Transformed Lives:
Pat Johnson , Yes God I Will Go...

During summer camp, when I was eight years old, I surrendered my life at the altar with the intent of becoming a missionary in my adult years. "Yes, God, I will go, but I don’t want to eat any worms," I said.

Missionary films I had seen always seemed to have scenes of a tribal chief offering the missionaries worms to eat – as a treat. Many years later while preparing for my first missions trip to Africa, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You don’t have to eat any worms.” What a relief!

I recall in my early teens an elderly relative telling me that I walked just like my great-grandmother. At the time, I thought, “What a strange statement.” Years passed, and then one day in the mid-1990s while making my bed, I heard the Lord say, “I have given you your great-grandmother’s mantle.” What did that mean?

My great-grandmother, Bell Alford, died about the time I was born. All I knew about her was that she was a Pentecostal preacher who started churches in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. I also knew that she stood up in a church service one day and said, “God is love.” Then she sat down and died.

Later, I found out that my great-grandmother had two best friends. One was a missionary to India and the other to the Philippines. In 2000, in my own missionary travels, I went to India, and in 2004, I traveled to the Philippines. Amazingly, the national leader in India that we work with through Women With A Mission is on the missions board of the lady that was my great-grandmother’s friend.

Sometimes I think I have set up by the Holy Spirit. I’m still learning about the mantle and I’m having the time of my life serving the people of the nations with the gospel of my Master.

My association with Women With A Mission began in the spring of 2000, when my daughter Amanda and I attended a domestic class at our church in Colorado Springs as part of her home-schooling. There I met Lana Heightley. After getting to know each other, over the course of time, Lana invited me to join a Women With A Mission team to go to India on a missions trip that fall. My first thought was, “Yes, I’ll be glad to go, just as soon as I return from the moon.” In my mind, both trips were impossible. Yet, September came and I found myself on a plane to India. God does the impossible if we believe.

Now, what do all these things have in common? God was ordering my steps all along in His divine plan. Over the last decade, as I have partnered with WWAM, I have found myself in places I never dreamed of going, doing things that have left me astounded and amazed, and teamed up with people from around the world to advance the kingdom of God while leaving the enemy in the dust.

WWAM has given me a platform from which to teach and preach around the world. I have seen thousands touched by the presence and power of our Lord. I have witnessed blind eyes opened, broken bodies healed, lives delivered from the power of darkness, and despair in the lives of people replaced with hope for a brighter future in Christ Jesus. I have even seen a dead woman come back to life.

God has used my partnership with WWAM to develop my unique gifts and calling, allowing room for character growth and wisdom to bloom. Many women through the teamwork of WWAM have blessed my life by inspiring, encouraging, equipping, and challenging me to come up higher in the things of God.

I am highly favored to have been part of WWAM over the years. Now I am launching out into the deep, which is never easy, but with fellow followers of Christ by my side it doesn’t seem quite so overwhelming. I am learning to finish well for the sake of the people and for the Master.

Pat Johnson