TESTIMONIES

SIMPLY

AFRICA

By Mari Anne Andersen
Majority of photography © Karin Marie Andersen
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Once again I sit back to see my Father work out details that are so small and details that are so big, and some how He brings it all together to make an absolutely perfect picture of love for all. His favor, His hand and His goodness seem to be constant in my life; there is NO escaping them, and I am so grateful that He holds me in His captivating arms.

I have had a call, a vision, since I was 17 years old that I was to go to Africa and take Jesus with me. I was never sure exactly where – never sure exactly how or when – but I knew PRECISELY that God was calling me there, to be in the throes of the jungles in Africa or, as I have now found out, the “bush.” Some 36 years later I found myself in Gulu, Uganda and in some strange way, I felt I was home with the people of Africa.

This January I felt a very strong prompting that the time had come to go to Africa. It was a dual desire because our daughter was interning in Cape Town, South Africa, with an agency called James House that works with children and families that have experienced loss due to HIV/AID. I brought this to Tommy for prayer and told him that this would be my faith project, to believe the Father for all the arrangements to fall into line in less than two months.

I had the honor of sitting back and watching the Father unravel His long-awaited plan that He so powerfully executed that I am still processing all that happened and all the connections that took place. As God promised for this year, “Divine in 2009 and ALL will be just fine.” How true this word and promise has been and continues to be. We experienced so many people praying for and gathering around us to make this happen, and we are so grateful and thankful for the love, support, and enthusiasm we felt from everyone on our behalf. We say a heartfelt thank you to each individual, along with our church family, who poured out love and support to advance the Kingdom and the message of the Father’s love. We thank you from our hearts.

Last summer at the Ivan and Isabel Allum Prophetic conference we met a very interesting woman named Maxine Brochu who just happened to be Italian, who just happened to be in the ministry called Sonship International (www.sonshipint.com) with her husband Chris Brochu in South Africa, and their whole ministry just happened to be about the Father’s love. They just happened to be 20 minutes away from where our daughter was interning in Cape Town, South Africa. Maxine who just happened to be in contact with me in January and who just happened to mention that they were planning a mission trip to go into Gulu, Uganda, to bring the Father’s love message to the pastors and leaders of that town along with the children.

Immediately my heart did flip-flops because I knew that I knew this was the place we needed to go. We investigated further into Gulu, Uganda, and read about the “night commuters” or the invisible children and how the 15,000 young Ugandans would walk every evening from more than 300 villages, some more than five miles away, into the safety of Gulu. Rebels from the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), a guerrilla movement active in northern Uganda since 1987, raid villages at night, abducting boys and girls to fill the ranks of their army and to become sex slaves and porters. 34,000 children have been abducted since 1997 and the suffering that has taken place has been horrific and unfathomable. If any place needed the message and the arms of the Father’s love, it was Gulu, Uganda.

Winston Churchill used to refer to Uganda as the “Pearl of Africa.” I can echo that same sentiment for several reasons: the breathtaking landscapes, the wild animals, and large bodies of water, but the “mother” of all pearls is the Ugandans themselves who are exceptionally precious and valuable. They make their way into your heart so easily and naturally that your heart becomes entwined with theirs. There is such an affinity between the people and the beauty and purity of the pearl. Pearls are formed when a foreign object enters the shell and becomes entrapped– the creature struggles to free itself and eventually is entombed with the oyster. During the struggle, however, there is a breaking free of the outer layer of the oyster’s mantle and it takes a piece of this tissue with it. This mantle tissue continues to grow and soon it surrounds the intruder’s body forming a pocket called the pearl sack. The remains of the little intruder, now covered in mantle tissue, will eventually become the center or nucleus of a pearl. Eventually this results in a natural pearl.
Again, let me draw some parallels in the making of the pearl to the making of true sons and daughters of the most high God. We live in the world where life can bring about cruelty, sin, injustices that invades or intrudes our very existence as well as our destiny. They become irrants, as well as stoppers in life to achieve all of our God- given potential as well as our call. The intruders of life can entomb and surround us by lodging our very core – however, through the struggling to break free of the control and manipulation the tissue soon overtakes the intruder thus resulting in becoming a precious gem.

Again, let me draw some parallels between the making of the pearl and the making of true sons and daughters of the most high God. We live in the world where life can bring about cruelty, sin, or injustices that invade or intrude into our very existence as well as our destiny. They become irritants, even thwarters in life, and keep us from achieving our God-given potential or call. The intruders of life can entomb and surround us by lodging in our very core. However, through the struggle to break free of the control and manipulation, our God-give hearts soon overtake the intruder thus resulting in us becoming precious gems. The people of Uganda are a special, chosen people who are being called out of the ashes and rubble into God’s marvelous light. How precious it is to know that we had a part (and will continue to have) in bringing healing and wholeness.

I knew Isaiah 61 was becoming more alive not just here in Freedom House Ministry in the Chicagoland area, but now He was calling us to the nations as so many have prophesied over us through the years.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me [us], because the Lord has anointed and qualified me [us] to preach the Gospel of the good tidings to the meek, the poor and afflicted; He has sent me [us] to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives, and the opening of the prison and the eyes to those who are bound.

To grant consolation and joy to those who mourn in Zion, to give them an ornament – a garland or diadem of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness (lofty, strong and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice and right standing with God), the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

As communication progressed between Tommy, Chris, Maxine and myself things fell quickly and incredibly into place – as the scripture so profoundly states, “He makes all things beautiful in His time,” and surely this was the time. Our hearts, vision, personalities, experiences and humor were awe-inspiringly similar even down to raising our children in like fashion. A true connection took place not just in the natural but also in deep bonds of love and respect.

As a team ministering we were flowing in the same stream and enjoying one another’s gifts that complimented each of us. We had the privilege and honor to minister to pastors and leaders, as well as the local people, who had never heard nor experienced the Father’s love. Along with this message, we embraced and held each one, giving the Father’s blessing and comfort as well as the mother’s heart of God. My dear friends, this was truly a privilege to be instruments of God’s love. The people’s great pain and need were overwhelming at first until I asked the Father, “What can I possibly do in such a short amount of time? Their pain is so great. This seems like a drop in a bucket!” And His reply to me was, “ Simply hold them and love them.” Lord, I can do that! Personally, that was my greatest joy - holding them and loving them while sharing the message of the Father’s heart. As we did that, they experienced deep within their core the Father’s love, comfort, and rest.

Many pastors, leaders, and men and women of the town were indeed touched and excited in wanting to get this message out to others in Uganda. What they realized and took ownership of in their own lives was their own orphan thinking and its fruit, feelings of being valuable and loved only for what they achieved or performed and how they’ve been servants in the Father’s House and not sons or daughters, inheriting their promises. Recognition, conviction and repentance took hold in their hearts for their acts of service, performance, and striving, and in doing that, our brothers and sisters came to see how they defiled relationships in order to meet their own needs and expectations.
My personal experience far exceeded what I could have imagined in that so many times as we ministered, I felt THEY were gift to me and ministering to me. My heart has been marked and sealed with my brothers and sisters’ openness and ripeness to the message of the Father’s love. We were under His canopy of love and care as we encountered many challenging experiences and felt His grace was without borders in many so areas.

Romans 8:15-17 was activated in a powerful way – “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may share in His glory.


Galatians 4: 7 – So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. +

CAPTIVE

SPIRIT

By Tammy Vienot
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I always felt dead, emotionally; something in me died through the abuse. I couldn’t join in with things going on around me; it was like I was watching the world pass me by. I was being blocked-out from joining in life around me. I learned this was a captive spirit through counseling at Freedom House.

As my counselor and I prayed asking the Lord to show us where I was held captive, I sensed fear and I was in  tight, dark quarters able to see a tunnel of light. I spoke of what I saw and my counselor saw the Lord digging in the earth, first with a shovel, then with His hands. I saw a hand coming towards what I was in. At first I thought it was a hand to be feared, but then the fear left and it came nearer, and He flicked the black box off with His finger.

The Lord lifted me out, put me in His hand and massaged my spine, as I saw I was lying on a bed of rocks. Then He held me close to His mouth, face to face and breathed the breath of life into me. He then carried me out of the tunnel in His arms like a baby and brought me into the light. There was a beautiful rainbow there; its base was right at the hole we came out of. It was like iridescent color that just sparkled like I’ve never seen before, glittery. In its sparks of color I looked at my hands and my palms were covered with the most beautiful gold. I just marveled at the beauty I was in. I’ll never forget the image.

We then were hand in hand walking forward away from that hole. There was joy in my heart. I had been praying for that to come for years - the joy of being in the beauty and knowing I’d never have to go back to the black box I was in. I get to experience life and see the beauty that always surrounds me. I have been joy-filled and have had a peace that surpasses my understanding since this happening in my soul. People come up and tell me how happy and at peace I look, it seems, wherever I go which affirms this truth to my heart.

When I was a small child I wrote a short story where I was leaving and was going into the rainbow, the top. I never came down from it, but someday I always knew I would. Now I have the understanding that the season of death in my life is over, and I am walking forward with my left hand in the Lord’s and I don’t ever want to let go of it.  I know He’ll NEVER let go of me - He never has and never will until I’m with Him again in the Heavens.

"I am walking foward with my left hand in the Lord's I don't ever

want to let go of it. And I know He'll NEVER let go of me, never

has and never will until I'm with Him again in the Heavens."

— Tammy Vienot