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It's all about HIM
My name is Lisa English. I came to the Lord the summer of 2001.My life at that point was like a battlefield littered with the mass destruction from decades of bad choices and decisions I had made. There was no way of escaping the carnage, no way to go back and do it over, and no way to get through another day. Death seemed like the only way I’d find peace. I mean after all, I was already living what I thought was hell. At that point my nights were filled with torment, sleep was impossible. My days an endless struggle to function in a high stress corporate job, taking care of a family with issues and the endless stream of demands that I couldn’t meet.
One morning, in August of 2001, I received a call that my brother-in-law (my sister’s husband), was in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit and it was questionable as to whether he was going to make it. I had meetings scheduled that morning, so I had no choice but to go to work. I finished up at work and got to the hospital by late morning. There was a waiting room outside the ICU. I called the nurses station and was told that my sister was in with Jesse but they would let her know that I was in the waiting room. There, sitting in the waiting room was a man that over heard my call. He came up to me after I hung up the phone, reached out his hand, gently taking my hand in both of his he introduced himself as my sister’s Pastor. His words were soft and gentle as he spoke giving me an overwhelming sense of peace that I had never known or seen. He didn’t tell me that I was a sinner damned to hell if I didn’t repent. He didn’t start spouting scripture. He did however say that Jesse was in Jesus’ hands. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time talking before my sister came out but it was enough time for me to know that I wanted and needed what this man had. (I later learned that Pastor Bruce had been with my sister since the ambulance came to their house the night before.)
So many times in my life people tried to convince me that Christianity was what I needed. Lord knows, my sister had been praying for me for years. But, then there where all those bible-thumping, you’re going to hell types! I went home that day longing to be in that peace, wanting to know how to get what Pastor Bruce had. That’s when I opened the bible, something I had never done before. I didn’t know what I was looking at and I didn’t know where to start. For reasons unknown to me at that time, I went to the concordance. From there I found hundreds of topics that applied to my life which led me to scriptures that spoke to my heart. I sat there with that bible for five (5) hours that day. That was the beginning of my life being transformed by Jesus.
The next Sunday, I went to Pastor Bruce’s church, Calvary Chapel of Livermore. From the minute I walked into that church, I was welcomed, loved and filled with a sense of peace that I can’t even begin to describe. It didn’t matter that my life was shattered into a million pieces, how much money I had, how I looked or what I could do… I was loved and accepted just the way I was, with all my flaws… Jesus loved me!
As the Word was spoken through Pastor Bruce, it spoke directly to my heart. This man didn’t know me, yet he spoke to me in a very personal way. After the service, I thanked Pastor Bruce for his words and told him how I felt like he was speaking directly to me. He told me that it wasn’t him it was Jesus speaking to me that He speaks to us through His word and through His body of believers. He told me that he was so happy that I came and how he hoped that I would come back. Come back?! I didn’t want to leave!
In retrospect, I was and am blessed that the Lord brought me home through people filled with Him. The people weren’t perfect and glowing with halos, it was Him flowing through and out of them. They were just like me, and now I was part of His family, part of His body.
I can’t stand before you today and say since I have had a close and personal relationship with the Living God that my life is perfect. I still make mistakes. I still have tribulation and most often, I don’t know what to do in situations that I encounter. But I can tell you that I wouldn’t be able to get through or exist through anything without Him. He is my strength in difficulty. He is my advisor when I need wisdom. And He is my peace. Apart from Him, I have and am nothing. For a lot of years I lived on the “wide road” and I know first-hand that it’s the loneliest most difficult place on earth. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) If you let Him, He will do it all. He will do things in your life that surpass what you can imagine. Not because of what you want to do, but because He loves you, knows you and knows all.
I am now seven (7) years old in the Lord. As some may know, in His Word, seven (7) is the number of completion. Well, I’m not complete, nor am I done! He has been working in my life far longer than I have even known Him. I won’t go into all the details of the tribulation in my life because I know He has and will use all times for His good. Most recently, I was prayerfully led to move to this area. Next to Mount Shasta where my father, my father’s, father and my father’s, father’s father migrated to, lived and visited. I was raised being told that this was God’s country. Well, they were right, it is! Since moving here the Lord has been opening doors that I didn’t even ask Him about. With Jesus at the helm, Mount Shasta Ministries has been founded.
Mount Shasta Ministries is being formed and divinely inspired by God through His Holy Spirit to touch the lives of His people for whom He sent His only begotten Son so that none should perish but all would “change direction”, come to know Him, and have everlasting and eternal life through Jesus Christ.
In prayerful diligence we aspire to Romans 12:9-13, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.”
Our mission is to serve the lost, lonely, displaced and hurting people in and around Mount Shasta in Siskiyou and Shasta Counties by initially organizing and facilitating biblical ministry resources, Christian programs for adults and teens (Christ-centered studies that promote healing from the painful things we inevitably encounter in life). We are also in the process of negotiating a long-term lease option on a property that we currently manage. The redevelopment of the community will includes a Christian based resource center, community/ family recreational facilities and co-operative gardens.
It is our faithful belief that the hardships we encounter in our lives are opportunities to grow and learn. We are all a work in progress living in a fallen and difficult world. Steadfast in faith and united by Christ, as one body with strengths and weaknesses, we find hope to overcome the harshness of circumstances and share in the joy of lives transformed.
Mount Shasta Ministries is not a church, we are strictly a Christ-centered organization that loves and seeks to serve the Lord in obedience through loving others. It’s all about Him, and He’s opening the doors to His kingdom on earth to reach the lost, the hopeless and the broken, in love.
Thank you for allowing me the privilege of sharing my testimony, you can rest assured that He did the speaking; I was just the vessel that He wanted to use today
In His Precious Name, Amen
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