“I cried out to God for help; When I WAS IN DISTRESS, I sought the Lord; remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. I was too troubled to speak. Then I thought, “To this I will appeal when the Most High stretched out His right hand. I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I REMEMBER YOUR MIRACLES…” (Psalms 77:1-11)
I was unfortunate to be under the Agent Orange Curse. Agent Orange is a toxic (dioxin) herbicide. It is one of the Rainbow Chemicals. It is known to cause a variety of cancers, diabetes, heart disease, and strokes. Please bear with me as I remember my journey through this curse. I was lying in bed early this morning thinking that in that in 37 days I will be 80 years old! I very honestly thought I would not have made it this long. As these memories were going through my mind the Lord reminded me of ALL HE HAS DONE FOR ME and why this happened to me.
“…we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus TO DO GOOD WORKS, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) “I will praise You, for I am FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” (Psalms 139:14) I celebrated my 50th year of belonging to the Lord on May 17th, 2022. As far back as I can remember I’ve have always had an active prayer life, getting up very early and spending an hour or so in prayer. I read “…WHEN YOU PRAY… WHEN YOU PRAY, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen… WHEN YOU PRAY….” (Matthew 6:5-7) Since Jesus mentioned this THREE TIMES, I felt it must be very important, so I did it. I also began keeping a journal and discovering that the Lord would speak “My sheep HEAR MY VOICE, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27) “He who is of God HEARS GOD’S WORDS…“ (John 8:47)
I pastored in Washington State for 17 years, moved to Cleveland TN, and was Chaplain for the Cleveland High School Fo0tball team for 15 years and saw many of these students give their hearts to the Lord!!! I was led of the Lord to start an online ministry in 2008 and became very committed to that. Then this “curse” hit me. First was diabetes a 600 plus blood sugar, a brain tumor was discovered and removed in a 14-hour surgery with a loss of hearing and balance, then a very severe stroke happened, and I was “out of it” for about 5 months, woke up with memory and vision troubles and wanted to continue my “online ministry” but had to be taught how to turn on my computer, next was a bout with kidney failure, then a heart attack requiring 6 stents, then recently a 5-month battle with melanoma cancer. The Lord spoke to me about how the devil hated my ministry because one year during the Assembly I received over 9,000 “hits” on my devotional posting so, people were reading and being blessed! Thank the Lord!!! “I will praise You, for I am FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE…“
This is what motivated me to post these devotionals, “…these words which I COMMAND YOU TODAY shall be in your heart. You shall TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY TO YOUR CHILDREN and shall talk of them when you SIT in your house, when you WALK by the way, when you LIE DOWN, and when you RISE UP. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
I CANNOT EXPRESS MY THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR CALLING ME TO THIS MINISTRY…
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham