BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

A relative came to visit and took Christa to a church that would change their lives forever. At Rhema Fellowship, the family was introduced to Kenneth Copeland Ministries and taught to live by faith. There Jim received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. When Ann Marie was only 10 months old, Christa became pregnant again. Three months into the pregnancy, she began bleeding and was told that she’d suffered another miscarriage. “Something inside me wasn’t settled about that,” Christa remembers. “I felt as though the baby had survived. I went to church and asked for prayer. Then I went to see another doctor.” “Let’s do an ultrasound,” he suggested. “Sure enough, there was my baby swimming around!” Christa and Jim’s son, Zane, was also born premature. Yet, like his sister, he thrived. Worked the Word, Even Through Debt In 1986, Jim started his own affiliate chemical company called Padre Mud Company. The next year, oil prices plummeted again. The family moved to Atlanta and then to Clear Lake, Texas, in search of work. No matter where they lived, Christa stayed connected to KCM, whose teachings had become a lifeline for her. She worked the Word, putting into practice what she learned. Although they were givers, they had a lot of debt. Christa stacked all their bills, carefully placing them where she could easily see them. Each time she walked by, she laid her hand on top of the stack and declared, “In the Name of Jesus, this is our year of jubilee and we’re debt free!” Little by little, those words came to pass. Later that year, the family moved to San Antonio, where they put down roots. Life settled into a routine with Jim traveling a good deal. Christa busied herself taking care of the children and staying involved in their activities. Each morning during the weekdays, she watched the "Believer’s Voice of Victory" broadcast on their desktop computer. She also spent hours praying in the spirit. In 2001, Jim was working offshore two to three weeks at a time. Christa had taken a class and learned to quilt. On one of his trips, Jim left his laptop at home. “I was thrilled to have the laptop,” Christa explains. “During those weeks, I really immersed myself in the Word. An early riser, I listened to the broadcast on the computer in the mornings and prayed in tongues. After dinner, when the house got quiet, I sat in my room for hours quilting and listening to "BVOV" on the laptop. A Demonic Attack “When Jim came home after one of his work assignments, I was tired and decided to go to bed early,” Christa recalled. “Ann Marie was gone, Zane was watching TV, and Jim was in the kitchen.” Jim walked into the den and saw Zane watching MTV, which was not allowed in their house. They were playing a Marilyn Manson song backward. It was very demonic. “Jim reminded Zane that we don’t allow MTV in our house, and turned off the TV,” Christa said. “Then he walked to the half-bath off the kitchen.” “It felt as though someone reached inside and grabbed me between my heart and stomach,” Jim recalled about the sharp pain that suddenly hit him. “The pain was incredible. Worse than anything I’d ever experienced. “I heard a voice saying, Get out! Get out! I knew that I was being warned to get out of the bathroom or no one would know I was in trouble.” Inside, Jim could feel a demonic force pulling his spirit downward. Looking around, all he saw was utter darkness. Then he realized that two demons were dragging him deeper and deeper into darkness. Death Strikes “I was in bed when I heard a thud followed by ‘ugh,’” Christa recalls. “I lay there listening. I thought maybe Jim had run into a cabinet door.” Hearing nothing else, Christa got up and went to the kitchen to see where the noise had come from. “I didn’t see Jim…until I looked down,” Christa said. “He was face down on the floor with his right cheek up. His arms were splayed out. His eyes were rolled back in his head, and he was convulsing. He let out one breath…and that was it. He didn’t take another. “Jim?” Christa said. “JIM!” 16 :BVOV

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