, but because I tithe, God blesses me.
Let me share with you several instances of how this has happened over the years. Early in my work experience, things at work were difficult. There were no raises, promotions or anything being given out. Every thing was locked down. Office supplies were not even being bought. One day my boss called me in the office. He started off by saying he could not explain how this happened but that I got a raise. He said that is was impossible. I explained to him that God knew that it was needed so it happened. Man nor circumstances can’t stop God’s blessings if He determines it is to be so in your life. Pastor Mike talks about our positioning ourselves for God’s move/ blessings in our lives. Once we are positioned correctly and following God, it is not a matter of “if” blessings will come but “when”.
Another instance was when I got a call from my mortgage company saying they wanted to change how my escrow was being paid. They indicated that I could receive money from this change. I did not give this any more thought. Who would think that a mortgage company would send you money. I certainly didn’t. During this time, my son was in the army stationed in South Korea. He was calling home collect. I started putting money away thinking the phone bill would have to increase. Over the next few months, they did increase but nothing substantially. Then one day, I received in the mail a $500.00 check from my mortgage company. I was overwhelmed. I told my wife to think about what we should do with it, whether we should bank it or spend it. The next day I received a phone bill for $499 and change. Now I was blown away. Here God moved on the mortgage company to redo my escrow account to pay for this bill. That agent could not have known that God moved on him to have my escrow redone. When God wants something done in your life – it will happen.
The last event that I want to share (there are so many more) was quite recent. Back when the economy took a hit, my company introduced a pay cut for everyone. I did not change my tithe at that time because I felt that I could still make the monthly bills. Then they cut the pay again. While I was getting ready to write the tithe check to reduce it to my new gross amount, I was saying – “I hate doing this.” I didn’t want to reduce the tithe. I no sooner finish saying this to myself when I heard Him say to me –“increase them.” I got real quiet and He said it again – “increase them.” I said – “you’re on.” I increased the tithes. This was a stretch. However, in EVERY case when it looked like the money would run short, God would send a blessing. My wife and I would just thank God because we knew He was doing it. No one could have known the step of faith that we took in increasing our tithes. And it didn’t stop there. Not quite a year after I increased our tithes, I was getting a performance evaluation. Now in the last five years up to this point, I have had 5 different bosses, none of which I have ever seen. They are remote. We only interface by phone or email. Our group falls to the bottom of the pay raise list when we get a new boss because the boss doesn’t know us. The chances of getting a raise or a promotion is slim, if at all. In my case I had not received any raises or bonuses even though my performance appraisals were good. Everyone in our office (even today) complain because they can’t seem to get a raise. Well I did get a raise – that was at the end of 2010. God again moved on my behalf. I reminded my wife that since we increased our tithes, God gave me a pay raise. So in the beginning of December of 2011, I told my wife that I wanted to increase our tithes again, because I had a certain amount that I wanted to give to God. She agreed. It would be another stretch. Just a couple of weeks after I made that decision it was again time for my performance appraisal. This was from another new boss who has a total of 68 people. To my surprise, I got another raise. Now let me tell you how incredible that is – I was once a manager and I know that you never give raises out in back to back years to one person because you just don’t have the budget to do so. God was moving again.

Pastor Mike had recently spoke about increasing your tithes in faith and then to watch God bless and not to wait for God to bless then increase your tithes. This certainly was true for us and can be true for you. Position yourself and follow God and it will be so.”

Through the Webcast

“I was more than blessed by the Glory of God, the Word of God and the Sweet Presence of His Holy Spirit. AND……… I WAS NOT EVEN IN CHURCH SUNDAY!
 
Yes, I was at home  sick with a bad cold and watched the service via the web cast from my bedroom.  I felt so bad that I could not make it to church because I was on duty to greet and felt that I would miss my blessing by not being there.
 
But, it was like I was actually there.  The praise, worship songs and the music, all ushered me into the presence of God right there in my bedroom.  When Pastor Mike told us to ask for a fresh Baptism in the Holy Spirit, I did and from out of nowhere came rivers of flowing water and baptized me.  I began speaking in tongues, uncontrollably, and loudly enough for my sister, who was downstairs to hear me. Yes, right there in my bedroom, I was baptized in the Spirit of God, Hallelujah! It was powerful. 
 
I’m a witness that God can reach you anywhere.  I pray that my neighbors (whom I’m trying to reach) are touched and saved by God.  To God be the Glory!”

Spiritual Healing

“While serving in my ministry first service this past Sunday, I thought I was going to need to stay to serve in the 11 a.m service as well, but help was found and I was able to attend the second service. The weeks prior I had big victories but was being attacked in my mind about my past relationship and the abuse I came out of and could not shake it. Random thoughts, random times during the day, hounding me…not fun. I sought out P Mary for advice and felt led to dig into the Psalms, it helped but I still was facing these thoughts. God said to me Saturday night as I was crying about another memory and begging Him to erase my mind of these attacks, He spoke and said “Tomorrow you will have breakthrough and victory over this. Tomorrow I will meet you on the plum line and take care of this for good.” Just as I thought I would be needed as a backup in my ministry for the second service, the team member arrived ready to serve and I declared It will be just as HE told me it would be, I have a date on the plum line with God! Haha Within 5 mins two volunteers came, late but ready to serve! Praise God! I hit that plum line when it was offered and felt the Spirit of God come on me, it felt like I was being hugged so deeply and then I noticed no one in the natural was touching me! When Pastors prayed for me it was healing in my heart and my mind right away, I could clearly feel the weight lift. I don’t want to move on w/dry ground, hard soil, in any area! I want to have a heart that is full of miracle grow and can’t stop producing fresh fruit! I have been free of thoughts since Sunday and feel so at peace in a new way…praise God for meeting me just like He promised me!!”

Rose Blankenship’s Testimony

“Most of you know I am taking care of my Mom. She was in and out of hospital in December several times. Husband got a physical. We got a phone call saying they had found something in his lungs. My self had also got my annual mammagram. Am high risk of female cancer. They called me to tell me I had to get an in depth mammogram because they had found two spots that was a cause for concern. When I got there they did the test and came back and said I had to get an ultra sound. I seen both on screen, nurse looked concerned. I got to admit fear rose up in me. Nurse left the room, then I got angry. Too much had been going on and I felt I couldn’t take much more . I reminded GOD of His promises.. and refused to except what the nurse had told me. I just could not receive that because I had to stay healthy to take care of my Mom. I reminded GOD by HIS son’s stripes I was healthy and that it was nothing. I gave thanks to HIM for it. The Doctor came in the room with a flat expression her face– then she said. “IT IS NOTHING!!” Praise and all the glory to GOD!! Oh yeah– my hubby– his was a slight touch of emphysema. GOD is so good. HIS promises are forever.”

God’s Protection

“Last month, Tommy, Sheneca, and I went to Planet Fitness gym around 10:00 p.m one night during the week. As we were walking in, Tommy realized he forgot to leave his wallet in the car. So he ran back to put it in the glove department where he always puts it, but felt he was being told specifically to place it on top of my purse and had no clue as to why but just listened. We worked out for about an hour then headed out to our cars. Sheneca and I had parked next to each other. As we proceeded up to the cars we saw that somebody had broken into both of them. Her passenger side window was busted and my driver side window was busted and the door was open. I was in shock, how could this happen to me? Quickly, we both ran to look in our cars because we had all of our belongings in them and I called 911. My coach purse with my wallet, Tommy’s wallet, money, bank cards, credit cards, my iPhone, and other personal belongings was still sitting right where I left it in the middle of the driver’s seat and passenger’s seat. Looking through my car, I realized my bag with my work clothes in it was gone. Sheneca mentioned that her purse with her wallet and bank cards was gone that she had placed under her seat before we went in the gym. I thought it was odd for her purse to be gone when it was well hidden and mine was in plain sight. I could only thank God. At this point a police officer showed up and we went over everything with him. After speaking with the officer, we left to go home. On the way home, Tommy and I were talking. I was telling him how upset I was, I did not have money to get my window fixed and I would never do anything like this to anybody. Why did it have to be me? He remained calm the whole time and just talked to me and helped me calm down. As we were talking, he told me that something was telling him to put his wallet on top of my purse when he usually puts it in my glove department. He had the anointing oil in his wallet which protected our belongings. The thieves were blinded by God and grabbed the bag with my work clothes in it instead of my purse with all our important belongings.”

A Testimony from Pastor Josh

“God is working in my life as well. I had an external hard drive that had personal, youth ministry and all kinds of important things on it. Without it I would have to start a lot of things all over again after 3 years of work. (not to mention all my family pictures and home videos.) For 1 week I tried to plug it in my computer each day about 10-15 times hoping it would somehow be visible. Nothing. I called customer support. Nothing. The drive was dead. My awesome wife told me to go up and get some anointing oil and pray over it. When I did this, I plugged my hard drive in and it immediately popped up and I had all of my files!!!! Truly the credit goes to GOD!!!! His presence is here…”

A Testimony from Pastor Becki

“When I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in the Fall of 2009, I had to stop taking bio-identical hormone replacements. I immediately noticed severe insomnia along with other mid-life symptoms. Not wanting to take sleeping pills, it was recommended I take melatonin, a natural substance already in our bodies. I understand 3 mg of melatonin helps most people doze off, but I was taking 9-12 mg every night just to fall asleep. Many times I found myself still awake until 3 and sometimes 4 in the morning but would not revert to sleeping pills. It was exhausting.

When you don’t get your rest, you don’t feel the best during the day. This was affecting my entire outlook on my days and nights. One night in prayer at the church, after taking communion, the Word of the Lord came that because of the blood of Jesus, someone was being healed of severe insomnia. I immediately embraced this for myself and thanked God for speaking this. That night, I purposed in my heart not to take melatonin, even though, in the natural, I couldn’t help but wonder if it would really happen after two years and four months of insomnia. I had to counteract this fleshly thought by thanking God for taking the time to speak to me and believed Him to take care of this. The next morning, I realized I had fallen asleep with no melatonin or any sleep aid whatsoever. The following night, the enemy tried to tell me it was a coincidence and it wouldn’t last. I again realized that I must combat this negative thought by verbally thanking God again for what He was doing. I spoke it out so that I could hear it with my own ears and so that Satan himself could also.

Today is the first time I have shared with my family what has happened because it has now been over two weeks with absolutely no melatonin or any sleeping aid! That night in prayer I was not even asking for His help just praying for His will and favor to be on the ministry. He blessed me that evening as I was ‘seeking first the kingdom of Heaven’….(Matthew 6:33) Praise be to His Holy Name!

I want to encourage everyone to give God glory for what He has done in your life and in the lives of your family. There were 10 people Jesus healed with only one returning to give Him thanks.” Let us be like the one!

Also the Bible teaches us in Revelation 12:11 “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…” Remember, what you speak is powerful!”