In Step with the Spirit

By Donna Thorne

Delight and direction...

You're the Source, oh Lord!

"I delight to do Your will, O my God,

And Your law is within my heart."

(Psalm 40:8, NKJV)

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

(Psalm 119:105, NKJV)

In Step with the Spirit brought Donna, educated as a registered nurse, in

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Feb 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685561956

Donna Thorne

Donna Thorne and her husband, Niles, are ordained ministers with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. For over fifty-five years, they have been in ministry, pastoring and helping to pioneer the first Teen Challenge Center For Women in eastern Canada.Donna was comfortable in her call as a pastor's wife. The surprise came when she was voted in as women's ministries director for the largest district in western Ontario, Canada. After Donna had been filling that role for eighteen years, the door opened to the challenge of ministry with women needing freedom from addiction. For six years, she and her husband both served in that ministry.Most recently, they have been pastors to seniors at Bethel Gospel Tabernacle in Hamilton, Ontario. They have three married children and eight grandchildren, the greatest joy in their lives after Jesus.

Book preview

IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT

Preface

Green and growing, waters to swim in, an undefined path into the sunlight of God’s love! The path of the righteous is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Proverbs 4:18

The year was 1998. As Women’s Ministries Director for Western Ontario District of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, I went to the printer to do the advertising brochures for our Spring Retreat. Our team of women had prayerfully chosen the theme, ‘In Step with the Spirit’. The printer said to me when I picked up the finished product, I will be happy to publish the book that you write with that title.

Here we are now in 2021! Those words have re-echoed from him and from others who have encouraged me to write our attempt to be ‘led by the Spirit’.

The final leap into this ‘next step with the Spirit’ came as I read a ‘page’ out of one of my many journals to friends in our home. Their encouragement along with my dear husband, Niles, has catapulted me into a new season; a season of, in hindsight, remembering lessons learned from the desire of wanting more than anything else to be IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT.

The purpose for IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT is to share in the form of a devotional, using God’s word and stories that will encourage others in their journey with the Guide! I have written out the scriptures with the intent that they have power and life especially when read out loud. My objective is to prompt within the reader, application of what the Holy Spirit reveals through His Word for them personally.

The first fourteen devotionals are in a sequence from the early journey of testing and trying to be IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT. The remainder have no specific order. May God use my humble effort to share what He has taught me.

Dedication

Dedicated in honor of the memory of my dear sister,

Marjie Imler 1953-2020, who had one desire, to be

IN STEP WITH THE SPIRIT

Testimony

When we received the promo information from Donna Thorne, for the Women’s Ministries Retreat for 2000, I knew that I was to go. Healthwise that was impossible, so I assumed that I was going to be better by then. In January 1998 I had gone on a Missions trip and got over 250 mosquito bites. For months after that, unbeknownst to me, my body was not absorbing vitamins and minerals and my system was depleted. In June 1998, I had done a clown performance at our Women’s Ministries meeting. When I got home, I was experiencing more exhaustion than a performance should have caused. In the morning I was so sick that I could not get out of bed. I was diagnosed with Viral Bronchitis, then eventually Epstein-Barr Virus and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

From June 1998 until April 2000, I was so fatigued that I could not sit up for more than 15 minutes a day, could not stand for more than a minute and needed every part of my body supported or the fatigue was overwhelming. I watched my family live life without me. Most days I was too exhausted to even chew my food. So, when I knew that I was to go to this retreat I could not imagine how that was going to be possible. I had been on a journey with God as He showed me many things, (I called them Golden Nuggets.) During that time someone shared Psalm 4:4 In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. As I spent my days on the couch, I pondered those words and opened my heart to what God wanted to do. I knew that I would be on my bed until He was done taking me through that process. Would I be better in time to go to the Retreat?

Two of us went from our church, & I had to recline for the 3-hour drive to the retreat. Taking a chaise lounge to sit on, I imagined sitting at the back and feeling on the outside of things. My assertive friend found a spot near the front to set up the lounge chair by an aisle. After standing in line at registration I was exhausted. How was I going to make it through the retreat without crashing?

It was so refreshing to attend the Retreat, hear the speakers and be in the Presence of God, worshipping with other believers. My friend left early on Sat. night, so I got a ride back to where we were staying with lovely ladies from the Wingham church, who were on their way home. I was so exhausted that I only ordered a cookie because I did not have the energy to hold both a cookie and a coffee.

My friend had a family crisis and needed to stay in Toronto on Sunday, so she gave me her car and I was to drive to the retreat and then 3 hours home. I placed a pillow under my arms for support just to get to the hotel without becoming exhausted! How would I ever make it home??? I determined to enjoy the last service otherwise there was no point in even going in.

Marjie Imler was leading worship, and as I entered in, I no longer felt on the outside like I had for almost 2 years, not being able to sing or clap because it took too much energy. She led us through It is Well With My Soul and I was able to say: God even if I am like this for the rest of my days, it is well with my soul. Tying in with the theme that the speaker had talked on for the weekend, Marjie led us in a song about a river called Step Into His Anointing It went on to say It will break the yoke. He’s flowing by His Spirit; its coming from His Throne. She invited us to step into the aisle if we wanted to step into that river, the river of God.

I was right on the aisle, but I said God, you know I don’t do standing right now. Would it be OK if I just put my foot over the edge of this lounge chair? … He said: Yes, so I did that and as the song continued, I pictured myself stepping deeper and deeper into that river with each beat of the music, I could picture it as real as if I was right in a river. First ankle deep, then knee deep, then waist deep until I was up to my neck, and I said: There! God said: No, keep going ‘till you are over your head. I was covered and totally immersed in His Presence. It reminds me of the scene described in Ezekiel 47.

God spoke to a lady to come and pray with me. She and her friend came, took my hands and as they prayed, she said: Sit and I sat. Then she said Stand and I stood. Then I heard Dance and there I was standing & singing & clapping & raising my hands & dancing before the Lord, just lost in God’s Presence. Another young woman with wavy red hair came to me and said: "You have been healed from the top of your head to the tips of your fingertips to the tips of your toenails and that it would be permanent.

I didn’t feel as if any great thing had happened in my body that gave me any indication that I was healed so her words surprised me, but I was very open to what God wanted to do so I didn’t reject it. After the service a woman came to speak to me. I told her: I don’t know what God did, but He did it! She told me to speak the word. Then I packed up and made the 3-hour drive home, … me who could only drive for a few minutes without exhaustion!

I knew on the drive home, that I would be giving a testimony at our evening church service but all that I knew was that God had done it … I just didn’t know what He had done. When our Pastor asked for testimonies, I jumped to my feet. That in itself was probably a shocker because for 2 years people had seen me laying down at church. As I began to speak it, the excitement rose within me. I relayed how I was told to sit, then stand, then dance … and as I spoke the final words: And I am still standing & I can still dance & sing. I realized what God had done. He had healed me!

The river that I had stepped into as Marjie