What was the situation like before?
We moved to Austin from Southern California in July 2021 and we had been having a hard time finding a church that aligned with our beliefs and valued God‘s love and presence. It was a rough season of having Covid, finding out that I was pregnant while I had Covid, moving away from the beach, not having community and adjusting to this new life in Texas with our seven year old and three years old boys. God had made it clear to us that we were to move to Austin. My husband worked for a company that does not relocate anyone. We prayed for a few months that if we were right in our feeling that God wanted us to move to Austin, that He would make a way and the company would relocate us. My husband Joey met with the owner and asked him to relocate us and the owner said the company doesn’t relocate anyone, but he will relocate our family. The day before we were delivering our baby, we saw Todd White preach in a park and someone came up and prophesied over us. I asked them if they were with Lifestylechristianity.com. They said they were there with Bethel Austin. I was so excited to hear that Bethel planted a church here in austin because before we got confirmation to move here, I had suggested that we just stay in California and move up to Redding to be a part of Bethel. I love how God had a better plan. We had never been in a spirit filled church and I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 2016 for the love encounter in tongues and I was also healed miraculously in 2019 of a horrible root canal infection. I was battling this for six months, lost two teeth, and part of my jaw. I was also healed of ulcerative colitis which I I had been battling for the past four years in and out of the hospital. The Holy Spirit came upon me during worship in a church that did not operate that way. I was laughing, shaking and glued to the floor. I heard God say “You are healed!” I was shaking and laughing for five days and my healing was confirmed by Doctors. The Ulcerative colitis was so bad that the doctor wanted to remove my colon.
They did not even find inflammation or auto immune disease in my blood work and all symptoms left. The infection was gone and the oral surgeon was shocked when he saw my x-rays. The neurologist I was seeing was also amazed at how well I was and he asked which church I went to because he has a colleague who was having a similar infection and needed healing. I got to tell him that it’s Jesus who healed me.
Before Bethel, we had been blessed to connect with some spirit filled believers that had never been in a spirit filled environment.
What did God do?
I have been praying for four years for a church where people are passionately in love with Jesus and our prayers have been answered when we found Bethel Austin. From the first time that we visited, we knew that this was home for us. So many of my prayers that I have been praying for years have been answered in the 6 months of us attending Bethel Austin. My husband has seen me encountering God the past six years, he has seen me healed miraculously by the Holy Spirit and had not had his own personal experience until we started attending Bethel Austin. Afew weeks after we started attending, he got baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire! He’s now prophesying and taking classes to grow in his gifting and faith. Shortly after that, my sister came to church with us and felt God’s presence. There was an altar call and she re-dedicated her life to Jesus. She continued coming and had a powerful encounter with Jesus which led her to being baptized and fully committing her life to Jesus. I had another sister visiting from California during that time who also decided to re-dedicate her life and get baptized that day. Then my Dad, who is Catholic, came to visit from California and he came to Bethel Austin with us. He has been suffering for years and received prayer for gout and rheumatoid arthritis. His gout symptoms left and his rheumatoid arthritis improved 90%. He came back the following week and encountered God so powerfully and was baptized in the Holy Spirit! He said, “I never knew I could cry and laugh at the same time. I never felt so much peace.” He was so moved by God’s presence at our church that he said he wants to find a church like Bethel Austin where he lives. When I followed up with him a couple months later, he said, “since I went to Bethel, my health has improved, and God has even blessed my business and people are giving me money and things.”
God has been so faithful! Our eight year old son also had his own encounter with Jesus on Easter Sunday where he felt Jesus in front of him and said he felt God put his hand on his head. He was then led to get baptized that day. We’ve also met so many amazing people who just love Jesus and love one another. It has been so easy for us to connect with people and we’ve been so blessed by our community group. I’ve also been blessed meeting so many amazing new mommies in the nursing room as I go with my baby during service. We have our own little mommy community in there and we also have mom’s group where I’ve gotten to share my life highs and lows and be blessed by others. I am so grateful for our church and how freely I can worship God. This is the first place where I have been able to worship Him as my heart and Holy Spirit leads me and because of that I am encountering him so powerfully every week. It also seems like my personal at home encounters have been amplified! We have been so blessed and just in awe of God’s goodness and what He is doing in our family and our church. Thank you Jesus!
What is the situation like now?
God is so good and since we’ve been at Bethel Austin, my personal encounters at home seem amplified. This is the first time that I can actually share my testimonies or share how I came to Christ and it’s not judged but rejoiced. I feel like I can actually be myself and love God openly around others and be bold in ways that I haven’t been able to before. I feel like I finally found my home church after years of praying. I am so grateful and blessed to be part of such a beautiful church filled with so many people who just burn for Jesus.
Categories: Healing, Salvation, Financial, Miracles, Relationship
