A Perfectly Straight Spine

Stephanie Stocks

January 8, 2017

Growing up Calvary, Healing

“Let the little children come to me” Matthew 19:14

The Following Testimony was submitted by Hannah Heglund

When Braden was 6 years old he began complaining of lower back pain. We noticed a muscle mass on the right side of his lower back. His doctor referred us to a Pediatric Orthopedist at Children’s Hospital. We were able to get an appointment with the head of the department in November of 2014.

At that appointment, Braden was diagnosed with scoliosis. He had a 17 degree curve in his spinal column. The specialist said the curvature would undoubtedly increase drastically as Braden continued to grow. We would likely be looking at a full time brace for his back in the near future. He also prepared us for the likelihood that Braden would need surgery as time went on.

We were all upset at this diagnosis and immediately made it a matter of prayer.

Braden was especially upset about the diagnosis. He began to be fearful about what his future might look like and what he may have to endure. As a family we began to speak wholeness over his body and we reached out to our friends and church family for prayer for him. He began Physical Therapy weekly, and had daily exercises to do at home to combat the scoliosis.

Six months later, a new x-ray revealed he now had an 18 – 19 degree curvature. On one hand, this was a praise because for having grown several inches, the specialist expected the curvature to be worse than it was. On the other hand, this was discouraging, especially to Braden, because he had fervently been asking Father to touch his body and heal him.

A few months later, Braden began to have a flair ups of the pain in his lower back, despite the therapy. We took him to a chiropractor for muscle testing and adjustments to provide him with some relief from the muscle spasms.

The chiropractor discussed Braden’s case with the doctor who owned the practice. The said that Braden’s treatment would be about 2 – 2 1/2 years. We decided to begin with treatment, and again enlisted our prayer warriors to battle for Braden’s back. At this point, our main concern was for the daily discomfort he had to live with.

We were hoping the adjustments from the chiropractor would help with some relief.

Throughout these months, Braden had been faithfully praying for the Lord to touch his back, as I know many of our family and friends were also praying. We got to know the chiropractor really well and we were able to share with him our faith and trust in Jesus. The kids constantly invited him to our church outreaches and I had many conversations with him about Jesus and who He is to us as well as several opportunities to pray for him for various trials.

After just a few months of treatment I remember the chiropractor continually commenting on how well Braden was looking and that he would like to take another x-ray ahead of the scheduled one in the Fall. On April 14, 2016 he examined Braden before adjusting him and asked if he could take a quick x-ray prior to the adjustment. I remember vividly standing behind the little protection wall as he snapped the x-ray and watching the film immediately pop up onto the screen.

There it was, a perfectly straight spine.

Braden had NO scoliosis. It wasn’t “improved”, it wasn’t “resolving”, it was healed.

Braden and I had a little praise session right there in the x-ray room! We went back out into the exam room to have an adjustment. We watched as several doctors streamed in and out of the x-ray room. Our regular chiropractor joined us a few minutes later and told us that he and the rest of the staff had been comparing Braden’s previous films with today’s films. They all were in disbelief at how quickly Braden’s back had straightened.

He was, of course, basking in the glory of his patient who was doing so well under his treatment. I smiled at him and gave him a big hug and said, “I am so so thankful for you and how well you have taken care of my little boy. You are amazing with him. However, I think you know that I have to tell you why Braden’s back is so straight!” He laughed and said ” I am pretty sure I know what you are about to say!”

He was right. I was able to share with him again how many people had been praying for Braden’s back and how, while we were extremely grateful to him for his expertise and his gentleness with Braden, that the true reason for his straight spine was answered prayer from a God who hears. He didn’t miss a beat and was still grinning from ear to ear and said ” I believe that to be true.”

If you’ve been blessed reading the testimony of what our Lord has done, check out the other posts on my homepage.

ABOUT CALVARY TEMPLE

Calvary Temple is an independent church which holds to all Assemblies of God tenets of faith. Calvary Temple ministries include Discipleship Training, adult Bible college, media ministry, and an aggressive missions program.

Pastor Star R. Scott is Senior Pastor of Calvary Temple in Sterling, Virginia, where he has ministered since 1973. In addition to the pastoral gift, Pastor Scott functions in the five-fold offices of apostle and prophet. He has planted churches, and currently oversees the pastors and ministries of numerous satellite churches.

Visit Calvary Temple online on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,Flickr,Instagram

The Prayer of Faith Shall Save the Sick

Stephanie Stocks

December 8, 2016

Growing up Calvary, Healing, Pastor Scott, Prayers

“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 4:7

The following testimony was submitted by Gwen Wotring

What started as a routine physical turned into a nightmare! But it was miracle that we will never forget!

I took Sydney for a routine physical. Her Pediatrician felt that her spine was curved a bit so she wanted to check for h. The x-ray process went smoothly. The Radiology office automatically sends the pediatric films over to Children’s Hospital for them to review.

When Children’s reviewed the films, they noticed something that concerned them. They saw a shadow on the left side of Sydney’s lower back that they were very concerned about. She used the words, “Possible mass that is pressing against her spine and she definitely has scoliosis.”

They were so concerned that they wanted Sydney to get an MRI as soon as possible.

The Pediatrician was going to schedule the MRI at Children’s Hospital, and we would be hearing from them soon. I was scared. I called my husband, Matt, to tell him what the doctor said but I couldn’t get through it without crying.

When we told Sidney what the doctor’s were concerned about, and that we were believing for God to do a miracle in her body. Her attitude the entire time was one of, “God’s got this! I’m not at all worried!”

I’ve never seen a child so calm about anything.

We got the call that the MRI was scheduled for Thursday morning. Matt really felt strongly that we should have Pastor Scott lay hands on Sydney Wednesday night in church, and pray for her to be healed. We wanted everyone in our church to be believing with us.

So that night, Pastor Scott anointed Sydney with oil and prayed over her in the name of Jesus. Again, the peace of God was on her and us. It was an amazing feeling!

During the check in process at Children’s Hospital, Sydney was so calm that even the workers were amazed.

I was able to share with them that we had prayed, and a lot of people were praying for her. We believed that we wouldn’t be back, Jesus had healed her! When they took her back for the MRI, I sat in the waiting area praying that whatever was ahead for us as a family, that God would give us the grace to stand through it. Father gave us all such a peace that we will never forget. They called us 90 minutes later and said that the MRI was finished. Then they informed us that it would be a few days before we heard any results.

We really didn’t want to have to wait over the weekend to find out if our child may have cancer, but Father again gave us peace about it. Sydney’s pediatrician, however, woke up Friday morning thinking about Sydney and wanted to know what the results were, now! She called them first thing to put a rush on the results. I received a call from her about 1 o’clock that afternoon. She said, “I heard back from the hospital, and I wanted to give you the news. There’s no mass and the scoliosis is only showing as a mild case!”

What showed on the original x-ray as being a severe case of scoliosis showed on the MRI as a mild case. What showed on the original x-ray as being a large mass pressing against her spine was completely gone!

If you’ve been blessed reading the testimony of what our Lord has done, check out the other posts on my homepage.

About Calvary Temple

Calvary Temple is an independent church which holds to all Assemblies of God tenets of faith. Calvary Temple ministries include Discipleship Training, adult Bible college, media ministry, and an aggressive missions program.

Pastor Star R. Scott is Senior Pastor of Calvary Temple in Sterling, Virginia, where he has ministered since 1973. In addition to the pastoral gift, Pastor Scott functions in the five-fold offices of apostle and prophet. He has planted churches, and currently oversees the pastors and ministries of numerous satellite churches.

Visit Calvary Temple online on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,Flickr,Instagram

Camp Testimony

Stephanie Stocks

August 25, 2015

Calvary temple, Camps, Growing up Calvary, Pastor Scott

I had the opportunity to help coach during both the basketball and soccer camps. I had a great time. I was so excited when I heard that I was able to be a head coach again for the middle age boys during basketball and the youngest age boys during soccer. During the camps we learned all the fundamentals and team strategies of the game, but most importantly we talked about the Bible and the message of salvation. I shared my testimony on how I was saved in the 4th grade while attending Calvary Temple School. My players thought it was so cool that I accepted Jesus as my Savior at such a young age. During basketball camp I had two players on my team give their hearts to the Lord. I shared with the players that they can give their hearts to the Lord with the coaches or if they wanted, could go home and pray if they felt like they wanted to. One of the players stated that he would go home and give his heart to the Lord. He came in the next morning with a beaming smile and I asked him if he accepted the Jesus as his Savior and he said yes, I was so excited. The second player who gave his heart to the Lord said he wanted to wait a bit and do it later. The week came to an end and he still hadn’t given his heart to the Lord but said he would do it over the weekend. Thankfully he attended soccer camp and I had the opportunity to talk to him on the first day, Monday. He said that over the weekend he too accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior!
During the Soccer camp I had about 15 players on my team and about half of them wanted to give their heart to the Lord by the last day. All through the week I and the other coaches coaching with me shared our testimonies, talked about our daily verses, and the basic Gospel message. By Friday about 7 of the players on my team gave their hearts to the Lord! They said that they wanted to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and wanted to live for Him. It was a great day and all of heaven rejoiced when they gave their lives over to the Lord Jesus! I was so excited to be used of the Lord in such an exciting way, now the real work comes to pray and intercede that they would make it and continue to live for Him.

Tony Perozich

Growing up at Calvary Temple

Stephanie Stocks

February 27, 2015

Calvary temple, Calvary temple pastor Scott, Growing up Calvary

I am so very thankful to have grown up at Calvary Temple.
I came to Calvary Temple in 1981 with my Dad and 2 sisters. I was just a year old. I don’t remember much from when I was little, but remember the Word of God being taught to me. I remember faithful servants living the Word before me and requiring it of me. I attended Calvary Temple from Kindergarten thru 2nd grade. Being taught the Word of God every day; I loved it. I don’t remember praying to ask Jesus in my heart (maybe I was too young to remember), but I remember loving Jesus and asking for His Holy Spirit to fill me. I was filled with the Holy Spirit when I was just 7 years old. I was young, but I remember the presence of God was surrounding me. It was an incredible experience.
When I was in 3rd grade I started going to public school. I viewed going there as an adventure. It was a new place and new people. I liked it. I continued in public school until the 6th grade. By that time I can say that I was no longer a Christian. I was a good kid, but definitely not a Christian. During this time, we still went to church at Calvary Temple and I enjoyed going, but I didn’t have the same longing to go that I had when I was younger. Being in public school had definitely vexed me. As a 3rd grader I started out telling everyone about Jesus. But then kids made fun of me, so I stopped. By 6th grade, I was just going through the motions of being a Christian (I did what I was told and I attending church, but didn’t love God anymore).
When I was about to go into 7th grade, my dad gave us the choice of going back to Calvary temple or staying in public school. I wanted to go back to Calvary temple. I knew that’s where I needed to be. As I sat in Bible class every day and started reading the Word again, I started to hunger for it more. I knew the Word and I knew that I wasn’t right with God. I asked Jesus to come back into my life at the end of 7th grade.
I am so VERY thankful for the faithful men and women of God that consistently poured out their lives for me to make sure I knew the Word and lived it. Lives that have been a comfort to me or a jolt to get me back on the right path. And now, most of the same men and women that poured out their lives for me, are pouring out their lives on a daily basis for my kids.
Now as a grown woman, I am still in awe of the goodness of Father to place me at Calvary Temple. This is where I met my husband. This is where hands were laid on me in the name of Jesus, I was healed and was able to have children after doctors told me I couldn’t. This is where my 2 daughters were dedicated to the Lord. This is where they are now being raised to love Jesus. This is my heritage. A heritage that I can share with my kids. It’s my prayer that they know Jesus and only Jesus for all their lives; that they too can have this as a heritage.
I am so thankful for what Calvary Temple is: Not just a building where I go to church, but a place I can go and be fed the Word of God. A place I can go and look at the leadership as examples of Jesus because they not only teach the Word, but they live it without compromise. A place that miracles of God happen. A place where the presence of God is. A place of comfort when times get hard. A place that has a family of believers that reprove, rebuke and exhort with the Word of God. A place that I now am able to teach the kids on Sunday Mornings and sow into their lives just as my life was sown in to. A place that I am blessed to have called home for the past 34 years and by the grace of God I can continue to call home.
“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord” Psalm 122:1
I am blessed and so incredibly thankful! To God be all the glory!!
~Gwen

Growing up at Calvary Temple

Stephanie Stocks

February 17, 2015

Calvary temple, Growing up Calvary, Pastor Scott

I reflect on my heritage A LOT! I have no other word but “thankful” for the life that God has enriched me with. I am blessed beyond anything I deserve!

When I was asked to share about growing up/being reared in the House of the Lord, my first thought was, “Oh my! How in the world do I even put into words what 34 years of knowing and serving Jesus at Calvary Temple has meant to me? It’s impossible!!” But, I will give it my best shot.

I came to Calvary Temple in the summer of 1981 with my Dad and two sisters. The Lord brought us there through my Uncle and Aunt at a very vulnerable time in my Dad’s life. I don’t remember much about those days, but I do remember giving my heart to Jesus in Children’s Church shortly after we started attending when I was 4 years old.

I started preschool at Calvary Temple that fall and continued through the 5th grade. I loved it! I loved going to Sunday School. I loved going to Children’s Church. I loved going to school. I was devastated when we were taken out of school after my 5th grade year and put in public school. We were still attending church at Calvary Temple, for which I was always thankful, but my heart ached to go back to school there! I KNEW what I was missing.

From the 6th grade through 9th grade I attended public school. And even though I hated it, looking back, I can see so many areas where God was at work in my life. Those four years of life, I believe were used by God to show me so much. The Lord used those four years to show me that there is NOTHING in the world that satisfies but Him – not popularity or acceptance; not drinking, drugs or partying; not sex; not having a boyfriend, etc. I saw all these things taking place in the lives of so many and how empty it left them. I began to be labeled as a “goodie-goodie” and a “snob” because I wouldn’t go to parties or have a boyfriend or cuss…you get the picture. There were very few people who accepted me for who I was and what I believed. I lived for the re-charge I would get on Sunday and Wednesday services during those four years!

The summer after my eighth grade year was life-changing for me. It was a Wednesday night service, which back then we had Youth Group on Wednesday nights. This particular Wednesday night we stayed in the service to watch a Fire by Nite video that Pastor Forbe had on his heart to share with everyone. I don’t remember the name of the video or everything that was in it, but the message is what brought conviction to my heart. It talked about why good people go to hell. I recognized that night that my life had become about just being a “good” girl – trying to keep up an image rather than living all out for Jesus – no matter the environment! I had kept myself pure from the world on the outside (only by the grace of God), but my heart was being vexed and I didn’t even realize it. It scared me!! I made a once-for-all decision that night that I was going to live my life all out for Jesus. I re-dedicated my heart to Him that night. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but something new was birthed in my heart.

I spent a whole year after that still in public school. I still longed to be back in school at Calvary Temple, but instead of focusing on why it wasn’t happening, I began to commit it to prayer. In that year, the Lord worked such a thankfulness and appreciation in my heart for Calvary temple. I truly became real to me that the Lord knew the desires of my heart and that I needed to trust Him with those desires.

It was the summer after 9th grade where I remember Pastor Scott saying, and I don’t recall verbatim, but it was on his heart that all the kids that were faithfully coming to services be part of the school as well. My heart leaped!! I expressed my desire to my Dad and that fall I started my 10th grade year back to school at CalvaryTemple. It was a privilege to come back to school and be able to graduate there!

It was at Calvary Temple where the Lord ordered the steps of my husband in November of 1995, who at the time was headed down a devastating path in life. He walked into a Wednesday night service and encountered the presence of God and heard God’s Word taught with such beauty, purpose and clarity that he was never the same. We were married almost 4 years later.

It was at Calvary Temple where the Lord reunited my parents in marriage in 1997 after being divorced for 16 years. I stand in awe at the great work of Jesus that has been done in my Mom’s life and in their marriage.

It was at Calvary Temple where my children were born, dedicated to the Lord and are now being reared by the same people who dedicated their lives to minister and sow into my life. There is no greater joy in my heart to know that they will have the same Godly heritage that I have, should the tarry and they continue to serve Jesus. To know nothing else but Jesus!!

I have shared all these details (which was REALLY hard to condense!!) to boast on Jesus. I am thankful for Calvary Temple and the family of believers that I have their. It’s my home! In the 34 years that I’ve been attending, so much of the Word of God has been poured into me in and through so many avenues. I’m thankful for Pastor Scott, who truly cares about the flock that he’s been entrusted with and who continues to stand in obedience to God and His Word! I’m thankful for the other men of God (pastors and deacons) who have answered the call of God on their lives and given themselves in service to the Lord and the Body of Christ. I’m thankful for friends (ones that I’ve had for 34 years and ones that I’ve known a short time) that are faithful to speak the Word of God into my life – whether I need encouragement or a swift kick in the butt! I’m thankful for the Body of believers there who have ALWAYS been there for me – to offer a word of encouragement, prayers, fellowship, etc. It’s humbling to see men and women of God lay down their lives to serve each other on a daily basis. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35. I’m thankful for the Spirit of God that dwells there and is doing great and mighty things in our midst!

Because of all that I’ve been given so freely, I just want to be able, with my life, give back in a small way. Whether it is being able to serve in the Children’s Ministry, which I’ve been involved in since I graduated in 1995 or ministering once a month at a local Women’s Detention Center or volunteering at our annual Cheer and Soccer camps or as of this year, one that I immensely enjoy, volunteering twice a week to assist with the 1st and 2nd grade class at school. Wherever I have the privilege of ministering, my hearts desire is for others to see and come to know Jesus just as I have known Him my whole life.

Growing up in the house of the Lord didn’t mean that life was easy for me. Serving Jesus is a DAILY decision (Luke 9:23). It requires obedience to God and His Word (James 1:22). I haven’t always gotten it right and there have been times where things were so hard, it would have been easier to just give up. Regardless of what I’ve ever been through, God has always, always, always been faithful to see me through, help me make tough choices and by His grace continue to faithfully serve Him – His Word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11) and He will finish the work He started in me (Phil. 1:6)!

I could go on and on and on…but I’ll stop here. I pray that everything I wrote makes sense and conveys what’s in my heart that is SO difficult to put into words. 34 years of knowing and faithfully serving Jesus – Lord Jesus, thank You! Help me Lord to never lose sight of all that You’ve done and continue to do in my life as a result of being a part of such an amazing ministry!!

So, so thankful… Erin

About Calvary Temple

Calvary Temple is an independent church which holds to all Assemblies of God tenets of faith. Calvary Temple ministries include Discipleship Training, adult Bible college, media ministry, and an aggressive missions program.

Pastor Star R. Scott is Senior Pastor of Calvary Temple in Sterling, Virginia, where he has ministered since 1973. In addition to the pastoral gift, Pastor Scott functions in the five-fold offices of apostle and prophet. He has planted churches, and currently oversees the pastors and ministries of numerous satellite churches.

Visit Calvary Temple online on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram