His Time, Not Mine

Melissa was now beginning her education and I began to have peace about it. Things were settling down for her. I told God that I knew He was going to heal her and now I was willing to wait it out. For nine years I had tried to push Him to do it when I wanted Him to, but I learned you can’t push God. Abraham and Sarah learned that too.

God promised Abraham that he would have children. Sarah, his wife, was barren and past her child-bearing days. She decided to help God keep His promise by giving her maid to bear the child for her—a big mistake. That child, Ishmael (a grandson of the king of Egypt—Haggar, his mother, was an Egyptian princess), became the father of the Arabs; while the son that was born to Sarah 13 years later, became the true heir of the throne of David. Isaac inherited the land of Israel, and his children are known as the Israelites. Look at the dissension (fighting for the land) that is among these peoples, the Arabs and the Israelites—all because of the mistake of one woman who didn’t wait on the Lord. Heartache is the result of not waiting on the Lord to fulfill His promises. He will, in His time, and in His way.

 


It’s Time To Start

Well, I’d pushed for nine years not discerning the mind and will of God, and when I finally figured out it was going to be a while, I got peace. I told God I didn’t care when He healed her, because I knew He was going to in His own time. Then, from turning my will over to God’s will, almost to the very day , God said, “It’s time to begin. Fast one meal a day for six days, and on the seventh day, have Melissa administered to.” I sure hadn’t expected that, and didn’t know what to expect at the end of the week.

Many administrations and prayers had gone up in her behalf, and she hadn’t been healed. Now when I was ready to sit down, He said, “Move out.” “All right,” I thought, “but this is the last time I’ll ask for administration for this healing. I’ll never come to You again about this.” And I meant it.

A group of us started fasting, and on the evening of the sixth day, I dreamed a powerful dream:

There was an earthquake. I was told that I would understand its significance far more than anyone else. God then said there would be need for one more administration (after the quake), but that I wouldn’t have to ask for it. God was going to tell His elders to phone me when it was time to administer to her. Then another earthquake would occur in which all things would go down. 1  I heard the voice of a man telling me they could help us now.

When I awoke I told no one the dream. It was the Sabbath, and we gathered for the administration. Three elders laid hands on her head, and under the power of the Spirit, the elder speaking repeated what I had been told in the dream. The Spirit said,

“Usually a blessing such as this is withheld because of the wickedness of the people, but I will not withhold this blessing from this child. The desires of her mother’s heart have been granted. Janice, there is need for one more administration, but you will not need to call Mine elders. I will come to them and tell them when it is time, and they will come to you.”

I was humbled. I knew it was true, for no one but God and I knew that dream from the previous night. Here was my second witness to verify the truth of what I had received in the dream.

Melissa was 9 at this administration and from then on her hearing began to return. She could tell us how many times the phone rang, the doorbell rang, and other things. At 14, sound waves began to penetrate her right ear. Up until that time, only her left ear had received any “sound.”

When she was about 15, we bought her a very high-powered hearing aid. Only six existed in the nation at that time. They were reserved for the deafest of persons. Although the machines registered that she could hear nothing—that there was no change—she heard her own voice for the first time. We were leaving the Audiologist's office, and it had started to snow. There was a slight incline from the sidewalk to the street. Gene and I had gone ahead of her when we heard her squeal. We turned to see what had happened and Melissa had her finger up to her mouth in a “sh-h-h” sign. She had slid a little on this incline and it startled her. She told us she heard her own voice and was embarrassed at the sound. She was looking around to see if anyone else had heard her.

Those first few days with the aid were joyous for us. She was amazed to learn that people have different pitched voices. She laughed at her father and brother saying they sounded low. She couldn’t understand the words but said her sisters’ sounded much higher. We knew she had to hear to understand that.

The typewriters at school sounded funny to her, and when she took a pocket radio to class to “hear” these new sounds, her science teacher took it from her, not realizing they were witnessing a miracle in the making. These signs brought joy to our hearts as we could see her beginning to come into the hearing world. She had been administered to at the age of three (the day Susan was buried), and was told that the day would come in which her parents would see signs that would bring joy to their hearts. This Patriarch didn’t know she was deaf. This is now fulfilled.

 


Melissa Learns About Life After Death

Jesus made me a promise He’d teach all my children. He is keeping that promise. It’s a marvelous thing to watch the way He does it. Many of us are not aware of His working among us, and what a joy it is when we do recognize it. The following is how He taught Melissa about life after death.

Many people struggle with the hereafter, deaf and hearing. Melissa was very afraid of what she couldn’t see. The children at KSD must have discussed hell fire, the devil and powers of darkness, because Melissa carried a fear that she didn’t get from home, or her parents. One day during her sophomore year, she came home very upset. The school yard caught fire and burned into a circle leaving what appeared to be a black hole. Melissa was sure that hole was hell opening up, and the devil was going to pop up through there at any moment and grab her! I tried to reassure her that this is not what hell is.

“In the first place, Satan is not in hell; he’s here on earth hassling the Saints. Secondly, hell is like a prison (link opened later) where people go to pay their debt for sin, and learn about Jesus. Then they can either believe Him or not. Jesus went into hell to preach to the prisoners during the three days His body was in the tomb.2 After that He was resurrected,” I explained. Her eyes got big as if to say, “Oh, is that true?” But still she was uneasy. She needed evidence that the devil was not going to come snatch her away, and I couldn’t give her that peace. It had to come from God with power. One night she had a dream.

She was attending the wedding of a friend of the family, Mr. and Mrs. James McKay. She saw details such as who was present, who sat where, many gifts, no honeymoon (things she had no way of knowing, yet in reality did come to pass.) After the wedding ceremony, she said she saw Jesus in the audience. He came over to her and began explaining the life process. He told her that her parents were born on earth, married and she was born. They would get old and die, then go to heaven where they would wait for her. Then, when she got old and died, her parents would come to get her and take her to heaven and we would all be together again.

Jesus next showed her the difference between the body of flesh and the body of the spirit. She saw Him lay down or “take off” His fleshly body, and was shown His Spirit body. She said it was very “lightweight.” He then arose into heaven.

Mr. and Mrs. James McKay

As she told me the dream, I was again, totally awed at the blessings our family was receiving. The young man to be married had been staying with us for three days and was in deepest prayer, concerned about his marriage. She hadn’t been told that he was afraid the bride’s parents might stop the wedding, and if it did take place, he thought they might not attend. Melissa assured him the wedding would be, and that her parents would attend. It came to pass just as Melissa had seen.

Knowing Melissa’s fear of death, I asked her, “Melissa, are you afraid to die now?” With a big grin, she shook her head, “No.” Her peace remains just as strong today.

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Footnotes
1. Earthquakes (Rev. 16:18-20 “...and the cities of the nations fell..” Isa. 24:1, 19)

2. Paradise and the Prison House (Link to be opened later)  See the Life After Death chart.