This is the story of the many small miracles that resulted in the amazing miracle healing testimony of Dawn, as told by her dad, Bob, and her step-mom, Sharen.
In great distress, Dawn, who had not spoken to her father in 19 years, cried out to God, "If You are really who people say You are, You need to help me right now." Dawn heard a response telling her to forgive her father. She ignored the voice and went on. That night she had a dream that she and Jesus were walking side by side. She says the problem was that her dad was on the other side of Jesus walking with them. She had the exact same dream three nights in a row. After the third night, she decided to call her dad. Two months prior to her calling her dad, their friend, who was a missionary to China, had asked them if they had heard of Bill Johnson. They had not. Their friend strongly advised them to live-stream his messages. They did not have a computer that would live-stream, and the next thing they knew, a computer came in the mail from Dell. The package had their friend's name on it. When Sharen called her friend to thank her, the friend said she was shocked because she hadn't ordered it for them! They began to live-stream Bill Johnson's message and immediately felt a surge of faith stirring them.
Shortly after this, Bob received a call from Dawn. She told him who she was and asked, "Will you be my father again?" Bob was overwhelmed. It was two months later on Christmas Eve before he was able to meet with her, and they had a wonderful day together. Dawn went for Christmas dinner with the family the next day.
It was then that Dawn told Bob and Sharen that she had been battling cancer for 12 years. She had no hair and was frail. Two months later, in February of 2011, she had to give them a document stating what to do with her body when she died and who could make medical decisions for her when she couldn't make them for herself. Her doctor had told her that there was no more they could do for her, and he even said that if she had a bucket list, she should fulfill it quickly.
Upon receiving the document, Sharen felt grief overwhelming her. Would God restore their daughter to them just in time to lose her again? She felt she needed encouragement to stand in the gap for Dawn. Thinking desperately she wondered, Maybe they have healing testimonies on the Bethel website?
As soon as she could, she went to her computer and pulled up the website. She found where she could click on healing testimonies and chose the first one that caught her eye. It happened to be Rick Larsen's testimony. Rick had just three weeks to live because of esophageal cancer. His son encouraged him to come to Bethel. Rick wasn't saved, but thought, Why not? I don't have long to live. In his testimony, he said he went to the Healing Rooms. Sharen thought, Healing Room? Do they have a Healing Room? Rick was totally healed when a little boy prayed for him.
At this time, Dawn was 36 and not expected to make it to her next birthday, which would be 2 months from then. Through the 12 years of cancer, she had many surgeries and treatments—a hysterectomy at 22 and part of her colon removed at a later time. When the cancer would be in remission from surgery and/or treatment, it would move to another part of her body. Much scar tissue and neuropathy caused her great pain every day with no relief for 10 years. She was not saved and was not willing to "go somewhere and have someone sprinkle holy water on me," but they were in Florida and Dawn wanted for her bucket list trip to go to the Grand Canyon, San Francisco, and Pier 39, and to see her brother who at that time lived in Fresno, CA. Her dad made a deal with her. He would take her on her bucket list trip if, when they got to CA, she would go to Bethel Church in Redding with him. She agreed.
Dawn tripled her chemotherapy treatments so she could go. The doctor only agreed to do that if her numbers remained stable. That would require a miracle. Bob and Sharen prayed. After the first set of chemo, her numbers remained the same. Unbelievable. The doctor told her he didn't know what she was doing, but to keep it up. After the second set, she only lost a few numbers—unheard of. The doctor said he would not let her go except she was dying anyway. The doctor's orders were that she couldn't go in public places. No hotels, no restaurants. Sharen cleaned every public restroom between Florida and California with Lysol before Dawn could enter. She had to keep a mask on and wear gloves. Her immune system was 2.6. If she had caught a cold, she could have died from it. It would take her an hour in the mornings to work her way out of bed because of the neuropathy. She had a port in for her treatments that would have to be surgically removed.
Bob and Sharen had been trying to sell a house for three years without getting a single offer. The week Dawn had to give them the document about what to do with her body when she died, they got an offer on the house, and it sold just in time for them to leave. This sale supplied the only finances they had for the trip.
Having seen on Bethel's website the time of their services and Healing Rooms, they planned to arrive on Friday, April 15, for the night service, go to the Healing Rooms on Saturday, the services on Sunday morning and Sunday night, and then leave on Monday morning. They arrived Friday afternoon and went straight to Bethel before finding a hotel. In the office, the secretary told them there was a Pastor on Call if they would like prayer for their daughter.
Dawn told her parents days later that when they pulled onto the parking lot of Bethel, she could feel God. She knew He was there. She was scared. When her parents came out of the office and asked her to come inside so she could receive prayer, everything in her wanted to say no, but she thought, My parents just drove 3,000 miles to get me here. I have to honor that. While praying for her, one of the prayer ministers said to her, "You aren't going anywhere. There's something you haven't done for God yet." The prayer minister walked them to the sanctuary and said they should get there very early to get a seat close to the front. Having learned she was a nurse, he told Dawn that he wanted her to meet a doctor friend of his before they left Redding. They went to find a hotel, and as soon as possible, returned to Bethel and sat in the second row.
While they were waiting (almost the only ones in the room) a lady came up to Sharen and asked if she could pray for Dawn. Sharen wasn't sure Dawn would allow that and suggested to the lady that she ask Dawn, herself. Dawn accepted, and she prayed for her and said she had prayed for others who had cancer and they had been healed. Dawn had a beanie on because of no hair and her mask on, which she wore anytime she had to go out in public. The woman told her that she saw her playing games with Jesus. In the course of the next hour, two more people came up separately asking if they could pray for her. She allowed them to, and each one of them, after praying, said they saw her playing games with Jesus. One had said board games and another said she was riding a Big Wheel with Jesus.
Worship began and shortly after it started, Joaquin Evans came in the side door. He had to walk past Dawn as he took his seat in the front row. He later told her that when he saw her he thought, That lady is going to get healed tonight. As Joaquin was speaking, many were being hit by the Holy Spirit with laughter. Dawn did not understand this and was thinking how rude people were that they would do that while the man was trying to speak. About 20 to 30 minutes into Joaquin's message, he began calling out things that people were getting healed from. He did not call out pain, but Dawn turned to Sharen with her eyes as big as saucers and said, "I feel no pain!" Right then, Joaquin said, "If you have had pain for more than six months and it just left, raise your hand." Dawn did. Then he said, "If you have had pain for more than a year and it is gone, raise your hand." She did. He then said that anyone who had been healed from something that he had called out, "Come up here."
Again, Dawn didn't want to, but felt she should honor her parents. She went. When her turn came, Joaquin asked her, "What's happening with you?" She explained that she had been dealing with cancer for 12 years and that her parents had brought her to Bethel from Florida. She then said, "And I can't believe how good I feel!" Everyone began shouting praises! Joaquin started talking as fast as he could, blew in her stomach, and said, "Cancer, you will never come back again!" Dawn had warned her parents before coming that she didn't want anyone laying hands on her and no one had better "push her down." Joaquin touched her elbow, and her knees collapsed. Dawn later said that she knew when her knees buckled that it was God touching her. She started laughing and couldn't stop. She kept her hand over her mouth and apologized repeatedly, but she couldn't stop. She is still laughing today. Joaquin had his team lay hands on her and she later said it was the best feeling ever. While they were praying for her, she heard inside herself, "Take off the mask." She thought, "That's nuts, I could die." She heard it again but hesitated. The third time she heard it, she took it off and knew that she would never put it on again.
When the service ended, a man ran up to her. He was bald, and his face was the color of near death. He begged her to pray for him that he would have the same joy she had! Her parents were surprised he hadn't asked her to pray for him to be healed. At some time, while she was being healed, Dawn gave her life to the Lord. When the man came to her for prayer, she said she had no words, but felt she was to hold his head to her and just let God work. She did. When she released him, he came up with joyous light all over his face. An hour later, her step-mom saw the man come out of the fire tunnel and he was still beaming! After the service, Dawn and her parents drove around looking for a place to get some food and Dawn told them two things. She said, "I have tried everything to feel like this, and all I ever needed was Jesus." Then she said she had no words to express what she felt come in her. It was like something came inside and filled her, like puffing her up. The next morning she was afraid He would be gone and was so relieved to still feel Him with her just like the night before.
She still wanted to go to the Healing Rooms on Saturday. She saw someone fall out in the Spirit there and thought they were faking it. She tried to do with her body what they were doing and couldn't make it happen and realized they were really being touched by God. Some of the ministry team offered to minister SOZO to her, and she accepted. The Lord touched her deeply and through many tears, she began to feel new life in her soul.
Sunday morning they went to the first and second service. They spent the afternoon at the dam and returned for the evening service. The Pastor on Call prayer minister had never seen both Dawn and the doctor he wanted her to meet at the same time all weekend and was frustrated. Sunday night as Dawn was leaving after the service, the doctor, Dawn, and the prayer minister all ended up at the door at the same moment. As the prayer minister introduced them, the doctor told her, "I am going to Mozambique to open a clinic, and I need nurses. Will you go?" There was a long pause, and her parents had no idea what she would say. She was just saved! She yelled, "Yes!!!" and both she and the doctor were powerfully hit by the Spirit.
The next morning Dawn jumped out of bed at 5:00 A.M., took everything out of the van they had rented, re-packed it, and yelled to her parents, "Come on! I just want to drive!" No neuropathy, no pain. They first drove to Canyon Lands in Utah where Dawn climbed two rocks to the very top—each one over 100 feet tall. She drove most of the way back to Florida.
She was healed on April 15. On April 30, she spent most of the day in her room crying. It was her birthday. She had not expected to live to see that day!
On May 3 she went to her doctor's appointment. They did a blood test, ran three scans, and told her they would get results to her later. Shortly after she arrived home, the doctor called her and said she needed to return to the hospital ASAP. He wouldn't tell her why until she got there. Then he said, that every technician had messed up all of her tests and they had to be done all over again. A normal person's immune system is 6 to 8. Hers was 2.6 just three weeks before when she left for California. Her first blood test showed 9.1. They ran it again. It was 9.1! They ran the three scans again. He put one on the screen for her to see and said, "Look, they messed it up again." She said, "My name is on it." He said, "Well, they mess up often." He said, "Look, the colon isn't missing where we took that part out." Then he left the room and came back in with another doctor. He said, "We need to get you in a clinic and run more tests." That's when Dawn realized what was happening. She said to him, "You can't find any cancer can you?" He said, "We just need to run more tests." She then told him that he could do what he needed to do, but she was going on to live her life. Before she left, he warned her that the port would have to be surgically removed within six months.
She then told her parents that she wanted to give back to God what He had given to her. They tried to find the doctor, but even the prayer minister had lost touch with him. Sharen had been following Heidi Baker's story since Heidi's time in Toronto in the late 90s. She shared much of Heidi's story with Dawn and Dawn decided to apply. She was accepted and, 5 months later, was on the mission field in Mozambique. She went as a Harvest School student for three months, then traveled to South Africa for three more. She returned to the States for a few weeks and then returned to Mozambique as staff for Iris Ministries for another six months. Funds continued to come in even though they weren't asked for—$11,000 for one trip and $14,000 for another. God moved people's hearts and they began calling asking how they could get money to her. At some point during her time in Mozambique, the port just disappeared! She always thought it would and didn't even notice when it happened. She saw many miracles—including food being multiplied, and healings when she and the team prayed. One was a Chief's grandson who only had hours to live.
She returned on December 18, 2012, and, in February 2013, she attended a family wedding. Dawn had been divorced for years with no hope of reconciling. At the wedding, she met her ex-husband. Neither of them had ever re-married. Dawn told him the testimony of God's healing power and her salvation. He gave his heart to the Lord, and they re-married in 2015.
This story keeps unfolding. She was estranged from her mother and brother and has now been reunited to them with strong bonds. The Lord has used her testimony to bring hope and change lives many times over.