THE CROSSING WEEKLY

Terri Poirier kept hearing how life-changing an Encounter weekend could be and decided to sign up, though she was reluctant.  It was a break-through weekend that was followed by her recent baptism at the Crossing.  Keep reading to hear how God saw her and brought fresh healing and freedom to her life: 

“I will be honest, I truly believed that nobody could understand me.  I had been in a leadership position in a religious, manipulative cult in the past, and I had walked away from God several times since.  I ran for 27 years.  I kept trying church but as soon as anyone tried to come near my wall (of what I thought was protection), I would run.  The saddest part is, I didn’t see how broken I really was inside – I thought I was just fine! 

When I was at the Encounter, many people encouraged me to go up for prayer and ministry but I was scared.  I had suffered spiritual abuse in my past and had a severe lack of trust in both God and people.  The Saturday evening session put a crack in the massive wall that I had built around my heart.  My world was rocked.  But, I was still scared.  On Sunday morning, we had another very powerful session and I had a choice–either face my fear or run.  I chose to run… but God saw me. 

He saw this broken, hurting individual.  The Holy Spirit must have spoken and said “don’t let her go!” because I didn’t even make it to the back door when a gentle hand touched my shoulder and asked me how I was doing.  One of the leaders offered to pray with me and at first, I said, ‘no thanks!’  We talked for a couple of minutes and again, they said, ‘I really think we should pray.’  I then walked through those four life-changing steps:  Repent, Renounce, Release, and Receive.  It sounds simple but at the moment, it was hard.  My wall was suddenly smashed open.  I had never felt such unexplainable joy and peace before!  

The next day brought my next challenge: pick up all the broken pieces and rebuild my wall or pray through each broken piece.  I decided to walk through the steps.  My list of ‘broken pieces’ was three pages long.  It took days.  But, an amazing thing happened during those days.  I started reading my Bible and praying.  I had a desire to study all of the things that I never understood before.  I felt like the Holy Spirit had done major heart surgery on me as everything shifted.  Everyone around me noticed my countenance had changed. 

I will forever be grateful for my new found freedom in Jesus and this amazing family of believers. If you are reluctant like me, just do it!”

Terri was baptized on October 31 at the Crossing.  “I am here because I have been set free,” she said.  “From now on, in my life moving forward, there is no more running!”

Is God on the move?  If you have a testimony, click the button below to share in the next Crossing Weekly!