In the Beginning...there is always a "beginning."  In our case, it was a transition from a lot of good Christian activity...youth leaders, music ministry, helps ministry - to experiencing the reality of the Kingdom of God on earth, in spite of not even being aware of it. 

     I (Alyce) was not raised in any semblance of a Christian home.  However, at the age of 14 I began to have an inner knowing that I needed to go to church.  So I walked to a church a few blocks away, entered & sat down, and was basically ignored.  I did that for 4 Sundays.  Then I met a girl who invited me to a Pentecostal church and I accepted.  I was born again that night.   A year later I received the Infilling of Holy Spirit, and that experience changed my life forever.   I believe one of the enduring impacts of this new relationship was a deep and growing hunger for more.  

     So after spending several years of trying to serve and comply as best we knew how, following the model around us, the deep hunger was not being satisfied through our church experiences.   But God met us in our personal search.   One afternoon, after putting little ones down for naps, I was praying - again, the best I knew how.  Not asking for anything but more of the Lord and His hand upon us.   Suddenly I heard in my spirit, "If you will get a piano, I will teach you to play."   Even though I wasn't and hadn't asked the Lord about that, I had always desired to play the piano.  

     When Don came home that day, I told him what I had heard from the Lord and we immediately searched out a piano to buy.   We found a good upright grand and somehow navigated it into our home, just the two of us.   We still scratch our heads on that because everytime we moved after that, it took at least 4 men to move it!!  

     In the meantime, we were blessed with a second daughter.   Very soon the doctor gave us the bad news that she had a birth defect of dysplasia of the hip.  After all the medical talk, we were told the bottom line was a hip not aligned with the socket and probably never would be - she would walk with a limp.   We were sent to a specialist who did x-rays and confirmed the diagnosis.  But also very soon, I heard from the Lord in my spirit again.  He told me that He was going to heal her hip but I wasn't to tell anyone.   So I believed and obeyed.  Everytime I changed her diaper, I thanked God that He was healing her hip, in spite of the reality that I could FEEL that the hip wasn't in the socket. 

     A few months later, it was time to return to the specialist.  I had, of course, changed her diaper that morning & knew the condition.  When we arrived in the office, the doctor manipulated her legs and then had a different look on his face.  So he sent me down to the x-ray lab for new films.  When I returned with them, he put them up and compared them, pointing out to me that in the new film - the hip was perfect!!  Then he told me, "This can't be."  So he told me to put this rigid pillow with straps between her legs again and come back in 6 months.   As I walked out the door, I heard in my spirit, "If you put that on her, she won't walk."   So I  made the decision then to not put it back on. 

     That was when the battle began in my mind.  I kept hearing (in my mind) - "...she isn't going to walk."  And I kept saying, "...yes she IS going to walk,"  In the meantime, things had been stirring in our lives to take an entire different direction, moving from Kansas to Texas.  About the time our daughter was 10 months old, the miracle happened.   She was sitting on the floor and hadn't even been pulling up yet.  But she got up and didn't walk...but RAN across the room.   As she grew, she was outstanding in athletics, especially running!  And that was the BEGINNING of the miracles that have marked the journey of our life.    More on the piano miracle next time!!