Report from Violet Steffel

September, 2003

Today Carla, Adam, and I went to a home to pray for a lady in a coma from High Blood Pressure.  Since last October she has been in this coma unable to respond or get out of bed.  She looked frail and was curled into a fetus position.  After breaking curses of Macumba and anointing her with oil we began to be able to unlock her fingers, arms, and legs.  We set her up on the side of the bed, and she actually was focusing her eyes, as she wasn't before.  We then gave her water to drink by mouth as she was being fed intravenously.  She swallowed the water which was huge progress.  We feel that the Lord began a healing process in her and will continue what he began today.  On the way home I began witnessing to the taxi driver.  I asked him the two diagnostic questions--if you were to die today do you know for certain that you would go to heaven?  And, if you were to stand before God and He were to say to you why should I let you into my kingdom what would you say?  He responded with the normal "works" answers.  I then presented the entire gospel to him and asked if he wanted to accept Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.  He said, "I am not ready to go to church".  I then said to him, "I'm not talking about church...I'm talking about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."  "You can have the assurance that you are going to heaven right now". "Would you like believe and trust in Jesus Christ?” He then said, "yes!"  I led him in a prayer of salvation and afterwards his countenance totally changed!!  He was laughing and giving me a "thumbs up" (as Brazilians do when something good happens).  Praise God for the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives!!

I was a part of a team that went and ministered at an Alliance Church in the city of Manaus.  We had ministered at Restoration Church all week and this alliance church requested that some of the team come and minister at their church.  We witnessed many healings that evening.  Two of those were for two different people healed from near-sidedness.  They could read far away after we prayed.  They were very excited about this.  I also prayed for a man who has had continual back pain for 5 years.  The pain left him that evening, and he began to give God the glory!

I am grateful that the Lord ministered to me as I ministered to a deaf girl.  I spent most of the ministry time praying for her.  I discovered she was born deaf/mute, so she could not speak clearly.  Not only was the Lord reminding me that it is He that works through us, but it was his power that would heal her, but even more so that His Sovereignty and timing came into play.  I was not wanting her to leave discouraged and the Lord reminded me of 23 year ago how he ministered through me in a bank to deaf customers.  I knew enough sign language then to say 3 or 4 sentences about Jesus.  Although I have not spoke sign language for that long, the Lord caused me to remember for her.  You would have thought she had been healed when I began to sign to her at the end of us praying.  "I had entered her world."  She hugged and embraced me and began to sign back to me very fast.  I told her I only knew a little bit, and she laughed.  I am trusting for her complete healing.

Bob and I were given the opportunity to go and pray for a teenage girl who had been born deaf/mute.  Her doctor was with her at the time.  Along with an interpreter we began to ask her questions before prayer.  We asked if there was any involvement in the Macumba (witchcraft), or if there was any unforgiveness from her past to present.  Then we prayed, I stuck a finger in each ear and drew them out by saying, "be healed in the name of Jesus in Portuguese."   I then clicked fingers behind each ear to see her response.  She immediately had a huge grin on her face!!  God had already begun to heal her.  We asked through her doctor more questions and discovered her mother had left her when she was a baby with her grandmother.  We led her in a prayer of forgiveness over her mother through her doctor.  We prayed for an increase after that.  Her hearing improved so much that we put her to test to see the percentage of the healing.  We asked the interpreter to climb the stairs behind her and call out her name softly.  With her back turned to the interpreter she began to turn as her name was called out.  We then had the interpreter to climb higher.  She still turned as her name was called out loud!!  We knew she had been healed by then, but we still put her to one more test.  We had the interpreter come and stand in front of her.  Then we had the young girl close her eyes and repeat the one word that she heard after the interpreter spoke it out.  She was used to reading lips, so this was really putting her to the test.  She repeated each word spoken with her eyes closed, each time her speech and the syllables were improving!  We all shouted and gave Glory to God at that moment!

Felt led at the end of ministry one evening to reach out to one lady.  I went over and shook her hand and introduced myself.  She then would not let go of my hand.  Upon intense eye contact at that moment, she began to cry.  I then laid hands on her husband and her.  Her husband was slain in the Spirit and she fell on the floor weeping and began to speak in what I thought was tongues.  All of the sudden her countenance & voice began to change.  She rose up by her stomach first and with a wicked look began to point a finger at me.  "Thank God...I knew immediately that this was a demon manifesting".  I then put my hand in front of her face and said (in Portuguese) "in the name of Jesus".  The spirit submitted and shrunk back down to the floor.  I then had one other worker to come and work together ministering deliverance to this lady.  It turned out that she had been involved with Macumba (witchcraft in that area).  She was totally set free!  Praise God for his faithfulness.