Joanne Cain's Testimony

THE BURNING BUSH

Zech. 13:9 "And I will bring a third part through the fire. Refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer them." (bring means revive, to lead, to accomplish).
 
In 1991 I was faced with just such a fire: Hairy Cell Leukemia. After months of testing I faced a spleenectomy due to unexplained bruising, 3 transfusions, chemotherapy, 5 more transfusions, 7 bone marrow biopsies--only to be told I had a severely damaged immune system and to realize my nerves were severely damaged as well. I honestly thought I'd lose my mind.
 
Little did I know that God had me right where He wanted me; for it was at that time "the Word" was opened up for me--like never before. One Scripture in particular that became very real for me is found in Proverbs 3:5 "Trust the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Understanding in the Webster's is defined as a change of mind (and that requires...discipline). Discipline means training that develops obedience. Hebrews 12:11 "All discipline for a moment seems not to be joyful yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward--it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness. vs.12 Therefore strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble. And make strait paths for your feet so that the limb that is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed." (Righteousness means right understanding).

One month before I was told I had leukemia I had committed to come to Light of the City full time. I did not know then that the power of the Word being brought forth there would start me on a journey of such radical healing of both body, mind, and spirit.

Hebrews 4:12 "For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Leukemia starts in the bone marrow and wrecks havoc in the blood.)
 
But the power of the Word did not stop there for the same burning bush that caused me to come through the fire to be consumed in total union--now burns in me--to set others free to say: "Come, enter the fire". Just as it is written in Rev. 22:17 "Come and let the Spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come, and let the one who is thirsty take the water without cost."

When I reached my place of fire; I had a choice to make: To be distracted, confused, and afraid, or to be focused and willing to walk by faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen." When I was told I had leukemia I wanted someone to prove it to me, and at the same time I wanted to know there was a means to bring it to an end. I didn't want pity or maybes.

In Jeremiah 30:21 we're told: "Set up for yourself road marks, place for your self quick posts. Direct your mind to the highway". By the Spirit (Zechariah 4:7) my guide posts had been set in place so that His immense love could take root and I could begin to find true rest. Isaiah 40:31-"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings of eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint" (teach me Lord to wait). Faint means lose focus!

In the hospital the second time; at night I would see a dark misty cloud at the foot of my bed--and I would hallucinate that their were snakes crawling all over me. After a day of antibiotics and transfusions the only thing that would break the yoke of fear and death--was the spoken word expressed in songs written out of His Spirit by my pastor. Interestingly enough it is the same word "that breaks the yoke" now.

Matthew 1:29 "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest for your soul". Rest is a process! Yet, it is in experiencing His rest that I began to understand the words of Romans 8:28-"God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose." (Purpose means counsel.) Called means active and alert; awakened. It is out of that awareness of the word beginning to move within me that the following poem was written:

Hosea 10:12 "Sow with a view of righteousness. Reap in accordance with kindness. Break up your fallow ground. For it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you." (Accord means: willingly, in harmony, to agree.)

Hosea 6:1 "Come let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days. He will raise us upon the third day that we may live before Him."

What I understand is that---had it not been for the Lord--my life would have been lost in a storm of confusion. But instead I can truly say: Psalm 124:6-8 "Blessed be the Lord who has not given me to be torn by their teeth--my soul has escaped as a bird, out of the snare of the trapper. The snare has been broken and I have escaped. My help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth."
 
If I am truly to withstand the days to come I must regard Him as being my very breath of life sustaining me, making me as His expression on the earth. Regard means (I must have absolute faith), Savior, to attend to, to take heed, to understand, to be willing.
 
As in the days of old as Abraham was led to give back His only son. As Job cried out from within His plight. I, your daughter come with my own heart set before you--as the day turns into night willing as Ruth to lay before your feet determined as Esther to go within. I'm here Father, at your beck and call to receive instruction, with no thought of who's been. Just as Moses was led out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea I come before you, by your own hand with only one desire--to set others free.

In closing there is a definite plan and order, we must commit to---order means: authoritative instruction or command, to take holy orders. Hebrews 13:17 "Obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls as those who give an account Let them do this with joy and not grief for this would be unprofitable." Watch means--to stay awake in order to guard--to wait for--to look. Psalm 5:3 "In the morning Oh Lord I will order my prayer...to Thee and eagerly watch".

When I was faced with death, I was brought through a true meta-morphosis experience to a state of resurrection. Yet, one choice remains: to keep watch, to put a value on His word, to regard the ministry of His prophet, His people and the Word moving in me.
 
Three and a half years have passed and I am completely well. "Yet the last enemy remains to be overcome daily." It is my hope that by faith I will see the Word of I Corinthians 15:51-54 come to pass in all His people. "Behold I tell you a mystery...we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead shall be raised imperishable and we shall be changed."