(352) 447-2731 GLORIA ADAMS, PRES.

NEWSLETTER #324 http://www.jesusis.com DECEMBER, 2011 JESUSISMINISTRIES@COMCAST.NET

O my soul, rejoice!
Take joy, My King, in what You hear,
Let it be, Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ear.

12/5/2011

Before coming to Jesus Is! I was bound by the spirit of fear and alcohol. There was no peace in my life. In my stomach area there was always as restlessness that always kept me moving and doing things to relieve the discomfort, finally through a moment of clarity God put on my heart to go back to Jesus Is. I was trying everything I knew to get rid of the discomfort. I was feeling nothing worked other than drinking alcohol. When I wasn’t under the influence the fear was so intense. Then I was told that my condition was spiritual by my girlfriend. So I decided to come back to Jesus Is! Thank God the fear and the taste of alcohol has been removed. God has called me out from among the world, through my disobedience, he allowed me to go through it. Thank you Lord for choosing me. Amen.

Alfred S.

12/5/2011

I came to Jesus Is! When I was 20 years old and before I came my life was like a roller-coaster ride. One month I’ll be up and the next I’ll be down, this went on for years. When I lost my football scholarship for the use of Cocaine and steroids, I then started semi-pro boxing in the panhandle to fight out my anger for the loss of my football scholarship, then that went down hill quick from drugs also. So then I came to Jesus Is when I was 20 years old like I said earlier in this testimony, but I only stayed for two weeks and left. I am 34 now and it took me 14 years to come back to Jesus Is! Since I have been back this time God revealed to me and has delivered me not only from my drug addiction, but from anger, selfishness, pride etc. all of my unclean ways, I had to live a clean successful life for him. Our God is working miracles here at Jesus Is. I am just blessed to come back to Holy grounds to serve God.

Carlos Pittman

12/5/2011

I came to Jesus Is having no faith, but that changed once I got here. Through prayer God changed the desires of my heart in even wanting to change, and with my past drug addiction. I graduate Dec.29^th and I have so much faith. I fell in love with Jesus and I never want to go back to my old ways. I’ve overcome so much while being here and it just shows me strength, compassion and wisdom. Thank you to all the staff and this Holy ground for making this possible.

Jennilee

12/5/2011

In the past 5 years since I’ve been here at the ministry I have come to understand what it is to be a humble in the sight of the Lord so that he could lift me up (James 4:10). I spent a huge portion of my life doing everything my way once I had broke away from the protection of the home I grew in while learning all about what the world had to offer. I managed only to destroy myself with drugs, alcohol, bad relationships and my own pride. Always on a search to find the meaning of life, who I am, and where I belonged. In November 2006 God brought me to the ministry after finally trying to take away my own life. He showed me here that his plan is different; he’s shown me just how strong I can be with his help. He has delivered me; he has been healing me continually; not to mention he’s kept me still to teach me what commitment is, something I knew nothing about. The Lord has made so many changes within my heart, my spirit, and my mind so that he may be glorified; much encouragement has come from my family who knew who I was before I got here and the women that he brings here for help. To be a part of such an awesome place can be very over whelming at times. I’ve been learning all about courage, patience and integrity; to be a servant for the Lord and his people and not giving up on myself or anyone else. The best part really is being able to say that God loved me enough to give me this opportunity and to keep working on me, this is only the beginning of my walk with him and I’ve still got much to learn. But he deserves all the praise for everything so far; of my past to get me here and my future which keeps me going! So with all my love to the Lord, I thank him for this ministry for having open arms for my sake.

Katherine Ripley

12/5/2011

WOW!

Where I began in bondage to my sin. First came rejection from my father, my mother an addict was never there for me as a child. I learned despair. As I grew older I began to use drugs with my mom at 13. By 18 I was so bound, my addictions grew with each new drug I pursued. A failed marriage, two sons and several wasted years, I found myself in jail so bound by pills (oxys, roxys, xanax) and crystal meth. I knew I needed help, I knew I needed God, so I ended up at Jesus Is in June and by the time I got here I had lost my kids, my marriage and everything I held dear.

But since meeting my Savior he has delivered me from all my fears. He broke the chains of bondage, delivered my soul, cleansed my heart and made me whole. He told me to stay another 90 days. I was obedient, his debt we can never repay. I am so thankful for this place. I encourage all who read this take a moment and pray, lift up this ministry in prayers, tithes, donations and praise. It’s more than a rehab it’s Gods holy place, where he delivers, restores, heals and much more. He teaches us his living word so all who will accept it can have eternal life to build his kingdom and your needs he will supply.

Thank you Father for the Adams family as a whole through their obedience to you saved my soul.

Luerina Hurst

12/5/2011

I just want to thank God and this ministry for bringing me back to him and restoring my faith. Thank you Lord for starting the restoration for my kids, my new granddaughter and my family. Thank you for breaking the chains that have had me in bondage for so many years. I’ve only been here at Jesus Is for a very short time, but this is the happiest and joyful I have been in two years. I thank you for opening my eyes and removing the blinders, thank you for helping me start the healing process and restoring my life self-worth, my self respect and self esteem. I look forward to walking it out with you Lord and my new found family. Blessed to hand picked to be here. I will never be afraid or alone again with you by my side.

Melanie G

12/5/2011

I have learned that this flesh we live in wants to be disobedient and that we have to work to be obedient. My main prayer to God almost daily since I have been staff is to allow my Spirit to override my flesh. It has been a work and hard to perform at times, but I have experienced a peace and calmness thru many trials and with this attitude of commitment I have had little trouble staying here longer than my one year commitment to God is for the rest of my life and I will graduate when I meet him face to face. I thank God for giving me this desire and strength.

Ms Sue

12/5/2011

This is what God has done for me through Jesus Is. I am 45 years old and have lived in the bondage of drugs and alcohol for more than 30 years. I have tried to commit suicide several times and have never had peace in my life. Failed relationships, broken promises, manipulation, selfishness, and in constant turmoil was how I lived. I have always left a path of destruction in my wake and never caring about the consequences or who I hurt. I blamed the way I was on my broken childhood and whatever else I could. I compensated for my insecurities and feelings of unworthiness with self righteousness and pride. I was an easy target for the enemy. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savoir in 2002, got plugged into a good church and walked with the Lord for nearly 2 years before backsliding. My bondage became seven times worse. Suicide attempts and jail time followed. I lost my job and my family told me if I did not get help they were through with me.

God the Father brought me here in January 2010 and I rededicated my life to the Lord. Being on these holy grounds made quitting drugs and alcohol fairly easy. The hard part was the afore mentioned self righteousness and pride. Add to that anger (even at God), bitterness, unforgiveness, feeling unworthy and the list goes on. I said I surrendered but I did not know what true surrender was. God wasn’t working on me the way that I expected Him to and I could not understand why. I was double minded. I said one thing with my mouth but my actions and my heart said something altogether different. I left here in a state of turmoil, not understanding and not able to see or receive what the elders, and actually God through them, was trying to tell me. I went to the next Christian rehab thinking I needed more structure and they were telling me I needed to change the same things! Back I went into the bondage of addiction and self until the Lord opened my eyes. Nothing was changing no matter where I was. I realized it must be me! So I returned to Jesus is October 1^st 2011. I thank my Father and praise Him for being faithful and accepting me back into the fold, unconditionally. I thank Him and praise Him for the privilege of the safety of these holy grounds. The Lord is here and I seek Him and I find Him. You see He is an awesome living God and He has shown me the meaning of true surrender. It is all about choices. I have chosen to rededicate my life to Jesus Christ, Praise God alleluia! I choose today to put my self aside and put Him first. He has delivered me from unrighteousness and begun the process of cleaning me out so He can refill me with His love and His Spirit. He gives me the tools to fight and to be an over comer not to be overcome. His Word is alive and speaks to me. I confess my faults to Him and He is faithful and just to cleanse me. It is all about choices. I choose to rely on His strength because I am weak and His strength is made perfect in my weakness. His Holy Spirit leads guides and corrects me daily. There is a fire that has been lit in me and He kindles it daily through His Word, through situations and through the people He has put in my path. I thank Him and praise His holy name. This can only be because of putting my faith and trust in Him because relying on myself has led me nowhere. I came to my end, broken. I turned to Him and He was there. I thank Him and praise His holy name for calling me, for not turning His back on me, for bringing me to these holy grounds where peace can be found and that when I seek Him that I find Him. Praise God for the work that He has begun in me. Thank you Lord for your grace and mercy and the ultimate sacrifice of your Son so that I might have eternal life. Thank you Lord for this ministry that you have put in place, this refuge where your mighty works are done. You alone are worthy of praise. All the Glory and Honor are yours alone. There is hope for me in Jesus Christ. He is alive within me.

Jimmy B.

P.S. He is teaching me how to Love myself so that I can love others and He has restored my relationships with my family.

12/5/2011

I have known the Lord and his teachings through out my whole life, and because of fear and unworthiness I ran from my calling. I have seen the Lord Work miracles and heard testimonies of his works in people. Doubt always came in to play for me when it came to my prayers, I just felt as if I was not good enough. I always compensated by taking control and trying to fix my problems on my own and not letting God have an opportunity to do his works in my life. Finally he had enough of my pride and self righteousness and allowed me to completely destroy my business, marriage and relationships that meant everything to me. I never gave him glory for all of my blessings. When I came here to Jesus Is I had no hope, was completely broken and had no desire to live anymore. After being here a few weeks I began to realize how truly amazing God is. It was undeniable how he began to rebuild my spirit and completely change my thoughts. I surrendered all to him and asked him to be in control of my life and have learned and been uplifted by his word and testimonies of others. My biggest burden has been my marriage and my children. I still caught myself trying to fix the hurt and pain I have caused my wife. My letters to her just upset her more. I realized once again I was not allowing God to do his work. I quit writing and started praying! The Lord has been able to do his work and in our last conversation she told me she forgives me and we were able to talk and laugh together. Thru all my tribulations I know I can trust in the Lord and my faith is stronger than it has ever been and daily I am presented with opportunities to continue to grow in the Lord and his way of life. I thank him daily for his love, mercy, and grace and for allowing me to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I am worthy of his blessings.

James Conner

12/5/2011

Coming to Jesus Is has been a life changing experience for me; it hasn’t been easy by no means. You have to be really sick and tired of your old ways and want a new beginning. I thank God for making a way and helping me make the decision to some and to be strong enough to commit to the 90 days here. Doubt did overwhelm me at first on how this program would help or if it could. It didn’t seem like working all day and just going to church would do it. Until I started to seek and pray to God to open my eyes, ears, and heart did it begin to work for me. God started showing me how my life had no structure, self discipline, respect, obedience, I took everything for granted and didn’t appreciate life. I needed to hand my life over and lay it at his feet, forgive and let God work.

I learned: I wanted direction and to build a foundation to serve God. (Stability and consistency) (Obedience and discipline). Surrender your pride, humble yourself, bridle my tongue, give thanks in everything, no murmuring, forgive admit when you are wrong, and say I am sorry. 

12/5/2011

I want to thank God for allowing me to give this short testimony. I want to thank God for being surrounded by different belief systems. We all come from different tribes and nationality it is helping me grow stronger in the word of God; it teaches me to be humble and let God have his way because if I have my way it causes me and others trouble; so I’m trying his way. I want to thank God, that I have been clean for three weeks. I want to thank God that I’m being healed from the cold that I had. I want to thank God that I have not been smoking cigarettes and it makes me feel so much comfort. I see better, I think better, and worship better. Thank God that he has given me strength. I stop smoking in jail because I was forced to. Today I am not confined, I’m not on paper, I have no ties, and I am doing this for Samuel. Easy does it, I’m going to continue to do it, one day at a time thru the help of Jesus

Samuel O’Neal

12/5/2011

Hello to my Brothers and Sisters.

It has been another Blessed day. Thank God for the good time and bad time that I had in my life. It has been a blessing, it have been a long journey on drugs, crack, weed, etc., 27 years. It’s finally over; thru the help of God Almighty I have over come this. Thank you Jesus Is, staff and residents. I love you guys. It has been up and down, but I know in my heart it is over. I have been here 50 days, clean as a whistle. I have not smoked a cigarette in 32 days. It has been a blessing, I want to thank God for a lovely daughter that has been supporting me, and I want to thank God for my grandson who is 4 months old, the 10^th one. I want to thank God that I can forgive my brothers. I thank God that I see and think better. Thank God for his protection and strength... It has been a long time, but change has come.

Samuel O’Neal

12/5/2011

I want to praise God for bringing me to Jesus Is. For the past 41 years I have had bondages of alcohol, drugs, and suicide. I was brought up knowing God and the Lord Jesus however the demons took over the years and my bondages were never released, but continuously grew in my flesh. The bondages I had for the past 14 year were so tight in my flesh that suicide attempts of 11 times were attempted. The last suicide attempt was my last saving from God. I knew this because of the path he gave me to come to Jesus Is. In my previous attempts my children and my husband had to revive me or watch what I had attempted to do. These attempts either over dose of xanax and alcohol or slice my wrist. The last attempt was my Lord God’s last saying. I was at rock bottom at this point and had no where to turn. I was confused and lost. In 2008, I had been introduced to Jesus Is by a close family member but did not take the calling. So this past Sept, I called Jesus Is and came here on my own. Was I in for the shock of my life, when I arrived here I was in a state of mind that was rebellious, stubborn and from what I had been told completely stupid. I really didn’t remember much of my first 2 weeks or maybe 4 weeks. All I know is what I had been told. I do know I thought the whole Jesus Is mentality was crazy. I did not want to be here. In fact, I did not open the word for 5 weeks. My first opening of the word was on a Saturday night after sing along. On the Sunday afterwards, I was a different person inside.

These past few weeks have been such a blessing to me. I have read the word, have understood a lot, but a lot I still need to absorb and retain. Jesus Is has brought me back to the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. So many Scriptures I have learned that will be with me on my continuous walk when I leave. I learned that so many scriptures are in the lyrics to several songs, I didn’t know that. This may sound really stupid, but "The Lords Prayer" I didn’t know that, or I just forgot that one. Well the point is a book full of spiritual information for me and everyone who wants to live by and know that one Lord Jesus and his father will continue to bless us and answer our prayers everyday if we continue to read, absorb and walk it out.

Jesus Is and the Holy Spirit have helped me fight my issues and have brought my relationships with my family closer. Will it be tough when I leave? Not as tough as it was before I came. The choices will always be there, but I know the choice I make will be to live and to walk with my heavenly father and the blessed Lord Jesus

Thank you Mom, Aunt Ann (Mom’s sister), Ms Gallagher, Sister Adams (for all my counseling), Ms. Rippley, Ms Smock, Ms Sue, Ms. Glenda, Ms. Bontrager and all of my sisters. I will always cherish my new friendships and for putting up with my "Jan attitude". I definitely have put up with everyone’s here. I love you all and I especially love my heavenly Father and his son who died for my sins.

Thank you for everything you did!

Please take note that starting in 2010 the newsletter will be sent out bi-monthly. This has been mainly a financial decision. I have chosen to begin February and continue in all the even months as numbered so as to retain December’s edition always keeping in remembrance of our Lords birth. I hope these testimonies will be an encouragement to all who read and a sweet fragrance unto God the Father.

In The Love of Jesus

Pastor Jeff Adams