One thing I have desired of the Lord…

Ten years ago, on a Wednesday, during a heavy rainstorm, my family and I arrived at a place that would change the story of my life. However, I was still unaware this would happen.

Soaking wet, we walked into a place filled with pews. There was a man saying goodbye to some people. I remember him pointing at us and telling someone:

– Assistant, tell them what times we have meetings and I’ll speak to that family shortly.

People began to leave and a blonde woman came to greet us. She handed my mother a paper with meeting schedules and asked us to sit on chairs that were on a stage, where the man was waiting for us.

He introduced himself, asked what our names were and how we were doing. In response to that question, my mother began to tell him all about our lives, and our problems. She told him everything. My mother never spoke about her problems, not even to close friends or family, let alone to strangers.

I did not hear a word of what he said. Feeling very scared, I just kept staring into his eyes. I couldn’t see his pupils; all I saw was fire in the shape of a cross.

We started going to that place everyday. There were days when I saw people with their eyes closed, while some cried. Other days, people screamed and their body’s writhed. I didn’t understand anything that was going on.

I sat in the front row, and while that boring man spoke I put on makeup, changed my piercings around, combed my hair or spoke to a friend. He would rebuke me, but I retorted.

After visiting that place for 30 consecutive days, I found out that it was a Church (the UNIVERSAL CHURCH), and what I thought was a stage, was in fact an Altar, and the annoying man that spoke too much was the pastor. A few days later, that pastor was transferred and another one came to take his place.

I was only able to read the Church’s sign three months later. Not that it was hidden, but I just couldn’t see it before, when I looked at it.

I finally began to understand what was being said. This is when I began my process of deliverance. I don’t know exactly how long it took, but I think it was almost a year.

And those days were horrible! There were days of doubt, body aches, anger, shame; at times, I even thought I was going crazy. Until one day I revolted against that situation, and decided not to accept it anymore. I could no longer depend on the pastor or the assistants. I was not in sin and had surrendered my life to God, yet my deliverance process hadn’t ended. At that moment, it was just the two of us, me and the devil, and only one of us would come out victorious. I cried out, fought, fought, fought against the devil and against myself, and I believed!

I expelled the demon that was in my life, forever. I was delivered! I was not going to let anything or anyone take that conviction from within me.

Time passed, I surrendered my own desires and was delivered from the demons, but there was an even greater void inside now than there was before, and I did not understand what was going on. After all, I was supposed to feel great because I was delivered, but I did not have the Author of life in me yet.

I sought Him with all my strength, and on a Wednesday night I had my encounter with God. However, He still needed to dwell within me. (I thought that by being baptized with the Holy Spirit, I would become a kind of “Wonder Woman”: all of my problems would be solved like magic; I would have light, and wherever I went, demons would manifest… Anyways, I was crazy, lol.)

One night, while Pastor Wendel did the first prayer during the Youth Group vigil, he said:

– Ask God for a miracle, and tonight it will be fulfilled.

The greatest miracle I wanted was the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I was sad, because the void grew each day. So, at that moment, I saw the chance of a lifetime.

Throughout the vigil, I sought Him with all my strength; I was determined to get to heaven. I went to the front of the Altar and a miracle happened. Even though I was not worthy, I received the greatest riches of my life – the Plenitude of God. His Spirit sealed me, transformed me (and, obviously, I did not become Wonder Woman).

One year later, on 10/07/2007, a Tuesday, after the night meeting, I was cleaning the Church pews when the pastor called me and asked me some questions. He asked if I wanted to be an assistant. I said yes. Then he said:

– Kneel on the Altar because I am going to consecrate you. – I did not believe what he was saying. I smiled, turned around and continued cleaning the pews.

The pastor raised his arms and said:

– Do you want to be an assistant or not??? Come on!

That’s when the penny dropped and I realized he was serious.

I went to the Altar, knelt down and he consecrated me. The people present were two assistants, who were good friends of mine, the pastor’s wife, me and him.

My faithful witness was God Himself. He had chosen me. I did not deserve this, nor was I capable of doing anything on my own, but even so, He was counting on me. The next day, the pastor did the first meeting and, in the afternoon, he received the news that he was being transferred to Mexico. During the night meeting, there was already another pastor in his place.

Do you know what the best part of all this is? It was God Himself that chose me! Usually assistants are consecrated and presented to everyone during the meetings on Wednesday and Sunday. The pastor did not know he was leaving (I asked him). He didn’t need to bless me that day, at that moment. But God, who knows all things, wanted it that way.

Today, seven years have passed since I received such privilege. It is an honor to be part of this Work!

The girl who used to hear voices, see shadows, was being prepared to serve a witchdoctor, lived in a broken home and was sentenced to death by a disease that had no cure, today thanks God for bringing her through that door on that rainy day.

A lot has happened. I’ve had good and bad experiences, passed through deserts, through fire –and will continue to pass through them–, got married, tasted the manna, trusted God, humbled myself before Him and am completing another year of victories because I continue to walk side-by-side with my Only Lord and Savior.

I still have a lot to learn and mature. I will continue seeking and fighting until the last breath of life in me. The only conviction I have is that the God I chose to serve is the True Lord, the only One who can change the story of a person’s life.

One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple. Psalms 27.4

Flavia Dias, assistant in Vila Formosa – SP