True Stories of the Supernatural: God's Big and Small Miracles

Copyright © 2005 by Ed C. Colton

From True Stories of the Supernatural I

By Ed C. Colton

Printed in the United States of America

By Brut Printing, Jacksonville, Florida

ISBN 0-9770856-0-0

eISBN 978-1-4835501-6-9

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – for example, electronic, photocopy, recording – without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version, NKJV, 1979, Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Golden Leaves Publishing

P.O. Box 8822

Jacksonville, Fla. 32239

www.goldenleavespub.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ, without whom these stories would not have been possible.

Acknowledgements

To the men and women who have shared their stories of faith and relationship with God with us over the years.

To the personnel at Brut Printing for helpfulness in accomplishing this book.

To my wife and partner, Sherry, who has experienced these supernatural encounters of God with me and partnered with me in these many years of ministry.

To my loving daughters, Katy Jean and Priscilla Joy who love our Lord Jesus and have brought us happiness in their dedication to Him.

To Rhonda Sparks who was the Editor and Proofreader for this book. Mrs. Sparks can be reached through this ministry or through her ministry at RNJ Literary Consulting. Their email is RNJLiteraryConsulting@yahoo.com

Introduction

True Stories of the Supernatural I is a book about the Living God working in the everyday affairs of ordinary people like you and me. There are eighty stories of people overcoming situations that only God could handle with His almighty power. These pages witness to a person’s relationship with God and are filled with the response of a loving and faithful God through Jesus Christ.

Supernatural is defined by Webster’s dictionary as: departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature. American Heritage dictionary defines supernatural as: pertaining to a deity.

The following stories are God’s big and small miracles intervening in the lives of ordinary people.

Ed C. Colton

The purchase of this book supports the work of Hearts of Fire Ministries to Asians.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Flea Market Surprise

2. From A Jewel To More Precious Stone

3. Down The Street Connection

4. The Doctor Gets A Big Return

5. Around The World Blessing

6. A Walk With Jesus

7. A Very Special Wedding

8. A Better Return Than The Market

9. A Voice In Time

10. A Millionaire’s Conversion

11. A Car Jumps Over The Pastor

12. A Little Child Shall Lead Them

13. Forgiveness Over Breakfast

14. First Things First

15. I’ve Already Done The Greatest Thing I Could Do For You

16. The Witchdoctor And The Elderly Lady

17. From Executioner To Living For The Life Giver

18. God Knows The Heart

19. He Couldn’t Speak

20. Blessing From The Gross

21. Back Alley Deliverance

22. Floating Out To Sea

23. God Has Cruise Control

24. God Uses Atheists

25. Grand Reunion

26. The Lifter Of My Head

27. A Lawyer’s Conversion

28. A Baby’s Healing

29. It All Came Out In The Wash

30. His Death, Their Life

31. Hearing In The Last Hour

32. Her Head Wiggled

33. Healed From The Roots

34. Freedom From Freedom

35. He Just Stepped Away

36. In The Nick Of Time

37. Kidnapped!

38. My Son Was Hooked

39. Not Crushed In The Crash

40. Nothing Too Small

41. One Amazing Life

42. Pinpoint Prayer

43. Re-United By The Spirit

44. Ruff Came Out Of The Rough

45. Salvation From Healing

46. The Love Of A Father

47. The House Was Ours

48. Softball In The Jungle

49. Trusting God Brings A Blessing

50. Whose Report Will I Believe?

51. What He Promises He Delivers

52. With Her Hands Lifted Up

53. A Letter A Block Away

54. A Puppy And A Prayer

55. A Word And A Song

56. Creative Miracle

57. From Gladness To Sadness

58. From Bible Basher To Believer

59. Freed After Sixty Years

60. Frosty’s Healing

61. It Was Freezing Cold, And I Couldn’t Open My Mouth

62. Jocko

63. Kitchen Miracle

64. The Divine Connection

65. Tough Steps End In A Great Reward

66. From Generation To Generation

67. Never Give Up Praying

68. Healed Of Cancer

69. From Success To Real Success

70. God Sent You, Didn’t He?

71. Death Couldn’t Hold Her

72. Grace For Grace

73. I Know Them

74. I Didn’t Raise My Hand

75. Miracle After Midnight

76. Package Deal

77. Walking After Nineteen Years

78. Finding True Love

79. Dad’s Mountaintop Experience

80. Do You Know Where You’ll Spend Eternity

FLEA MARKET SURPRISE

It was ninety-five degrees in the shade. It was even hotter than this as I worked outside in the bright, Florida sun in August. Along with my partner, we were painting the massive exterior of a Spanish-style, two-story home. Even though we were spray painting the main body of the house, it was painting the windows and trim that seemed to take forever to do. This would be a two week job, and we would definitely add to the tans we had already accumulated.

My partner had gone into town for some supplies, about noon time, when the maid called out and asked me if I would like to come in for lunch. This was a great treat, if for no other reason than to get out of the stifling heat for an hour. As the maid, her daughter and I, sat down for a wholesome lunch and a cool drink, I asked if I could say a blessing. The mother gave me a definite yes as she was also a Christian. As we began to eat, we made small-talk for a while and I quickly found out that the daughter was not a Christian. My heart went out to her, I started to share my testimony, and then gave her the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. I shared with her how I was dying of a terminal disease several years earlier and how I gave my heart to Jesus. I told her how I was totally healed and the joy I now had in serving Him. All the while I was witnessing to her daughter, her mother was cheering me on with her eyes! After finishing the witness, and lunch, I thanked them for inviting me and went back out in the Florida heat. Somehow, it didn’t seem so hot after I shared my faith. Sometimes after witnessing, I feel like I have been to an entire church service. This time was no different.

It was the following spring when I received one of the joyous surprises of my life! I took a Saturday off and went browsing in a large flea market in our city. It was huge and many thousands attended every weekend. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, so I was just kind of strolling along. I had been there about an hour, ambling along, when all of a sudden someone came up to me and hugged me and picked me up off the ground. Before I could say anything, the girl said, Remember me, remember me! I thought for a moment, Now where have I seen her? I didn’t have time to say a thing. The girl loudly blurted out, I am the one you witnessed to last summer and now I am saved! Oh boy, did we dance around and hug one another. I’ m sure at least several people heard us and that was a witness in itself. And, there stood her mother with the biggest grin on her face. The mother and daughter thanked me profusely, and I thanked the Lord for allowing me to be a part of this precious one’s journey to eternal life. I certainly received so much more the previous summer than a lunch and air-conditioning. We can experience a great joy this side of heaven, being obedient and sharing His blessed gospel!

Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor..

--1 Corinthians 3:8

FROM A JEWEL TO A MORE PRECIOUS STONE

It had been a very difficult year, serving the Lord in a foreign country with my family of four. We had a customary stopover in Korea on our trip returning to America. I opted to remain in Korea for another two and half weeks, while my family traveled on to the United States. My destination, was Seoul, Korea, and the famous Prayer Mountain, begun by Pastor Paul David Yonggi Cho. Cho now pastors the largest church in the world – a congregation of nearly 1 million. Along with my bags, I brought an electronic musical instrument which played beautiful songs to the Lord.

I checked into the small motel on Prayer Mountain. I was hopeful I would receive refreshment, restoration and healing from some deep hurts received while in ministry. A short time after I arrived, I started playing my instrument, just strumming some chords and singing to the Lord. I was amazed that, in a little over an hour, while ministering to the Lord, He gave me four beautiful praise songs. More importantly, while singing, tears welled up within me as the Lord brought to my mind those who had hurt me deeply, I forgave them and released them from my heart. Tears gushed from my eyes, down onto the instrument of praise, so much so, that I thought I would short it out!

After such a powerful cleansing by the Holy Spirit, I felt as if I were brand new again. However, there was a lingering question in me – how do I stay cleansed and protected from deep hurt? Jesus said, in Matthew 18:7, Offenses will come, but He also said, Don’t take offense. What could happen inside me that would make me strong enough to withstand the many hurts and disappointments that come from ministry?

Well, the Lord directed me to start a study on who He calls me, and what I really am because of my position in Christ. With a pretty thorough knowledge of the Word, I began to find out fairly quickly who He calls His sons and daughters, those who are born-again. I found such precious and powerful words and phrases, as: Beloved, Holy, Children of God, Valued by God, and Adopted. All in all, I found thirty words and phrases describing who we really are in Christ. It affirmed, even more, the truth of God’s Word about me, Those who are born of the Spirit are spirit. I am really a spirit being. I wrote these down, eventually in alphabetical order. I sensed, though, it was not enough to just study these, but I needed to ask my Heavenly Father to really reveal these wonderful truths to me. The prayer went something like this: Father, thank you that you call me ‘Beloved’ and that is who I really am. Lord, reveal these truths about me, so I can live out who I really am to the fullest, and honor you. I put these down on paper with the prayer, typed them up and made copies. I knew deep within me, I was becoming stronger in the Lord, and was able to praise Him that much more, because of His mighty work on the cross, not only taking away my sin and sinfulness, but making me somebody of great value to Him (Psalm 113).

After two and half weeks on Prayer Mountain, I was on a plane bound for the United States. I arrived in my hometown, and stayed there for several days, before joining my family in a city 500 miles away, where a great revival was talking place. My family and I found ourselves staying nearly the entire summer in this city. A gracious Christian lady offered to let us stay in her home. After being there for a week or so, I perceived that our hostess had a bad self-image. She had been saved fifteen years, and had participated in the Revival there for 5 years, but still could not shake an image of herself as being no good and unworthy. I knew in my heart, I was supposed to help her come to the reality of who she was in Christ. So, I asked her, if I could help her and she immediately said, yes! I gave her the paper and asked her to thank the Lord for all He called her, which is who she really is in Christ. She did this for about two weeks in her devotional time. Jewel was desperate to break loose from the emotional and mental cage of her thoughts to be healed of a false identity she had lived with for 53 years. Along with the desperation, was a diligence to find out who she really was in the Lord, who had redeemed her.

On Friday, the 13th, no less, we came to her dining table to study God’s Word. Right after I said a prayer, I started to say something when, with a startled look on her face, Jewel looked at me and said, Oh Ed, I know how much God loves me! I know who I am in Christ! Tears streamed down her face. Then, she got up and started dancing around her house. What a poignant moment for a teacher of the Word of God, to see the manifestation of a powerful truth of God’s Word become reality. Oh, what joy that day!

Several days later, Jewel came to me and said, I have to see my mother. I don’t want to see her. I don’t really like her. At that moment, I stopped her and said, Jewel, what ‘I’ just spoke? She looked at me, and grinned, and said, The old ‘I’, the old nature. (before Christ).