Student testimonies from Asbury revival

By: Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee

For a full report on the revival at Asbury University, please click here.

Below are testimonies from students with ties to The Salvation Army:

Amber Smith: The first night I was sitting, and there weren’t as many people there at that point. One of my friends turned around to me. He’s said, “Can I pray with you? I just feel like I’m being led to pray with you.” He didn’t ask me what I needed a prayer for, but everything that he said was just everything that was already going on in my life. I was like, “Wow. Look at God. Look at what He just did for me.”

Ashlie Pelletier: For three weeks I had an injury called a trapezius strain. Normally it takes a month to heal. I had finally gone to the clinic that Monday, and six plus people started praying for it Wednesday night. I woke up in no pain Thursday morning. And I haven’t had to take any of the medicine that was prescribed to me during that time. So knowing that God’s the one that healed me, really made me want to keep going back and worship.

Elijah Stouder: My mom had texted me the day before that the word "wrestle" was coming to her mind whenever she thought of me which she found interesting because my middle name is Jacob. She suggested that while I’m in this space and praying for other people, I should ask God for a message for me.

On Saturday I just felt really drained and felt compelled to go forward to the altar. For the first time my friends followed me. I prayed, "God, I don’t know why I’m here. If You have a message for me, please tell me directly or send someone to tell me. Do something.

I felt this hand on my back. I assumed it was one of my friends. I finished my prayer and I looked back. This random guy from another college said, “Hey, I don’t usually do this but I feel led to pray for you.” Then he asked, if anything was on my mind. I said, "I want God’s desires to become my desires," But I’ve been wanting that for a while so not really anything special.

He said, “Okay. The word that comes to mind when I felt led to come to you was ‘wrestle'.” I told him Jacob is my middle name. He was like, “Oh, that’s so cool. I’m going to pray for you now.” He prayed that the Holy Spirit would be over me and that I be filled with the Spirit and that I be very discerning in what is happening like the rest of my days.”

I thanked him for praying for me and went back to my seat. As soon as I got back to my seat and sat down, I felt God saying, "No. I’m not done yet. Go back up." I just got back to my seat. I wasn’t on the outside so I had to ask all my friends to stand up so I could get out. I thought that they were going to be annoyed. I asked God, "Can you just tell me directly?"

Then everyone on this side of me stood up and left for different reasons. I said, "I’ll go back up." I was wandering to the altar because I didn’t know what was happening. One of the guys on the prayer team seemed to pop out of nowhere and said, “Are you here for prayer?” I said, "I think so. I don’t really know why I’m here. I just felt like I was led to walk up here." He started praying for me and midway through his second sentence, he paused and said, “Elijah, I have this word from God that I think is for you. God is looking into your mind, and He says that it is beautiful.”

He kept going, kept on describing it as like this really intricate clockwork and like, just amazing like synergy of working together Himself and me. I just started crying. I was nine I was diagnosed with ADHD. I’ve known that I’ve been different and sometimes that makes me feel quite isolated because no one thinks like me or understands the way my mind works. Just hearing that affirmation from God was really special and meaningful.

Mary Beth Durham: This woman stood up and said, “I don’t know what this means, I don’t know what God’s telling me to do, but the word on my heart is ‘Durham,' like the way you spell Durham, North Carolina.

I thought, “That’s how you spell my last name. That’s very interesting.” My friends said, “Go up and see like what she has to say.” And I’m thinking, “Maybe it’s for somebody else. But nobody else here has the last name of Durham.” I waited, nobody got up and I said, l “Okay, Lord, what are you trying to say?” So I went up, “Hey, my last name’s Durham.”

She was saying how God really put on her heart that she thinks like I’m struggling, aboutwhat my path is. I’d just been wondering if I chose the right major. And I said, "Yeah, it’s been a struggle." So she gave me a Scripture – Psalm 77:1-6, I think. I went back and I read it and because it was a psalm, it was addressed to the choir director.

And thought, “Oh, that’s great.” As a music education major for choir directing that really helps. I was struggling with that for months, ever since I picked my major. Is that really what God is calling me to do? That was one of the biggest things I’ve ever received from the Holy Spirit. It’s a confirmation that I want to use music for His glory and teach others to use music for His glory.

Derek Twinney: After the revival started here, I went to a retreat called “The Grounded." It was continuing to ask our soul how is it going in our inner being. I think it was the first time I allowed myself to sit and take it all in and realize that God is my friend and that I am a child of God.