Several months ago, in early April, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, “Get ready to be in the USA in May.” I prepared my documents and applied to the US Embassy. On the day of my interview, when I came to the Embassy, the policeman at the entrance asked me about the purpose of my visit. “I have come to receive my entry visa,” I answered. He tried to correct me, “Most likely, you have come for an interview.” His tone challenged my words, as if saying, “Why are you so sure of receiving approval?” I wanted to tell him, “The Lord told me to be in the USA in May,” but when I thought how he would respond to that, I simply answered, “I have come for an interview to receive the entry visa.” Why was I so sure? Before that, for four years, I asked the Lord several times about visiting the USA, but each time I was forbidden, and instead of the USA, He used to suggest me to visit a European country both for vacation and ministry work, which He assigned to me. I made up my mind not to ask the Lord about that again, because He is the Lord of time and circumstances, and even if He decided that I would never again visit that country, it meant He was right.
I received the entry visa and started to put into order the ministry schedule, so that during my absence, everything was right. I also thought about finances, because the only thing I had to receive was my salary, which, of course, was not enough to spend 45 days in the USA. The Social Ministry Building renovation work was going on. At that time, we were renovating the corridor of the second floor. I thought that I would return from my vacation and then work on electrical wiring. By the way, even before this part of the renovation started, I was sure that we would have three big chandeliers. I saw them very clearly in a vision and thought that they must be brought from abroad, because I had not seen such chandeliers in Armenia.
One day, my feet unwittingly took me to a shop where they sold special chandeliers. In that shop, I saw the chandeliers from my vision. There were only three of them. I asked for the price. When the shop assistant told me the price, I wanted to leave the shop immediately; however, the faith in my vision made me unmoved. When the shop assistant saw that I was standing by those chandeliers and did not want to see others, she told me that she would give me a 35% discount of their total cost if I bought all three. I phoned the Accountant of our Ministry to find out how much money we had. It lacked AMD 417.000 to buy all three chandeliers at the discounted price, which the shop assistant offered. I remembered that I had AMD 420.000 for the ticket to the USA. I entered the AMD 417.000 to the Social Ministry bank account and wired the whole sum to the bank account of the shop. In a day, the chandeliers were already installed, but I had no money to buy the tickets, and in several days, May was coming, and I was about to leave for the USA, according to the will of the Lord.
I decided to borrow some money. In the evening, I phoned my sister and a friend of mine, and we agreed that I would borrow some money from them and return it later. In the morning, when I took my phone to make an appointment for getting the money, I saw a message, “Dear Gayane, I have sent some money to you; you can receive it today with this code.” The Lord is my witness, I have never seen that person in my entire life; we never met. However, the most astonishing thing was that when I finished reading that message, the Holy Spirit told me, “You made a vow before Me that you would never borrow money in your entire life.” Human mind and words cannot describe what I experienced from the Lord’s touch and His reminder. As a Gentleman, He was so kind, so much interested that I kept my promise and was able to do His command…
I received that money and purchased my round-trip ticket without any debt. In a week, I needed to be in Sacramento, then drive through several states and come to Los Angeles. While I was waiting for a financial miracle, one of my friends, Hamik, phoned me and said that he received a wonderful word from the Lord. It was about Esau and Jacob. “So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.” (Gen. 25:27). Hamik said, “You know, Esau was a PROFESSIONAL in his work. He always hunted and had meat, but one day he caught no prey. Hungry and weary, he got home and saw that his brother Jacob was cooking a stew. Thinking that he was dying of hunger, he told Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary” (Gen. 25.30). Jacob agreed to give Esau the stew in exchange to his birthright. “So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank… and… despised his birthright.” (Gen. 25.33-34).” We discussed this passage, and then Hamik said, “Suppose you are a PROFESSIONAL in being led by the Lord’s voice and always obeying Him, but a day comes when you experience scarcity. You forsake His Word and sell the privilege of being a PROFESSIONAL in exchange to something insignificant.” I understood that it was a prophetic word from the Lord, and that I had to be very attentive to keep the vows I made before the Lord and, at that moment, not to incur any debt for my trip. I said aloud, “Lord, I do not want to become an Esau and I do not want to lose everything I achieved through You during all these years. Help me to remain faithful to You.”
In several days, I received my salary and decided that I would take from it the amount, which I give to the Social Ministry monthly, but I would give my tithe when I was back, that is, from the next salary. After taking only the amount for the Social Ministry from my salary, I gave the rest to the currency exchange assistant and asked to exchange it to U.S. Dollars. Right then, the Holy Spirit told me very mildly, “Take off the ten percent.” I answered quickly, “I do not have money for my expenses anyway; I promise, when I am back, I will certainly pay my tithe.” Then I said vexed, “Lord, You know that I always pay all my tithes.” The next day, on the way to the airport, the Holy Spirit said, “You haven’t paid your tithe!” There was strictness in His voice. I was terrified; I quickly opened my wallet, took my tithe and gave it to Arman, who was driving me, and asked him to take it to the Church by all means. Of course, Arman did not understand why I did it, but I, with only $45 in my wallet, was lost in the peace of God.
I would stay in the USA for 45 days, and I had $45 for my expenses. Of course, I had places to stay during that time, but besides accommodation and daily bread, I had so many plans, and I needed a large amount of money for them all. I also want to mention that on the last day, when I was packing my things, the Holy Spirit told me to take one of my sermons entitled “Victorious Love”. I had received that sermon from the Lord in Belgium and had already managed to preach it in some European Churches. The Lord had told me to preach that sermon in every country I went. I took a printed copy of that sermon and said, “Lord, I only know that I will conduct a service and have some meetings in Sacramento, and I know that I will be in several states, but I tell You in advance that I will not tell anyone that You gave me a message to preach. Open ways for me Yourself.”
Already in the USA, I had many opportunities to preach and share the Word, and each time I asked, “Lord, shall I speak on the subject of victorious love here?” The Lord was giving different messages for each service, and one day, when I was in Los Angeles and I came home at midnight (I was back from another service), I saw a message in my phone with an invitation to conduct a Sunday Service. While I was reading the message, the Holy Spirit said, “Preach there what I told you about, the subject of victorious love.” That message was from Ruben, the Pastor of the Word of Life Church in Los Angeles. I ministered in that Church, and the service was more like a conversation than a sermon. In the end, when I gave the microphone to the Pastor to conclude the service, he gave it back to me saying, “Gayane, tell the people that I told you nothing about the situation in our Church.” Of course, he never told me anything; moreover, we were not friends, and we met one another only a few times. Praise our God, because He is the One Who tests the hearts, watches the situations, and He sends His healing Word at the right time.
During my stay in the USA, I not only did what I had planned, but also received an uninterrupted torrent of blessings, due to the God Who keeps the universe in His hands, and the people who are doing His will, whom He allowed me to meet during that time. I can’t thank my brother Babken, his wife Elisa, their children, and my sister Ripsik enough, who with their inexhaustible love and generosity gave me an opportunity to have an unspeakable and fabulous time in the states of California, Arizona and Nevada. I express my profound gratitude to Donara, the President of the “Women’s Union in Sacramento”, and other women in this Union, whose role is immense in my personal life and ministry. I am deeply grateful to Pastor Ruben and his wife Ovsanna, to Inna, the head of the Social Ministry of their Church, to Adrine, and to lovely and wonderful Armine, who in humility before God spread goodness in the lives of people. I am infinitely grateful to Margarit and her daughter, talented Diana, who spared no effort to beautify my life during all the days of my stay at their home. I find no words to express what Nazaret and his wife Lusine did for me, not only according to their means, but also beyond that; my profound gratitude and unending blessings to them. I am unspeakably grateful to Arsen and Hasmik, who could devote time from their very busy schedule and give me marvelous days. I am grateful to Aza, with whom I enjoyed every moment; she is not only a wonderful friend in sharing revelations from the Word of God, but also a person of great intellect, wide mental outlook and splendid taste.
I am deeply grateful to all those who blessed me secretly or openly with wonderful gifts or with money. Praise to my Lord, Who filled the 45 days of my vacation and ministry with His faithfulness. I left Armenia with $45 and big plans that required a lot of money, but in that land of strangers, I was blessed with $2.700, besides the paid stays in hotels in different states, tours and everyday meals. The beauty of it was that as a rule, I was blessed secretly. When I returned to the places I stayed, I used to find an envelope in my bag with a note: “Only for you”. Among those who blessed me openly, there were no rich people; I even thought about helping some of them myself. I understood that through this, the Lord showed His glory. I am grateful to God for having an opportunity not only to take care of my personal needs, but also to buy gifts to my relatives and friends.
AND THE MOST WONDERFUL THING GOD DID, WHICH SURPRISED AND AMAZED ME…
In the Social Ministry, all serve unselfishly, but there are 25 volunteers whose selflessness I admire. I wanted to buy gifts for them so much, but I had no opportunity. When I returned, my sister told me that a person whom I knew sent gifts for the volunteers of the Social Ministry, and I could give them to whomever I wanted. I was so amazed! There were so many of them, in boxes and paper-bags. On the shoe boxes and paper-bags, there were names of some well-known brands: “Valentino”, “Gucci”, “Dior”… I know the person who sent the gifts for 25 years, and he never gave any offering for the Social Ministry, although he had an opportunity just because of the fact that he is very rich. I think this time the Lord enrolled him, so that we could enjoy His generosity and love. I gave those boxes and paper-bags to the Accountant of the Social Ministry and ordered her to call these 25 volunteers. Among the gifts, there were 3 items that I particularly liked: a pair of Valentino autumn shoes and two Dior dresses. The next day, when I spoke to our Accountant, I wanted to know who took the pair of shoes and the two dresses. She answered, “V., who cleans the office building, took the shoes, and L. and N., who serve in the kitchen, took the dresses.” I do not write their names for obvious reasons, but I marvel at our God, who dresses His servants, especially because these three women have been forsaken by their husbands and raised their children alone.
I want to mention that it was the only time during the 28 years of the Social Ministry that the team of volunteers was blessed in this way, because, as a rule, we receive aid to socially deprived people.
“‘They shall be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’ Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.” (Mal. 3.17-18).
The Lord shows this here on earth and will display it more marvelously in eternity.