Wholly Living
JANUARY 2013
Grace is the very opposite of merit...Grace is not only undeserved favor, but it is favor shown to the one who has deserved the very opposite.
- Harry Ironside
10/14/1876-01/15/1951
Canadian American Bible Teacher
'Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house,
Life had gone back to normal for each person & spouse.
Decorations came down and went back in the attic,
Children played with new toys, their faces ecstatic.
The fridge was now bursting with leftovers galore,
While gifts of wrong sizes were returned to the store.
And as I sat pondering all this in my head,
My thoughts turned to Bethlehem & Jesus instead.
After seeing the Savior that night in the cold
Did the shepherds return to their woolly, white fold?
Were they the same men who responded to angels
Or did their encounter bring fundamental changes?
Could they look at themselves and the world quite the same
Or were they transformed by His wonderful name?
I believe they had choices, my friend, so do we.
With heart and eyes open, perhaps we can see.
This baby who came, unassuming and small,
Is holding His arms open wide to us all.
He wants us to come and behold Him each day,
Not simply forgetting and going our way.
He gives us the freedom, He loves us so sweetly.
His death paid the price for our sins so completely.
He offers His healing and grace without strings,
Forgiveness and life in abundance H He brings.
Now will you embrace Him and all that He offers
Or return to the world with its sad counter-offers?
The best gift of all remains to be opened,
Wonderful, Counselor, Redeemer & Friend.
-Dawn Perna
I am not a sick man trying to get well, but a healthy person fighting off a sickness! - Graham Cooke
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
2A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Every Monday evening at Healing Grace Ministries at 55 Marlboro Road Brattleboro
There is a support group Detoxing the Mind that meets at 5:30pm -6:45pm facilitated by
Dr Ben Ocasio
413-824-6381
We can't stop loving people just because we don't agree with them.
Kris vallotton
3-6Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
Philippians 1:3-6 the message
Worship services at 10:30am each Sunday Pastors Todd and Dawn Perna 802-855-7055.
www.healinggraceministries.org
God still heals today!
I am hoping that this publication can help others open up to the possibilities that our Creator has for us. I would be interested in hearing from others, this is a monthly publication so any articles, activities, or suggestions would be appreciated. Please submit them electronically to: with your contact information. I do not guarantee that I will publish all articles, but I will consider them.
FEELING HOPELESS
Need Prayer:
Healing Rooms at Healing Grace Ministries 55 Marlboro Road Brattleboro, Vermont
802-448-0707
Thursday evenings 7:00-8:30pm
based on John G Lakes Ministries
Spokane Washington
visit their web site:
www.healingroomsofsouthernvermont.org
The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily the views and opinions of Healing Grace Ministries!
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently-Henry Ford
4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
-Ephesians 2:4-10 NKJ
We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.
Woodrow Wilson
INVENTORY YOUR STRENGTH
BY KRIS VALLOTTON
One of the main reasons people don’t act is because of an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. It is so easy to inventory our weaknesses and disqualify ourselves from the historic exploits God has assigned to each of us. We forget that Jesus borrowed a couple of fish and some bread from a boy’s lunch box and fed a multitude. The crowd didn’t eat rice and beans because the boy brought fish and loaves. Jesus multiplied what the boy had, not what he didn’t have. God doesn’t care about what you don’t have. He only cares about what you have!
Many people try to tell God why they can’t carry out their divine mission. They say things like, “I am too old, too young, too dumb, too ugly, too uneducated, too weird, or too weak. I was born into the wrong family. I was a prostitute, a thief, a murderer, or an adulteress. I’ve been divorced. I have had an abortion, or several.” The list goes on and on. Take courage, folks—you are among great company. Life is filled with history-makers like us!
If you think you’re too dumb, remember Samson. Now that guy was dumb! I mean, come on—when your girlfriend ties you up three times and tells you that your enemy is after you and you still spill the beans—that’s an IQ crisis. Yet in the end his greatest victory followed his greatest defeat.
Perhaps you think you are too young to make a difference. At eight years old, Josiah was too young to cross the street by himself, much less be king. And talk about generational curses—Josiah’s grandfather was Manasseh, the wickedest king in Israel’s history, and his father was Amon, who walked in all the ways of Manasseh. Yikes! Yet Josiah led Judah into one of its greatest revivals and brought his whole nation back to God.
Maybe you are just plain strange. Join the exalted ranks of John the Baptist. The man was weird. He wore an outfit that never was or ever has been in style. And eating locusts—you can’t even order those things at the finest Chinese restaurants. Yet Jesus said none greater than John had ever been born.
Ah, I get it, you have some sexual hang-ups. Tell your troubles to Rahab, the prostitute who helped Joshua conquer the Promised Land and later wound up as the great-great-great grandmother of Jesus Christ.
So you’re an ex-con. How about the “man after God’s heart” named David, who committed adultery and then murdered the woman’s husband?
Oh, you have a drinking problem. Noah, who courageously obeyed God and partnered with Him to save the entire human race, got so drunk that he took all his clothes off. Just a minor issue—NOT!
You think you are too ugly to make a difference. Have you ever seen a picture of Abraham Lincoln? Now that dude was ugly. He was so ugly that a ten-year-old girl met him on the campaign trail and said, “Mister Lincoln, you are so ugly that you should grow a beard to cover up your face.” So he did! Yet that ugly man became one of our greatest Presidents and saved our nation from the tyranny of slavery.
Maybe you have some emotional challenges. Winston Churchill (who looked like Mister Peabody, by the way) had what he called his “black dog.” The “dog” was his struggle with depression that kept him in bed for up to thirty days at a time. Many historians believe Winston was mentally ill. If so, Churchill did more while mentally ill than most people do in their healthy state of mind.
So you never finished high school. Peter’s claim to fame is that his messages were so profound they had to be from God because the guy had no education (Acts 4:13).
The stories go on and on. What is your excuse for not fulfilling your call? Get over it! God is famous for accomplishing extraordinary things with ordinary people.An excerpt from Kris Vallotton's book, Heavy Rain.
My beloved spoke, and said to me:
“Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.
11For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
12The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.
13The fig tree puts forth her green figs,
And the vines with the tender grapes
Give a good smell.
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away!
Song of Solomon 2:10-13
Hope works in these ways: it looks for the good in people instead of harping on the worst; it discovers what can be done instead of grumbling about what cannot; it regards problems, large or small, as opportunities; it pushes ahead when it would be easy to quit; it “lights the candle” instead of “cursing the darkness.” ~ Author Unknown
A Testimony of God’s Love
Don Perna
A number of years ago I was suffering with a knee that was diagnosed with a torn meniscus.I underwent a period of Physical Therapy and had relief enough that a planned surgery was cancelled.A couple of years later, I fell and reinjured that same knee.An MRI affirmed that fact.About this time my son Todd had stepped into faith in the healing power ofFather God and he prayed for healing to my knee and it was received.At that point, I didn't fully credit it to God because of the old religious spirits I struggled with.
The next Spring, after a Holy Spirit awakening at Lakeland Florida, Carrie (my wife)and I returned to Vermont so full of the Spirit we journeyed to Burlington for a several day conference with Danny Steyne. At this conference, during which I wore my hearing aid for my mostly deaf ear, A call came for those with hearing problems.I went forward, and someone, (I don't remember who) prayed for my hearing.I didn't really expect anything, however on our journey home, I had to keep turning my hearing aid down.After trying a new hearing tube and batteries, I removed it, and haven't worn it since.Glory to my God.
Two months ago I had another healing encounter.I was walking hurriedly across my yard, and slipped on a low place and came down hard.I twisted my ankle and banged my knee real good.I lay there feeling my ankle swell and my knee and hip throb.I hobbled over to the deck, and Todd showed up right on schedule.He laid his hand on my ankle and prayed for the Lord’s love on me.My ankle got hot and instantly recovered.That night my knee and hip still hurt, I prayed and went to bed.I woke refreshed without pain or trauma. That morning, I started feeling pain in my other knee.I recognized it as a lying spirit, and commanded it to leave in Jesus’ name.It went and I carried on.
I have noticed that during this year plus journey in the Spirit, my overall health has also improved.Yes, He has given my strength to lose weight and exercise, however I mostly attribute it to the blessing of a loving God, giving me and my precious wife Carrie, precious years back that the locusts had eaten.And yes – she lets me ride the motorcycle sometimes too.
"If you have God's presence, you have favor. One minute of God's presence can accomplish more than 20 years of your striving." - Heidi Baker