“I knew God. At least I thought I did. I accepted Christ as my Savior in 1979. I was 13. I know he saved my soul that night. It was real. I heard Jesus call to me as clear as if He was standing beside me. He said "Come to me and I will save you? I will, but you must accept me and trust me."  And I did. That night God gave me a new heart and a Love for others I had never known before. 

But Satan decided I would not be a would not be a warrior for God if he could stop it. He knew I was already a child of God just like Adam and Eve but he was determined that I would not be in fellowship with my Father and he used others abusive ways to deceive me. And like Eve, I believed him. He told me that God was pure and righteous (all true) and how God wouldn't want someone like me for His daughter who was tainted and damaged. (Not true, but I believed Satan.) How could God accept me after the things I had allowed others to do to me? I didn't fight against them I accepted it, so I must be bad, right? I desperately needed to make up for my impurity. God would try to draw me to Him, and I would only think of how unworthy I was, how ashamed I was, and how I could never be clean. I searched for someone who could love me even though I was damaged. Maybe if I was a good enough person, and strong enough for long enough, I could convince God to accept me as a servant in His kingdom. 

Just like the prodigal son I would be happy to be a servant. That was the best I could hope for right? Thank God that He wasn't content to let me be just a servant. He protected like He protected Job, even though Satan accused me before God, He said, "No. You may not have her soul. My son Jesus had paid for her and she is my righteous and pure child whom I love. I WILL restore her.”

Just like Job, I lost a lot but God HAS restored my soul to Him. And the love and atmosphere of worship at The Dwelling is one of the best gifts God has given to me.. I am thankful for the past hurts in my life for they are my compassion to others now. As God forgave me I have, through His love and strength alone, forgiven those who have hurt me. He tenderly restores my soul. Part of this restoration process is that God is allowing me to be a part of a family that knows God and makes room for Him so that lives can be restored and His glory can shine into the darkness. I can only praise Him and give Him all glory!” - Nita

“My growing up years I went to church and have always been religious. In December of 2018 my family moved to Savannah were we struggled to find a church until our neighbor told us about The Dwelling. My first time going to The Dwelling was after I got back from from training with the Army. The moment I walked into the doors of the movie theater it felt like family.

I was in a very dark place in my life at that time. I felt that I needed something more but didn’t know what else I needed. It was on June 11th of 2019 when my life changed forever. It was after I hung in the tree where I tried to end my life that God opened up my eyes and my heart. The reason why I’m here today because God didn’t see that my work was done. God saw that I still had a purpose here on this earth. God has done a miracle in my life and he showed me that he is the only one who knows when my time is over.

It has been a true blessing to get connected in with the men’s connect group where God has let me know that I’m not alone on this path. I have brothers in the faith that have helped me get to where I am today.

It says in Psalms‬ ‭55:22‬ ‭NLT‬‬ “Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.” ‭‭This verse has been one of the most powerful verses in my life.

I just recently attended my very first conference, MORE19, at The Dwelling. At this conference I heard the most powerful words that I’ve ever heard and witnessed God changing lives like he’s changed my life.

After the conference was over I felt the urge that I had to go visit the tree where I tried to hang myself. The ratchet strap was still hanging there. As I approached the tree I asked God, “Now what do I do?” God spoke to me and said, “I want you to climb up there, exactly where you were standing in June 11th and just look.”

Tears started to roll down my cheeks as I stood up there and thanked god for this tree, and this experience. As I got done praying in the tree I climbed back down and got on my knees. I could feel his work being done. I felt my entire body go numb. And as I stood back up, I felt everything go. I felt my burdens release. I felt my anger disappear in the woods. I felt my troubled conscious go away. It felt as if God just removed a sack that was filled with rocks of my my shoulders.

It has been amazing to develop the kind of relationships that I have with my family at The Dwelling where God continues to do his work. I’m thankful that God has given me a second chance to be a witness of how powerful He is when you have faith in Him.” - David

“Yesterday, it had to have been more than some coincidence, as I experienced my first “God Moment” since I made the decision to follow and devote my life to Him two weeks ago. This actually started earlier this week, when my friend encouraged me to go down to the front and receive prayer after confiding in him that I had a very stressful and draining week. I’ll be honest, I always believed this time of the service was more for show than actually praying for the people requesting prayer. However, I told him that I would consider it.

When you began listing things that God had laid on your heart, as well as The Dwelling Team, the first thing you said, was “back and neck pain.” I have scoliosis and have dealt with this kind of pain a lot recently, but it was the least of my worries. I was sitting in my seat, and said “Nice try, God. That’s not enough.” Later, you began listing names. I honestly started to phase out, but towards the end, you listed Jeffery followed by Linda, in order. Those are my parents’ names. Saturday night, I was up late praying to God, because I have been experiencing an immense case of homesickness, due to being away from home for the first time (my parents live several states away). I am very close to my parents, as I am an only child. I prayed very hard the night before for my parents and they were on my heart the majority of the service.

I immediately began tearing up and went down with my friend to pray. This was the first time I knowingly and willingly was okay with someone I barely knew praying for me.” - K.H.

“In May, I was told that the cause of my focal migraines (not the 2-3 milder seasonal migraines I get) was a misshapen optic nerve in my right eye. It was causing extreme pain. I was sent to a specialist and he said the optic nerve is like a donut and they like to see both openings about the same size and under a four. My left eye measured 3 and my right eye measured 6. Another specialist re-measured to make sure and she got 3 and 5.5. So they referred me to an optic nerve specialist. I went to church the following Sunday and several of you guys gathered around me and prayed. My husband and son have also been praying for me that I wouldn't have to take those glaucoma eyedrops for the rest of my life or have risky surgery. I went back for the follow up yesterday and she had to run the test twice because my right eye is down to a 3.5. Her words were, "I want to send you to the eye institute for two more tests because the optic nerve doesn't repair itself like that. I'm afraid I might have missed something.

And there you go!! Isn't that just like God!! And by the way, I haven't had a focal migraine since June!” - Kathi

Kim shares about the healing she received during prayer.