Sonya was born and raised in Michigan. She was raised as a Jehovah Witness. After the Lord delivered her from a chronic blood disease, she started seeking the Lord and believed in Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
Now, she wants others to know about God’s love and acceptance for mankind and His healing power through His Son under the New Covenant.
In 2013, being led of God, she moved to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma to attend Rhema Bible Training College. There she met and married Ken. Both studied Pastoral Ministry courses and graduated in 2016.
Sonya’s Testimony:
July 21, 2020
I want to share my testimony with you. Today, in church, as the Spirit of God moved, He reminded me of all He brought me through, to this day, for such a time as this. If you are reading this, know that many times, I didn’t want to go on, many times wanting to give up, but God, He is God, Our Faithful God. I want to start out saying that we serve a God of Grace. It’s Who He is, just as He is Love. In 2005, just as I was finishing my RN degree, I became very ill. As a teen, I always had a heavy monthly time for 30+ years. My body had adjusted to functioning with a low hemoglobin at this point. I was still working every day, attending nursing clinicals 2 days a week, and scooting down two flights of stairs to attend my last college class. Because of the weakness and difficulty breathing I was experiencing I went to the emergency room. The doctor came in with lab results and informed me that my hemoglobin was 5.4 (normal hemoglobin is 12-15 for women). At the time, I was a Jehovah Witness. I refused a blood transfusion. Therefore, I was prescribed iron and allowed to go home and told to return if I became worse. I took one day off, then returned to work and school. I made an appointment with my gynecologist, and he prescribed me birth control medications to control the bleeding, but they were not effective. He wanted to perform a D&C, a procedure in which the uterus is scraped, but he needed my hemoglobin to increase in case of bleeding. He also performed labs. By this time my hemoglobin had decreased to 4.6. Now, I was admitted to the hospital. The doctors were not so nice, judgmental and angry, saying, “Why don’t you just take the blood?!” I was in the hospital for 4 days. Doctors tried everything they knew. By this time my hemoglobin was 2.6, one of the lowest hemoglobin recorded in the state. I was receiving IV iron, and had several doctors tell me I was going to die if I didn’t take the blood. All of my family was urged to see me because it would be my last night. I had family members surrounding around my bed. Every time I would move, my heart rate would increase to 160 (normal is 60-100) and the nurses would run in the room. At this time, my body had such a small amount of blood. My skin was dark gray, my lips black and I was weak and requiring oxygen to breathe. That night, after my family left, I remember saying to Jehovah God, “If it be your will, I will serve You for the rest of my life.” And I thought that if I survived through the night, I would make it. During the night, I was visited by a doctor in a white coat, and a golden shine around him. He didn’t say anything, but just grabbed and held my hand, then left. I remember awakening the next morning around 4:00 a.m. When the lab technician came to stick my finger, they couldn’t draw blood because I had so little. I awoke that morning around 6:00 a.m. When the results came in, my hemoglobin increased 2 points to 2.8, and it continued to climb. When I left the hospital 2 days later, my hemoglobin was 8.0 (Praise God!!!). I was scheduled to see the hematologist a week later, and my hemoglobin was 10.8, enough for my doctor to schedule the surgery I needed, which was 2 weeks later, and successful.
Fast forward 6 years later. In 2011, while at work I experienced a large swollen area behind my knee. I went to the hospital and was told that I had a baker’s cyst. I continued to experience weakness and pain in my left lower leg. After a while my left arm was also involved and my back was involved as well, and I was scheduled to see an orthopedic, nephrologist, and rheumatologist. The wanted to rule out autoimmune disorders, MS, and Lupus. I started taking many tests. I started physical therapy sessions. I went from taking 2 pills to taking 22 pills daily, some of which I believe changed my personality. I was depressed and seeing a psychiatrist who prescribed more pills. Finally, I had a full body MRI. By this time, I’m no longer able to perform my duties at work. I had to quit, but prior to losing my insurance, I received multiple shots (TPI) in my back, the first of 2 sessions, and was also able to see the neurologist who revealed I had a crushed nerve between C3 and C4 (cervical spine), and I was told the only treatment would be a surgical intervention, which I refused. I wasn’t able to work, and remaining weak, I went to live with my aunt. Meanwhile, my daughter (1st family member to leave the Jehovah Witness faith), had started to attend church without me knowing, invited me to go with her for Mother’s Day that year. The speaker mentioned that we are living under a new covenant and that really got my attention. I immediately began to think I almost lost my life living under the old covenant (not taking the blood).
I began to compare the JW bible with the King James Version and could not see any difference. I started to go to church afterwards because really it came down to the love commandment, and I made a decision that love wins, because Jehovah Witnesses cast away and decease relationships with ones that are disfellowshipped (committing any type of sin), even towards family members and that’s not love. God is love, and the Word says to lift your brother up and love one another. Shortly after I started attending church, our pastor was doing a series called Heaven’s Healthcare. I was healed supernaturally during this series, no longer dragging my leg, or having to lift my left arm with my right hand. Shortly after I gave my life to Christ, only then did I remember the promise I had made God six years prior, that I would serve Him. I didn’t have a home, a car, or any money, but immediately my life was changed. I started to work on becoming the new person and to let all my many bad habits go. I felt in order break those things off of me, I would not engage in any of it. My family began to say I was having a mental breakdown, but I knew that I was beginning to change from the inside out. It wasn’t easy, but with God’s help, I did it. I started to get myself together and tell everyone I encountered about Jesus. I thank God for my daughter. I’m sure she was praying for me.
A year later, God called me to attend Rhema Bible College as a missionary, but I married a pastor. I am a pastor with a heart for missions. I have always been surprised that when the pastor calls for the sick at the church, wherever you are, chairs and pews empty. My heart is that people will know that Jesus is still in the healing business. He is the same and doesn’t change. God’s will is for us to be healed. I want to teach on healing and see many healed through the finished works of our Lord and Savior. God is not a respecter of persons. If He would do it for me, He’ll do it for you, too. I want every believer to know how much God loves them and wants a personal relationship with them. I want believers to know their identity and authority through Jesus Christ. I am a miracle!!!