Inside: Messages from Heaven after Leah departs suddenly to Heaven one day before her 17th Birthday

Collapsed Spine, Fractured Disc and Broken Tail Bone Healed In a Day

The doctor came back with the results saying, “We have another problem here. You have a fractured disc, your spine has collapsed, and the tip of your tailbone broke off and that’s floating around.”

By Colette Wilbrink and Hazel Palmer For Jubilee News hpalmer@jubileenews.org

(Elizabeth, PA) In 2012, Justine DeBellis from Elizabeth, discovered through a routine appointment that she had a fractured disc in her spine. There were no symptoms and this fracture had never caused her any pain and she wasn’t even sure how it happened. “But I had osteoporosis, so it was due to that,” Justine shared. It wasn’t until January 2018 that she discovered she also had spinal stenosis. (1)

According to the Mayo Clinic, Spinal Stenosis occurs when the spaces within the spine narrow. This puts pressure on the nerves throughout the spine and most of the time is located in the lower back and neck area. While some people don’t experience any symptoms from this disease, others may experience pain, tingling, numbness and muscle weakness.

But on August 1st, 2019, Justine DeBellis felt more pain than usual. “I have Osteoporosis in my hip. So, I thought that’s what it was because I had had that pain before. But the next day it started to go across my back right under my waist. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to it, but the second day it got worse, and by the third day it got a lot worse. So, I called my doctor.”

The doctor on call told her to either come into the office, go to the hospital or to an urgent care center. Justine knew she couldn’t drive because of the pain and her husband Chuck was about to leave for an overnight retreat. Chuck, her husband wanted to stay and take her, but she urged him to go on, that she would wait it out and go to the doctor on Monday.

On Saturday night when her husband returned, she realized she couldn’t wait until Monday. Justine explained, “I just got progressively worse and I could barely walk. I told Chuck, ‘I don’t think I’m going to be able to wait until Monday.’”

“We went to the emergency room at Jefferson Hospital early Sunday morning, hoping we would be able to get in and out. I thought they would just give me a steroid and

The doctor who treated her previously in January was there and looked at her records. She had a previous CT scan, but he ordered a new one to be taken. He came back with the results saying, “We have another problem here. You have a fractured disk, your spine has collapsed, and the tip of your tailbone broke off and that’s floating around.” Justine was admitted with orders not to walk or bend.

That Sunday night, a couple from their church, Rich and Chris Miller, called Chuck and asked if they could come to the hospital and pray for Justine. Justine gladly accepted and they came that same day she was admitted and laid hands on her and prayed, believing for healing.

Justine relived those moments: “Chris was at my shoulder and Rich was at my one foot, with Chuck at my other foot. I can’t remember all that was prayed, but when she prayed for the ‘Fire of the Holy Ghost’ to come, I smelled something burning on my one side of my body. It was the right side.” When asked if that was the side where her pain was, her answer was: “No the pain was clear across my back but the smell was coming from the right and I don’t know why!”

Justine explained that she had had past experiences during prayer when she would smell a specific scent

that would announce to her that God was moving on her behalf. Two distinct times, she smelled what she called “funeral flowers.” Both times, something significant had come to an end, the smell alerting her of what was about to occur. She explained, “God will do things with me that way. When I smelled something burning, I knew The Lord was up to something!”

The next day, the surgeon came in to do a full bone scan of Justine’s entire body to check the quality of her bones. Justine said, “I thought to myself, ‘They’re looking for something more.’ I knew this test was involved and it took about 35 minutes.”

By the end of the day, the doctor came in with the results. Justine recalled, “The doctor said, ‘What we’re dealing with here is spinal stenosis, and an old (disc) fracture on your spine.’ And I just looked at him. I said, ‘Spinal stenosis… that’s what I came in with. What about the new fracture?’ And he said, ‘There is no new fracture.’ That’s when my husband spoke up and said to the doctor, ‘Well, wait a minute. The doctor in the emergency room said there was a new fracture and a collapsed spine.’ The doctor said, ‘No, there is an old fracture and spinal stenosis.’”

Justine was discharged Tuesday night, two days after she was admitted. Based on the second bone scan taken after the Sunday night prayer, she was nolonger being treated for a collapsed spine and a fracture, but was now being treated for stenosis and was given the usual medication she would have taken in the past: steroids.

Justine will never forget the burning smell when Chris Miller spoke the words: “The Fire of the Holy Ghost.” Justine didn’t feel any heat as many do when a healing is taking place through prayer. And she didn’t even feel an immediate relief from pain. For Justine, it was that burning smell that signaled something was happening—or rather, something HAP- PENED. A change had taken place that would soon become visible on images; images taken before prayer and then after prayer, both when compared, would contain the evidence of a drastic change that doctors cannot deny.

One month passed and in September, Justine and Chuck had planned to go outof-state to visit their

daughter, and Justine decided to go in for a follow-up with her doctor to ask for a dose of steroids to take with her in case her back would begin to hurt. Justine recalled, “My PCP prescribed this steroid for me to take, but I never had to use it! Now I’m watching to see how the spinal stenosis is doing since I didn’t need to take it, but we’ll see.”

At that same appointment, the doctor brought up Justine’s test results. Justine shared, “I told him we had prayed. He just looked at me and I said, ‘I am a firm believer in prayer.’ He just shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Yeah, they’re here (the test results) and they do say that-- you did have all of this (on one scan) and on the other scan, you don’t. That’s how we read it.”

Justine still holds her evidence on a cd and although she’s unable to read it without the assistance of a doctor, there is one thing she is sure of, and that’s the fact that she smelled the burning “Fire of the Holy Ghost” after He had been invited in prayer to heal her. It was her alert that He was doing what He had been invited to do. He was healing her.

Reference: 1) 2018, March 8. Spinal Stenosis. www.mayoclinic. org

Mower Accident Brings Vision to Local Man

Joe Mullin from Ruffsdale, PA

By Hazel K. Palmer For Jubilee News

(Ruffsdale, PA) An unusual positive outcome to what many would call a “fluke of an accident”, happened at a Ruffsdale home as Joe Mullin’s riding lawn mower he was on, threw a stone or a piece of metal that hit him square in his right eye. The mower incident happened in May of this year while he was mowing his lawn.

Joe Mullin is a retired Jr. High school teacher from the Southmoreland School District having retired 22 years ago at the peak of his battle with prostate cancer. “He didn’t think he was going to make it at the time.” his wife Patty stated. But today, Joe is 84, and both Joe and Patty attribute his longevity of life to this: “God has the last say. God is in charge!”

Patty was in the house at the time when Joe came in from mowing the lawn. He didn’t say anything right away and was sitting in the kitchen eating a sandwich when he finally told Patty: “I think I have to go to the doctor.” Then he explained that he was almost done mowing and was on the last row when his eye was hit by what he felt was a stone.

Patty said, “I didn’t look at his eye until we got to the doctor. And when I did, it looked bad. I knew then this was serious and the doctors were now trying to save his sight. He was given all kinds of tests, and pictures were being taken of the eye and they would show them to me. They can do anything with today’s technology.”

Joe explained, “It bruised the eyeball and I had some swelling, and my eye was quite out of focus for a month or so. I went to the doctor and had to take medication on a pretty regular basis.” Patty added: “We had to go to the doctor every day except on Sundays for two months. It wasn’t fun. Every day we would make a one hundred mile round trip to Latrobe, and the doctor would do all these tests and take pictures and show me.”

Patty continued, “He had bleeding behind the eye and had to sit up and sleep in the chair for two months. Every day I had to follow a chart to make sure he had all of his eye drops whenever he needed them. He was on antibiotics. There was one small tube that cost over $100!

“This happened the last week of May, the day before our granddaughter’s graduation from Moravian Christian College. We had made reservations for a motel and my son had even rented a limousine, but we weren’t able to go because of Joe’s eye injury and how serious it was.”

Three years prior to this accident, Joe had cataract surgery. He recalled: “My eyesight was better at that time when they put the new cataract lens in. It seemed like the sun was really bright.” Patty added: “They took the cataract lens off that makes your eyesight so cloudy and unable to see colors as they really are, and then they put a new lens in his eye.”

For Joe and Patty, this incident was another bump in the road. Joe had his share of health issues, and it was just one more thing they had to deal with, but this one put a damper on what he most loved to do because Joe loves to read. Patty shared, “. Whenever I would go on a bus trip somewhere, I would always bring back a historical book from where I had been. He loves history, hunting and fishing. It’s clear that Joe Mullin loves to hunt. When people visit Joe and Patty, many ask permission to take photos of what they are seeing. There are two rooms filled with animals Joe had shot over the years, trophies and reminders of the many of his adventures in Alaska, Wyoming, Canada and other places. Now, books take him where he wants to go in his mind's eye.

Patty shared that it took a couple of months for his eye to completely heal. But what was discovered after the healing process was what amazed the doctor. Joe’s eyesight had improved because the stone or metal object had moved his lens. He now had 20/20 vision, a real plus for a reader like Joe!

Joe explained: “When I had the cataract surgery [three years ago], the implant was in the wrong place, but that’s where they had put it. The swelling went down and the bruise healed up and now I can now see better and the doctor couldn’t believe it! I could see 20/20.” Patty excitedly relayed: “The last time we went, the doctor couldn’t believe it when Joe read [from the chart]. Now, he might have to get glasses for distance! But, we’ll know that later.”

Patty expounded about Joe’s healing process: “Every day, the doctor kept watching the lens in that eye because it had a mark on it. It still does to this day. The doctor kept thinking that the mark he was seeing could be an infection. He showed me what it looked like. It was like a little dark squiggly thing, and he said: ‘I don’t know if that’s a piece of metal in his eye or if that’s just a mark on the lens.’ Now, if it was [just a mark on] the lens, that little contusion on the lens did not grow [as in an infection]. So he left it go at that. So [during the] two months, Joe got better and better.” Joe added, “I had no idea the lens had moved, but that’s what the doctor said.”

For Joe, better vision was just a “stone’s throw away”! The stone or whatever it was that was hurled into his eye by his mower, had moved his lens to where it should have been all along, and now Joe has better sight than before. Patty testified in the church she attends, thanking God for the outcome of something that was a hard time for both of them. Today, Joe reads books and newspapers without reading glasses. Joe reiterated: “I see the difference in my vision, and that’s how it happened.”

Sometimes, life just happens, and there are things we go through that we don’t like. But as we walk through the difficult times, many times we find we havegained something we would have not had otherwise. We are nowable to see with greater clarity than before. No matter what life brings, the potential of “change within you” will often craft and form what you need in your next season... especially when you purpose yourself to walk through it holding God’s Hand. It ‘s called: “Trust”.

Fatal Car Crash Brings Positive Change into Sibling's Life

“The Man in the Suit”

By Hazel K. Palmer as told by Gary White

For Jubilee News

hpalmer@jubileenews.org

(Washington, PA) I lost my brother Gerald, in a tragic accident when I was 15 yrs. old and it was the most devastating thing that ever happened to me. We were best friends. We were together one night in West Virginia. His band was playing there. His drums were already there, and coming back home, we had to ride in separate vehicles because there wasn’t room because of the drums. So, he rode in the vehicle that had his drums in it and I rode in a corvette. But my brother never made it home that night. He was in a car accident while driving on interstate 70 in the pouring down rain.

I didn’t know about the wreck, but had gone to the hospital because another friend had told me of a separate accident that was unrelated to the accident my brother Gerald was in. When we got to the hospital, we found a friend of mine who now had a cast on his arm and another friend who received minor stitches.

We were standing inside the front area of the emergency room about to leave, when a tall man in a suit came in through the emergency room door carrying someone. I was actually holding the door open for him to come in and I looked down at the bloody face of the young man in his arms, and it was my brother. He said to me: “Tell Mommy and Daddy I’m sorry.” That was all.

My parents were called, and they came around Midnight. My brother was pronounced dead on Mother’s Day, minutes after the midnight hour.

My Mot her had always been very abusive to us, and on the night we left the house, she had cursed us that we would die that night. My brother was pronounced dead on “Mother’s Day”. Every now and then after Gerald’s death, she would tell me that I was the one who was to die that night. And there were times I wished I had. She was tormented until she gave her life to Christ Jesus.

After that night, my life spiraled out of control into a life of LSD, cocaine, heroin addiction overdoses and jail terms, as well as other crimes for several years. I was invited numerous times to go to church and I finally agreed, but that’s a story of its own. But I had a powerful Spiritual experience with Jesus Christ and was soon called to preach His Gospel, and I’ve been doing it ever since. My life was completely changed.

It was now 1980, twelve years after my brother’s accident. To this day, I know the Lord led me to locate that “man in the suit” who had carried my brother to safety and into the emergency room. I did it in order to bring peace to my own mind about my brother’s soul, and to also thank him for what he did.

I can remember preaching at a church in Clairton, PA which ended up being the same town where the “man in the suit” lived. I could still hear my Brothers last words: “Tell Mommy and Daddy I’m sorry.”

I found his house and this beautiful lady answered the door. It was his wife. I introduced myself, and her husband, “the man in the suit” was now standing behind her. He looked at me and said: “I remember you from that night at the hospital.”

“The man in the suit” was a minister! I finally got to ask him my question: “Why was my brother in such a mode of repentance when he said to me in HIS LAST WORDS: “Tell Mommy and Daddy I’m sorry.” The minister told me that my brother was “a bloody mess”, but coherent when he found him on the I-70 median. He asked my brother if he knew JESUS and my brother told him, ‘No”.

The “man in the suit”, this minister, had pulled over in the rain, and after being told that someone had been ejected from the car and could not be found, had the sense he would be the one who would find him. Divinely led to my brother, he picked him up into his arms and drove him to the hospital. That’s when they prayed the prayer of salvation. My brother’s last words became my evidence of what happened in the car that night on the way to the hospital. Gerald had repented.

Ten years from the exact date of my brother’s accident, I was blessed with a son, and with my parent’s permission, I named him Gerald after my brother.

The "man in t he suit" was Reverend William C. Callaway, who celebrated 50 years of Ministry at the age of 79 in 2012. Today, he is 87 years old and still preaches. He is the head of Mount Olive First Baptist Church in Clairton, PA.

Editor’s Note: Mount Olive First Baptist Church is located at 451 Park Avenue, Clairton, PA.

*Gary White’s book will be available soon! The story you have read is only one story amidst many other miraculous occurances in his life.

He continues to share his stories publicly and one one one to encourage others.

Rev. Callaway and Gary White

"Angel Among Us" Announced

Rev. William C. Callaway and by his side, his wife, Melba Leona Callaway

(Clairton, PA) Congratulations to Rev. William C. Calloway who is our “Angel Among Us”. As of October 16th at press time, it was not yet revealed to him that he is the recipient of the “Angel Among Us” award in 2019. He will be pleasantly surprised and certainly blessed when he discovers he is being honored on the pages of Jubilee News; so, “Mum’s the word”!

According to the New Pittsburgh Courier, Rev. Callaway has earned other numerous awards which include the Clairton Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award, NAACP Award for Outstanding Community and Civic Service, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association for Outstanding Contributions to Public Education and the House of Representatives for Outstanding Community Service.

Rev. Callaway’s devout relationship with the Lord has shown through even as a young boy, where he could easily be found at someone’s church or at a prayer meeting.

In 2012, Rev. Callaway’s dedicated congregation honored him at a black-tie banquet, to celebrate five decades as Pastor of Mount Olive First Baptist Church in Clariton, PA.

In his interview with the New Pittsburgh Courier at the time of this banquet, Rev. Callawaway said: “The greatest part of Christian living is to wait on the Lord. Do all you can and then wait on the Lord.”

“I thought that if God put a message in me—put on the whole armor of God so that you can withstand the wiles of the Devil—a seven-minute sermon I preached at a church in Ohio—I wanted to get that out and I’d be done with it. I never thought of a life of preaching and I didn’t think I’d be preaching here for 50 years! I figured I’d be here

Rev. Callaway said. “But God planned it this way. I found a wife, and we have three kids and six grandkids, which keeps me here in Clairton.”

A special thank you to the sponsors of this contest who made the award possible: Dalfonso-Billick Funeral Home, Inc., Frye Funeral Home, Robert A. Billick Funeral Home, Inc., Randall’s Restaurant, Mon Valley Community Federal Union, St. Vincent DePaul, Advanced Auto Technology and Jubilee News.

Rev. Callaway will be awarded an “Angel Among Us” certificate and $100 of gift cards after his story on pg. 1a is published. Jubilee News will then be presented to him and he will read his story for the first time as well as this announcement. Jubilee News and its sponsors wish to thank Gary White for sharing his remarkable story!

Justine DeBellis

By Justine DeBellis For Jubilee News

“My Other Miracle” Large Mass Disappears!

(Elizabeth, PA) God did something for me some years ago, and this miracle still stands today.

I was having some health problems and went to my gynecologist. But what was a routine exam turned into something more serious. My doctor told me he felt something and wanted me to get a sonogram.

That afternoon, I went and had the test, and the sonogram showed a mass the size of a grapefruit, and the doctor now needed to do a laparoscopy. If it was malignant, he would do a total hysterectomy. My response was that I wanted a second opinion. He disagreed and said it would be dangerous to wait, but I insisted.

My husband and I went home and prayed about the situation and about getting another doctor involved. This all took place over a holiday weekend, and by Sunday, we still had not decided whether or not to find another doctor. We went to church that Sunday evening and Pastor Kevin and Sandy Barner asked us to go out for ice cream, and we did.

During that time, I felt led to share my situation with them. Sandy shared that she had a doctor who was very good and he was also a Christian. She would call him for me. I felt that this was the Lord leading me, so I was very excited about this.

She called him and explained the situation, and he said he would see me, but because it was a holiday, he would see me that Tuesday evening as his last patient so he could spend more time with me.

Tuesday came and Sandy took me to this doctor. I first spoke with his nurse and as she was going over my history, she stopped and looked me straight in the eye and said: “You must be scared to death!” That upset me even more than I already was. Then I went in to see the doctor. He examined me, read the results of the sonogram and looked at the x-ray that I had brought. He said he too felt the mass and saw it on the x-ray. But before he did the laparoscopy, he wanted me to have a cat scan. I agreed, and made an appointment at Jefferson Hospital.

I went to have the cat scan done and was waiting my turn while sitting in the waiting area, when someone came out and told me that the cat scan machine had broken down! I looked at this as more time to worry! I just wanted this over with! But God used this time for us to pray and draw closer to Him.

This was a hard time for my husband Chuck, me and Lauren, my daughter. Lauren was around twelve at the time, and she was having a difficult time understanding what was going on. But this was a time for all of us to grow in our faith and trust in God. In the meantime, other people were also praying for me.

We waited a day or two until the cat scan machine was fixed, and I went back and had the test done. A day or so later, the doctor called me, and said that nothing showed up on the X-ray and he said he couldn’t understand it! I knew this was God! He asked me to come to St. Clair Hospital and have ANOTHER sonogram. He made the appointment which meant a couple more days to pray!

I went to St. Clair Hospital and had another sonogram, and as they were administering the test, they kept going over my stomach again and again. They asked me: “Which side was that mass on?” I chuckled to myself, knowing God had heard our prayers and healed me!

After the test, I went to the doctor’s office at hospital. The lab had sent the results to him, and he looked at them and said: “There is no mass.” I asked him how he could explain this, and he said, “Medically speaking, this is unexplainable.” I said “Do you mean I had a miracle?” He said, “Yes.”

I praise and thank God for this miracle and I do believe that God used this experience in this particular doctor’s life. He was a young Christian at the time.

But then, the nurse from the former doctor called me, wanting to know what I had decided to do about the test. I had an opportunity to tell that nurse what God had done in my life. She found it all hard to believe and put me on hold, and the doctor got on the phone and wanted to know what happened. I told him: “I had a miracle! God healed

I told him everything that had happened and how the mass was no longer there. He too said that he could not understand it and reaffirmed that this was a serious thing and that I should have it checked every six months because “it could be hiding some place and it was likely that it would show up again.” I thanked him and said, “I don’t think so.” How could a mass that size hide?

I do believe this experience of the Miracle Working Power of God that removed a grapefruit-size mass that was once there, left an unforgettable mark on this doctor’s life as well as his nurse’s life.

Oh, and by the way, I have the written report and the x-ray image of the mass that was once there. This happened all around 1987/88, and my daughter is now 43 and I’m 76, and I never had any trouble since.

Nothing is impossible with God when He’s invited into the picture! And when they looked at those “pictures” from the tests, they saw GOD!

“Get Inspired”

-Body, Strength and Soul Defense-

"Trimming Down"

Samuel Sokol Transformation Coach “Full Armor Fitness” For Jubilee News

Sometimes in life we need to shed some weight, and shed negative or unfruitful things as well. This is important for physical, mental, and spiritual health, resulting in a more joyful individual. Weight loss is not as difficult as many people make it out to be. It absolutely requires work, but I assure you with a little bit of guidance, anyone can do it. It essentially comes down to 80-90% nutrition, some fitness and accountability. Accountability is the most important.

Your nutrition should be placing you at a calorie deficit. The reason you see so many different “diets” (I hate this word. It’s a lifestyle change.) working for people is because they all place someone at a deficit. A deficit means someone is eating less than their body is using each day thus requiring it to burn fat stores for energy. Therefore, you can see some people lose weight even while not eating what would be considered “healthy” foods. Although it is possible, I do not recommend this approach. Someone who weighs less is not necessarily healthier. Their gut could be wrecked, they could have autoimmune diseases, and they could be placing themselves at risk for cancer or heart disease. It is much wiser to eat at a calorie deficit using healthy, unprocessed, and nutrient-dense foods. Also, you need to enjoy your new healthy-eating lifestyle. If someone absolutely hates what they are eating, then you can almost guarantee they will not stick with it for long. The best “diet” is the one you can stick to.

Your fitness can include anything if it is something you enjoy, and something you will consistently perform. That could be Zumba, strength training, spin class, CrossFit, biking, hiking, whatever you want; as long as you do it a few times a week. Ensure you are staying active on non-workout days with daily walks or other deliberate physical activity as well. I personally recommend using some type of resistance training as that is more effective for building lean muscle mass. This helps prevent someone from being flabby and skinny simultaneously.

I believe the most important piece to the puzzle is accountability. Someone can be provided the “best” nutrition and fitness plan, but if they don’t do it, then it means nothing. You need a spouse, coach, or friend, someone you can trust to keep you on track with your weight loss journey. Many people can do it themselves, but I have professionally discovered most people need some help. When someone does it on their own, they usually fall off after a few months and unfortunately revert to their old habits. Again, I am not saying someone cannot successfully lose weight without help. I know people that have done it on their own, and have achieved incredible success. I have found success rates are higher when someone has an accountability partner or group. I enjoy strength training, specifically powerlifting, and I have more success when I have a reliable training partner. So if you want to lose some weight for confidence, health, aesthetics, whatever, I recommend a professionally developed nutrition and fitness plan with a reliable accountability coach/partner. Weight loss through healthy choices and nutritious foods is important for our physical and mental health, but shedding pounds isn’t the most important.

Spiritual health through the deleting of negativity and bad habits is crucial. If you have someone in your life that constantly complains, belittles, and causes hurt, you need to resolve the situation. Tell them the gospel and invite them to church, but I do not believe you should be hanging around with that individual. That type of negativity will impact your ability to portray Christ to your neighbors.

I am learning more and more the importance of discernment. We all have sins we struggle with. Temptation to commit those sins can come through many different avenues. Most of us know what triggers our sin. Work towards removing the factors you can control. If you know a particular activity or form of entertainment tempts you to commit a sin you struggle with, then simply don’t partake in that activity or entertainment. Many people may have a long span of victory over a particular sin so they think, “I want to see how strong I have become so I will subject myself to this avenue that tempted me before”. NO! Do not do that. Why put yourself in that situation? If it triggered you in the past, it probably will again.

Keep striving forward like you have been. Avoid those triggers! There are plenty of struggles I have personally overcome. I know my triggers, so I do my best to avoid them. Thankfully, if I mess up, which I do constantly, I can rest in the work Christ completed on the cross and know I am forgiven and loved.

I pray my spewing of words was beneficial to you. I wish you the best with your weight loss and servitude of Christ. Take care and God bless!

Sam Sokol comes to the “Virtus team” after four years owning and operating “Full Armor Barbell”, a strength and weight loss gym formerly located in Charleroi, Pa. Sam is a Certified Personal Trainer who comes from a varied background of strength & conditioning training. He has recently transitioned into a one on one online coaching platform (Full Armor Fitness) where he helps individuals achieve incredible transformations through nutrition, fitness, and accountability. If you are tired of the same old results and have a desire to make a transformation and a lifestyle change, contact Sam today.

--“Turn-Around-Moments”--

Your Answer My Friend is Blowing in the Wind

By Apostle Ray Domachowski For Jubilee News

My wife and I had a major decision to make in our lives and as we prayed together, God answered. So, I told my wife, we’ve heard from God, and I said to Him: “God, You have been so faithful to let me speak into other people’s lives. Will you speak into my life the same way?” Dad did speak to me. Here’s what happened:

He said: “Sure. I want you to go to this restaurant and buy a $25 gift card and take it to the lady who always does your wife’s flowers.” This lady makes beautiful bouquets and makes me a hero with my wife every time I get flowers from her. But now it’s time to honor her.

During this timeframe, money was short because my son was graduating from high school and my youngest daughter was graduating from eighth grade, so our financial situation was not that great. So, I thought: $25— I could use that for other things we needed. Then I heard the Lord say: “Use your credit card and I’ll meet you on the road tonight and I’ll prove myself faithful to you.”

First of all, when Dad sends me to someone with a message or a gift from Him, if it’s a woman, I never go by myself. It just isn’t wise to do that, so I told my wife what God wanted us to do and told her she had to come with me.

So, we went, got the gift card from the restaurant and then journeyed to the grocery store to honor this lady with the gift card, and she began to cry. I asked her: “Why are you crying?” And she said: “This is my favorite restaurant!” Now understand, this was a restaurant I would have never picked! I would have given her a gift card from TGI Fridays or Applebee’s, but God had me go to this little restaurant in a remote part of Washington PA! I didn’t question Him; I obeyed Him.

I didn’t tell my wife the part of the story where God told me I was to go down a certain road. All I told her was that we have to take this certain road going home. As we were driving home, all of a sudden, my pager went off, and that meant that I had to go home to manage an emergency at the workplace. This would require me to be able to have access to my company’s laptops to work on the IT issue. Because of the timing, I thought, “That’s just the enemy trying to steal the very thing that God said I have for you!” So, guess what? I didn’t take my regular route home; I obeyed God and I drove down the road He told me to go down. My wife still did not know what God had told me and what miracle he was about to perform. C’mon Jesus!

I got on the main highway and then got off on to this rural road, and there we were driving down the road God wanted me to drive down, when all of a sudden, I saw something flapping up & down around on the road. I stopped the car and got out and it was a twenty-dollar bill! I said, “YES!” and grabbed it and got back in the car. I said to my wife: “Hon! You’re not going to believe this!” And I showed her the twenty-dollar bill, and she said, “Ah, somebody lost that.” Then I told her the story.

As we were sitting in the middle of the road in the car, I said to God: “Dad, You said you were going to provide the WHOLE amount ($25). You’re a God, that when you say you are going to do it, you’re going to do it!” And I heard the Holy Ghost say: “A hundred feet, look to your right.” So, then I proceeded driving down the road at five miles an hour, all of a sudden on the right-hand side of the road I saw a five-dollar bill flapping in the wind. I was ecstatic! I jumped out of the car and grabbed it too! God gave me back the $25 I paid for the Gift Card we had just given to that lady! Wow, He is faithful in all things and truly meets the needs of His kids.

After the great experience, I was lying in bed and I said: “God, you’re a Dad above and beyond! Could you put it on somebody’s heart to give me $25? Because what I want to do is to have a testimony like the children of Israel of how Daddy God meets us just where we are. C’mon Jesus! Guess what? Dad laid it on someone’s heart to send a card to thank us for a special encounter and ended the card with: “For some reason, Dad laid it on our heart to give you $25.” Amazing! He knows all and provides all.

Today, on my wall in my office in a frame, is that twenty-dollar bill and the five-dollar bill. What is given to you by God is significant! It’s a reminder that no matter what the circumstance or situation is, God is with you. And you know what? I’ll never be broke! Because I have $25 from God, and I can never spend it, because it was a gift from Daddy God! Now if He tells me to give it away to someone, I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever He tells me to do. But these two bills are memorials for me and my family, that as we listen to the voice of God, He will move on our behalf.

Listen to the Wind of the Holy Ghost. Trust Him and obey Him. He knows your thoughts-- He know YOU. Dad’s purpose is for you to have your “being” in Him. Trust Him!

Editor’s Note: Apostle Ray Domachowski ministers prophetically by the Spirit of God moment by moment, releasing the “Perfect Love of Daddy God” that breaks the yoke that binds so many of God’s people today. His heart is to see God’s people completely set free to enter into their portion... their destiny... their inheritance in Jesus Christ. He is best known for accurately conveying personal messages from “Dad” to people he has never met, bringing “turn-around- moments” into people’s lives. Go to: www.CmonJesus.org for more information.

--The “Healing Chair”--

Spit and Mud

“The ‘Healing Chair’ Goes MobileBecause It’s NOT Just About a Chair”

By Kent Addams For Jubilee News

God’s ways can be SO unique. In John 9:6, Jesus used those two elements, spit and mud, to heal a blind man. Think about it. SPIT? MUD? Really? Hard to get our heads past seeing how unbelievably wild that is.

Now use your mind’s eye to put yourself in that blind man’s shoes. Feel him coil back as he heard Jesus gathering spit in his mouth. In a misinterpreted religious era where people’s judgmental questions were: “Who sinned to make him like this; Him or his parents?”; he was probably hockered upon all his life due to his condition.

The very sound of that flying saliva that used to cause him shame had missed him this time, accurately landing on the ground. The very dirt from the ground on which he was forced to grovel now got mixed with Jesus’ spit who then slopped the paste right into his eyes. It’s just like Jesus to use the VERY things that scared & humiliated him in the past, having them now become the VERY BALM to heal him.

“Go wash in the pool of Siloam. He SAW.”

“Hey, how’d Jesus heal you”? “Spit & mud.” Did the prayer lines get shortened or grow longer after that? Boxed religion would shorten the prayer line as people questioned the rules of engagement and the technique of what had just taken place. Desperation for change and not caring HOW it happened would lengthen them.

But the answer is simple: “Once I was blind, NOW I see”

I met Terri while doing a community project with Her friend Mary was 50ish and was racked with arthritic pain from head to toe. It was now over a year and a half since her failed back surgery which ended up making her worse which caused even more excruciating pain. All she wanted was healing. All she felt she got was “spit and mud”.

Did you ever cry out to God for healing or freedom and instead of an answer, it seemed to get WORSE? The woman with the” issue of blood “ had the same story too. She spent ALL her money on doctors, but instead of getting better, she got worse. Spit… Mud…Yuck. Hold on now, JESUS is comin’! …”With healing in His wings.”

Man’s healing methods may take us only so far, but God’s will heals us ALL the way, often removing strong-holds; things that have a hold on us that are strong. He pulled their roots out. We also can through the Holy Spirit.

We sat her down in a chair in church. Remember, it’s not just THE chair. ANY were still led to pray first. With a bit of encouragement, I had Terri do it because anyone can do this if they believe, and I don’t want people to think this is about me. SHE picked up Mary’s legs to check their evenness in length and prayed for her. I led her in what to pray that the short leg would grow out and the long one would shrink back from being a half inch from each other.

Blammo! In 20 seconds, 80% of her pain left.

It was proverbially now time to mix spit & mud, by asking her if she had any unforgiveness or resentment toward anyone. She had a list. I metaphorically slopped the paste into her eyes as I asked her if she was ready to forgive and then release them. I’m not sure if she thought” “Wait, I just wanted prayer. Besides, this is NOT healing if you’re making me uncomfortable.”

Until then, she never understood that AS A GIFT, God would GIVE her It REALLY is! the Grace to do so, not in her own will or strength. She finally agreed to do it in faith, even though she didn’t FEEL it yet in her heart. She forgave and released those hurts & wounds as I led her in a prayer.

At the Lord’s instruction, this was similar to the blind man as he made his way to the pool to rinse his eyes. She trembled for a few seconds as demonic spirits left her body, because they no longer had the right to stay. They had been all under the radar & out of the limelight. Chains were broken, her body healed.

Once the mud was washed off, that blind man could see. Once her unforgiveness was washed out, she was healed because she stepped out in FAITH to do it.

We asked her how she felt. She said: “Pain is ALL gone. I feel this electricity surging through my body, and I feel this warm heat AND LOVE!”

She was so ecstatic, and she wanted to buy books or pamphlets if we had them as a payback for what Jesus just did. Nature has a hard time “receiving for free”.

That Pool the blind man washed in was named “Siloam” meaning: “sent”. God healed her & “sent” her. Jesus said: “Freely you have received, now freely give”. Also, “go and tell others what God has done for you”. He said we would not only do what He did, but EVEN GREATER WORKS would we do.

ASK Him to fill you with His Spirit, then you’ll be able to do things that DEMONSTRATE the Fullness of the Spirit He tells us to display as we...”heal the sick…cast out demons…and while you’re at it, tell ‘em My Kingdom is here”.

It really is!

--Kingdom Come--

"Days of Awe!"

By Rev. Karen Graham, Kingdom Come Ministries International., Inc. For Jubilee News kg4kingdom@outlook.com

Hebrews 12:28 The Voice (VOICE)

Therefore, let us all be thankful that we are a part of an unshakable Kingdom and offer to God worship that pleases Him and reflects the awe and reverence we have toward Him!

“The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord” will mark this new era as many will experience fresh encounters with God in ways which will expose the works of darkness and reveal the authority, authenticity and accuracy of God! This is a time of “altarations” which will cause the altars built on faulty foundations to crumble as we rebuild and fortify the altar of the Lord!

God is releasing His covenant blessings as honor, humility and holiness are being restored! The “knowers” will lay down everything they thought they knew for the sake of knowing Christ! These are days of astonishing wonders as God releases fresh outpourings of His glory!

The KEY ~ Keep our head below our heart and live amazed!

Psalm 47:2 The Passion Translation (TPT) 2 The Lord God Most High is astonishing, awesome beyond words! He’s the formidable and powerful King over all the earth.

See Pg. 8A for more information about Rev. Karen Graham’s ministry, or go to: www.kingdomcomeministries.org.

Two Breakthroughs... One MIRACLE! A Marriage Healed and Restored

John and Stephanie Dolan

By Hazel K. Palmer As told by John and Stephanie Dolan For Jubilee News hpalmer@jubileenews.org

John and Stephanie Dolan knew each other for a long time before they began to date, both working at the same hospital. They began dating in December of 2010 and were engaged the following year and married on August 26th, 2012. Blessed with two children, Ava Grace who’s six and Darren Asher who’s three, life was going well! They can be found sitting as a family in church every Sunday morning having dedicated their children to the Lord, their faith in God of great importance to both of them.

“But two years ago, I noticed there was a lack of communication and misunderstandings between the two of us that would fire up arguments.” Stephanie shared. “I would say something, and John thought I meant something else.”

John shared, “We separated twice in 2017. We went through some counseling about our lack of communication, and I think some of the things that were bothering Stephanie, I was blowing off and wasn’t taking them very seriously, and that hurt her.”

John continued: “We were separated for 3 to 4 months, and on the day before Thanksgiving, we went to K-Love’s Christian marital retreat in Pittsburgh. We listened to God’s plan for marriage and worked some things out between us and decided to come back together and try again.”

“Things went well for a while but again, we had a few arguments during that time period. I can remember one day, I came home from work and could tell she was upset with me, but we never seemed to be able to talk to one another. One thing led to another, we got into a big argument and she left, then came back, and there were a lot of things I said that I regret saying out of anger.”

It was their third separation that was the longest: from late February 2018 until December. 2018. But little did they know that change was coming to their marriage in a DIVINE way, and their nine months apart would become a “Holy Gestation Period” where God would begin to work His own perfect will in both of their lives which would make all the difference. Once His work was completed within John and Stephanie, their marriage would be brand-spanking new again and better than it was before!

John shared his feelings about this third separation: “I was upset with her for leaving and she was upset with me over some things, and there was a lot of hurt, a lot of pain and we still couldn’t communicate. There were a lot of issues now with the kids, trying to figure out when I was going to see the kids. It was the darkest time in my life and I’m sure hers as well.

“Now, I couldn’t go to our home church any longer as a family. The other times we were separated, I would go to church to be with the children to worship as a family. But this time, we totally cut ties. I would see her, but there wasn’t much of a communication between the two of us anymore.

“It was sometime in May, I knew I had to get back to church, so I went to the church across the street from our house. I was reading the Bible and would watch Cornerstone TV every night. That was the only thing that really kept me going. I would call them and pray with them on their prayerline. I kept praying, but it seemed to be getting worse and worse!

“I remember one Sunday, I went to church feeling bad and alone, and I remember praying to God and getting upset with God! I said to Him: ‘I’m praying God! I’m praying! But things are getting worse!’ And I remember I heard Him in my spirit say: ‘I’ll fix it in my time John, not yours.’ I said, ‘Okay God. I will trust you.’ “But after I heard that, things even got worse! We were doing a lot of fighting over the kids because I wanted joint custody. Then I got a phone call from the attorney’s office that Stephanie was applying for divorce. That was the worst day of my life when I got that phone call. And I just kept praying and praying.

“Then one day in late October, Stephanie came to the house to drop the kids off and she didn’t want to talk to me. I asked her: “Stephanie, is this what you really want, because I don’t want this. I don’t want a divorce.” All I remember her saying was: “I’ll think about it.” After that, gradually we began to communicate with each other for the better.

“But what really turned the tide was that God took something very bad and turned it into good. Ava got pneumonia. Stephanie called me and ‘We’ve got to take Ava to the hospital.”

Stephanie shared, “We spent 24 hours in the ER--the whole day on Sunday. This was sometime in October. We were told it was some kind of a virus or urinary tract infection, but I kept telling John something’s not right. It doesn’t make sense. She has upper back pain!

“We drove home, and I was kind of annoyed with the doctors because I had a check in my spirit that something was not right with her. So, my dad watched Ava on Monday. Then he called and said, ‘Ava hasn’t moved from the bed. Her fever is 105.2.’

“I called John again and we went back to Children’s and spent the entire day and night in the ER. The next morning, they moved her up to an observation room. John and I were sitting there, and John was watching this preacher on TV and Ava was so sick and crying in pain. I was frustrated because they couldn’t figure out what was going on, and I was hearing what that pastor on TV was saying as I was lying in bed with Ava holding her. And I said: ‘God, please, please make her better. Whatever it is God, please let them find it. We just need Your Hand on her. If you make Ava better, I’ll do anything You ask me to do. If you want me to fix my marriage, I’ll do it! Whatever you have planned for us, I’m willing to do it! Please God, help Ava.

“She was still pretty sick that next morning and a resident came in. I told him I needed the attending doctor. There’s something wrong and nobody’s listening to us. Two hours later, she came in and I said, “Listen, my daughter’s been here for 3 days. They can’t get her fever down even with Tylenol. There is something wrong with my daughter!’ And she said, ‘I totally agree, and I value your motherly instincts. We’ll repeat the tests. We’ll do an MRI and see if she has an infection on the muscle in her back.’

“About an hour later, the attending doctor came back in and said: ‘Ava’s right lung is full of pneumonia and you were exactly right. There was something going on, and I want you to know, if you would have taken your daughter home, something bad could have happened.’

“John and I never left her side. She was there for another day and they administered medicine. Now she was resting, slowly improving and getting better, and I was feeling better about it all too.

“I kept giving God the Glory for what He did, and I said to God: ‘Okay, You helped me here. What am I supposed to do next? Whatever You tell me to do, I will do.’

“When they let Ava go home, John took us back to my parent’s house where I had been staying, and things were just really different between us. I had a peace. John was very civil with me the whole time and we didn’t fight at all. It was like a steppingstone! It turned from really bad to really good! From then on, I would bring the kids to him on Saturdays and we would hang out together as a family and watch movies together or do whatever, and we decided in November, that we would spend Thanksgiving together as a family. And that was our first Thanksgiving together! In early December 2018, I moved back!

“John asked me if I would go to counseling with him, because all along I would say: ‘No. I don’t want to hear it now.’ We began going individually and together to a counselor and he really helped us, and we literally did a 360-degree turnaround! I just remember thanking God and I was so happy they found out what was wrong with Ava!”

As Stephanie and John looked back on their “360 degree turnaround”, Stephanie knew the actual moment of her personal breakthrough: “I remember staying in that little tiny room at the hospital, and there was a couple beside us with a little baby and there was a lot of emotion going on all around us. Security was involved and it appeared the baby was going to be taken from this couple. That’s when I got a reality check. I remember thinking: ‘This is so stupid that we’re fighting over nothing. We’re tearing our family apart! Our daughter is so sick, and something bad could happen to her.’ “There’s so many bad things that take place in the world, and ours was minor compared to so many others.”

John added, “Our problems were minor compared to others. Just not communicating or not listening to each other’s needs…”

Then John shared about his own personal breakthrough during their nine-month separation: “I told God: ‘In Malachi 2:6 it says You hate divorce! And also, in the bible it says if I pray anything according to YOUR WILL, you will give it! And this is according to YOUR WILL!’ When I said that to God, the call came that Stephanie was filing for divorce, and I said to God: ‘Okay. I am going to trust you and I’m going to keep praying’”

Then John shared their revelation: “There were things that needed to be fixed. Do you have to wait on God’s Will and timing? Yes, you do! I realized that His timing is perfect! In regard to His Will, it’s always perfect. And when His will is worked out, it is perfect. I’ll tell anybody that God restored our marriage! And I praise God for the healing of our family!”

“And healing Ava too!” Stephanie chimed in. “I give God all the Glory for the restoration of our marriage! You have to be able to really talk to each other and communicate.”

John spoke up again: “Yes! You’re going to have bad days, and I’m going to have bad days.”

Stephanie added: “I feel that the enemy was testing us the whole time! We really struggled for a while. John was sick last year with mono for six weeks. The wheel of a car suddenly rolled into my car! My car got hit twice! Another time, I accidentally hit a car at my parents’ home. I would call John and he would say: ‘Are you okay? We’ll just have to get it fixed.’ He was calm and relaxed.”

John said, “Cars can be fixed. The most important thing is that we have each other, and our marriage and our family is back together. We show grace to one another so much more now!

“And I can’t be happier right now, and I thank God every day! I can’t even imagine what my life would be like without Stephanie and the kids! And God fixed it ALL, and then some-- and brought our family back together. We’re both just so thankful to God!”

“The Dolan Family” “John and Stephanie with Darren Asher, Ava Grace and their newest addition: Roxie, their puppy.

--Love and Marriage--

The Enemy of Intimacy

By Pastor Rena Perozich For Jubilee News rperozich@mfcministries.net

We have about five seconds to make a decision. We can make the decision to break our commitment to our spouse, or we can make the decision to keep our commitment. Temptation is always there; not way out there somewhere, someday, but it’s there every day; waiting for you to take the bait.

I will say this, and it is based on the best-selling book of all time: “Whatever we sow we will reap.” It is not what I think, it is what happens, and it is no respecter of persons. If we sow apples, we are going to reap apples.

Here is what I want to share with you. You can not sow being unfaithful, and think that we are going to have a faithful mate until death do we part. I’m not saying they will have an adulterous affair with another person, but they will commit an unfaithful act because you sowed it. It might not look like the seed you sowed, but the fruit will be the same. If you are not intimate with a person, the distance between you and that person grows. You and I were not created to be intimate in one area with our spouse, and deceitful in another. We as humans do not operate that way. It is not how we were created.

We are created for intimacy. It started in theGarden, yes--the book of Genesis. Intimacy was lost in the Garden-- same book. We don’t have to read very far into the creation of people to find out that there is an enemy of intimacy that slithers into our relationships. At first, the enemy draws both into a situation or a circumstance, and then it destroys both people by hooking just one to take the bait. Unfortunately, it is usually the more naïve and innocent person. The person that knows better, but deliberately obeys is the one who always pays the greater cost. The mistake Eve made cost her personally. The decision Adam made cost the entire earth and everything on the earth. God gave Eve a redeeming word. Adam got none. Read Genesis chapter 3.

What do you want to see more of in your mate? Sow that! What do you want to see less of in your relationship with one another? Starve that! What we feed, grows. What we starve, dies. It really is that simple.

Don’t know what to do? Read the book on relationships. It is called the Bible. It is the book where every relationship started and where every relationship will end. We can say, we don’t believe it. We can say it’s a fairy tale or a great history book. Regardless of what we call it, it still has the power to change everything, everyone, every relationship, and all that is and is to come.

Relationships are messy. They are messy because we are messy. We get messed up from the moment we are conceived because we are conceived in intimacy, and the enemy of intimacy wants us destroyed.

So, we get rejected. We get molested.We get abandoned. We get violated. We get hurt. We develop trust issues. We get dropped in a run like Mephibosheth when he was only five years old. The enemy of intimacy attacks early. (2 Samuel 4:4)

Still, there are other reasons for loss of intimacy, misplaced intimacy, starving for intimacy and inappropriate intimacy. Perhaps it’s health? Perhaps death? Perhaps an accident? However, more times than not, it is business and neglect. When we get too busy for a healthy lifestyle, we are too busy. When we get too busy to reflect on life, we’ve ceased to live it. When we no longer have conversations with one another, we will have them with the enemy of intimacy. We will talk to someone.

Talking to the wrong person will get us to make wrong decisions. Did you ever wonder why Eve didn’t tell the serpent: “Come back tomorrow, I want to talk this over with Adam?” I bet Adam wasn’t talking to Eve as much as he was talking to everyone and everything else. After all, we know he talked to God. Can we really get so involved with talking to God that we neglect talking to others? I know I have. I know my own husband has. We had to come back to one another and get things in balance again. We can get so busy working for God we forget to obey the principles of God. The Bible tells the man to treat women as the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7). It doesn’t say treat her as a “less-than”, because in Genesis it says they were equal.

Talking is a huge thing for women. Men are not the communicators women are. So, men need to try harder, and women (in all respect) needs to shut up long enough for them to finish their sentence, think and respond. Men are wired differently. Thank God! Who wants us to be genderless while here on earth?

Relationships take work. Relationships work if you work them. Relationships are not a fifty-fifty deal. Relationships take one hundred percent on both persons. Give your all and you will get it all. Jesus is our example.

As Fall approaches and you start to see things die, don’t let your relationship and intimacy die with them. Prune them back if you must but take care of one another and enjoy the intimacy for which you were created. God is a God of second chances. Just ask Jonah. However, though Jonah got a second chance, God did not change His mind. He simply told Jonah what He told him the first time. Had Jonah listened the first time, he wouldn’t have ended up with all those scars. He would not have caused others to lose their stuff off the boat.

If you are noticing loss and pain in your life, take a look at your obedience. Perhaps, the enemy of intimacy has deceived you into looking and touching and even tasting the wrong thing.

--Real Parenting with Di --

Birthday Wishes for Isaiah

"Isaiah"

By Diana Zippay “A Mom” For Jubilee News

Do you remember being a kid and how excited you would get about an upcoming birthday? I remember it felt like an eternity between birthdays! I always had a distinct targeted list of things of what I desired, and all of them were materialistic.

Kids today seem to have continued to carry that same torch, counting down the months, days and hours until their birthdays; and my goodness, do they have lists! Of course, it’s toys and electronics at the top of the list. However, not ALL kids are wishing for just materialistic things. Some kids are wishing for birthday cards.

Meet Isaiah Robb from Uniontown, PA. He’s celebrating a birthday on October 27th, and Isaiah has an inoperable brain tumor. Isaiah is currently hospitalized because a simple sneeze caused him to disrupt some internal sutures in his brain. An ordinary and simple sneeze dramatically changed his plans for the next few weeks and brought on an additional surgery.

Like the warrior he is, he is taking all of this harrowing news with grace and humility. Deep down, Isaiah, is like an ordinary preteen boy; he loves playing PlayStation 4, and dreams of owning more games and gaming systems. However, he knows his struggle. He understands the gravity of his illness. He is wise beyond his young years.

To understand your own mortality is the line where childhood ends. As a mother, Isaiah’s story truly touched my heart. When I heard that all Isaiah wanted for his birthday was birthday cards, I knew I had to make it my mission to fill his mailbox full! Isn’t that what we mammas do? We make sure those birthdays are memorable.

So, I am calling upon all of you readers to assist me in making the most memorable birthday Isaiah Robb has ever seen! This child deserves so much more than just birthday cards, but I will leave that up to all of you! If you could simply drop a birthday card, in the mail, and lift his spirit, you would be granting a sweet, and very ill child, a simple wish.

He himself, has asked for not hing else--but I am letting you now that you are welcome to send along a present (if you so wish) and even belated birthday wishes. Please sent all cards and or packages to:

Isaiah Robb

PO Box 1331

Uniontown, PA 15401

Lest we forget, lift the Robb Family up in prayer daily. The Lord has a plan for each and every one of us. It seems, as though there are never "right" words to say in times like these. It is not up to us to question the Lord's design, but we can pray for strengtha nd comfort. Morde importantly, we can offer our support.

Often times, families and individuals simply need a listening ear or a warm meal. Support is not always monetary--sometimes, it comes in the form of helping someone tend to the lawn, taking trash to the curb, delivering a covered dish, or simply sitting with them as they cry.

There is no doubt that parenting is a difficult journey, and a beautiful one indeed. I can't imagine the heartbreak and fear that so many of you face with seriously ill children. My heart goes out to each and every one of you, and I pray that God brings you comfort, strength, and courage to face each and every day.

What you do, supporting and uplifting your babies is truly the mark of an angel.

In Hebrews 11:1, it to question the Lord’s says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for design, but we can pray for strength and comfort. and assurance in what we More importantly, we do not see.” God is ever can offer our support. present, and He is with us Often times, families every step of the way. and individuals simply The most beautiful part of our God is knowing that He does not abandon us in our time of need; as difficult as situations may become or as wavering as our faith can become, He is there. He has broad, strong shoulders, and sometimes, He carries us when we can no longer handle the journey. He’s the God who Stays!

My hope for all of you facing serious illness--especially the Robb family--is that you lean on God. He is willing to carry you. All He asks in return is that you believe in Him so others may see His glory through you.

--Grandma’s Lap--

By Helena Harn “A Grandma” For Jubilee News

The Lion and the Child Visit a “Special Child”

The Lion said to the child, “Let’s take a trip to visit a family. I want you to see a special child in this family and watch. We will be unseen as before.”

They came to a house that had a sign in the front that said: “Myers Family”. The adult people on the sign were: Allen and Sarah and three smaller figures named: Joan, Jill and Joel.

The child was wondering who the special child was. They went into the house and saw the dining room, and the boy was putting plates on the table, so the child thought this must be Joel.

The mother came into the room full of smiles and seemed was very happy about something.

The two girls came giggling into the dining room. “Maybe it’s a birthday”, thought the child. Birthdays are always special and happy days.

The mother brought the meal in and everyone sat down at the table. The father asked, “Jill, would you say the blessing over the food?”

Jill thanked God and asked His blessing on the food and her family. Then she said, “I know it is a special day, but why is it a special day?”

“We have some wonderful news to share with you all today! But first we will eat our meal, then clean the table, then sit in the living room and talk about it.” Sarah replied.

The children were excited to hear what the ‘special news’ was that they could hardly eat. Finally, the meal was done, and everyone took their plate to the kitchen and helped clean the table and went into the living room.

“Well,” Sarah said, “I want to tell you the very special news. Joan, you are now 14 years old and we felt you were old enough to understand. You have noticed that all in the family have lighter hair than yours and you have been teased about having beautiful black hair. I want you to know that you are a very special girl. You see, when you were born, your mother was not able to take care of you. She had not been well, and it was taking all her efforts to get through her college classes. She really wanted to keep you and hold you in her arms to kiss and hug you so you would feel her love, but we picked you to become a part of our family, and all our children are special gifts from God. Jill and Joel were born to us.”

The eyes of all three of the children were big like saucers.

“But you are my mother, my mom! You love me I know! What are you telling me? I am not yours? Not a part of this family?” Joan said in shock with tear-filled eyes.

Sarah and Allen hugged her and told her she was very loved. They were also crying.

Allen now spoke: from God! “You see, we thought we could not have any children and we wanted a child so bad. That's when our doctor told us of this sweet lady who was going to have a baby, and even though she wanted to keep the baby, she could not. She had to do what was best for you and not for herself. She could have dropped out of school, but she knew she would not be able to take care of you very well, and without a good education, she couldn't get a good job. With her health problems, she could only work part time. The doctor told her ow badly we wanted a child and that you would not only have your needs met, but you would be very loved. "

Joan was upset. Allen continued, "We have loved you from the moment we saw you in the hospital, and a miracle happened a few months after we brought you home. We found that a baby was on the way, and we were so excited! We would now have two very wonderful gifts from God!

"You see, we CHOSE you to live with us That is why you are so special! If you want, we will see if we can find your birth mother and you can meet with her if she wants to. Normally, birth records are closed but she left them open in case the day would come that you might want to contact her.

"A few years later, despite what the doctors said that your mother would never have another baby, Joel was also given to us by God. You are a part of this family and always will be. We love you now and always will, the same as we love Jill and Joel. There is no difference to us! We are one family."

"Yes! Yes!" Joel and Jill were now replying. Jill said, "You will always be my sister, and I thank God for you even if you do take to t long in the bathroom."

*In the next issue, we will find out what happens when they find Joan's mother. - Love, Grandma-

-A Loving Touch-

“What’s Happening to Me?”

How Stress Affects our Skin.

By Jan Siarnicki, Registered Massage Therapist & Licensed Esthetician, for Jubilee News

Fifty percent of adults in the U.S. say they experience major stress daily It is thought that we have become over stimulated by noise, so much so that our nervous systems have become more sensitive than our ancestors. We have more technology advancements that create added stress and we have stopped prioritizing taking care of ourselves to give our bodies and mind a chance to recharge and refresh. We have stopped taking out time to smell the beautiful roses or the fresh-cut grass. We have our heads glued to computers and smart phones. Day after day of this over-stimulation takes a toll on us and there are consequences to this type of stress, and believe it or not, these stresses show up in our skin.

When our bodies become stressed, it responds by releasing hormones (i.e. cortisole, adrenaline) that increase breathing and heart rates. Theses hormones have purpose, and that is to help us to be prepared, ready to respond to a dangerous situation. It’s a survival mechanism. New York Dermatologist Doris Day, says “Your blood pressure and energy levels go up and your body turns off functions that are not essential to your survival, like digestion and reproduction. We are preparing for a life-threatening emergency when these hormones escalate. We start taking minor situations with that same level of stress response. When these regular stress levels stay elevated for long periods of time, we start to manifest health problems both inside and out.

Let’s start with the skin. Constant worry can also release a lot of adrenaline, and cortisol and affect our skin. We become more susceptible to infections, have hormonal breakouts, start to develop skin problems like eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, dermatitis and rashes.

Our skin is a barometer of what is happening internally as well. We may start to see dull skin, more lines and wrinkles. Our bodies are breaking down because of stress. Collagen and Elastin production will start to decrease and we start to look tired and faded out. (Ref. New Beauty summer 2019) The hair can also be affected by stress. You may notice your hair shedding more. High stress can lead to a disturbance of the hair cycle. The follicles can be placed into a resting phase prematurely. The stress hormone cortisol has also been linked to problems with nail growth. The nails become weak. When under a lot of stress, we lose Biotin, protein, magnesium and iron. You may see ridges in your nails or shredding. It is amazing to me how our hormones that were put there to help us in a fight or flight response, can do so much damage. But the key here is that these hormones weren’t meant to stay elevated long and on a regular basis. They were meant to make us stronger, more alert and ready for battle temporarily. So they are excellent God-given hormones to protect our lives if we are put into a dangerous situation. It is trying to get them under control and less sensitized on a daily basis, when we’re not in a dangerous situation that will help us overall.

Remember this: Beauty comes from within! All the makeup and products in the world won’t help you hide what stress can do to your skin.

So what can we do to reduce these hormones in our everyday lives? I myself am still working hard on learning how to do this, so you are not alone if you are stressed. Stress is inevitable in our lives today. It’s how we learn to cope with it. Whether it be from over-sensitization of computers, working too much, taking care of the family, rushing around to try and get everything done that you need to do. Your body can’t distinguish between computer stress from other life stresses. It’s just stress period. So you can try to get a handle on things by getting a relaxing facial or an aroma therapy massage using essential oils. The oils help to rejuvenate the skin.

Essential oils are very powerful. They connect directly with the part of the brain responsible for emotions. Even just breathing in these scents can help you to calm down. To revive your skin you can apply lavender, frankincense and rose to a carrier oil like coconut oil or flax seed oil to give your skin a brighter look. Use geranium, lavender and tea tree to help balance the skin and reduce breakouts; but always use a carrier oil because these oils are concentrated. Used alone they could irritate the skin with the exception of the scalp. Essential oils can be used without a carrier oil. After massaging, wipe off with a warm steamy towel and breathe in deeply.

For your hair, while you are watching TV, massage a few drops of either rosemary or peppermint oil onto the scalp and leave on overnight. Shampoo out in the morning. These oils help to stimulate hair growth and help with some of the skin conditions I mentioned earlier. Also, while you sleep you are giving yourself an aroma therapy treatment with the scent in your hair.

Under stressful situations our body depletes us of our B vitamins. One magical vitamin in the B family is Biotin. I take it daily and have noticed my skin looks better, my hair and nails grow very fast. Check with your doctor first to make sure Biotin is okay for you to take with any of the medications you might be on. I am not a nutritionist, but in aesthetician and massage school we learned a lot about how supplementation can help your body heal and rejuvenate and how important sleep is. At night is when your body recharges and heals itself from all the stress that we encounter. We were taught that supplementation within reason was good for the body. We can’t eat enough of the foods to get the medicinal properties we need from our foods alone. So I am speaking from my personal experiences. I have put all of these things into my life, and for me it made a big difference. I noticed a major difference in the way my skin, hair and nails looked and felt, and just how I felt as a whole.

We can’t control what causes stress in our lives. What we can do is pray, do nice things for our bodies like facials, massages, eating better, exercising and staying hydrated. Listen to our bodies and take notice when stress is taking a toll on us. The changes might be small, like dry skin, itchy scaly skin and more breakouts than usual. We are told from scripture to take care of our physical bodies because that is where the Holy Spirit resides. As the bible says in Psalm 139:14: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Take care of your wonderful self!

Editor’s Note: Ideas or suggestions in this column are not meant to treat, diagnose or substitute for medical care. Consult your physician or healthcare provider when changing your diet or adding supplements.

By Chuck D. Pierce For Jubilee News (Intro by Hazel K. Palmer)

TIMES AND SEASONS UNDER THE SUN

Oct. 30th to Nov. 28th: Month of Cheshvan

Nov. 29th to Dec. 30th: Month of Kislev

What you are about to digest is not astrology, nor is it your horoscope. Instead, this is the “Real Deal”. Why eat hamburger when you can eat steak? Why not digest the “Real”, rather than the “counterfeit”?

Thirty days hath September, April June and November. This is the calendar we are accustomed to. But, did you know that it is a “man-made” calendar that was adjusted to accomodate Constantine; whereas the calendar of old is a “lunar calendar” that follows the times and seasons in the heavens, incorporating earth with the order of the Heavens? Isn’t that powerful? That calendar is still in existence and is used by the Jewish population who have the wonderful understanding that the Heavens speak into our lives as God intended; and that there really are signs in the Heavens that speak and confirm the times and seasons we live in, according to the Divine Order that has been set into place just for us-- not by man, but by the Creator Himself who created man: God Himself.

Cheshvan: 29 or 30 days Alphabet: NUN - symbolizes the Messiah

Tribe: Manasseh--to forget, to leap, up and away

Characteristics: The month of “Messiah: The number “8” signifies eternal revelation and a new beginning.

The flood began in Cheshvan, and ended the following year on Cheshvan. In Cheshvan, Noah brought his sacrifice to God and God swore never again to bring a flood (upon the world).

God revealed the sign of His covenant with the world: the rainbow.

Cheshvan is the only month which has no holidays. Jews believe this month is “reserved” for the time of Messiah, who willl inaugurate the third Temple in Cheshvan.

This month is connected with the frangrance of myrrh, so let your sense of smell come alive.

It is a time for digesting what you have heard.

Constellation: Scorpio (the scorpion) tread on serpents and scorpions

Color/Stone: Black/Black Onyx or Agate

The Jews believe the soul responds in this month in unusual ways. This is a month to smell the awe of God and a month when the fragrance of the Holy Spirit begins to emanate so a move of Holy Spirit can begin.

Kislev: 29 OR 30 days

Feast: It’s the beginning of Hanukkah. Hebrew Alphabet: SAMEKHtrust, support, coming full circle

Tribe: Benjamin, the most gifted with the art of the bow; the only child born in the Promised Land, so watch Israel this month. Things happen this month which change the course of Israel.

Characteristics: A month to develop your warfare strategies; to have prophetic revelation for war. A month to enter in to a new level of trust and rest. A month to declare your life experiences to be filled with tranquility and peace – ask for the rivers of life to flow.

Constellation: Sagittarius (the archer) a time to fight against empires and cultures; to shoot straight and move quickly. Think of the archer. Cut your losses and move on.

Color/Stone: Multicolor (like the rainbow)/Opal or Rainbow Jasper

Kislev is the ninth of the twelve months of the Jewish calendar.

We should be coming full circle in developing our trust and confidence. By examining our hearts and motives during Kislev each year, we will break up and out of old patterns of mistrust that hinder our walk with the Lord and others in our circle of influence.

The name Kislev derives from the Hebrew word for “security” and “trust”. This is the month to enter in to a new level of trust and rest.

Review your support system during Kislev, including who is supporting you and who you are supporting. Consider who your friends and associates are and why you are connected with them.

Associated with the tribe of Benjamin, the most gifted of the tribes with the art of the bow, as you develop your warfare strategies this month, you can tap in prophetically to gain revelation concerning the war season ahead. This connects with the Head of the Year so that you can start the year right.

As we participated in the covenant holiday of Thanksgiving here in the United States, we can come into a new place of rest. God gives us cultural holidays to help us enter our covenant holidays. With Thanksgiving, as we pull aside and give thanks, we can regroup.

There are certain things ever year that you want to make a spiritual locator and say, "I am not going through that again."

Last month was the month of the flood, so this is the month of the rainbow. God says, “You have come through the flood and it did not overtake you. Now I will make a covenant with you that you will not war with that again.” (Gen. 9: 13- 17 paraphrased) here are certain things every year that you want to make a spiritual locator and say, “I am not going through that again.”

In this month of tranquility and peace, even in the midst of warfare, you will have peace. Many people do not understand this aspect of warfare. This simply means that in the midst of the warfare, you are on the offensive so that you have peace in the midst of the conflict. When we get tangled up and get out of our abiding place, we get into trouble.

This is the month of dreams and night visions. Through the year the Lord has been pouring things into you, then all of a sudden He draws them out through dreams. Sometimes that is the only way He can communicate with you. You have pressed through and pressed through and then you fall asleep. That is when He can begin to stir up revelation. be healthier in the year ahead. This month is a time to let the river of God flow from your innermost being. There is a great relationship between tranquility and fullness. If we don’t relate to our inner being correctly, we cannot enter into fullness. When your river starts flowing, you can enter into your next measure.

The message of Hanukkah is that in the midst of destruction, there is mercy. The issue with Hanukkah was that the light will not go out. In the midst of any destruction, God will find a way to impart mercy to you. No matter what aspect of destruction you are dealing with—external, internal, physical and spiritual—God has a way to impart mercy to build the future. His grace is sufficient and His love is everlasting.

Used with permission from GZI excerpted from the book called “Time to Advance”. This book can be ordered at: www. gloryofzion.org. https://gloryofzion.org.

A Time to Advance, by Chuck Pierce with Robert & Linda Heidler, will help you learn to think like God thinks. As you study the Hebrew tribes and months, you will receive prophetic understanding of how the Lord orders your steps throughout the year.

-- Celebration of Life

(B Section) --

“Heaven... Leah’s Forever Joy”

It’s TIME to Tell The WHOLE Story!

Leah Joy Smith

Dec. 16, 1999 - Dec. 15, 2016

“Messages From Heaven”

Faith in the Midst of Tragedy

THE FOLLOWING STORY SEQUENCES WERE WRITTEN BY SANDY SMITH, LEAH'S MOTHER

Leah JOY Smith JOY

“Our DOUBLE JOY” Comes to us From Heaven

Henry, my husband passed away in September of 2013, and we were married for 30 years. Leah’s accident was in December of 2016; so, a little more than three years after he departed, she too departed.

Leah was born into a family where we always told her that “Grammy prayed you right from Heaven!” She asked the Father (Father God) to give Rachel a sister, and that’s how she was welcomed into our family. She knew that story, she liked that story, and it was the truth!

Henry and I were married in 1983 and Zachary was our firstborn. Zach was nine years old when the twins were born, and having them was such a highlight because basically, God

The twins came in 1996 and there was great joy on Christmas Eve. I was busy with them and praising God for the blessing of twins, not thinking that we would be able to get pregnant again! But three years later, Leah came and she was our surprise!

My mom had understood the importance of having sisters because she had a few in her life, and I too have a sister. She began to pray unbeknownst to me that I would have another girl and Rachel would have a sister. The twins turned twoyears old in 1998 and a couple of months later, I found out I was pregnant! Rachel now had a sister thanks to my mother’s prayers.

So the cool thing was that when Leah was born, I was appreciative that God gave her to us, and my husband had always wanted a daughter named “Leah”. Although we had Rachel’s name picked out, Leah was “his” choice.

name to be “Elizabeth”, but the Lord spoke to me that her name was to be “Leah Joy”. And my mother said: “If that’s what the Lord told you, then you need to obey.” And of course I did. So her name is “Leah Joy Smith”.

Originally, to honor the fact that my mother was the one who asked God to bring a daughter into our family, I was going to name Leah with the middle name: “Elizabeth,” which was my mother’s name. However, after some time, the Lord spoke to me and told me “That’s not her name. Her name is Leah Joy because she’s going to bring much joy.” So I had to tell my mom that originally I had wanted Leah’s middle

I have an entry in my journal about that. When she was old enough to talk and speak in sentences, we would ask her: “What is your name?” And she would say it like this: “Leah Joy Smith Joy”.

She would put the “Joy” in the middle and at the end! We would get the biggest kick out of that! To be honest, I don’t think it was an accident, because she did bring great joy to me specifically... in double doses.

Leah (age 6) with family pet Libby

Fall 2011 Rachel, Henry, Leah (age 11) & Sandy celebrating Henry’s completion of Erie half-marathon

“Love Has Many Colors”

Leah was our fourth child, and her siblings always felt she got the best of each one of them. That was the unique position Leah was in. Any mistakes they made would be ironed out, and she was able to take advice from Zach, her oldest brother. But, all of them were pretty close.

It was 12 years between her and Zach, and he was the one who taught her how to drive. It was a great joy when she was beginning to drive. He paid a lot of attention to her. Of all the friends she drove with, she was a good driver and she took very good care of her car. I had the privilege of buying her a Honda Civic that was a couple years old.

Leah always knew she was loved and accepted and never doubted her selfworth, and whatever interest she had, she would go after it feeling confident in doing it. If she would do it, she had so much to draw from whether it was from one of her two brothers, her sister, myself or her dad. She was always confident, capable, and there were so many things that we watched her do because she had so many coaches.

But, Leah had an artistic ability, and at age 7, she drew a picture of Heaven, and two years later, she drew it again. The unique thing about that picture being in our family, was that we knew she was our last child to be born and I sensed through the Holy Spirit, when she drew that picture, it was uncanny because she got it right according to the 22nd chapter of Revelation! The throne of God was in the middle, and a street of gold came straight down from the throne, and on each side of the street was the River of Life.

She had two smaller Rivers coming out just like it says in Revelation and there are two trees on each side with the 12 fruits... fruits in their season, and she was just so clear about the details. And drawing such a picture at the age of 7, I thought: “Wow!”

We had gone to church and talked about God and the Word of God in the family of faith. I said to her: “Leah, how did you know about all this?” And she said, “I remembered them.” She did not hesitate. So, I just took note of that and wrote it down and she drew it again two years later again with the same confidence.

She just had this cool confidence about her, and even her friends would always tell me that.

But her gifting was all about color and art. She was good at drawing, but she really went into color and coordination with colors. When she was 12 years old, I came home and couldn’t believe the cake she made. It was a rainbow cake. She took one or two boxes of white cake mix and evenly divided the batter into 9 sections and colored each section with the colors of the rainbow. She made this layer cake and was very proud of it. We were proud of what she had done, and when we sliced it and saw all the colors, that was when we really saw what she had done! She could master things like that. And these were the things that were brought to my remembrance after she departed.

After she passed, I was thinking about the loss, but the Lord was showing me all these things and saying to me this: “I had sprinkled this gift all through her life, and I am reminding you of the highlights- -the colored picture of heaven drawn twice, the rainbow cake made to perfection at age 12, and then how she moved on to tie dye.” Leah went on to cosmetology, and the color schemes young people use on their hair; Leah learned how to do it with great precision. So she had purple hair and it was really pretty!

When she moved on to tie dye, Henry had already departed to Heaven. All the kids got a little bit of money from Social security, so I allowed them to have some of that money, and Leah bought a tie dye kit. I have a double wide driveway, and she had 12 T-shirts. She knew what colors she wanted on all 12 shirts and she tiedyed using different techniques and different colors on all 12 shirts. And they were all beautiful! People began to ask to buy them from her. She just had this anointing with color and craft, and it brought joy to her and joy to others.

LEAH’S PICTURE OF “HEAVEN”

I had to think about this for a while--her uncanny confidence to draw heaven. It wasn’t like: “Mommy, they taught me this in Sunday School.” or “Daddy read me Revelation”, because that’s a book in the Bible you DON’T read to a seven-yearold! I even asked her Sunday school teachers after Leah passed, suggesting they must have mentioned things during their lessons that she had picked up on because of the great detail that was in the picture she drew of Heaven according to Revelation 22. But they said, “No. We have a curriculum for 5, 6 and 7 year olds that we follow.”

I had always taught the kids that God had us on his mind before we ever came into the earth. So I would read them Psalm 139, because I believe we originated with Him in Heaven, and Father God released us to the Earth. He knows the number of days we will be here, and when we will go back to Him because we belong to Him.

I kept that picture of Heaven for that reason, because the closer we are from whenever we departed from Heaven to come to Earth; the freshness of being NEW is still alive. When I asked Leah about her picture of Heaven, since she said: “I remember that”; then could it be that she DID ACTUALLY REMEMBER?

Two years after Leah drew her first picture of Heaven, I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to bring the picture out again and ask if she remembered it. She said: “Oh yes! I still remember!” She was seven when she first drew it and nine when she re-did the picture. It was very similar, but she had a little more artistic skill.

By the age of 12, I brought it out again and asked her: “Do you remember this picture?” And she said: “No. I don’t remember.”

I could see that she was moving away from having the remembrance of it. And in my thinking, the more you’re in the world, the more the things of the world can distract you and take you away from the things you once remembered. Leah was becoming a young teenager, and she was involved now in different kinds of relationships. But it was something that I had followed up on as she was growing up. I believe I was following the leading of the Holy Spirit, because I or no one else had put those words into her mind and mouth. I just asked her questions and she told me if she remembered it.

As the years went by, I actually forgot about the pictures! I had shared them with Bible Studies in the past, and with other groups, and wondered what God was going to do with these pictures, so I tucked them away in a file with her name on it when she was around the age of 12.

Leah draws “Heaven” at age 7

Leah draws “Heaven” again at age 10

The Accident; “Leah’s Departure to Heaven”

Leah Joy Smith

One day before Leah’s 17th birthday, her accident happened. It was on December 16th, and her birthday was on December 17th. For 17 years we were able to enjoy her minus one day,

There was a twohour delay because it was so cold that morning. She was sick with a cold on Wednesday and it was now Thursday morning. Instead of leaving for school at 7:15, she left at 9:15 and I was able to walk out to the driveway with her (because my work office is in my home). I was getting ready to begin my work day.

I would always pray before she left the house, and for her that morning, I told her: “Leah, you know you’re you’re deeply loved, greatly blessed and highly favored” And she said: “I know Mom.” She just received it. She smiled, and pulled out of the driveway. I said good-bye and walked back into the house, shut the garage door, went into my office, and by that time, she was already with the Lord, but I didn’t know that.

I didn’t hear anything until 15 or 20 minutes later when a friend at school was waiting for her, and she hadn’t showed up. That friend texted Leah’s sister, Rachel, who was attending college at Slippery Rock. This friend was close to Rachel.

Leah’s friend texted these words: “Leah didn’t make it to school and she said she had left the house. We can’t get ahold of her.” So that was the trail that I followed when Rachel began to call me at my office at the house. I said to her: “Honey, I saw her leave and I watched her leave as I stood in the driveway." But Rachel said: "Something is wrong. Something's not right." That's when I decided I would follow the path to school she had taken in my car, and that's how I found out.

There were a lot of things that unfolded after the accident, but on the morning of the accident, I got dressed and drove less than a quarter-mile from my home where the accident took place. I couldn’t go up the path that she took because there was a huge plain truck that was there. I put my window down to wave and say: “Listen, I need to go that way and he said: “Ma’am, you can’t go that way. There’s been a fatal accident.”

Of course, that grabbed my heart, but I still didn’t know. I still had hope. So, at that point I knew I could get to that same place where she would have traveled by another road which was about a half a mile down my road. I drove very slowly and dialed my cell phone and put it on speaker. I called my son Zachary who was at home. He was just getting out of the shower getting ready to go to work. I said: “Zach, I need you to stay on the phone with me. There has been a fatal accident up on Salem Church Road, and I’m sure it’s not Leah, but... I need you to stay on the phone with me to walk me through it just in case it is Leah.”

When I got up there, there was another truck and he wouldn’t let me go down. I said: “Sir, if that’s a black Honda Civic, I need to get down there because that’s my daughter.” He knew, and it was that man who left me through.

The coroner had already come and the police were there, and the Grace of God just comes over you and you just keep moving forward. I told them my name, and they had her purse which was a tie-dye cloth bag. I was crying and I said, “Do I have to identify the body? I don’t want to see her body.” I just didn’t want to have that memory. I assumed it was going to be bloodied and cut up. And he said, “No. You’re here, you see this car, and you see the back end of the car.” The driver’s door was completely into the tree.

They gave me her purse and her phone. I asked the coroner, “What was the cause of death?” And he said, “Blunt force trauma.”

Zach was now there with me and we were in the police officers’ car and the coroner was talking to us. At that point, they couldn’t really explain what had happened. They knew it was a single car accident, and the way her car was situated was very odd. After we pulled our thoughts together, we realized there was no ice up there on the road and Penn DOT confirmed there wasn’t ice. But, we wondered why there were Penn DOT trucks on either side of the road? I never got that answer.

The police officer then wanted to keep Leah’s phone. We didn’t understand why at the time. They wanted to see if she was texting and driving. They later found that was NOT the case. Her last text was sent at 9:13 before she left the house and the accident occurred at 9:18 or 9:19, and her purse and phone were in the center console. But, nonetheless, they kept it. The phone was later returned to us.

The man in the truck who was the one who let me go down to the accident scene sent me a card afterwards saying: “I saw the look in your eyes. I have a daughter and if that was my daughter...”

The Road of Truth, The Journey of Grace, Led me to HOPE

As soon as I came home from realizing what had just happened, acknowledging that she had died in a car accident, Zach and I just looked at each other. We were both in shock.

Then the two friends that were to meet Leah at school came to the house, and they didn’t know what had happened yet. We looked at the two of these 16-year-old girls and I had to tell them, and they crumpled to the floor. Then more people began to come into our house.

It was immediately after Leah’s departure, about an hour later that the Lord had me go get that picture of Heaven that Leah drew. I had said to the Holy Spirit: “I need comfort. I don’t even know what else to say. I just need you to comfort me.” And immediately, I heard in my heart: “Go into your office and go get that folder.” A friend of mine we know real well came in and together, we found that picture. It was in a folder in my office filed away with Leah’s name on it. And it gave me hope.

Holy Spirit was relaying: “Here’s heaven; here’s this picture, and she drew it.” In other words, that day, I do remember Him speaking clearly to my heart saying: “She came to you downloaded with this picture of Heaven. She drew it, and she’s with Me now. She’s here in heaven with Me.”.

it felt like my guts were being ripped out, but at least I began to follow the lead of what the Father (Father God) was doing. The road of truth, the journey of Grace led me to Hope.

In this day and age of Facebook, Leah’s accident went viral just like that. Rachel drove from slippery Rock to home. I had to call my other son in Pittsburgh and tell him. There were at least ten women in my living room comforting me as we were trying to make sense of all of this. Channel 4 and Channel 11 came to the house. Someone said: “Who’s at the door?” And I told them to tell him to come in. Gordon Loesch from Channel 11 had come and was very kind, He got to experience the grace of God in my home as he sat down and asked questions. I told him: “Gordon, I have peace. This is all a hard thing, and I’m not going to pretend that it is not, but the fact that I’m standing here going through pictures that Leah drew when she was 7, a picture of heaven--I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is with Jesus today. I don’t know if your mother is still alive, or if you have someone in your life that you are close to, but make sure before you leave this earth, make sure that you’re right with God and you have a relationship with Jesus.”

On this first day of Leah’s departure to Heaven, as a mother, I had to tend to the other children. Jesse and Rachel were both in college, and that next day, which would have been Leah seventeenth birthday, we were going to all be together to celebrate. Jesse was graduating from Sam Bradford Business School that same day of her birthday, so we had plans for a family gathering.

It was really hard after Leah passed away. We were trying to get to a “new normal”, but the rug got pulled out from under me because Leah went to be with the Lord and we felt we just got punched in the gut. But I was tending to the other kids, and we went to Jesse’s graduation the next day. We were thinking no-- we shouldn’t go, and we wondered if we could pull it together for this? And Jessie’s twin sister Rachel said: “No! You worked hard for this! We’re going!” So we went, and when we came home, we were all so exhausted from the emotional upset of everything that had happened.

Drawing by: Gabby O’Brien, Leah’s close friend He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and eliminate death entirely. No one will mourn or weep any longer. The pain of wounds will no longer exist, for the old order has ceased.” (Revelation 21:4 Passion Translation)

JESSE HEARD SOMETHING! “Heaven’s AUDIBLE Message”

(Fall of 2004) Family photo (from top/left to right) Zach, Henry, Rachel, Jesse, Sandy & Leah Smith (age 5)

I knew that Leah left here and she had my blessing, and it was my friend Paula Fink who said to me something I’ll never forget: “Leah heard your voice first Sandy, and the next voice she heard was her Heavenly Father’s voice.”

God’s grace and peace was really a tangible thing on me at that time. I can’t describe it and I can’t emphasize it enough; I was not panicking; I was not freaking out; I had great peace. I was still asking questions, but I knew God’s tangible peace was there.

We were piecing it all together with Leah being on the earth and then departing from the Earth to heaven. And then Jesse heard something!

Jesse and I were having a conversation in my bedroom, and I was just about to ask him the only thing that I didn’t know. I was a little bit concerned, and maybe a little bit afraid to know what happened within a matter of minutes to Leah. Was she afraid? Was she scared? Was she alert? But the Holy Spirit quickened me and I did not ask that question out loud. I held on to it and we didn’t discuss it.

I walked into the kitchen from the bedroom and Jesse yelled: “Mom! Come here!” And I went back and he said, “I thought you were still talking to me! I thought it was your voice!” I looked at my son and I KNEW he had a revelation. I could see ILLUMI- NATION in his face. And I said “Jesse, what did you hear?” He said: “I heard that two angels were dispatched while you were talking to Leah in the driveway and God dispatched those angels from heaven and they escorted her spirit from her body before that accident happened.” I sat on the edge of my bed and thought: ‘Oh my God! That’s the question I was going to ask and God answered it!”

Jesse said that he heard the words being spoken into the air, but he thought it was MY voice-- that I was talking! This experience hppened at seven o’clock on the evening of Leah’s birthday, only one day after the accident. We made a decision to not think of it again, because you have to accept things by Faith. This is what God told me and it’s true.

God was beginning to piece this thing together for us little by little, so we now knew that when she left, she received the blessing from my lips: “You’re deeply loved, greatly blessed and highly favored” and we knew now she didn’t suffer.

The next bit of evidence came after the funeral.

A DIVINE APPOINTMENT “Another MESSAGE of Comfort”

I chose to have her cremated. I did not want to see her face or her body. I had assumed that the whole windshield was broken into a million pieces, and I assumed she was cut and bloody. So I left it go, and it was about four days later, about the 19th day of December that my one sister who is in law enforcement in the state of Virginia, and somebody who is good in a crisis, told me: “I will go to the car and get all the belongings that she had in there. And of course they’ll total the car, but I’ll handle that for you Sandy.” So off she went.

“Now how can that be?” And then, as I said that, God reminded me, the coroner handed me Leah’s purse the morning of the accident--an hour after the accident, and her purse was cloth. It wasn’t vinyl or leather. And I remembered there was no blood on that purse. So could this be true?

She came back with a bag of clothes and different things, and she said: “You have a question for me don’t you?” And I said: “I don’t want to ask a question.” And she said: “Go ahead and ask it.” And I said: “There was a lot of blood in the car, right?” And she said, “There was not one drop of blood in the car.” I said, “You’re lying to me.” And she said her husband went with her, my brother-in-law Scott, and he said: “Sandy, there was no blood in that car.”

I had to realize that if her spirit went up out of her body, and her spirit left her body before the car hit the tree, it would make sense that she was not bracing herself to hit a tree or a truck. She was like a rag doll, and she just went with it. And there were no cuts or bruises. I just had to imagine that. I really didn’t have any evidence.

But, three months later in mid to late February or early March, we received the revelation about the Angels who were dispatched while we were eating a meal at Eat ‘n Park. The short story is that the waitress who was waiting on Jessie, recognized Jesse from the interview he did with Beau Berman with channel 4 news on the day of Leah’s accident. I didn’t want to be a part of that, but Jessie was very much wanting to let people know that Leah was NOT texting and driving because that was what was being said in the very first reports about the accident. Jesse wanted to make sure the facts were out there that she WAS NOT texting and driving.

So, there we were four months later and there’s this waitress who recognized Jesse. She said, “I’ve got something to tell you about the scene of the accident. My fiancé’ was the first responder.” Jesse held his hand up like: “please don’t tell me”. But then he thought and said: “Wait a minute.” All of the words of knowledge and faith kicked in, and he said: “We know there was no blood in the car after the accident. My mom already knows that.” And she said: “Not only was there no blood, but my fiancé’ had to reach in through the passenger side to get to Leah because the driver’s door was shut because of hitting the tree, Your sister was laying there with her purple hair.”

She explained how he reached in to pull her out knowing she was already gone because he said she was laying there just as peaceful... The presence of peace was very tangible in the car. It was like she was sleeping. It was a beautiful sight, which is very contrasting to what you often find in car accidents that would have been like that one.

We were thinking: “Why is God piecing this together? Why are we finding all these things out?” The waitress was from Belle Vernon. All these details lead to the fact that God wanted us to know that her spirit was taken from her body before she physically had to endure any hardship or broken bones and cuts.

I’ve often wondered: “What does God want to do with all of this?” And I began to understand after a while that not everything gets explained in a day, or a month, or even a couple of years.

Henry & Leah Smith (Sept. 2012) Henry departed one year later on Sept. 2nd, 2013. Twelve hundred days later, Leah departed on Dec. 15th, 2016.

Reunited with Dad in Heaven

One of the things that was very honoring to me was prior to her departure, when my husband died of renal cancer. All of my children and I--we all believed Henry was going to be healed, but he passed away. My concern for the adult children was that I didn’t want them to lose their faith. I told them, “We believed all the way to the end that Daddy would be healed, and I’m concerned for all four of you.” I sat them down in the living room, and Leah at the time was thirteen. She was the youngest and she said: “Mom, God did heal Dad. He just took him to heaven to do it.” The rest of us were crying and trying to make sense of it all, and again, Leah was the voice of the “matter of fact”. I looked at her and said, “You’re more ahead of the game than I am sweetheart, because I’m having a hard time with this!”

But she wrote in her prayer journal which I didn’t find until after her accident. She wrote to her dad, and she too had to work through some struggles. After Henry’s one-year of passing in September of 2014, she wrote a letter to Henry and said: “I can’t believe it’s one whole year Dad. I haven’t seen your face. I haven’t felt your hug.

I haven’t heard your voice. But I know where you’re at. You’re walking on those streets of gold. And I will be with you one day soon. I will Dad.”

She went on, and combined with the picture she drew back in 2007, and now here she was in 2014, seven years later, one year after her father went to heaven to be with the Lord, she was once again expressing her belief in Heaven, and her faith knowing that she will be there too.

When I read those words after her passing, it was a great comfort to me. She took it seriously. She believed it and I know she’s there.

Leah Honors Mom

I poured a lot into my oldest son because he was the only one for nine years. And I used to be a Junior Bible Coach when Jesse and Rachel were going to middle School, so I knew I had poured a lot of the Word of God into all three of the older kids. But, I always had this sense that I needed to play catchup with Leah. I would talk to her and pray with her, but I wanted to specifically get the Word of God into her a little more strongly.

It was after Henry’s passing that I would say to her: “You know Leah, I just want to make sure that you understand why you’re here and the plan of salvation, and all the questions that can be answered for you that will equip you as you move forward in life.” I wanted to make sure she knew it like the other ones knew it.

I wanted to say: “No matter what happens in this life, you’re going to be tested, and bad things happen in life. You’re going to be tested to blame God, that He’s not good. I would share with her the word in Exodus when Moses was speaking with God and God declares what his character is. I would say: “This is God’s character. He is full of Mercy, full of tender compassion-- yeah, He is Almighty.” I would talk to her about the characteristics of God. I said, “Now Leah, the time is going to come in your life when you will experience something hard or have a loss that is going to tempt you to say ‘God is mean’ because of disappointments. But the Word of God is ABOVE our feelings, and we have to declare that it’s good, even when life isn’t. God is ALWAYS good.” And she understood that. But when I shared: “I think I need to tell you some more.” She said: “You know Mom; I feel I’m good on this subject. If I don’t know what to do in certain situations”--and then she looked right at me-- “I’ll just do what you would do Mom.”

I didn’t expect that answer! And I said, “Honey, as long as you feel like you’re good, hey, we’ll revisit this another time.” That was a great honor to me and a comfort to me.

(Sept. 26, 2006) Celebration of Henry’s birthday. Rachel, Henry, Jesse, Leah (age 7)

LEAH’S MESSAGE TO HER FRIENDS

Gabby O'Brien, Leah's friend holds her creation, honoring her friend.

I wanted to open the door to all of her friends to come into her room. She had the whole downstairs which was like a game room that she made into her room. I gave them a chance to come into her room and sit on her bed. I gave things to those who were close friends with her. We wanted to convey the attitude that, “Yes, she’s gone, but she’s in heaven”, and to bring into remembrance “all the things she told you because I don’t want any of you kids and she wouldn’t either, to be drinking alcohol or taking drugs to try to cope with things.” Unfortunately, some went that route, but I’m still praying for each one of them.

They came for a while and listened and we prayed over them. Some of her friend’s parents who knew me over the years also came. I had at least 10 or 12 women there who were ministering. It was incredible.

One of her friends, Gabby O’Brien, had just done a drawing, and it was of Leah, based on a photo that was taken of Leah in her car. Gabby is the daughter of Pastor Lance O’Brien, who was the pastor at the time at New Hope Assembly of God in Elizabeth.

Pastor Lance and I were talking about Leah the day of her funeral memorial service, and I said, “Lance, I really believe God is putting together something, and I think--I’m not sure-- but I think I’m going to be able to speak at Leah’s funeral. But the problem is that I have not slept. I could not physically lay my head down to go to sleep because I was so wired from Thursday when it happened; so, I haven’t slept Thursday, Friday or Saturday.” But he said, “Sandy, if you can’t do it, I will do it.”

God did let me sleep for about 5 hours the morning before the funeral, and I was able to do it. I know that it was that supernatural Grace and Strength of God that morning and I thought: “Lord, I’ll do whatever you ask me to do, that you would get the Glory, and that you would use this painful situation for your Kingdom purposes”. And He gave me that opportunity.

Lance told me that morning: “Go ahead and preach. I’m going to go over here and cry”. And I took the picture of Heaven and I was able to preach the gospel because God’s grace was on me.

There were so many people who came to her memorial service. Leah was not a loud kind of kid. But, all her friends knew, and they explained that Leah would say things like: “Someday you’re going to leave this earth and you’re going to unzip this Earth suit”. That’s what she called the physical body, and that’s what she would tell her friends. “You’re going to live somewhere forever, so make your decision. You make your decision!” She was able to be quiet, yet have a strong voice for Heaven in her generation.

When it was time for me to pay the bill for the funeral, I was told: “Sandy, somebody came by and paid the bill.” I said, “What?” And he told me the person’s name and I said: “I don’t even know who this is! But I was told they wanted to remain anonymous. This person had said: “We know that this family suffered the loss of a husband, and now a daughter and we want to take care of it.”

“Leah Wasn’t Taken... Leah was Recieved”

One of the greatest things that brings joy to me is this: Leah worked at Country Custard Cottage in Sutersville for maybe four months, and until this day, they honor her and her memory and how much they loved her. Her picture is still hanging in their shop. When they closed down in October of 2016 to reopen again in the Spring, they told her she had done such a good job, and they would make her manager.

Leah had a mannequin in her room, and on that mannequin was her attire for her first day of work which would have been the Springtime of 2017. Leah was ready to go back to work again. She was prepared, but God had another plan. But Leah was also prepared for eternity.

Leah studied Cosmetology in 9th and 10th grade. She would come home and tell us what she would love to do. She was skilled in applying makeup, and she said: “Mom, I’m going to drive across country to California!” The visionary she was, she was getting prepared... but Leah was also prepared for eternity.

One day, we went to TJ Maxx. She kept her skills sharp and her heart’s desire was to have her own makeup line that would help skin look good and keep it balanced and healthy. Leah was getting prepared,... but Leah was also prepared for eternity. Father God shared with us after her departure, that Leah had mastered some things on the earth, and she was now being given privileges in Heaven because she did well with her gifts here on earth.

My husband departed six years ago on September 2nd. I felt the tremendous loss and felt as though he had been taken from me. But, the Lord corrected me one day and said: “I didn’t TAKE him, I RECEIVED him.”

I’d love to share that with those who have lost loved ones, because there’s a perspective here. There’s an “earthly perspective” and there’s a “heavenly perspective”.

The Bible does clearly tell us that if we’re “believers”, we need to “set our hearts and our minds on the things above”. So it’s more so a “receiving” and not a “taking”. Henry was prepared for eternity. Henry wasn’t taken. He was received. Leah was prepared for eternity. Leah wasn’t taken. Leah was received.

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