*New date* for Walk & Talk with God Sweatshirt Campaign! Ends on December 4, 2016

Walk & Talk with God Sweatshirt Campaign! November 4, 2016 - November 25, 2016

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Walk & Talk with God sweatshirt Campaign extended until October 24, 2016

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Walk & Talk with God Sweatshirts - October 14, 2016 Last Day to Order

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CJ Hunter's Testimony

Back in June 2014, as many of you know, I experienced something that literally shifted my entire life. To recap very briefly: my kidneys had shut down, I was on dialysis for 5 days, bilateral stints were placed in my kidney tubes to help them recover and allow them to return back to operating at 100%.

I thought that was all I had going on, but after a CT Scan & Ultrasound were performed the doctors discovered I had a large mass covering my kidneys, liver, bladder and several pieces around my lungs. They did a biopsy, sent it off to a specialist and when the results came back I was diagnosed with STAGE 3 TESTICULAR GERM CELL CANCER!

After spending over 95 days in the hospital and undergoing 5 months of chemotherapy treatments the doctors declared that they could not find any trace of cancer in my body! SHOUTING NEWS INDEED!

After that experience and by the help of God I was blessed to be able to write my first book entitled "Glory After This" where I was able to go in-depth and talk about the challenges, the ups & downs, the miracles, then show the faith it took to pull through and then sum it all up with the hope I never lost. I remember 2015 was an awesome year, I had no complications whatsoever and I wasn't on any medications.

During the early part of this year around February 2016, I started having pain in my body again. I contacted my oncologist and after going in for testing he informed me that the CANCER HAD RETURNED! In other words the enemy had peeked his head back in my life. Satan had come back to attempt to distract me and knock me off course, but little did he know that all this was working for my good, so I was praising God in advance! Due to the return of this cancer I had to begin chemotherapy treatments and this time it was a much stronger regimen. I started my first round of chemo in April 2016. With each round of chemo I had to be admitted into the hospital for 1-2 weeks to undergo treatments.

Since April I've received 3 rounds of chemotherapy. I had a scheduled surgery in July where the doctors went in to remove the tumor/mass however there were complications. The tumor had grown much larger than they expected between the last CT Scan and the surgery so instead of trying to remove the tumor and potentially doing more harm than good they decided to start me back on chemotherapy to help shrink and reduce the size of the tumor. I finished the most recent round of chemotherapy last week.

Over the last several months I have experienced so much. I've had sleepless nights, pain in body, tears flowing constantly. Never tears of sadness but tears of JOY, HOPE and HAPPINESS all because I trust God and I trust his process. All I can do is think back of where God has brought me from, I have no doubts or reservations that he's here to perform an encore in my life!

#GloryAfterThisPt2 #TeamDestiny

Donna Kafer: In God Alone

Standing resolutely in faith takes an enormous level of trust in God on our part. It’s not part of our human nature to walk into difficult circumstances, or to stand resolutely when the world seems to be dissolving into chaos. Yet, The Lord calls us to trust Him no matter how unsteady or fearful we might be. Who among us can be this bold and this fearless? Not many, for truly this type of faith comes from God alone.

The good news is, we only have to have faith the size of a Mustard Seed to see God move in our lives. For it is He who does the impossible, if we’ll just trust in Him. The Holy Spirit comes in power and in truth to help guide us and strengthen our faith. Through God’s power we can trust Him to bring us to an astounding level of faith and conviction. For we have not been given the spirit of fear, but of peace and of a sound mind. God gives us what we need to take this journey of faith, so we need not worry, for it is His good pleasure to help us and to keep us from faltering. When all is in turmoil and our souls are disquiet, we can trust Him, knowing He will see us through the crisis.

Victory has already been given to us; All we have to do is reach out and take hold of it. We can know without any apprehension that we can stand triumphant over fear, insecurity and doubt. This is done by believing that God has paved the way for us by and through His Son Jesus Christ. We need only to stand firm in our conviction and live it out in fearless courage. Why wouldn’t we be encouraged when we know He can route the enemy and send him running for cover? For like the old Hymn says, He gives power, power, wonder working power, in the precious blood of the Lamb!

Since we know faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God, we should be absorbing all we can of the Scriptures with a reverent heart and mind. We can read our Bibles daily and listen to learned teachers of Scriptures. By doing so, we’ll be increasingly strengthened. Because of this daily activity we need not fear wavering or hesitating before stepping out in faith. Rather we live in confidence, bearing witness to all we’ve read, heard and experienced through God’s power.

Let’s decide today to camp out by the stream of hope and faith, filling our cups to the brim with the Word of God. Then we will begin to feel the refreshment only The King of Kings and The Lord of Lords can give.

Scripture: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. ~ Hebrews 11:1-2

Emotional Wounds: My Healing Process (LaVonne Sumler)

Emotional Wounds:  My Healing Process

My Story

Today I cried on my walk and talk with God.  It started as sympathetic tears because a group of Christian women who were struggling with relationships with our adult daughters were praying together.  Then someone prayed for her challenges with her mother.  That’s when the floodgates opened and I knew without a doubt that it was, “Me, it’s me, it’s me, Oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer”.

A few years ago, in a short story entitled, LOVEon’s Blues, I shared this about my relationship with my mom:

It hit me that my mom never had a chance to comfort me in the way I needed because I never really shared things with her when I was young.  My dad had inadvertently planted that seed with his admonishments for me not to worry my mother.  Being the responsible oldest child and after more than a number of whippings, I did my very best not to worry her.  I kept my problems and fears to myself.

At a particularly troubling time in my adult life, my mom told me it seemed I didn’t have any use for her unless I wanted something. She said she was hurt by that.  In some ways she was right but there was so much more to it than that.

After writing that story, I prayed for healing and forgiveness and I committed to a closer relationship with my mom and I thought things were better until our family brouhaha this past Thanksgiving.  My emotional wounds hadn’t healed. For the past six months, everything seems to mysteriously touch that wound so that I’ve been periodically experiencing fresh pain.  

I never spoke directly to my mom this past Mother’s Day.  It’s not because I didn’t try.  It’s certainly not because it wasn’t important to me.  After all, I tried twice and I left voice messages on her cell and home phones.  By the time she called me back that evening, I was at a concert and didn’t hear my cell phone and it wouldn’t have been appropriate to answer anyway.  When I checked my phone after the concert and listened to her voice message, it was well past her bedtime so I didn’t call back until the next day.

This brings me back to why I was bawling during prayer.  I feel abandoned.  AND IT HURTS.  Spiritually, I know that God’s grace is sufficient for me but in this flesh, I [sniff sniff] want my mama.  I opened my mouth and everything that was on my heart came pouring out.  I don’t know how long I went on, I didn’t really care at that time.  It was really a personal prayer and definitely inappropriate during this group prayer.  I don’t even remember most of what I said.  What I do know is that I had never prayed this earnestly about this situation.  Although it was unintentional, I somehow understood in that moment that, “I must tell Jesus!  I must tell Jesus! I cannot bear these burdens alone; I must tell Jesus!  I must tell Jesus!  Jesus can help me.  Jesus alone.”

My Revelations and Lessons

After I got home and over the course of several days, I:

• Confessed my sins, repented, and asked God for forgiveness.  It had been so easy for me to feel a certain way about my mom’s actions.  My perception of events on Mother’s Day proved that I hadn’t examined myself.  Yet, when I truly sought God, he showed me that there was a lot of sin in my heart.  I had been prideful, judgmental and unforgiving, among other things.  

I John 1:9 says:  “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

• Asked God to show me what steps I needed to take to repair my relationship.  I had been praying over the years for a better relationship with Mom; however, up until now I continued to devise my own plans.  As each method failed, I developed something newwhich also blew up in my face.  Even though I say I trust God, too often, I act independently of him. 

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

• Recognized that I had not been faithful in my relationship with the Lord.  The root of my problem was that I hadn’t fully cultivated my relationship with Him. My prayer life is inconsistent.  Like Tony Evans says, I wanted to use God like a spare tire.  I wanted Him to stay in the trunk until I needed Him.  My mom had expressed a similar sentiment about how I treated her.  I had expected God, my mom and others to be there on cue.  Even worse, I wanted Mom and others to provide the unconditional love, mercy and grace of which only He is capable.  So no wonder I was constantly disappointed.

Psalm 118:8, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people.”

• Accepted that healing is a process.  I’ve been teaching this to others for years but I hadn’t always practiced it in my life.  I expected to simply pray and be healed.  And yes, it could happen like that because God is Omnipotent; nevertheless, healing requires that I listen and obey to his commands.  Since I say that I am His, I must desire to live according to his will.

II Kings 5:14, “So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him.  And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!”

The account of Naaman’s healing from leprosy in the Bible proves to me that healing is absolutely possible.  However, it may take some time because my emotional wounds run deep.  My work requires that I continue to lay my burdens at the cross; that I trust and commit to whatever process is necessary…if I truly want to be healed.