Mickey Heestand
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Mickey's Life - His Testimony
I was born to a Protestant family of multiple generations and attended church since preschool age. It took years to understand that I was and remain a sinner. An event in my life when I was about 27 years of age made the living word of the Bible take on deeper meaning and understanding that continues to fill my heart.
During the years of teaching Jr. High there was a lesson on the actions of the devil. At that time, I could not think of witnessing an action attributed to the devil in my life, natural sin yes, not directly from the devil. To bare witness to and say that he is really in the world. I had prayed early in my life that God would keep the devil away from me and not let him tempt me like he did Jesus. I had some feelings of withdrawing from others and I heard a voice say, “Dwell with your neighbors”. Soon I got a call from a neighbor to join a group going whitewater rafting in West Virginia in April.
I said yes and we got there as rain melted the mountain snow and the river was too high to launch. The outfitters and guide had us in wet suits waiting for the river to go below the marker. We got to launch and I sat on the front right side. The river was so high that we saw very few rapids. After the lunch stop my neighbor asked me to trade places because the right rear position across from the guide was boring. I said yes so he could enjoy the cold water splashing in his face at the front.
As we got into the gorge, our guide took us to the left side of the river and other boats went to the ride side. I saw a big hump in the water and our guide was taking us directly to it. Well there was a big hole, a hydraulic on the downstream side. The front of our raft hit the wave on the downstream edge, rotated clockwise and put me under the falling water. The ride corner of the raft collapsed and I was released into the river. Internally I called out, “Lord I am dead”. I began uncontrollably to swim like Mark Spitz even though I could not swim. The Lord’s voice said to “be still and trust me”. All of my body movement stopped and He said, “you know not where you are going”. Another voice, unknown said, “swim a little more, see the sun and get a breath of air” and I remained still. After some time passed, I felt the river current throw my legs and feet above my head and a rapid acceleration like I was being fired from a cannon.
My face broke to the surface and I saw the raft with the rope on the side but my arms would not move. I nearly planted my face against the raft and now was drifting apart. Again, his voice, “raise your hands” and the raft was about 50 feet out of reach. Then one of the neighbor’s girls on the trip said, “Mick’s in the water, pull him in”. The raft was closing in on me as I was downstream, facing up river….How? The two farm boys in the front grabbed my hands and threw me in the center of the boat, flat on my face like a carp. It took a while to get a breath of fresh air and then the group was yelling for me to get up and paddle because the rapids were ahead. I picked up the extra paddle that we recovered from the river earlier. As I sat up and looked into the guide’s eyes, the Lord’s voice within me said, “Satan be gone!!!!!!!”. The guide’s eyes looked so strange and I felt as if I could thrust the paddle into him and placed him in the river. We got to the end of the trip just fine and the guide started telling the other guide’s that our group did not listen to his instructions. He looked normal and I was getting chills. One of the girls wrapped me in blankets in the back of the power wagon for the trip home. My neighbor that changed places with me said, “you had help back there”. I replied, “yes, not sure why”. He said, “I would be dead if I had not asked you to trade”. The experience solidified the concept, capabilities and power of the Holy Spirit in my life. More details of my life have been revealed to me and my calling and obedience over the years after that day happened.
Being nearly frozen with dry lungs, moved near the bottom of the river without touching a rock, spit out and thrown down the river so fast that I passed up the boat, my group waiting for my return.
The guide sat across from me and never told my neighbors that I was in the water. The Lord guiding my return, front and center to be seen and grasped. He calls to His sheep and we know His voice, we shall not listen to a stranger’s voice. He is the Gate and The Good Shepherd. The prophecy of Ezekiel 34 and fulfillment of John 10.
During the years of teaching Jr. High there was a lesson on the actions of the devil. At that time, I could not think of witnessing an action attributed to the devil in my life, natural sin yes, not directly from the devil. To bare witness to and say that he is really in the world. I had prayed early in my life that God would keep the devil away from me and not let him tempt me like he did Jesus. I had some feelings of withdrawing from others and I heard a voice say, “Dwell with your neighbors”. Soon I got a call from a neighbor to join a group going whitewater rafting in West Virginia in April.
I said yes and we got there as rain melted the mountain snow and the river was too high to launch. The outfitters and guide had us in wet suits waiting for the river to go below the marker. We got to launch and I sat on the front right side. The river was so high that we saw very few rapids. After the lunch stop my neighbor asked me to trade places because the right rear position across from the guide was boring. I said yes so he could enjoy the cold water splashing in his face at the front.
As we got into the gorge, our guide took us to the left side of the river and other boats went to the ride side. I saw a big hump in the water and our guide was taking us directly to it. Well there was a big hole, a hydraulic on the downstream side. The front of our raft hit the wave on the downstream edge, rotated clockwise and put me under the falling water. The ride corner of the raft collapsed and I was released into the river. Internally I called out, “Lord I am dead”. I began uncontrollably to swim like Mark Spitz even though I could not swim. The Lord’s voice said to “be still and trust me”. All of my body movement stopped and He said, “you know not where you are going”. Another voice, unknown said, “swim a little more, see the sun and get a breath of air” and I remained still. After some time passed, I felt the river current throw my legs and feet above my head and a rapid acceleration like I was being fired from a cannon.
My face broke to the surface and I saw the raft with the rope on the side but my arms would not move. I nearly planted my face against the raft and now was drifting apart. Again, his voice, “raise your hands” and the raft was about 50 feet out of reach. Then one of the neighbor’s girls on the trip said, “Mick’s in the water, pull him in”. The raft was closing in on me as I was downstream, facing up river….How? The two farm boys in the front grabbed my hands and threw me in the center of the boat, flat on my face like a carp. It took a while to get a breath of fresh air and then the group was yelling for me to get up and paddle because the rapids were ahead. I picked up the extra paddle that we recovered from the river earlier. As I sat up and looked into the guide’s eyes, the Lord’s voice within me said, “Satan be gone!!!!!!!”. The guide’s eyes looked so strange and I felt as if I could thrust the paddle into him and placed him in the river. We got to the end of the trip just fine and the guide started telling the other guide’s that our group did not listen to his instructions. He looked normal and I was getting chills. One of the girls wrapped me in blankets in the back of the power wagon for the trip home. My neighbor that changed places with me said, “you had help back there”. I replied, “yes, not sure why”. He said, “I would be dead if I had not asked you to trade”. The experience solidified the concept, capabilities and power of the Holy Spirit in my life. More details of my life have been revealed to me and my calling and obedience over the years after that day happened.
Being nearly frozen with dry lungs, moved near the bottom of the river without touching a rock, spit out and thrown down the river so fast that I passed up the boat, my group waiting for my return.
The guide sat across from me and never told my neighbors that I was in the water. The Lord guiding my return, front and center to be seen and grasped. He calls to His sheep and we know His voice, we shall not listen to a stranger’s voice. He is the Gate and The Good Shepherd. The prophecy of Ezekiel 34 and fulfillment of John 10.