This is an actual picture of
the dark cloud at Jones
Beach, NY
On August 7, 2008, 17 people from the Greensburg, PA area gathered together at Word of Life Church to board two vans for a mission trip to
New York City. I was one of them. This would be the trip that would change my life. I had been going steadily along in my walk with God,
getting to know Him more and more every day. However, it seemed recently that I had plateaued in my walk with God and became distracted by
the world. Slowly and sneakily, Satan had crept into my life with distraction. Work, play, kids, all the hustle and bustle of everyday life had taken
my “God time” away. In fact, just days prior to the trip, I had an incident with a neighbor that had completely taken my focus off the trip and on
to that situation. Of course, I was totally psyched about the trip itself, but I didn’t really have an idea of just how much it would impact my life.
We left the church around 8:30 a.m. and arrived in New York City around 4:00 p.m. Our first stop after visiting Central Park was Long Island
Teen Challenge. We also visited Brooklyn Teen Challenge, went to a soup kitchen to help feed the needy, and ministered at two churches. One of
the ministering tools we used was a dance routine we learned in the weeks prior to the trip. It is called “Now Behold the Lamb.” Doing this dance
was a great experience in itself, but never did I imagine that it would become one of the great defining moments of my life. It happened at Jones
Beach. We had stopped there to have a little fun, complete with 2 six foot subs and the best mac salad I’ve ever tasted, compliments of Pastor
Henry’s cousin. We were just about to head down to the beach when a dark storm cloud rose overhead. “Everybody clear the beach,” the lifeguard
said. “Bummer,” is pretty much what we all thought. Then Pastor Henry said, “We’re doing the dance now!!” “What, it’s about to rain!” But, when
Pastor Henry says “jump!,” we say “how high?” We got the loud speaker set up just in time for the first rain drop. There, in NYC on the Jones
beach boardwalk we began to do a dance we only just learned 3 weeks before. We had a captive audience of about 75 people, as there was no
place for them to go but under the canopy by the food court. We began. The rain got harder. As I looked up, huge drops of rain stung my eyes. I
raised my hands to worship and as the rain poured over me I felt the love of the father wash all my cares away. Suddenly it didn’t matter if I had a
messy house to go home to, a neighbor who was giving me trouble, kids who were about to start school and a job that tired me out. Suddenly it
didn’t matter what kind of clothes I wore or car I drove. Suddenly, all that hustle and bustle of distraction was washed away by the love of God. It
was as though it was just me and God out there. He was pouring His love out over me with each rain drop. It may as well have been the blood of
the lamb washing away my every care. Nothing in my life will ever compare to the intimacy I experienced with my Heavenly Father that day on
Jones Beach.
When we got home from the trip, I had determined to never again let Satan distract me with the cares of this world. I had determined that I want
to be the kind of woman that when my feet hit the floor each morning, Satan says, “Oh, No!! She’s up!!”
Remember, when the storms of life come, don’t run, learn to dance in the rain!!
“Washed Away” is a more extensive testimony of the one that I gave at Word of Life Church on 8/31/08. Our group also did Now Behold the
Lamb on 8/17/08 at WOL (I had the second solo part).
Our fearless
leaders: Pastor
Henry and
Mrs. Elba R.
Our gang at the Long Island Teen Challenge 
“Our Father’s House”
feeding ministry. We
helped to feed over 400
needy people from the
Brooklyn area.
When P. Henry said, “Stop, you’re doing the dance now” we listened!. This is us doing the dance in a park in NYC
Five years of working at Subway payed off. We stopped on our way home and whenthe Sandwich Artist seemed to be overwhelmed by our group
of 17, I slipped on some gloves and made some subs!!
The Sub sale at WOL 
we earned enough to
pay for the trip.
Thanks to all who
donated!