CHAPTER 1
Travel with Me on This Amazing Journey
The path I've traveled has been one of uphill and downhill, but that didn't matter to me, as I've had so many encounters with the most high God and want to share them with the whole world for the glory of God.
At one point, I was at a loss for words in trying to explain what I saw and experienced. Up until now, I'd kept it as a treasure hidden in my heart, and I only told my dearest family and closest friend. And you ask me did I perhaps see angels? Yes, I did see angels, and it is my privilege to lead you into every encounter. Even as I'm typing now, I feel I'm on holy ground.
I met Jesus when I was just fourteen years old. I grew up in Kroonstad, a large town in the center of South Africa. We lived in a beautiful home where there was no shortage of anything. I had wonderful parents who went out of their way to give me everything I needed, but I never saw the inside of a church.
It so happened that our school offered an opportunity to its students to attend a youth camp that was organized by a local church. My cousin and a couple of my friends decided to go, so I went with them. The day before we left, I developed a fever, which turned out to be tonsillitis; I could not leave with my friends. I was disappointed but decided to wait a day or two before asking my father to take me to the camp. He took me to the campsite, and I was thankful to him. On the last day before returning, we were singing songs, and this was where I met Him — it was like dynamite. I was saved as drastically as Paul on the Damascus road. That day I had my first encounter with God. I became aware of heaven and all the activities in the unseen realm and a love I could never have imagined. I saw another world, or kingdom, somewhere above me.
It was like I saw a multitude of angels who were very busy. I cried my heart out, and that day I began loving Jesus. Looking back, I realize two things: (1) the Holy Spirit hovered over me while I was crying, leading me into the ways of my Father; and (2) my sickness was the enemy that tried to prevent me from going to the camp.
I had no clue where to begin reading the Bible, so I asked the camp pastor for advice. He knew where I'd come from, and he guided me to the gospel of John. I never knew this God of the Bible, so I read deep into the night. I felt this book was written especially for me, from Jesus Himself.
From then on, I went to church every Sunday, and my inner man grew quickly in the spirit. In those years, there was no extra help to support and help me with the questions I had. I only trusted the God I could not see, and I sought Him and Him alone.
CHAPTER 2
A Vision of Being the Bride
God was as excited as I was to show me the bride and the end-time wedding in the kingdom of God that was going to take place. I really do not know who was more excited — the bride or the bridegroom.
In this first vision, God took me right to the end of all time. It felt to me like the grand finale of a play written by God Himself. I think God was so involved in the vision, as I experienced every moment of it. Maybe He called a few angels to watch a child of His receiving her first vision and her reaction on this enormous love scene.
In the vision, I was walking on a narrow road, going up a steep hill. There weren't many people on the road, but as I passed them, I touched each one with my hands and told them I was going away. I was in a hurry, and everything happened so fast that there was no time to stop and explain.
The next moment, I was standing on a kind of platform with a huge cathedral right in front of me. It was a magnificent place. I heard the friendly voice of a man speaking to me; he was standing on my right side and had his arm around me for protection. His voice was calm, and he seemed excited as he spoke to me.
"He is waiting for you. I brought you safely up to here, but from here on, you have to walk alone down these steps and across the cobblestone path you see over there. The door to the cathedral is right in front of us. Inside, there's a staircase. Run, quickly all the way up, He is waiting for you."
I was trembling with excitement. I looked down at the dress I was wearing; it was completely made of a gold fabric, unknown to me.
I said to the angel, "Sir, I still have my work shoes on."
And he laughed softly. "Look for yourself, everything is perfect."
I lifted my dress to look at my feet, and I saw the finest pair of gold shoes I had ever seen. They were special for a wedding.
Then I turned to the angel and said, "I don't have a ring." And he said, "Look in the pocket of your dress."
I searched for the pocket and found the most beautiful golden ring with diamonds embedded on the edges; it was for my bridegroom. My heart started racing with excitement. I left the angel, and with the precious ring in my right hand, I began running down the steps of the platform. He is waiting, and I am madly in love with this Prince of heaven. I thought.
Suddenly, I was back in my room. I sat in my bed and was overwhelmed. I could remember every detail of this vision. I was so excited that sleep evaded me that night. I woke my husband to tell him what I saw.
Later, I saw the fabric of the dress I wore in the vision. I was evaluating a house when I saw a flag inside the house made of the same golden fabric. I asked the homeowner, who was my friend, about it and she told me they used it to praise God during the church services of Midvaal Christian Centre. I was so touched that I eventually joined their church. Do you see God's hand in leading me?
I had this vision of being the bride when I was still young in the kingdom. I think Jesus wanted to take me to heaven at that stage, but there was a lot of kingdom work still to be done here in the natural. I understood immediately all that God wanted me to see, and I was so excited about life and the vision of the coming marriage.
Can you imagine the feasting in heaven?
"Let us rejoice and shout for joy (exulting and triumphant)! Let us celebrate and ascribe to Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb (at last) has come, and His Bride has prepared herself." (Revelation 19:7)
"She shall be brought to the King in raiment of needlework; with the virgins, her companions that follow her, she shall be brought to You. With gladness and rejoicing will they be brought; they will enter into the King's palace." (Psalm 45:14–15)
CHAPTER 3
God Showed Me a Hidden Treasure about My Daughter
This vision God gave me was about a time that was to come much later. I think He wanted to calm me down and to ensure me that when the time came, He would send His most trusted angel to cover my daughter, to hold her, and to protect her from all evil.
Being a realtor meant working with prospective buyers and sellers trusting me with their properties. For that reason, I was continuously visiting clients and spending my days inside my car.
One day I took a family to view a property. It had a huge veranda facing a river, and while we were admiring the view, I saw huge white clouds on the horizon. They seemed packed together, and ranged in color from gray to brilliant white. Above us, however, was a clear blue sky, and I drew everybody's attention to this beautiful scene. We enjoyed each other's company and then left.
That night I saw the following vision: I was lifted up high into the sky so I could see into the heavenly realm. First, I saw the same clouds that I'd seen earlier, a spectacular scene. But as I looked closer, I saw the clouds were actually huge angels, flying past me at the speed of light, not one or two at a time but multitudes. It appeared to me that they were flying to earth and back in seconds, carrying out God's orders for the children of God. I was in awe.
Suddenly, it became quiet. All movement stopped. The angels stood on the horizon, exactly as I'd seen the clouds earlier at the house. They cleared a space in the middle, and all of them stared at it.
These angels were huge, maybe three times the height of an average adult. They had arms that looked like those of bodybuilders. Their wings were pulled in at their backs, and the tops of their wings were way above their heads. They were waiting, staring at the middle of the arena. It became so quiet that I could hear the vibration of their wings as they waited with excitement.
And there, in the middle of the arena, stood my daughter, dressed in a long white dress. Her hair was long and curly down her back. She was staring intensely toward my left, where an emerald light was shining. She didn't move, and I held my breath. I couldn't see what she saw, but all the angels were watching.
Suddenly, an angel came from the direction where my daughter was looking. He was shining with the same emerald color and was huge. The angel hovered over her for a few seconds and then descended on her, folding his arms and wings tenderly around her. All that time, she didn't take her eyes from the secret place she stared at. It was immensely quiet.
Then I woke up. I couldn't sleep again for the rest of the night. I was in awe of the God who showed me this vision that I didn't understand until much later.
John of Patmos too did not understand the visions he saw, but he wrote everything down for us to read two thousand years later, and God explains it all to us.
"... He says, Let all the angels of God worship Him. Referring to the angels He says, (God) Who makes His angels winds and His ministering servants flames of fire." (Hebrews 1:6b–7)
"And then God answered: 'Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.'" (Habakkuk 2:2 The Message)
CHAPTER 4
The Story of the Titanic and Tithing
The movie Titanic was recently released, and I asked my husband to take me to see it. We went one Saturday evening, and I enjoyed it so much. The actors were excellent, and the love scenes were memorable. God knew how I enjoyed it, and He watched me carefully.
Three days later, He spoke to me clearly when I was in my car: "Which part of the movie was the best for you?"
I answered, "Lord, where she stood on the rails at the bow of the moving ship and sang the beautiful song."
"Would you like to stand there?" He asked.
"Yes, Lord."
He then asked me to take off my shoes, as I was in the spirit and on holy ground. At first I did not understand, but I stopped the car and waited. He told me He wanted me to step onto the top rail. I had to tell my husband to stand back; I only had the Holy Spirit to rely on to keep me steady. I had to stretch out my arms sideways and look straight ahead at the calm sea on a huge, speeding passenger liner. In the spirit, I could feel the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing through my hair as I stood on the top rail. I slowly lifted my arms level with my shoulders and looked at the calm sea, feeling so spoiled and loved by the most high God. Then God explained to me what He wanted me to do.
As I stood on the rail, He explained that He wanted me to trust Him and to start tithing every month. He wanted to show the world how His children love Him. And all the time, I knew He was leading me on a spectacular spiritual journey.
In the natural, my husband and I started tithing from our income, and that was not negotiable. Sometimes it was difficult, but the more we struggled, the longer I stood in the spirit on the top rail, without shoes and nothing holding me except God alone. The evil forces fled before me, and the angels bowed before God for such splendor. I kept this secret of God and me for about twenty years, but now I want to break it open for all to see. And yes, I still get onto the top rail of the ship as we tithe. I remember the beautiful song the girl sang to her lover, and I sing my song to the lover of my soul, a beautiful song that will last for all eternity.
God used the story of the Titanic only for me to see the picture of the girl standing on the second rail, stretching her arms outward as her lover held her, and she sang the most beautiful song. God gave this picture to you and me. He invites us to stand on the top rail, without shoes, and our spouses have to stand back, for His Holy Spirit alone will hold us. So as we tithe our income, we may get onto the top rail of a passenger liner at full speed. The Holy Spirit will hold us, the evil forces will flee from us, and the angels will bow before God at this splendorous sight playing in the spirit realm.
I still shine the light of my God for the entire world to see. I want to show the whole world how much I trust the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is taking care of me, and He surely will take care of you.
"But he who practices truth (who does what is right) comes out into the Light; so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are - wrought with God (divinely prompted, done with God's help, in dependence upon Him.)" (John 3:21)
"Those who trust in, lean on, and confidently hope in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides and stands fast forever." (Psalm 125:1)
CHAPTER 5
My Prayer Life Changed Dramatically
I want to share with you the day when my prayer life changed dramatically so that you will see how God took me on a road, so gently, to show me something, and then He left me to make my own decisions. He just waited. I'm not trying to change your prayer life at all, but consider this: we Christians pray every moment we can. We don't put on a show of how good we are or how long we pray. We pray in spirit and in truth. We do not have ritual prayer sessions because we serve the living God.
My husband and I were still living in South Africa. See what God did? One day I was shopping in a big megastore in Vereeniging, a nearby city, when the owner asked the customers to please leave the store and return two hours later, at 2:00 p.m. It was a Friday, and noon to two o'clock was their time for praying. I went to my car, thinking, They are Muslims, and they give their best time to their god. I sat in the car, crying. I have the living God inside of me, and I pray to Him when it suits me.
Once I saw how the Muslims knelt down with their faces to the ground when they prayed, something inside of me cracked. So I thought, Father God, my best time of the day is weekdays between four and six o'clock in the evening. That usually was the time I would take clients out to view houses, so I decided with all my heart that this would be my offering to God. I want to emphasize that this time I give is an offering. I then made all of my appointments for other times and worked very hard over weekends to compensate. From then on, at four o'clock every afternoon, I would rush home, run up the stairs to my bedroom, and lie down on my face before a waiting God. Then I would just adore Him, telling Him how much I loved Him, and softly worship Him in spirit and in truth. I wouldn't ask Him anything; I just enjoyed His presence.
I experience Him so tenderly every day. My life is so entangled with Jesus, and if this is an open door for me, it surely can be the same for you. I use worship songs to help my inner man meet with God at times like these. Oh, please try it; it feels like ecstasy. Give your best time, and wait and see what God does.
Since then, at this time every weekday I enter His spirit realm, offering Him my love. It's not that I don't pray anymore; I use every waking moment to talk to Him in the spirit, asking Him to help heal sick people. I still pray as usual and read the Word, but from four to six o'clock every weekday, I show adoration and humble myself with my face on the ground.
I love this time of intimacy with the Creator God so much that I called my bedroom the "bridal chamber." This is the place where I get myself ready for the return of my bridegroom, who will come and fetch me.
This is how I came to know this prayer path, and it changed my entire life into an amazing spiritual journey.
"And in the morning, long before daylight, He got up and went out to a deserted place, and there He prayed." (Mark.1:35)
"With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks and praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good." (Psalm 54:6)
