Prayer Changes Lives
Welcome to Prayer Changes Lives Stories.
My name is Peggy Brown, Founder of Prayer Changes Things and I might as well start with my story. God changed my life through the Power of Prayer and His Word over 34 years ago. I love sharing with people what God has done in and through prayer, and He can do it in your life to if you will just call out to Him.
I have been married 44 years to Pastor Gerry Brown, Senior Pastor and Founder of U-Turn for Christ Ministry. Sixteen years ago, we started Calvary Chapel Romoland where we reside. We have three children and six grandchildren.
Ten years into our marriage, we got involved in using crystal meth for four years. We both became strung out. Gerry became a drug dealer and I was addicted to meth using it morning, noon and night. I weighed 95 lbs. with sores all over my body and my Psoriasis was out of control fueled by stress, anxiety, worry and fear. I was at death's door. We had been separated for 8 months and in divorce court. After four years of marriage and three children, our marriage, kids, home finances and family were a mess! But God!!!
Barely standing at 95 lbs., one day I fell to my knees and cried out, "Lord help me! Lord save me! Lord forgive me! Please Lord help me to stay off drugs!" I looked at my coffee table, I saw a Living Bible that my parents had given us a few years before. I reached over and opened it and God led me to the book of Philippians. It was only four chapters. God placed on my heart "four" verses that changed my life forever!
Philippians 1:6: "...being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." I was overwhelmed with thankfulness that God was going to complete what He began in me since I was a little girl, because I had prayed to receive Jesus in my heart at the age of nine! The WORD of God pierced my heart just as it says in Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is alive and active. Shaper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to diving soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
Philippians 3:13-14: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Once again, I was pierced by God's word to forget those things that were behind me, and press on towards what was ahead, and continue to press on to the high calling of God through Christ Jesus our Lord. It was so powerful, and it set me free at that very moment!
Philippians 4:6-7: "Worry about nothing; but, pray about everything. Let your requests be made known, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which passes all understanding and He will guard your hearts and minds as you trust in Him."
I was again overwhelmed by His answer to me, that all I needed to do was lift all my worries to Him in prayer and He gave me the answer I needed. Then, I started thinking, how was I going to stay off drugs? He gave me Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
These four verses brought me back to allowing Jesus to have His rightful place in my life once again! I love God's promise from Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things that you do not know." He gave me these four powerful verses from the book of Philippians and changed my life forever!
I had so many worries but now I knew all I needed to do was lift my worries to Him in prayer. Each morning when I woke up, I prayed, "Lord, help me get out of bed. Lord, help me get dress, take care of these kids and get them to school on time. Help me do the laundry; the dishes, vacuum and make dinner." I learned to pray about everything! I literally prayed minute by minute; hour by hour, day by day. Every time I prayed, He empowered me by His precious Holy Spirit and my life radically changed day by day! He even healed me from Psoriasis which is "incurable" disease!
The Power of Prayer changes things and God's Word empowers our lives daily!
