As brief as possible, this is how God worked in my life.  In December 2007, my roommate was brutally murdered.  I’m a homebody, but God told me to get dressed, and go to the Job Get Together at a co-worker’s home.  I got up, dressed and went.  About 15 minutes before my return, my friend was shot numerous times at point blank range by his best friend, who was mentally ill. Then on that Monday he kills his own fiancée’ at her job.  I know for a fact that I would have been murdered also if I would have stayed home.

Moving forward, I got a great position with British Airways as a Sales Coordinator.  The enemy wasn’t done with me at all.  I went to a seminar in Jacksonville and came down with a virus which left me bed ridden for 6 weeks.  My doctors told me that I was totally unable to work any longer.  Then, in the summer of July 2008, my brother dies at the age of 53.  One year later in Aug 2009, my older brother dies at the age of 55. He was my best friend.  After my first brother’s passing, I became a recluse, and I didn’t want any dealings with anyone.  And after my best friend dies, I was a wreck.  Then, after crying myself silly and into a nosebleed, I looked out the window and I heard God tell me, “You have a friend.”  I fell to my knees and told Him I needed Him, and loved Him, and to please help me with this unbearable hurt that I have.  After an hour and a half of talking to my Savior, I called Victory to see if they had anything going on that evening, and they did.

At the time it was CORE, and I was one of the first inside that evening.  I ran into an old friend and co-worker from IBM, and she told me about “Your Final Destination.” I went with her, suffered through a major panic attack, and she held my hand, and told me, “you’ll be fine.” And I was. I was so impressed and happy to be there. It was the best feeling I had in years.  That night, I seriously gave myself to Jesus.  And I was in the next New Member’s class in November 2009. God starts working with the utmost quickness!  I was baptized for the first time on January 31, 2010 and was nervous, but so happy!  People were hugging me in the lobby…total strangers. What an indescribable feeling!  An old tennis buddy, Bishop Thompson, and I were talking, and I was excited to tell him I had joined a church. He told me he and his family were members also.  He said he was an usher, and asked would I like to be one too.  I was more than happy to serve our Lord.  God is never done with you….

While serving an Easter Service, I ran into a lady that I met a year ago.  She was a member and served on a few ministries also.  Little did I know I was talking to my future wife!  We went through Ancient Paths, and even “Dream Marriage.”  We joined a Small Group, and look forward to serving together in any direction the Lord leads us.

My life has changed 360, and I will tell anyone that I meet, where I attend Church, how much I’ve learned there, and the people that I’ve met and how much they mean to me.  I’ve always had a kind and loving heart…but the enemy took it from me. God was there, waiting to give it back.

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We want to hear about what God has done in and through you at Victory. Whether long or short, complex or simple, your story is worth hearing, and there are others who need to hear it. Won’t you please consider sharing your story with us? If you’re willing to do so, please click the Share Your Story quicklink above, write your story, upload a nice photo (if you can) and click submit. It’s that simple. Now, don’t be shy. God’s given you a story for a reason! Share it today!

I am a 16 year old young man. On August 15, 2009 I came home from school feeling tired and weak. My parents were thinking that maybe I was exhausted from the first week of school and football practices. By that Sunday my chest was beginning to hurt. My parents took me to Children’s Healthcare. The doctor did an EKG and it came back normal. He diagnosed me with just having some kind of virus.

Throughout the day my chest continued to hurt. Then around 11:30pm, my parents and I could hear a rattling noise in my chest. My parents didn’t like the sound of it and God placed it in their spirit to take me to the emergency room at Scottish Rite. When we arrived, my oxygen level was only at 70%. They gave me breathing treatments to help my breathing. They diagnosed me with pneumonia. The doctor also noticed that my heart rate was very erratic and decided to do an EKG, which came back abnormal. The doctor was puzzled as to what was happening to my heart. I never have had any issues with my heart in the past. They suddenly admitted me into ICU.

My parents called their Small Group Leaders Pete and Gladys Torres and my spiritual grandparents Terry and Linda Nash to spread the word for people to pray for me.

As my parents waited in the waiting area my health began to take a turn for the worst. They said my heart was functioning like a 60-year-old man having a heart attack. The cardiologist told them that things weren’t looking good and that they needed to call in our minister and other family members. I was immediately transported to Egleston Children’s Hospital to be put on a heart and lung machine called ECMO. As I arrived at Egleston I went into cardiac arrest. God had already stepped in and placed the appropriate people to care for me. Dr. Clay and a nurse (her name was Angel) were there to resuscitate me. They worked on me for about 30 minutes. They said God had placed in their spirit not to give up on me. I’m glad they listened and followed God’s voice.

The doctors told my parents that they weren’t sure if I would make it through the day. They diagnosed me with Acute Myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle caused by an infection. They shut my heart and lungs down to rest. (The ECMO acted as my heart and lungs.) I was also put in an induced coma.

By this time Pete and Gladys had arrived along with Minister Jumokee from VWC. Mrs. Torres had just prayed for God to massage my heart. As soon as she prayed that prayer the doctors came in and told us that I had responded to a command. This was a great milestone!

Throughout the days my parents and my grandmother “Mama” would come to my bedside and whisper prayers in my ear. As friends and family visited they often questioned why my parents were so calm through the whole ordeal. It was their strong faith in God that gave them strength and peace.

My parents were told that I could be on the ECMO machine for months. Praises to God I was off of the machine after only 5 days and was home after 2 weeks. They also weren’t sure if I would be in a vegetative state after coming out of the coma due to lack of oxygen to my brain for almost 30 minutes. There are no indications of any brain damage or cognitive issues to date.

As other doctors study my case, they are just amazed! My heart is stronger and healthier than ever. I tell them Jesus is my healer!

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We want to hear about what God has done in and through you at Victory. Whether long or short, complex or simple, your story is worth hearing, and there are others who need to hear it. Won’t you please consider sharing your story with us? If you’re willing to do so, please click the Share Your Story quicklink above, write your story, upload a nice photo (if you can) and click submit. It’s that simple. Now, don’t be shy. God’s given you a story for a reason! Share it today!

My name is Gerardo “Jerry” Quiroz and my lovely wife Iliana and I started the process of adoption back in 2009. God has blessed us with two amazing children starting with our oldest son David Israel Quiroz who is 2 ½ years old and our youngest daughter Hadassah Hope Quiroz who is now 14 months old.

Our daughter Hadassah was diagnosed with an uncommon and severe form of seizures called “West Syndrome,” which could cause permanent brain damage and there are not a lot options for treatment. She started to develop the seizures when she was 6 months old. At the beginning she was having seizures at least once a day and later on anywhere from 3 to 5 times a day. The day before Mother’s day Hadassah experienced two back to back seizures of an intense magnitude to the point where she stopped breathing. Thank God I was able to perform CPR on her and declare His Word over our daughter. After the longest minute of my life, by the grace of God, Hadassah started breathing again.

After an intense weekend, I went back to work here at VWC and on Tuesday morning our ministry led staff prayer with Psalm 23. We poured out our hearts to God saying, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You (God) are with me.” One of our Executive Pastors, Dave Nowak, said that when someone comes to the church and asks for prayer, the elders will lay hands and anoint him with oil, and the prayers of the saints will heal him or his family member. That is exactly what we did. He pulled a chair and about 100 staff members prayed for Hadassah and my family and anointed me with oil. The presence of God was so strong and powerful in that meeting that I believed with all of my heart that “for God all things are possible” and that Jesus had already healed my daughter.

Well, let me tell you as of today it has been 10 weeks and my daughter has not had any seizures since the day that we corporately prayed for her. So, we continue to declare that she is completely healed and this testimony is to give Jesus all the glory and praise, for He is faithful to the end and his love endures forever.

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We want to hear about what God has done in and through you at Victory. Whether long or short, complex or simple, your story is worth hearing, and there are others who need to hear it. Won’t you please consider sharing your story with us? If you’re willing to do so, please go to our homepage, victoryatl.com and click the Share Your Story quicklink, write your story, upload a nice photo (if you can) and click submit. It’s that simple. Now, don’t be shy. God’s given you a story for a reason! Share it today!

Shortly after we were married, God called us to adopt due to infertility and we started the process in 2008. Our Atlanta adoption agency went out of business due to the economy right after they approved us to adopt, but God directed us to an adoption agency in Michigan. On August 7, 2009 our agency called us to let us know a teenage birthmom had chosen us to be the parents of her unborn daughter and 2 weeks later our daughter, Natalie, was born. God orchestrated EVERY detail of adopting Natalie – from financing (we paid our agency in CASH, no debt!!), to being able to take paid leave from work. Not only were we surprised, but our adoption agency was amazed how smoothly Natalie’s adoption went.

The Father’s Day weekend sermon about Abraham being the father of faith really spoke to us and reminded us how God has brought our family together through adoption because we stepped out in faith and trusted God.

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We want to hear about what God has done in and through you at Victory. Whether long or short, complex or simple, your story is worth hearing, and there are others who need to hear it. Won’t you please consider sharing your story with us? If you’re willing to do so, please click the Share Your Story quicklink above, write your story, upload a nice photo (if you can) and click submit. It’s that simple. Now, don’t be shy. God’s given you a story for a reason! Share it today!

I grew up in church and stayed in church. Speaking in tongues was something that I came to believe was a gift that was good, but would be released at the will of the Holy Spirit. It was something to be desired but not as much as other gifts because it did not edify others.

However, the pastor explained the true intention of the scripture. After going home that evening, I confessed to God that I want everything He has for me. I awoke very early the next morning, it was still dark outside, but a song was impressed on my heart and I felt God had something for me. After a time of praise, prayer and acknowledgement that I had not completely made myself available to receive everything God has for me, I began speaking in tongues.

Every point of the message returned to me as I focused to subject my natural understanding to what God was doing. It was nothing like I expected! It was AMAZING!!! I thank God for his goodness and grace. I look forward to accelerating in the path that he designed for me and serving in the power and authority he intended!

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We want to hear about what God has done in and through you at Victory. Whether long or short, complex or simple, your story is worth hearing, and there are others who need to hear it. Won’t you please consider sharing your story with us? If you’re willing to do so, please click the Share Your Story quicklink above, write your story, upload a nice photo (if you can) and click submit. It’s that simple. Now, don’t be shy. God’s given you a story for a reason! Share it today!

Four and a half years ago, my family and I returned from an intensive nine-month ministry trip to Israel, moved to the Atlanta area and began looking for a new church home. We ended up here at Victory…and this was no accident. Even though we didn’t realize how much this was the case at the time, God’s hand was all over it. We had no idea how he was going to use the ministry we would receive at Victory to change our lives. He is so good!

You see, prior to our time in Israel, we had lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where we had given up a pretty comfortable life, including great jobs, a nice home and an awesome church family, in order to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading to go to Israel. God mightily confirmed and miraculously provided for us to go in a number of ways, including helping us get renters in our house and a monthly financial support base.

But, as we neared the end of our assignment there, all our support dried up inexplicably. When it was time to come back home, we were completely out of money. We didn’t even have enough to purchase our plane tickets back to the States. And, despite the fact that the Lord had provided for all our needs throughout our time there, somewhere in the process, we stopped trusting him completely, started believing our circumstances and fell for the lie that we’d just have to take care of things ourselves…meaning, we decided to buy the tickets with our credit card.

Over the next year or so, this misguided decision led to many more just like it. When we “needed” to rent a truck to move our stuff from Tulsa to Atlanta, but didn’t have the money, we put it on credit. When our daughter was born and we didn’t have enough money to buy diapers, we put it on credit. When we “needed” to buy Christmas presents – not just for our kids, but for our extended family as well – we put it on credit. When we didn’t have enough money to pay our mortgage…yup, we put that on credit too. And on and on we went down this slippery slope until we were drowning in debt.

The thing is, we knew better. We knew we were headed in the wrong direction the whole time, but we just kept thinking things were going to get better soon. “If we can just get through this week, or month or season,” we kept telling ourselves, “then we’ll stop using the credit cards.” Except, things didn’t get better. We kept crying out to God, saying that we trusted him completely – I think we actually fooled ourselves into thinking that was true – but still, we kept using the credit cards.

In the midst of all this, even though we were living in the Atlanta area, renting a house here that was a good bit more than we could realistically afford, we still owned a home in Tulsa that we had rented out to others rather than try to sell when we came back from Israel. This seemed to be working out okay for a while, but then, as interest rates climbed, our mortgage payment began to skyrocket. (When we purchased the home, a few years before, we foolishly agreed to an 80/20 mortgage and credit line because we didn’t have money for a down payment. Although the rate on the mortgage was fixed, the credit line was adjustable.) And with that, our rental income no longer covered our payments, taking us even further down the hole.

Then, when our renters bailed on us and trashed the house, I thought we were completely ruined. Actually, we should have been, but my dad had compassion on us, met us in Tulsa, gave us the thousands of dollars to do the repairs and, along with one of his brothers, helped us get the house into sellable condition. So we put the house on the market, hoping we’d be able to get a good price for it and make a sizeable dent in our debt. Two weeks after that, however, the news began to report the beginning of the housing market crash. We could hardly get anyone to even look at the house, let alone get a buyer.

Yet, even at the same time as it seemed like the world was crashing down around us, God kept calling out to us to trust him completely, cut up the credit cards and stop trying to do things on our own. And, he challenged me to resign from the bank teller job I had, which besides being woefully inadequate to support my family, was also not even close to my areas of calling or passion. But I didn’t want to listen. I was raised that you don’t give up one job before you have another lined up, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t seem to get another job.

For the longest time, I was completely unwilling to even consider that God would really ask me to give up our only source of steady income. And, I still don’t think he does so very often, but going into the fall of that year, I became increasingly aware that it seemed like God wasn’t speaking to me anymore, that he had withdrawn or lifted his had off my life. For as long as I’ve lived, I’ve almost always had a sense of God’s presence, at least faintly. But now, it seemed like he had stopped talking and taken a step back. More than anything else, this really began to get through to me.

As we continued to pray earnestly and seek the Lord’s face about our ever more difficult financial situation, one thing became clear – God had spoken to both of us earlier in the year and was really just going to wait until we decided to listen and obey. Interestingly enough, over the course of those months that it seemed like God wasn’t talking, he actually was in many ways…I just wasn’t listening. Over and over again, whether through our V•Group study, or through Pastor Dennis’ sermons, even through dreams, God kept inviting me to take the leap of faith, step out of the boat and walk with him on the water, so to speak.

As long as I wasn’t listening, things got worse and worse. We were trying to maintain the mortgage on our Tulsa house with no renters, plus pay our own rent, utilities and regular living expenses, plus pay our mounting credit card bills…there was just no way. Eventually something had to give. So we stopped paying things…first the credit cards, then our full rent, then some of our utilities…until finally, we had to stop paying our mortgage. Our lives became a nightmare of creditors, collection agents, worry, stress, fear, discouragement, doubt, etc. Clearly this was NOT the life God had called us to.

Finally, after exhausting every known avenue of financial assistance, we were on the verge of complete financial ruin. But really, I had gotten to the point that even if we lost everything, I just couldn’t keep on living with the feeling that I was outside of the will of God and in disobedience. So, I relented. I resigned my dead end job (although I gave an extra long notice of 6 weeks) and began to count down the days with expectancy that God was going to come through.

Except, my last paycheck came and went, and nothing seemed to change. Actually, things got worse. Way worse. We went through the holidays and into the new year (2008) with no income except the part-time work my wife could get. We ended up barely having even enough money just to buy food, let alone pay utilities, rent, credit cards or mortgage. The bank began the process leading up to foreclosure. It honestly looked as if we were going to end up on the street. But, despite having to fight the often-overwhelming waves of doubt and despair, God kept asking us to trust him…and we began to do so, in spite of the fact that our circumstances were screaming in our faces that God was a liar.

You see, although those circumstances didn’t seem to be changing, our hearts were changing…which is exactly what needed to happen. At this time, we felt challenged to take the Crown financial class at Victory and did so. That class and our classmates were such an encouragement and a catalyst for true change. And, as a result of God’s mercy and our obedience, in the course of the next 6 months, our financial situation changed so drastically it was nothing short of a miracle.

In short, nearly everything in our lives turned around: our house sold, the bank forgave $17,000 in debt, we moved into more affordable housing, God set me up with the best job I’ve ever had working for an awesome church (Victory) in an area I’m gifted at and enjoy (communication), Tanya got a job offer to work at a great Christian school (VWCS), we received a huge tax return through which we were able to catch up all our late payments and get on track toward being debt free. Although we’re not all the way there yet, we’re definitely on our way!

Through this all, God really taught us to trust him completely, NO MATTER WHAT OUR CIRCUMSTANCES LOOK LIKE. More often than not, circumstances are big fat liars. The truth is that God is ALWAYS good, ALWAYS loving, ALWAYS perfect, ALWAYS has our best in mind, and EVERYTHING he does comes out of this. He is so trustworthy and faithful! We’re so thankful that he brought us here to Victory for so many reasons, not least of which is the way he has used Victory to teach us so much about trusting him with our finances and every other area of our lives as well! ~ Erik R.

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Hey, while you’re here, don’t forget to take a few moments to Share Your Story about what God has done in your life as a part of Victory! There are so many people who need to be encouraged by what God has done in and through your life. Even seemingly simple things can make a huge difference. Just click the Share Your Story link to get started!

Earlier today I was riding in the car with a family I hang out with every now and again. I was expressing to them how I have had problems with my memory for as long as I can remember, but it has gotten worse as I get older. I had never asked God to restore my memory. I guess I just kinda grew to accept it.

A number of things have happened since I got saved 10 years ago. When I first met Jesus and the Holy Spirit, I was on fire! I could not get enough. When I joined the praise team at my former church, I was dedicated. I was at rehearsal and service early. During rehearsal I would record it so I could master the material. I did not want something like not remembering the words or a shift in the song to cause me to not be totally available for the Holy Spirit to work through me.

My memory or inability to retain information started to become painfully obvious and increasingly worse as I got older and took on more responsibilities/activities/ventures. I was in a state of unrest. I had a lot of “stuff” going on and felt like I was going mad. But then, a few weeks ago, while Montell was praying after praise and worship, he prayed that God would heal illness of the mind. I received that, but upon wrapping up, it was like the Holy Spirit tapped Montell and reminded him to say, “RESTORE MEMORIES.” I fell out. I was live streaming the service online, so I did not have anyone to turn to ask, “Did you hear that?! That was for me!” I could not contain myself. It was like the floodgates were opened.

God use to speak to me in dreams and it would be confirmed in prayer or in the message, and I would know it was for me because my spirit would agree. So I know how to recognize God’s voice. Well, I just want to thank Montell for being obedient and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through him to my spirit. God is so good and dynamic that he would speak to me about this issue I have had for so long that I just accepted it. I feel restoration coming!

I have to give God the praise and glory for my husband’s deliverance. When I got married, my husband was under the influence of a religious group that instructed their members that if they did not worship on Saturday, they would be condemned to hell. This issue has been a constant fight in or household. I was even told my baby would grow up confused and turn her back on Christ because of this difference. And, I must admit, I had a constant fear about this being a reality.

I would preach and preach and preach to him about this religion. But then, God told me to stop and just pray. Now, keep in mind, my husband’s entire family partake in this religion which was passed down to them by their grandparents. So, I prayed and prayed…and prayed.

At first my husband would not dare step foot in a church that worshiped on Sundays for fear of being condemned to hell. But, after many prayers, he agreed to allow me to take my 5-month-old daughter to church. However, due to health issues, I have been unable to bring her alone. So, being the great husband that he is, he agreed to go with me. Now, he’d gone from not ever wanting to attend Sunday service to attending by assisting me…EVERY SUNDAY! Each Sunday, Pastor Dennis would preach, and my husband liked his preaching. Although worship was different to him, he liked it too. And, over the past five months that this has been going on, every time he would criticize the church, God would prove him otherwise.

Well, two Saturdays ago, he prayed with me. He wants to know God, not religion. He wants to experience the God he sees at Victory that he was always forbidden to accept. He said that in his spirit, he feels Victory is the place the Lord wants him to be; that God revealed it to him boldly and clearly. But, he still kept fighting it because he feared what his family would say.

So, I kept praying for this stronghold to be removed, and God answered last Sunday! My husband went to church with me and the youth pastor did an altar call. Guess who went up for repentance and has now decided to break off all bondages from the old religion and become a member at Victory?! He now reads the Bible more and prays more. Thank you, Jesus, and thank you, Victory!!! ~ Nikki S.

It’s hard to be brief. I have to give a little medical history leading up to the importance of why this pregnancy is ALL GOD…

Praise God! I’m alive and have not one but two beautiful daughters! You see I was born with a heart and lung condition called Tetralogy of Fallot and pulmonary atresia, and back in 1980, the doctors told my mom I wouldn’t live past five. And yet, I did.

Then, when I got to adolescent and young adult age, I was told not to get pregnant because my chances of survival would be slim to none. I had already had four open-heart surgeries and minor catheter procedures. In fact, my condition is still considered not fully repaired.

At the age of 21, I developed a fungal infection in my right lung, but the doctors were scared to perform surgery due to the amount of scar tissue I had from my previous operations. They put me on medication, but that ended up giving me heart failure. It turns out that I lived with this for six months because the doctors were misdiagnosing me. I have two pulmonary stents and a heart that is not shaped or functioning like a “normal” heart. I have also been diagnosed with having pulmonary hypertension. So the doctors’ telling me not to get pregnant was a “wise” decision for them.

I ended up having to have emergency surgery to remove the fungal ball I had in my lungs. I was coughing up large amounts of blood, so they had to remove a portion of my right lung. So, by the age of 23, I had two bad lungs and a bad heart.

Now, here’s when the story gets good…

LOL! Since I knew the doctors were leery about me getting pregnant, I was trying be as safe as possible. But, one time, after being on birth control for only six days, I became very ill and was rushed to the hospital. I was told I had a pulmonary embolism and was lucky to be alive. So, we stopped using birth control and just believed God that what was supposed to be would be.

My husband and I had become members of Victory, but then moved to McDonough, GA and weren’t able to attend Victory for nine months. However, right before moving back, a “random” customer and I began talking. I don’t remember what made her ask whether or not I had children, but I said, “No, the doctors say I shouldn’t get pregnant.” Then she asked me, “Do you believe in prophecy?” When I said, “Yeah,” she started praying for me and telling me what the doctors were going to say but to remember what the Lord says.

A month later, we moved back and closer to Victory because we knew God had called us “for such a time as this.” Now, my heart’s desire was always to have a child from my womb. I would always pray to God, asking if I could get pregnant at least “one” time from my womb, and thinking of possibly adopting if we wanted more children…but to get pregnant at least “one” time. One day I was in my room conversing with God, saying, “Well, I want to have a child before 30, and if I can’t from me, we’ll just adopt first.” A week later, I found out I was pregnant (mind you, we’d been married for a year and a half and on no “birth control”).

At my first appointment, we found out we were having twins – pregnant “one” time but with “two”! Although I’m living in Atlanta now, I’m from Chicago. So I called my cardiologist back there, and he said I needed to get to a university or major hospital that could handle my condition ASAP. I got connected with Emory. Working with my cardiologist and pulmonologist at Emory began very challenging because initially they wanted me to terminate the pregnancy for fear of me dying, but they said they would work with me if I kept the pregnancy.

Early on in my pregnancy I was advised to go on medication for the pulmonary hypertension to help take some stress off my heart and lungs during the pregnancy. This would require minor surgery to place a catheter directly into my bloodstream. After the procedure, while they were getting ready to take me to recovery, I saw a vision. It was like a stadium packed out with people praying for me. Now, right before seeing that vision, the team asked me how I was doing, and I said fine, and since my vitals looked good, they were happy. After the vision, however, I started to feel like I was fading to black. When they asked me how I was doing, I said I felt like I was going out with a different tone. Someone there – I can’t remember if it was a doctor, nurse or who – said, “No, honey, your vitals look good; everything on the monitors look good.” Immediately, in my spirit, I felt it was an attack.

I would like to call that worker (doc/nurse/person/etc.) my angel. She grabbed me by the head and whispered in my ear, “Stop worrying; God’s got you. Stop worrying; you shall live and not die.” With eyes closed the whole time, I began to cry. I felt my prayer language coming on strong, and I said, “I don’t know if ya’ll believe in tongues, but I’m about to start praying in my prayer language.” As I started praying, I was getting a little worked up there on the table ,so they said don’t stop praising Him but calm down for your babies. By now, I could feel 4 people around me – the one lady on my left, someone on my right, someone at my head and someone at my feet. They kept encouraging me to praise God, and I was thanking Him for the people praying for me, asking him to cover the doctors, nurses, etc.

After the prayer session was over and they were wheeling me to recovery, I heard the one lady say, “You got me needing to go into the bathroom now.” She said it in a way that sounded like she just had to continue praising Him.

When in recovery, a couple of the team members came out and asked me if I was okay and said that they would be praying for me. By then, my eyes were open, and I could put a face to the voices I heard (that’s how I know I wasn’t dreaming), except that one initial lady, “my angel.” Later that day, Courtney told me that Montell [our friend] had posted on his Facebook for people to start praying for me. I went back to the vision. I believed God showed me that before the attack to let me know people were praying and that Satan’s weapons will not prosper.

While pregnant, Emory Hospital created this thing called “code Kelly” so that if I ever came into the emergency room or went into preterm labor, everyone would know who I was. People there began to call me an Emory celebrity because of all they were doing for me, especially behind the scenes. Not quite the way I wanted to become famous, but hey, to God be the glory.

A huge team from Emory University and Midtown was debriefed on me, and they decided to have me deliver at Emory’s main campus…which doesn’t have labor and delivery. I was the first “planned” delivery at Emory main campus in over twenty years. WOW! GO JESUS! At a little over 25 weeks, I delivered my babies at 1 lb 3oz and 1 lb 2oz, and now, one is at almost 10lb and the other almost 9lb!

I would like to mention one key thing: when I use to pray to God about wanting to be pregnant, I would often tell Him, “Whatever it takes, Lord, whatever it takes for me and the babies to live, I’ll do it; if it’s bed rest, etc…” Huh! When I was in the midst of it, I had to be reminded often when I would begin to complain that I was on “bed rest.” Or, when fear would hit, I would often have my friend Kristin pray me through it, and the Lord would remind me of the prophetic words spoken. My body has taking a hittin’, but it was all for the glory of God.

~ Joyia K.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid: Do not be discouraged, for God is with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:9

If you’re a regular attender at Victory, we’d love to have you share your story about what God is doing/has done in or through your life at VWC. Click here to submit your story.

My story is really very simple. I have been a member of VWC for quite some time now and have always heard and believed in the power of prayer and healing. Back in February/March I had been suffering from a very painful sore throat. When I had to swallow, I would cringe because it felt like I was swallowing glass. I knew I had no medical insurance to see a doctor about it, so I kept praying and believing that I could be healed from this.

After about four weeks of this on and off again pain, it was revealed to me that I probably had an ear infection that was causing the pain in my throat because my left ear was also popping. I would be in tears because it was so painful. Well, my 14yr. old son and I were driving home one afternoon when he said to me, “Mom, as soon as we get inside, I want to pray for healing for you.” It was SO ironic that he said that because at that exact time I thought to myself, I’m gonna ask Nat to lay hands on me and pray with me.

As soon as we came in, we sat down, and he took one hand and put it on my throat and the other on my left ear and we both prayed together for healing. I can’t even remember exactly when the pain left, but I just happened to notice in a few days I had NO PAIN at all! I could swallow and felt wonderful! I remembered that when two or more are gathered, GOD is in the midst and how the LORD heard my son’s voice for healing for his mum! Thank you, VWC, for creating a prayer warrior in my son Nathaniel! ~ Joann C.

If you’re a regular attender at Victory, we’d love to have you share your story about what God is doing/has done in or through your life at VWC. Click here to submit your story.