I always enjoy going to First Baptist in Land O’ Lakes. Pastor Peterson has been there for years, and I appreciate the spirit in the church. Over the years, we have had the privilege of going there several times. This year in addition to conducting the War of Special Forces, we also were able to have some revival services. We not only had a great time in the church, but the Lord did break through in many hearts in the school.

One young lady in the Christian school came from a rough home and had tried several different ways to find peace. One Thursday after team meeting, she realized that Jesus was her only hope. Abi, the Ranger team co-captain, helped her diagnose what her strongholds were, and she realized the connection between some things she was experiencing at home and her self harm. She made the decision to forgive and to start spending time with God. She decided to trust God that no matter what happens, He is still good!

“I’ve been struggling with… some anxiety and things that were caused by something that happened four years ago and has continued to happen for the past 4 years. …And I just… I didn’t realize the toll it started taking on me. And…the verse that Miss Abi, my co-captain, shared with me was the one where it says, ‘…lean not on your own understanding.’ And that was the verse that really resonated with me because I realized that for the past four years, I’ve been relying on myself and not God. And I’ve been going, it seems like everywhere besides talking to Him and going to Him….I realized that I was taking things out on myself and other people and that was wrong… I shouldn’t have done that, I should’ve just gone to God and talked to Him about it sooner. But this week…showed me that God is in control of everything and without Him we can do nothing. And I didn’t realize that before, but I do now…”

Another young lady had been hurt by someone close to her. She had also been hurt by their hypocrisy. She came back crying for counseling, very much struggling to forgive. Janna, the Seal team co-captain, had her write a list of all the things the person had ever done or said to her. The young lady chose to get right and to forgive every time. She shared in her testimony:

“I have a person in my life who has really really hurt me…for the past few years. And I didn’t ever think I would ever be able to get over it, ever….I had been bitter…and [would] not talk to him, and when I did talk to him, be very passive aggressive….And I was fine with it staying that way. And I didn’t want to forgive him….[but] I realized that I have been forgiven for so many things…and I would want someone to forgive me. And so I talked to [this person]…and I told them that I forgave them….I literally can’t explain how…unbelievable that is because I never thought I would ever be able to forgive them….And I told [them], ‘I know you’ll probably continue to hurt me for the rest of my life, but I’ll forgive you for it every time’….It’s been two days and I feel like…a new person…like there’s nothing over me.” 

One young man in the Christian school came back for counseling early in the week. He admitted he had sin in his life and went home and got right with his mom. He shared in his testimony: 

“…when I was younger…I [did] moral sin, and it really hurt me my entire life. So…when this week, when you were preaching about that, it made me really open to that….I spoke to God about it….and I also spoke to my parents about it which was really hard. But I was able to do it, and it felt like…the sin just got lifted.” 

The school really broke open when one young man who had gotten right with God earlier in the week stood up on Friday afternoon and gave a broken testimony: 

“This is more of a declaration kind of testimony. I want to declare victory today over moral impurity because this has been a four year battle… since 7th grade I was exposed to it…And I’m done with it! Moral impurity kills a man inside and outside. And I would encourage all of you [to]…take action against it because if you don’t, it’s gonna take action against you. And you can’t be the person God wants you to be if you don’t take action against it.”

After his transparent testimony, many young people stood up and opened up about how God was at work in their own hearts. Another testimony shared is below: 

“God just showed me this week that I’ve been battling in the area of… moral purity for a while now, and He showed me that I’ve been going at it all wrong. I’ve relied on myself; I’ve thought ‘I can…I can do this.’ I… grit my teeth, ‘I can do this.’ And I’ve got a little bit of freedom but it wasn’t true victory. And He showed me this week I need… I need to rely solely on Him. It’s not me; it’s all Jesus.

One young lady was moved during the testimony service because she had never seen her peers open up. She was good at everything, had high grades, but felt like she had to live up to extreme standards of what her parents expected of her. She struggled with a lot of anxiety because of that. She admitted that she didn’t meet with God, and made a decision to start meeting with God and developing a relationship with Him. 

The week was an encouraging week in many ways. The testimony service on Friday was only supposed to go for a class period, but it went for two class periods. There is no doubt the Lord was working, and we were thrilled to see what God was doing in lives there.