Hey there!
Today Vince posted Richard’s testimony “God Brought Me Back”. It is such a wonderful testimony. I just love hearing it and I am so thankful for the mercy Jesus has given us. Richard’s testimony goes along with a dream I had before we left on our trip last week. The morning I had the dream was the same morning you sent your email reminding the young people on proper summer dress. I had actually typed up the dream while on our trip, but it oddly disappeared off my phone and I couldn’t retrieve it. I have typed out my dream again and at the end I have added what Richard said in his testimony that he gave in 2018 that Vince posted.
In the dream we were all sitting at tables (reminded me of when we did the Revelation study). Gary had a new song. It was about someone’s life that had been through a lot of hurt and pain as a result of life choices. As folks started to realize the song was about Richard from his time in California some whispered to the person next to them commenting to their neighbor. I think it was Diane that leaned over to me and asked, “Is this song about Richard?”
Just then, Richard motioned to Gary and asked if he would pause the song so he could tell about the experience in the song.
Richard stood up on a table as if he wanted everyone to hear what he was about to say because it was important. My thought as I looked at him, he was now wearing only a t-shirt and shorts, was how raw and sincere his heart was telling about the hurt during that time in his life.
Then he stepped down off the table, still telling of his hurtful experience and specifically started addressing the young people in our crowd that are not living a godly life. He walked over to one of our young ladies dressed like a Las Vegas show girl. He now had what looked like a boat oar in his hand. He tapped the green feather headdress she was wearing and it fell off her head. He proceeded to tap the long feathered skirt she was wearing and it fell off. As he was knocking off the costume from the young lady he was pleading with her and the other young folks. I don’t remember the exact words he said, but the feeling was as if he were saying, “You don’t need this; this is not who you are. Please don’t go down the road you are heading! It will not end up good.”
Standing beside the young lady was her mother. When I looked at her it had the feeling like she was surprised at what Richard was saying about her daughter, and she was not happy about it. Then I woke up.
In Richard’s testimony that Vince posted, he told about his time in California and how at first when he started down that path he really didn’t know where it would lead, but after a while he found himself in a place so far away from God wondering, “How did I get here?”
Listening to him tell this part of his testimony, addressing the young people in the room, brought back the feelings from the dream so I wanted to type this part out:
“As someone that has gone down a bad path, God can bring you back, but it is much better to stay on the path in the first place. All those curses of God are not just a story in the Bible that happened long ago. That is real life. He will do that to you, He can bring you back but it’s not without some pain, it’s not without suffering, and it’s not without some sorrows of the heart. Choose the path of God in the first place.”
Amy F.