Once upon a time, the parts of the body were having a serious conversation. Each part was trying to determine who was the most important. The eye was the first to make its defense, it said, “Well, you know I have to be the most important part because without me you will never know where you are going!” The hands replied, “We will just feel our way around through life with me!” The mouth said, “No No! You both are all wrong; without me you can’t eat nor speak!” The clamor went on for hours with every part speaking their minds, including the foot who put himself in the mouth to keep it shut. As they were comparing themselves with each other, all of a sudden, the body felt faint and dizzy, then fell to the ground with a big “thump.” Then a noise surrounding the stomach spoke up. It was the bowel. “Just because you all can be seen and heard, always remember, there are some parts in the body that are of greater importance regardless whether you see them or not.” After the bowel spoke so humbly and precisely, the body got off the ground, wiped itself off, then the mouth said, “I guess he told us!” And that ended the conversation for good! The End.

 

It is interesting how we all think we know whose most important in the Body of Christ or we think we do. I love this little story because sometimes we can believe we don’t need another member of the Body of Christ because we can figure life out ourselves. We believe since we have Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and our Father living within us, that’s all we will ever need. True but not true. Even Jesus Christ Himself, the God of the Universe chose to have companionship with His disciples during His earthly journey. We don’t often know exactly what we need during our earthly journey to help us reach a fuller and more intimate relationship with our Father and Lord, but they do. Our Lord knows exactly what we need to heal and free our souls from the darkness and chains of the earth and our past. I am so grateful He does. I want to share with you a person our Father gave to me 15 years ago. Our intimacy and friendship have changed my life forever!  Here is my heart friend, sister, and beloved, Carolyn Best.

 

 

 

Carolyn came to visit with us this past week for a little retreat. The joy, peace, and love we share together is soooooo amazing! The Lord knitted our hearts together at one of our Network 220 Conferences (formerly Exchanged Life) in Alabama. We saw each other for the first time and were drawn together like magnets. She looked for me at every session, dinner, and lunch…so did I. We couldn’t help ourselves. During our last day at the conference, we didn’t want to leave each other. We cried together during Communion Service as we snuggled closely to each other like little kids at our Father’s table.

 

Carolyn and her husband John, started a counseling and teaching ministry over 34 years ago. They were the pioneers in Dallas, Texas to bring the message of Grace and Life to the area. Carolyn’s husband, John, was a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and they both loved ministering our Lord’s life to their brothers and sisters. Carolyn ministers in the depths of darkness with those who have serious mental and spiritual illnesses from abuse, exploitation, drug abuse, rituals, witchcraft, areas of demonic deception, and destruction. She is a counselor willing to go where very few people in the Body of Christ ever desire to go. Because Carolyn has walked through the pits of hell herself with childhood sexual abuse, PTSD, and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and been set free by her Lord; the grace of Christ has enabled her to help thousands of souls find hope and freedom again in Christ. It was Carolyn, our Father used over the years to bring my soul back home into the fullness of freedom and Life!!! I didn’t know how much bondage I was in but Jesus did. I am so grateful He has set some in the Body of the Christ for the healing, maturing, and perfecting the souls of His Beloved Bride.

 

Carolyn is not famous, she hasn’t written any books and is not well-known by the masses. And, very few know that she was one of the pioneers of Network 220. But, her life and testimony of Jesus Christ are unbelievable! When I finally heard her testimony, it was the same challenges I shared in my book, “My Return Home to Innocence.” Carolyn could have written my book with different faces because the pain and struggles were the same. Greater than our pain, the joy and freedom we experience now in Christ is simply Heavenly! Carolyn reminds me of the bowel in the Body Christ, flushing, purging, removing toxins, and purifying the Body of Christ of the poisons that destroy our souls. Thank you Papa for my Carolyn!

 

The members of the Body of Christ are all important. The testimonies they share may be different from each other but it is the same Christ who works both to will and do of His good pleasure in each one of His members… Carolyn went before me as she discovered freedom and life in Christ; then she was able to impart what she received from her Lord to me. Thank you!

 

I Corinthians 12:12-26 (Amplified)

 

¹² For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For by one [Holy] Spirit we were all baptized into one body, [spiritually transformed—united together] whether Jews or Greeks (Gentiles), slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one [Holy] Spirit [since the same Holy Spirit fills each life].

¹⁴ For the [human] body does not consist of one part, but of many [limbs and organs]. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” is it not on the contrary still a part of the body? ¹⁶ If the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” is it not on the contrary still a part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole [body] were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now [as things really are], God has placed and arranged the parts in the body, each one of them, just as He willed and saw fit [with the best balance of function]. ¹⁹ If they all were a single organ, where would [the rest of] the body be? 

²⁰ But now [as things really are] there are many parts [different limbs and organs], but a single body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² But quite the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are [absolutely] necessary; ²³ and as for those parts of the body which we consider less honorable, these we treat with greater honor; and our less presentable parts are treated with greater modesty, ²⁴ while our more presentable parts do not require it. But God has combined the [whole] body, giving greater honor to that part which lacks it, ²⁵ so that there would be no division or discord in the body [that is, lack of adaptation of the parts to each other], but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the parts share the suffering; if one member is honored, all rejoice with it.

 

 

We honor you today my Sweet Carolyn, Blessed and Precious Beloved of Christ!