Crack Your Teeth by Shana Minervini

Have you ever been in a situation where you couldn’t bear to see someone go through something? My brother-in-law Ron was diagnosed with cancer in his palette and he was in Sloan Kettering Hospital in NYC recovering from mouth surgery. The surgery was about 10 hours long and they had to reconstruct his palette and remove three teeth. They had to take skin from his arm to rebuild the roof of his mouth and skin from his leg to replace it.

It was the third day after the surgery and we had just walked in to visit him. I sat down in the chair and he was sleeping due to heavy sedation for the pain. His wife Debbie went over to him and asked him how he was doing. Ron replied “Why do I have to suffer so much?” I immediately got up from my chair, grabbed my purse, my Bible and headed to the elevator. I went down to the lobby where the chapel was located. I immediately walked to the front, knelt on the floor and started to sob.

Let me give you a history of what happened before his surgery. Ron went into this surgery with a pair of boxing gloves on because he was determined to fight the good fight of faith. Our sayings would be “I’ll snap the neck of Satan” and “crack his teeth.”

A week before Ron’s surgery, he went into Home Depot and was in the checkout lane, he looked up and saw Larry Holmes (the famous professional boxer) standing in front of him. After a brief conversation, Ron felt like God was confirming to him that this was a fight and he was never to give up. Satan would not win. Put on your boxing gloves and get ready to crack the teeth of the enemy.

There I am in the chapel and I am a mess. I have said every prayer and petition possible. I cried out, “LORD HELP HIM FIGHT THIS BATTLE!” “GIVE HIM THE STRENGTH TO FIGHT!” My plea was that in Ron’s state he would fight. I sat in the chapel for almost two hours reading through Psalms. I was in total peace and felt connected to my Father. When I was ready to leave, I started to close my bible and Psalm 3:7-8 (NLT) was right in front of me. It read “Arise O Lord! Rescue me, my God! Slap all my enemies in the face! Shatter the teeth of the wicked! Victory comes from you, O Lord.” I started to laugh and thank the Lord. God was speaking my language. Shatter the teeth means I’ll crack your teeth. I knew He heard my plea. God is so merciful.

I composed myself and gathered my things. I went back to the Ron’s room and Debbie asked if I was in the chapel praying. I boldly exclaimed “yes”. She explained that while I was in the chapel, Ron out of nowhere started to proclaim to the world “I AM FIGHTING – I AM FIGHTING!” I stood in the doorway and began to cry. My prayers were answered! God is so amazing! I knew God was with Ron during this battle and that Ron was fighting.

After that experience, the words intercessory prayer came to my mind so I decided to look them up. During the search, I found this awesome description of intercession from the RCCM International Garden of Prayer:

What is Intercession?

Intercession is the act of going on behalf of someone else that needs help from Almighty God, to be merciful and gracious unto someone else and not self. In most cases it is prayer for those whose situations or circumstances need the mercy and grace of God’s immediate attention. Intercession touches the very heart of God, the Ministry of Jesus and the help of the Holy Spirit. Intercession requires a giving up and giving unto, as an act of God’s love, mercy and compassion. The intercessor must be ready and sensitive to God at all times, totally yielded to Him, and willing to be touched by the infirmities of someone else. Intercession requires you to become selfless, forgetting about your needs, desires and wants. Wow-I read this and thought that is incredible.

Jesus intercedes for us with God. He is our intercessor. Have you ever wanted to help someone and didn’t know how to? Intercessory prayer can be the biggest gift you can give someone. I had no I idea that’s what I did. All I knew is that my spirit could not sit there and do nothing. That got me thinking of ways going forward how I can bless and stand in the gap for someone else. I no longer have to feel powerless. I will not go down with out a fight in any situation. I don’t know about you but I have some teeth to shatter!

James 5: 16 (NLT) The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Have a Nice Day by Irene Gerontianos

Isaiah 41:13-14 “…for I myself will help you, declares the Lord…”

“You have cancer.” He said it as unemotional as one might say, “Have a nice day” when you’ve been handed a receipt after buying groceries. There was little time for me to comprehend what was happening before the doctor let out another little ditty, “Now, don’t you cry, I’m going to put a tube down your nose into your stomach!”

Don’t cry; don’t cry…what are you kidding me? You’ve just handed me a death sentence and you’re telling me not to cry! Was this really happening? Don’t I get a say in what you’re about to do? Hey wait a minute…what was that? Ohhhhhhhhhhh Noooooooooo….!!!!

He saved my life that young emergency room doctor. He had been in Iraq for two tours before coming to Bethlehem and taking up his residency here. He had seen enough combat duty to recognize a critical situation and to know that this was a matter of life and death. I had been vomiting for three and a half days; I was dehydrated and my electrolytes were way out of range. I was pale and weak with extremely low potassium levels. I was dying. Two days later I was on the operating room table as surgeons removed a tumor that was completely blocking my small intestines. But, they couldn’t get the “big” tumor; they said it was wrapped around the aorta and was three times the size of the smaller one. The surgeon said it would have been ‘catastrophic’ to try to remove it and I would have died on the table. “Tough luck, take care.” “Have a nice day.”

“There is no protocol for this type of tumor anywhere in the country,” the cancer specialist told me. “Nothing can be done; go home and get your affairs in order.” “No effective chemo for this type of cancer; no radiation. Nothing we can do but monitor the situation.…” just another day at the oncologist office. “Have a nice day.”

One of the things satan counts on is that we run scared when faced with insurmountable odds. One of the things I counted on was God. He was in the midst of all this and I knew that when I met that young emergency room doctor. Who gets a combat veteran in the ER except on TV?

Over the course of the next eleven months I went into spiritual battle …thirteen oncologists – fired! Surgeons relieved of duty! Doctors, hospitals, medicines eliminated! I’m telling you it was like Jericho; they just came tumbling down. Every corner I turned; every doctor I talked to; every research paper I read… wiped out! No cure, no treatment, no protocol, nothing, nowhere, no way! The battle was over…Have a nice day.

When a general surrenders in battle there’s a ceremony with much pomp and circumstance. You’ve seen it or at least heard about it. Officers come together and sign papers of surrender handing over their guns or swords or commands. Then each side retreats to their own camp to clean up and go home. Satan did just that… but God didn’t.

Ok, one more time around the insurance providers list…and there she was…a new doc in town from South Africa. Harvard and Yale educated, MD, Oncology, with a Ph capital D!!! A researcher; a foreigner, a brainiac…whoa momma could it be? I called, I went. Who gets a doctor from Harvard AND Yale?

She sent me to New York, to the Long Island Jewish Hospital to see a doctor, a doctor she went to Yale with, from overseas – chairman of surgery, chief of surgery. He took one look at my case and said, “I’ll try…” Who gets the chairman and chief of surgery?

“Wake up, wake up Irene,” they stood over me crying, my husband and my best friend, “They got it; they got it all…you’re cancer free.” Three months later I was back in a Bethlehem hospital with a breast tumor. A year later and there were three more tumors. Now I’m stable for two years. No new growths; tumors remain fixed and stable.

And so it goes, from one year to another, one scan to the next, one prayer at a time. He is directing my path and I’m writing to testify to someone reading this blog today. Life is difficult (John 16:33). God is in control (Psalm 54:4). Cast all your cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:6-8). And now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).
And my personal favorite…

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40: 28-31)
And to those doctors and nurses and surgeons and oncologists who need to know all of above ways of the Lord? Well, I pray for them – a lot! I hope you will too.

Have a nice day!

A Life Changing Trip by Kim Checkeye

I have just arrived home after a twelve day mission trip to Ecuador. The time that I spent there was life changing. We first ministered in Quito which is the capital of Ecuador. Over 2.5 million people live in the city. What I saw in that city broke my heart. The crime rate there is so bad and out of control that they brought in the military forces. Military personnel were everywhere with their big guns trying to get control. The amount of garbage that was everywhere was mind blowing then to see all the homeless dogs running around was painful. Not only that, I saw dead dogs just decaying on the street. But what broke my heart and took me on my knees to God Almighty was the amount of children just running around. Just running and roaming the streets. I kept wondering where their parents were and why they were alone. One boy came up begging to us on the street. I saw elderly women and men begging for money. They could barely walk and they had no homes. I saw the homeless being robbed by other homeless people. What I saw in Quito will be forever grafted into my mind.

Even in the midst of all this pain, crime and heartbreak, God’s presence was so strong. My mind could not get around what my eyes could and what my heart sensed from the Lord.

My home church is Kingdom Life Family Center in Orefield and my Pastor’s are Tony and Tammy Adamo. They lived in Ecuador for 5 years doing missionary work. The church plants that we have in Quito and Latacunga wanted to do a women’s conference. Now, for you and me, women’s conferences are the normal thing to do. In Ecuador, not so much! They don’t do these kind of things. Plus, to pull the churches together to work and support a women’s conference, well, that is just unheard of. However, they put their hands to the plow and started the work. They asked Pastor Tammy to come and speak at the conferences and talk to their leaders and married couples. We went as a support system for Pastor Tammy and to teach some breakout sessions.

After most of the conference times or after church services on Sundays, we had the opportunity to pray for people. This part worried me a little because I don’t speak Spanish. Nothing!!! So, I was concerned about how I was going to pray for people and how they were going to understand what I was saying. However, what God did just blew my mind.

God moved in such a mighty way that the language barrier didn’t matter. Women and men were so desperate to hear from God, to experience God or to just receive a touch from God, that their hearts were so open. Language did not matter. As we prayed for the people, I saw and experienced things that I had never seen before. People broke so openly and poured their heart out to God. Some I just held in my arms as they wept and cried. Some fell to their knees, some danced, some jumped, some shook, some fell over and the list goes on and on.

Sometimes, when I prayed for people, I just wept. I could not contain myself because my heart was breaking for them. I could literally feel their pain. Now you may think I am crazy when I say that but that is the only way I can describe it.
The one woman that stands out in my mind was in Quito. We had a women’s leaders time for any woman who was in ministry or in leadership. Pastor Tammy taught an amazing lesson on women in ministry and at the end, we had time to pray for the women. I was praying for women and I looked up and saw this elderly Indigenous woman who had to be in her 70’s or over. She was hunched over and she looked like she has had a very hard life. No doubt, life has not been good to her. She pushed her way through the women to get to the front so she could be prayed for. She reminded me so much of the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible. As she pushed her way through, she was weeping. I started to pray for her and she was yelling out to God. I have no idea what she said and I know she had no idea what I was saying. We just wept together and prayed out to God. Two hearts were united that night and we cried out together to God for whatever it may have been that she was asking for.

That was it for me. That night I learned so much about God and His presence and who He is and who I am in Him, it was like a crash course in experiencing the presence of God. I knew that that night, I would never be the same or ever look at praying for people the same ever again.

That is what it was like every time we prayed for people. They were so hungry for God because most of them had no other option but God. He was all they had! It was like they were teaching us what it was like to have nothing and only have hope in God. Time and time again, we prayed over people and time and time again, God answered them.

I went to Ecuador praying to God about four things:
1. Continue to create in me a servant’s heart
2. Break my heart for your people
3. Why do miracles occur in third world countries so much and not in the USA?
4. Continue to stretch me in my faith

I can honestly tell you that God answered every single one of those prayers!! He taught me so much about His faithfulness and just trusting in Him. He taught me that if I trust Him and reach out in faith, He will supply what I need and what I am lacking whether that be physical, mental, emotional, in ministry and spiritually. At times, I wanted my family that my heart ached for them. Yet, God filled my heart and helped me in my longing for them. At times, I was physically tired that I didn’t feel like I could give any more out, He supplied me and strengthened me. Even when I was emotionally gone because of all the tears that were shed for others, He helped me to go one step farther.

I was asked a question from a friend months ago about this trip. The question was “If your call in life is Truth for Women, then what does this trip have to do with that?” My answer at that time was “Nothing. It has everything to do with me and my growth in the Lord”. Now please hear my heart that definitly was the case but I also realize now that it was also to help me as I lead this ministry forward. After what I saw in Ecuador, my heart longs even more for women to embrace God’s word as truth and for women to experience the presence of God like I saw there. My heart longs even more for lives to be changed by the presence of God because they see Him, feel Him and experience Him like never before.

This has been my first mission trip ever in my life and I can certainly tell you, it will not be the last.