My friend and spiritual father, John Dee, passed away this year.  His impact on my life couldn’t be overstated.  I remember meeting John initially in the middle of absolute brokenness in my life and thinking, “this guy needs to read more of the Bible than Song of Songs.” And yet, over time, he taught me that I was the bride, that God wanted eternal companionship with me and that He wanted it to start right now. That I was seated in the middle of the Trinity and that his love was overwhelming for me.

I remember when my daughter Charis was a toddler, desperately sick and in Children’s Hospital for two weeks, with her skin falling off her body and nothing seeming to work. John came and prayed healing over her, and she began to recover in 24 hours. He came back and I will always remember him saying to God, “and Father, respectfully, we ask for the rest.” We went home the next day.

John radically changed the trajectory of my life with his love for God and his hunger to have all that he could of Jesus, here and now. My view of the Father changed from angry, pissed off, in by the skin of my teeth as I soaked in John’s truth “that God loves you means that he likes you, means that he’s happy with you right now in the middle of your sin and weakness and mess.” He encouraged us to ask God for our name (from Rev 2:17 and other places) and I scoffed until I asked God on the spot and he spoke my name over me. That name was counter to how I saw myself, and as I soaked in this truth of God, over the next 10-20 years of my life God has truly “called things that are not as though they were, and brought life from the dead” (Rom 4:17b) That notion from scripture, too, was a thought that was new for me, from John.

I recall him saying, “what you think about God, who he is and what he’s like, is the single most important influence to change any and every area of your life.” He was so right.

John often said living by faith is the one thing we won’t be able to do when we are with God, and he lived this truth as I watched his life. There are so many ways my life is better from knowing John: the rescue of my marriage, my love for God, the journey and track I am on now – I am deeply grateful that I got to walk a small stretch of the road with him.

If you’re looking for a fresh word in your own life, you might want to get John’s book, God, Do You Like Me? from the website at Ebenezer Ministries.