June 27, 2024 • 23 mins
Today, we are honored to have with us Ms. Vera Armstrong, a devoted author, prayer warrior, and friend of Jesus. Vera's journey is a testament to the power of faith and obedience to God's calling. Originally from the Northwest, Vera and her family moved to the mountains of San Diego, California, where she experienced a profound encounter with God that redirected her life's path. With a heart for prayer and ministry, Vera has dedicated her life to encouraging others in their spiritual journeys. She has led numerous prayer walks, graduated Bible class students, and written the book Exhortations to Pray, inspired by the Holy Spirit during a time of deep personal prayer. Recognized for her diligent work in prayer ministry, Vera's passion and dedication continue to impact many lives. Today, she joins us to share her story of faith, resilience, and divine inspiration. Please join me in welcoming Ms. Vera Armstrong.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome to the Voices of the Legacy broadcast here on
WGT Public Media. This is your host, Pastor Carley Mitchell,
the third senior pastor at Restored Churches by the Way,
and the host of the Voices of Legacy. We are
honored to have missus Vera Armstrong with us today. A
devoted author and prayer warrior friend of the Gospel. Vera's
(00:47):
journey is a testament of the power of faith, and
we're excited to hear what she has to say about it.
She's an author as well of a very extraordinary book
called Exhortations to pro Inspired by her faith walk during
a time of deep personal prayer, recognized, she recognized her
(01:10):
need to share in her expression of faith, and she's
doing so with a pretty popular book. She's going to
talk to us about that as well. Good day, miss Vera.
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm just wonderful a good day to you.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Oh, thank you so much. I feel welcomed on my
own program, but nevertheless, we were so thankful to have
you here with us at the Voices of Legacy. Tell
us something about yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, first of all, I just want to thank you
for having me on the show. And such a wonderful
blessing to be asked to be a part of a show.
And I praise Scott for where He's brought me to
at this point. My name is Verah Armstrong and I've
been a person that lived in Taleda for several years.
I came here as a young woman and married my husband.
(01:57):
We were here for several years and he wanted to
go to California.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So did you marry him or did he marry you?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We married each other.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Okay, good answer, good answer.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And we went to California and we had we were like,
we were like the life of the party people, you know,
we just California is to be and we just we
just was the life of the party. And my husband
started his own business out there, and I was going
to school, trying to get a degree, just going back
to school, just trying to do some things. And I was,
(02:32):
this is basically, minded my own business, doing my homework.
One day in my living room when I heard this
voice and called my name, and I was like, who
was that calling? Because nobody was there but me, And
so I got so upset because I knew who it was. Oh,
and the reason why I got upset was because I
knew my life was about to change. I did not
(02:54):
want to change. I wanted to continue to doing what
I was doing. Most people do.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
So it was burning bush.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yes, yes, and so as I was city mayor, and
the boys called me again. So I got up. I
went outside, and I stood on this little mound next
to my condo, and I yelled at God and put
my hands on my hips, and I yelled up at God,
asking what did he want with me? And so he
(03:21):
opened up my eyes supernaturally and rolled a scroll down
out of heaven. And on that scroll, the very first
thing was go back to Toledo. And I'm like, we
can't go back there because that's why we laughed. We
don't want to be there. So it's just I won't
get into all of that. But anyway, that's how it started.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So you didn't want to go.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I didn't want to come back here. I did never
liked Toledo.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So that that sounds like a calling.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
It was a calling.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And answered the call.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I answered the call.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
But did you do it immediately?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I did it right away because when I came off
that mountain, I knew I had had an encounter with
the living God. Wow, Cause I had never known God.
I had never I grew up in church, most of
us do. I grew up in a Baptist church in Georgia,
and that's all I knew. Foot stomping, foot stomping the
Baptist church, alright, Wow. And I didn't know anything about God.
(04:16):
I just knew about church.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
The experience, and we parted. We did everything we always did,
but would go to church.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
And so I came in the house and I just
stood there and I had lost everything, had basically lost
my mind, not in not in a negative way, but
in the sense where I knew that I was being
controlled by higher power. So this is a serious spirit
(04:44):
experience that I had. That's why I am the way
I am now because of the experience.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So it caused you, caused fear in the moment, but
it caused you to be fear less.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yes. And it caused me to know that God had
a purpose and a plan for my life. And I
didn't realize it.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And I knew that God was calling me to do something,
but I didn't know what it was. All the news
I had to answer that call. So it's a funny
part of the story. When my husband came home from work,
we were sitting at the dinner table eating, so I
told him, I said, we're gonna have to go back to Toledo.
He said what he would have said. He said, is
(05:22):
something wrong with my mother or something wrong with your father?
I was like no. He said, well do we have
to go back? That's cause God said it. He backed
away from the table. He slipped up me, and he said, God,
let did guy start talking to you? Cause I was
the terror? What I was the terror? He said? So
I was like today, and I was so humble, and
(05:44):
so later on in the years, my husband said that
scared him so much because he knew that if I
was all quiet and wasn't put up a fight about
what I had asked him to do, he was. He
knew something was happening to me. Wow, And he could
see the change. And so when we got back, we
came right ourway. Well we didn't. He said, Well, if
God want me to come back to Toledo, he's gonna
(06:05):
have to tell me himself. Says, well, he can do it.
So that night we had an earthquake, a tight of way,
and a mudslide all in one night. So when a
mudslide came down from the mountain and filling on everybody mountains.
The mountain came down on top of the car ports,
(06:28):
and everybody's car was full of mud, but ours. My
husband turned and looked at me, He says, what did
you get packed? So we threw everything in the car
and had our friends to ship our stuff to us
later on, and we headed back to Toledo. And that's
how it began. That's how my journey began with the Lord.
And so I came back here and we were just
(06:51):
didn't know what to do because we had given up
our house and giving up everything. And so we came
back here and God just blessed us. He just started
just opening doors, opening doors, And so that's what happened
in that era, and then it went on and.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
That I just how long ago was that?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
That was in nineteen eighty six. WHOA, And I got
in my prayer closet and I prayed nineteen eighty seven on.
From nineteen eighty said, I start praying. I started praying,
and God had started doing things. The different things was happening,
and I could see the hand of God moving. That's
why I tell people God is real. You know, it
(07:28):
doesn't matter how you feel, what you think, what you believe. Basically,
he's real and you get to need you need to
get to know the real God. And so I know
him and that's why I'm so grateful. I'm so thankful
because he gave me that experience to know that he's
real and that's my job. So he told me what
(07:48):
my ministry is my ministers to go out and seek
and save those and tell them about Jesus and let
them know that He's real.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
And I've been doing that. In the process of that,
I've been persecuted beyond measure. But that's what happens when
you serve God. It comes with the territory, it does,
and you have to be strong in Him in order
to endore. So I just thank God because.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
So before this was your background in ministry. Nope, what
did you do?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I worked at Columbia Gas. That's where I left there.
When we left here, I was on a medical lead
from Columbia Gas, and so I gave it up, closed
out the case, and moved to California. Then when we
came back, I didn't work right away because I just
was in my per closet. Work, and that's where I
was at. My husband got a job back at Jeep
(08:39):
because he used to work at christis at Jeep, so
when he came back there just hurt him back. But
I was in my per closet the whole time, praying
the whole time, just praying. And so when I would
come out, God would get me things to do and
I would go different parts of the city, go over
there and pray for this person, and I would do that.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
So it sounds like you just went streak diministry.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
I did straight to ministry.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
We've covered the d the divine encounter, and that that's
a understatement based on your experience and and how how
you've uh described that. I tell you you probably need
a treatment for a movie on that one. At your
early life journey, your spiritual revelation. So this led you
to write And is this your first book that we're talking.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
About too, Yeah, this is my first book. And the
reason this book came exhortations to Kate, I'm sorry, exhortations
to pray came about.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
See, I was scared I was gonna miss it with prayer,
with prayer, okay.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Uh. The reason why is because my husband became ill.
After we went back about ten years, you got sick
and I would go into the prayer closet. I would
just pray, and when I would come out, the Lord
would have me to write. And I was just writing
different stuff that's in the book. But I didn't know why.
I was just writing down. It was a book yet
I didn't know it was a book, that's all. So
I wrote it all down, and whatever I would write
(09:56):
when I came out of the prayer closet, I would
just put it aside, tablet somewhere. So one day the
Lord asked me to get all those notes together. He said,
put them together. It's going to be a book. And
I was just excited about that. So this is like,
this book was written twenty years before it was published.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
So I took it and put it all together. So
the Lord gave me everything the way it is now
in the book. That's how he gave it to me.
The acknowledgements, the preface, the forward, everything, not the forward,
but the day to catch Everything was given to me
twenty five years, twenty years before this book was written.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
And so I put it, wrote it all down and
put it on a shelf didn't think anything else about it,
and I taught a class called the Abundant Life Class.
I taught that class for several years and graduated students
from that class, and it was such a blessing. And
so in the meantime I would teach something out of
the notes that I had on prayer whenever we came
(10:56):
to that in the classes. But I had no idea,
what's going to you know, bublished. When the Lord said
it was going to be a book, I assumed that
it was a book that I was supposed to just
teach out of to the students, and that's how I
was doing it.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And so.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
In nineteen ninety nine, the book was already had been
written at that time for about four years. It started
to press on my heart about is this going to
be a real book or what is this going to be?
And then I didn't do anything else with it. I
just thought about it and didn't do anything.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Did you teach from it?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
At that point, I was still teaching from it. I
was still teaching on prayer out of it, different things
out of the book. I was still teaching out of it,
but I was not teaching out of it every time.
It was just different times doing the classes. When Lord
would put on my heart to teach about prayer, I
would go to this and I would teach the students
something out of that, and we would do different prayers
be cause different prayers is in this book. So as
(11:52):
we progressed over the years, my husband became sicker. You know,
he didn't get any better, and I was constantly for him.
He didn't get any better, and I was really concerned
about it wasn't getting any better. So then in two
thousand and twelve, I knew that he was not going
to stay. I just knew it. So he passed away
(12:15):
in November the thirtieth, twenty twelve, and the book hadn't
been published yet. So the next year, I was in
a prayer group at the church I was at and
we had been praying for a year, and we were
winding down from the prayer that year, and as we
were about to get ready to leave, one of the
(12:39):
people that was there praying came to me and said, sistervere,
God said to tell you it's time to publish your book.
So I looked at him and I was like, well,
he's a man of guy, he prays, so how did
he know I had a book. That's a well guy
had to tell him kids. I hadn't teld him about
a book, so I said. He just looked at me,
(13:02):
and I just looked at him. So he walked away,
and then he came back and he said, do you
have a book? I said yes. He said, is it complete?
I was like yes. He said, well, why haven't you
published it? I said, because it's just been so much
going on over the years. I just hadn't. So he said, well,
you need to get it published. So I said okay.
So one thing led to another and got worked it out.
(13:25):
Where got the book published?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
And not self published? But you have a publisher, no.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Self published, self published. I got this published myself. Oh
and so but it takes a lot to get it
done yourself. It's not easy. It took a lot, and
so we got it done. And then the book was very,
very popular at first when I first came out twenty fifteen,
December twenty fifteen, and I started traveling twenty sixteen. So
(13:51):
I traveled and administered about the book Florida, Georgia, Michigan.
It was awesome. I loved that part of it. And
then COVID hit and so it didn't do anything after that,
so the book had kind of slowed down from that.
But the book is on Amazon and you can get
it from Amazon dot com and you can get it
(14:11):
from my website property Severia dot com. And also you
could email me and exhortations Praise seventy seven at gmail
dot com if you want to just see me in
an email. But other than that, that's what I do.
But I spent a lot of years in the city
walking the streets of the city and praying. Wow, and
all before the book came about any of that, I
(14:31):
used to walk to the streets and I was with
a prayer group called the United Prayer Antercessors, and we
would pray for the mayor. We would pray for him
once a week and he would come to the church
down on I think it's Adams Street where it used
to be at. And it was such a blessing because
we would walk to the streets of the city and
we would pray for different people on the streets and
we would get them saved and get them delivered. It
(14:54):
was awesome, wow. And so we did that for ten
years and then and we move That's when we moved
to Georgia. My husband I moved because we moved a
couple of times from Toledo, but we ended up coming
back every time again again, and so it's like, why
do we keep coming back to the city. Your work
(15:15):
is here, it is And the Lord said, I call
yourself watchman on the wall for the city, so you
pray for the city. So that's what I've been doing
for the last thirty years, praying for the city of Toledo.
And I've been trying to get the churches to come
together as one to pray, and that has been so hard. Yeah,
(15:36):
And I keep telling them, it's not about your denomination.
It's about the Lord Jesus Christ. If you claiming him
as your savior, we're.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
All one fellowship.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
The body of Christ is one. And I said, the
reason why I know it's one is because I've had
all these experiences to let me know God came and
he just let me know that he's real. And so
the reason why I'm going to share another testimony about
well before my husband died, I said, about eight or
twelve days before he died, we were talking. He was
(16:07):
in a nursing home, and I always stayed with him
wherever he said. I was always there, a hospital, nursing home, whatever,
I was there. And so we were talking and so
he told me, he said, you need to move. I said, MoU,
what are you talking about. He said, you're standing in
the further of the window. They're waiting for me, and
you won't let me get through.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And I knew what he was talking about, but I
didn't want to accept it. Yeah, and so I was like,
what window? He said, you see it. I didn't see it.
God just show it to me, He said, you see
the window. I said, I don't see a window. He said, yes,
you do. That's why you standing there. And he was
upset because he wanted to go. And so I went
(16:50):
to sleep that night and while I was sleeping, God
spoke to my heart and he said, Vera, let him go.
He wants to come and be with me. And so
the next morning he was on his way to dialysis
and I said, James, I had a dream last night
and God said to let you go.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Mm.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Well, he got so happy, like he just lit up
because he had had he had had a relationship with God,
had seen God, he had seen Jesus didn't want to
go be with him, and I knew that he was
more important than I was. Jesus was more important than me,
so I had to release him and let him go.
So I let him go. I say all that to
say this about I'm finding him back down to the
(17:32):
body of Christ being one. So he died on her Friday.
That Sunday, God said, go to church. Well, I didn't
want to go to church. I wanted to stay home
and cry and just cover my head up. I didn't
want to go anywhere. He said, go to church. I
have something there for you. I was like, but I
don't wanna go. He said go, So I got up,
got dressed, went to church. When I walked in, the
(17:55):
pastor's wife saw me coming. She came down the aisle
and she hugged me and she cried on my shoulder,
crowd on her shouldern, and she said, I want to
talk to you when service is over. I was like, okay.
So when service was over, she came over to me
and she grabbed me by the hands and we stood up.
We were standing there and she said, I just want
to share something with you. She said, a few nights ago,
(18:17):
I was praying for you and James, and she said,
God showed me this vision and she was making a
square like a window, and she said, you was standing
in front of the window and James was trying to
get through the window. And she said, I told God,
I can't tell her to let her husband go. She said,
God told her, I'm not telling you to tell her anything.
(18:38):
I want you to intercede for her so I can
speak to her heart.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And she prayed for me, and I'm sure it was
the same night that God spoke to my heart. And
so I told her, I said, let me tell you
the front part of that story. So she said what
And then I shared with her about the window situation
that my husband I had talked about it that she
didn't even know about. So knew God was confirming what
he had done with me and my husband through her.
(19:07):
And so she said, and God told her that he
could not do anything in his body without doing it
through one of us in the body. And that's how
integral the body of Christ is is one many members,
made up of many members, and all of us have
a different part, but we function together as one.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
That's awesome. Sounds like there's another book.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
It is, and I just finished it the other week. Wow,
and once the week my son died.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Oh, you lost your son.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I lost my son, just remember yep. And I had
just finished the book a couple of days before he died.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
My goodness.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And so I said, God, what is this every time
I get a book? Why my family members die? I
don't understand it. But he didn't answer me. But anyway,
the next book is a book is just about Jesus,
about the Afron the Omega.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
From A to Z.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
We look forward to that book. And what's the name
of the book that you have right now?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
The name of the book I have now is Exhortations
to Pray and it's available where it's available on Amazon
dot com. It's available on propertyspirit dot com and you
can send it email at Exhortations to Pray seventy seven
at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Awesome. Do you have any podcasts or anything like that
going on? No? I don't not yet. No, maybe sometime
in the future. The future. Well, here's the big question
as we're rounding up the program. So thankful for you
sharing your story with us today. And I think you
kind of answered this already, but I have to ask,
what do you think your legacy is, and what would
(20:47):
you like for it to be?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
My legacy is one who has been crucified with Christ.
It's no longer I that live the Christ that lives
in me. Yes, and I want my leg to be that.
This is the lady that stood in the gap and
cried up for the city. No matter what she came on,
and no matter what happened to her, she prayed for
us because she love us, because God loves us.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Awesome, No, I don't.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I've prayed for so many people. God has done so
many wonderful miracles. And that's why I was questioning God,
why is it I have prayed for people that came
back to life. Wow, and my family is still dying.
I don't get it God. So God ministered to me
about his will, and he said that he has a
boundary set for all of us, and nobody knows what
(21:36):
it is but him because it's a secret thing. Only
God knows the secret things.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
So I guess the lesson would be just trust.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Trust Him with all your heart, all your mind, all
your soul.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Well, we thank you for joining us for the voices
of legacy today. It's been a journey, even you telling
your story. Probably not have to get a tissue after
we're done. But we're thankful. We're thankful for you being
here and being able to share openly what you've experienced
and what brought you to this place, and of course
a means for people to appreciate that even after they
(22:12):
listened to this program. Thank you so much for joining
with us today. Did you have any other closing words?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I just want to say that Exhortations to Pray was
written for it's a mandate. It was not written for
doctoral purposes. It was written for people to grab a
hold of it to pray because the many prayers is
in this book's gonna help you. And one of the
most famous prayers in this book is a prayer forgiveness.
And I feel that if we start forgiving, yes, a
(22:41):
lot of things can happen for us.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
We could talk another half hour about it, it's needed,
but we'll talk some more. We'll talk about it. Sounds
like you're gonna have another book that we have something
else to talk about. But thank you again so much
for gracing us today on the voices of legacy. Thank
you for listening to the voices of a legacy. This
(23:06):
is your friend. Pastor Carl Mitchell, the third your hosts
of this program. We want you to go to WGTE
dot org slash legacy to like, share, subscribe, and hear
all of our past podcast and our future podcast. Be
a friend and join with us in the Voices of Legacy,
(23:26):
where you're writing your own legacy. Every day that you live.
Have a blessed WGTE voices around us. Wgt supported in
(23:47):
part by the American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated by
the City of Toledo and the Lucas County Commissioners, and
administered by the Arts Commission
Welcome to the Voices of the Legacy broadcast here on
WGT Public Media. This is your host, Pastor Carley Mitchell,
the third senior pastor at Restored Churches by the Way,
and the host of the Voices of Legacy. We are
honored to have missus Vera Armstrong with us today. A
devoted author and prayer warrior friend of the Gospel. Vera's
(00:47):
journey is a testament of the power of faith, and
we're excited to hear what she has to say about it.
She's an author as well of a very extraordinary book
called Exhortations to pro Inspired by her faith walk during
a time of deep personal prayer, recognized, she recognized her
(01:10):
need to share in her expression of faith, and she's
doing so with a pretty popular book. She's going to
talk to us about that as well. Good day, miss Vera.
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm just wonderful a good day to you.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Oh, thank you so much. I feel welcomed on my
own program, but nevertheless, we were so thankful to have
you here with us at the Voices of Legacy. Tell
us something about yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Well, first of all, I just want to thank you
for having me on the show. And such a wonderful
blessing to be asked to be a part of a show.
And I praise Scott for where He's brought me to
at this point. My name is Verah Armstrong and I've
been a person that lived in Taleda for several years.
I came here as a young woman and married my husband.
(01:57):
We were here for several years and he wanted to
go to California.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So did you marry him or did he marry you?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We married each other.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Okay, good answer, good answer.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And we went to California and we had we were like,
we were like the life of the party people, you know,
we just California is to be and we just we
just was the life of the party. And my husband
started his own business out there, and I was going
to school, trying to get a degree, just going back
to school, just trying to do some things. And I was,
(02:32):
this is basically, minded my own business, doing my homework.
One day in my living room when I heard this
voice and called my name, and I was like, who
was that calling? Because nobody was there but me, And
so I got so upset because I knew who it was. Oh,
and the reason why I got upset was because I
knew my life was about to change. I did not
(02:54):
want to change. I wanted to continue to doing what
I was doing. Most people do.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
So it was burning bush.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yes, yes, and so as I was city mayor, and
the boys called me again. So I got up. I
went outside, and I stood on this little mound next
to my condo, and I yelled at God and put
my hands on my hips, and I yelled up at God,
asking what did he want with me? And so he
(03:21):
opened up my eyes supernaturally and rolled a scroll down
out of heaven. And on that scroll, the very first
thing was go back to Toledo. And I'm like, we
can't go back there because that's why we laughed. We
don't want to be there. So it's just I won't
get into all of that. But anyway, that's how it started.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So you didn't want to go.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I didn't want to come back here. I did never
liked Toledo.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So that that sounds like a calling.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
It was a calling.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And answered the call.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I answered the call.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
But did you do it immediately?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I did it right away because when I came off
that mountain, I knew I had had an encounter with
the living God. Wow, Cause I had never known God.
I had never I grew up in church, most of
us do. I grew up in a Baptist church in Georgia,
and that's all I knew. Foot stomping, foot stomping the
Baptist church, alright, Wow. And I didn't know anything about God.
(04:16):
I just knew about church.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
The experience, and we parted. We did everything we always did,
but would go to church.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
And so I came in the house and I just
stood there and I had lost everything, had basically lost
my mind, not in not in a negative way, but
in the sense where I knew that I was being
controlled by higher power. So this is a serious spirit
(04:44):
experience that I had. That's why I am the way
I am now because of the experience.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So it caused you, caused fear in the moment, but
it caused you to be fear less.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yes. And it caused me to know that God had
a purpose and a plan for my life. And I
didn't realize it.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And I knew that God was calling me to do something,
but I didn't know what it was. All the news
I had to answer that call. So it's a funny
part of the story. When my husband came home from work,
we were sitting at the dinner table eating, so I
told him, I said, we're gonna have to go back to Toledo.
He said what he would have said. He said, is
(05:22):
something wrong with my mother or something wrong with your father?
I was like no. He said, well do we have
to go back? That's cause God said it. He backed
away from the table. He slipped up me, and he said, God,
let did guy start talking to you? Cause I was
the terror? What I was the terror? He said? So
I was like today, and I was so humble, and
(05:44):
so later on in the years, my husband said that
scared him so much because he knew that if I
was all quiet and wasn't put up a fight about
what I had asked him to do, he was. He
knew something was happening to me. Wow, And he could
see the change. And so when we got back, we
came right ourway. Well we didn't. He said, Well, if
God want me to come back to Toledo, he's gonna
(06:05):
have to tell me himself. Says, well, he can do it.
So that night we had an earthquake, a tight of way,
and a mudslide all in one night. So when a
mudslide came down from the mountain and filling on everybody mountains.
The mountain came down on top of the car ports,
(06:28):
and everybody's car was full of mud, but ours. My
husband turned and looked at me, He says, what did
you get packed? So we threw everything in the car
and had our friends to ship our stuff to us
later on, and we headed back to Toledo. And that's
how it began. That's how my journey began with the Lord.
And so I came back here and we were just
(06:51):
didn't know what to do because we had given up
our house and giving up everything. And so we came
back here and God just blessed us. He just started
just opening doors, opening doors, And so that's what happened
in that era, and then it went on and.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
That I just how long ago was that?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
That was in nineteen eighty six. WHOA, And I got
in my prayer closet and I prayed nineteen eighty seven on.
From nineteen eighty said, I start praying. I started praying,
and God had started doing things. The different things was happening,
and I could see the hand of God moving. That's
why I tell people God is real. You know, it
(07:28):
doesn't matter how you feel, what you think, what you believe. Basically,
he's real and you get to need you need to
get to know the real God. And so I know
him and that's why I'm so grateful. I'm so thankful
because he gave me that experience to know that he's
real and that's my job. So he told me what
(07:48):
my ministry is my ministers to go out and seek
and save those and tell them about Jesus and let
them know that He's real.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
And I've been doing that. In the process of that,
I've been persecuted beyond measure. But that's what happens when
you serve God. It comes with the territory, it does,
and you have to be strong in Him in order
to endore. So I just thank God because.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
So before this was your background in ministry. Nope, what
did you do?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I worked at Columbia Gas. That's where I left there.
When we left here, I was on a medical lead
from Columbia Gas, and so I gave it up, closed
out the case, and moved to California. Then when we
came back, I didn't work right away because I just
was in my per closet. Work, and that's where I
was at. My husband got a job back at Jeep
(08:39):
because he used to work at christis at Jeep, so
when he came back there just hurt him back. But
I was in my per closet the whole time, praying
the whole time, just praying. And so when I would
come out, God would get me things to do and
I would go different parts of the city, go over
there and pray for this person, and I would do that.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
So it sounds like you just went streak diministry.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
I did straight to ministry.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
We've covered the d the divine encounter, and that that's
a understatement based on your experience and and how how
you've uh described that. I tell you you probably need
a treatment for a movie on that one. At your
early life journey, your spiritual revelation. So this led you
to write And is this your first book that we're talking.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
About too, Yeah, this is my first book. And the
reason this book came exhortations to Kate, I'm sorry, exhortations
to pray came about.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
See, I was scared I was gonna miss it with prayer,
with prayer, okay.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Uh. The reason why is because my husband became ill.
After we went back about ten years, you got sick
and I would go into the prayer closet. I would
just pray, and when I would come out, the Lord
would have me to write. And I was just writing
different stuff that's in the book. But I didn't know why.
I was just writing down. It was a book yet
I didn't know it was a book, that's all. So
I wrote it all down, and whatever I would write
(09:56):
when I came out of the prayer closet, I would
just put it aside, tablet somewhere. So one day the
Lord asked me to get all those notes together. He said,
put them together. It's going to be a book. And
I was just excited about that. So this is like,
this book was written twenty years before it was published.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
So I took it and put it all together. So
the Lord gave me everything the way it is now
in the book. That's how he gave it to me.
The acknowledgements, the preface, the forward, everything, not the forward,
but the day to catch Everything was given to me
twenty five years, twenty years before this book was written.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
And so I put it, wrote it all down and
put it on a shelf didn't think anything else about it,
and I taught a class called the Abundant Life Class.
I taught that class for several years and graduated students
from that class, and it was such a blessing. And
so in the meantime I would teach something out of
the notes that I had on prayer whenever we came
(10:56):
to that in the classes. But I had no idea,
what's going to you know, bublished. When the Lord said
it was going to be a book, I assumed that
it was a book that I was supposed to just
teach out of to the students, and that's how I
was doing it.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And so.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
In nineteen ninety nine, the book was already had been
written at that time for about four years. It started
to press on my heart about is this going to
be a real book or what is this going to be?
And then I didn't do anything else with it. I
just thought about it and didn't do anything.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Did you teach from it?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
At that point, I was still teaching from it. I
was still teaching on prayer out of it, different things
out of the book. I was still teaching out of it,
but I was not teaching out of it every time.
It was just different times doing the classes. When Lord
would put on my heart to teach about prayer, I
would go to this and I would teach the students
something out of that, and we would do different prayers
be cause different prayers is in this book. So as
(11:52):
we progressed over the years, my husband became sicker. You know,
he didn't get any better, and I was constantly for him.
He didn't get any better, and I was really concerned
about it wasn't getting any better. So then in two
thousand and twelve, I knew that he was not going
to stay. I just knew it. So he passed away
(12:15):
in November the thirtieth, twenty twelve, and the book hadn't
been published yet. So the next year, I was in
a prayer group at the church I was at and
we had been praying for a year, and we were
winding down from the prayer that year, and as we
were about to get ready to leave, one of the
(12:39):
people that was there praying came to me and said, sistervere,
God said to tell you it's time to publish your book.
So I looked at him and I was like, well,
he's a man of guy, he prays, so how did
he know I had a book. That's a well guy
had to tell him kids. I hadn't teld him about
a book, so I said. He just looked at me,
(13:02):
and I just looked at him. So he walked away,
and then he came back and he said, do you
have a book? I said yes. He said, is it complete?
I was like yes. He said, well, why haven't you
published it? I said, because it's just been so much
going on over the years. I just hadn't. So he said, well,
you need to get it published. So I said okay.
So one thing led to another and got worked it out.
(13:25):
Where got the book published?
Speaker 1 (13:27):
And not self published? But you have a publisher, no.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Self published, self published. I got this published myself. Oh
and so but it takes a lot to get it
done yourself. It's not easy. It took a lot, and
so we got it done. And then the book was very,
very popular at first when I first came out twenty fifteen,
December twenty fifteen, and I started traveling twenty sixteen. So
(13:51):
I traveled and administered about the book Florida, Georgia, Michigan.
It was awesome. I loved that part of it. And
then COVID hit and so it didn't do anything after that,
so the book had kind of slowed down from that.
But the book is on Amazon and you can get
it from Amazon dot com and you can get it
(14:11):
from my website property Severia dot com. And also you
could email me and exhortations Praise seventy seven at gmail
dot com if you want to just see me in
an email. But other than that, that's what I do.
But I spent a lot of years in the city
walking the streets of the city and praying. Wow, and
all before the book came about any of that, I
(14:31):
used to walk to the streets and I was with
a prayer group called the United Prayer Antercessors, and we
would pray for the mayor. We would pray for him
once a week and he would come to the church
down on I think it's Adams Street where it used
to be at. And it was such a blessing because
we would walk to the streets of the city and
we would pray for different people on the streets and
we would get them saved and get them delivered. It
(14:54):
was awesome, wow. And so we did that for ten
years and then and we move That's when we moved
to Georgia. My husband I moved because we moved a
couple of times from Toledo, but we ended up coming
back every time again again, and so it's like, why
do we keep coming back to the city. Your work
(15:15):
is here, it is And the Lord said, I call
yourself watchman on the wall for the city, so you
pray for the city. So that's what I've been doing
for the last thirty years, praying for the city of Toledo.
And I've been trying to get the churches to come
together as one to pray, and that has been so hard. Yeah,
(15:36):
And I keep telling them, it's not about your denomination.
It's about the Lord Jesus Christ. If you claiming him
as your savior, we're.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
All one fellowship.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
The body of Christ is one. And I said, the
reason why I know it's one is because I've had
all these experiences to let me know God came and
he just let me know that he's real. And so
the reason why I'm going to share another testimony about
well before my husband died, I said, about eight or
twelve days before he died, we were talking. He was
(16:07):
in a nursing home, and I always stayed with him
wherever he said. I was always there, a hospital, nursing home, whatever,
I was there. And so we were talking and so
he told me, he said, you need to move. I said, MoU,
what are you talking about. He said, you're standing in
the further of the window. They're waiting for me, and
you won't let me get through.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And I knew what he was talking about, but I
didn't want to accept it. Yeah, and so I was like,
what window? He said, you see it. I didn't see it.
God just show it to me, He said, you see
the window. I said, I don't see a window. He said, yes,
you do. That's why you standing there. And he was
upset because he wanted to go. And so I went
(16:50):
to sleep that night and while I was sleeping, God
spoke to my heart and he said, Vera, let him go.
He wants to come and be with me. And so
the next morning he was on his way to dialysis
and I said, James, I had a dream last night
and God said to let you go.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Mm.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Well, he got so happy, like he just lit up
because he had had he had had a relationship with God,
had seen God, he had seen Jesus didn't want to
go be with him, and I knew that he was
more important than I was. Jesus was more important than me,
so I had to release him and let him go.
So I let him go. I say all that to
say this about I'm finding him back down to the
(17:32):
body of Christ being one. So he died on her Friday.
That Sunday, God said, go to church. Well, I didn't
want to go to church. I wanted to stay home
and cry and just cover my head up. I didn't
want to go anywhere. He said, go to church. I
have something there for you. I was like, but I
don't wanna go. He said go, So I got up,
got dressed, went to church. When I walked in, the
(17:55):
pastor's wife saw me coming. She came down the aisle
and she hugged me and she cried on my shoulder,
crowd on her shouldern, and she said, I want to
talk to you when service is over. I was like, okay.
So when service was over, she came over to me
and she grabbed me by the hands and we stood up.
We were standing there and she said, I just want
to share something with you. She said, a few nights ago,
(18:17):
I was praying for you and James, and she said,
God showed me this vision and she was making a
square like a window, and she said, you was standing
in front of the window and James was trying to
get through the window. And she said, I told God,
I can't tell her to let her husband go. She said,
God told her, I'm not telling you to tell her anything.
(18:38):
I want you to intercede for her so I can
speak to her heart.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And she prayed for me, and I'm sure it was
the same night that God spoke to my heart. And
so I told her, I said, let me tell you
the front part of that story. So she said what
And then I shared with her about the window situation
that my husband I had talked about it that she
didn't even know about. So knew God was confirming what
he had done with me and my husband through her.
(19:07):
And so she said, and God told her that he
could not do anything in his body without doing it
through one of us in the body. And that's how
integral the body of Christ is is one many members,
made up of many members, and all of us have
a different part, but we function together as one.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
That's awesome. Sounds like there's another book.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
It is, and I just finished it the other week. Wow,
and once the week my son died.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Oh, you lost your son.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I lost my son, just remember yep. And I had
just finished the book a couple of days before he died.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
My goodness.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And so I said, God, what is this every time
I get a book? Why my family members die? I
don't understand it. But he didn't answer me. But anyway,
the next book is a book is just about Jesus,
about the Afron the Omega.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
From A to Z.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
We look forward to that book. And what's the name
of the book that you have right now?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
The name of the book I have now is Exhortations
to Pray and it's available where it's available on Amazon
dot com. It's available on propertyspirit dot com and you
can send it email at Exhortations to Pray seventy seven
at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Awesome. Do you have any podcasts or anything like that
going on? No? I don't not yet. No, maybe sometime
in the future. The future. Well, here's the big question
as we're rounding up the program. So thankful for you
sharing your story with us today. And I think you
kind of answered this already, but I have to ask,
what do you think your legacy is, and what would
(20:47):
you like for it to be?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
My legacy is one who has been crucified with Christ.
It's no longer I that live the Christ that lives
in me. Yes, and I want my leg to be that.
This is the lady that stood in the gap and
cried up for the city. No matter what she came on,
and no matter what happened to her, she prayed for
us because she love us, because God loves us.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Awesome, No, I don't.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
I've prayed for so many people. God has done so
many wonderful miracles. And that's why I was questioning God,
why is it I have prayed for people that came
back to life. Wow, and my family is still dying.
I don't get it God. So God ministered to me
about his will, and he said that he has a
boundary set for all of us, and nobody knows what
(21:36):
it is but him because it's a secret thing. Only
God knows the secret things.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
So I guess the lesson would be just trust.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Trust Him with all your heart, all your mind, all
your soul.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Well, we thank you for joining us for the voices
of legacy today. It's been a journey, even you telling
your story. Probably not have to get a tissue after
we're done. But we're thankful. We're thankful for you being
here and being able to share openly what you've experienced
and what brought you to this place, and of course
a means for people to appreciate that even after they
(22:12):
listened to this program. Thank you so much for joining
with us today. Did you have any other closing words?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I just want to say that Exhortations to Pray was
written for it's a mandate. It was not written for
doctoral purposes. It was written for people to grab a
hold of it to pray because the many prayers is
in this book's gonna help you. And one of the
most famous prayers in this book is a prayer forgiveness.
And I feel that if we start forgiving, yes, a
(22:41):
lot of things can happen for us.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
We could talk another half hour about it, it's needed,
but we'll talk some more. We'll talk about it. Sounds
like you're gonna have another book that we have something
else to talk about. But thank you again so much
for gracing us today on the voices of legacy. Thank
you for listening to the voices of a legacy. This
(23:06):
is your friend. Pastor Carl Mitchell, the third your hosts
of this program. We want you to go to WGTE
dot org slash legacy to like, share, subscribe, and hear
all of our past podcast and our future podcast. Be
a friend and join with us in the Voices of Legacy,
(23:26):
where you're writing your own legacy. Every day that you live.
Have a blessed WGTE voices around us. Wgt supported in
(23:47):
part by the American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated by
the City of Toledo and the Lucas County Commissioners, and
administered by the Arts Commission
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