CPS:  When I teach my self-image pageant seminars–about every three months I have one–the most important point is the one you just made, and it works for everybody.  It’s not just for the ones in pageants. This is for life.  And that is, she said she found out that when she competed with everybody else, she failed. But when she competed to be the best Rhonda that God created, see.  See, it’s not that she wears the crown, it’s just when she finished that she said, “Well, I did the best I could do for You, Jesus, and that’s what’s important.  And that doesn’t have to be on the stage.  That’s when you walk every day of your life, am I the best that I can be today?  Or did I fail today? Or have I kept my eyes so on You, Lord, that I’ve listened to every word You said today and I have done what You’ve asked me to do for today?  And that’s what you’re saying.  The first time she got caught up and that’s what we do in life.  We get caught up in all the hustle and bustle of life and we forget.  Teenagers get caught up in school, they get caught up in the things that are going on around them and they forget that the peer pressure they are feeling, if they can turn that peer pressure around and we can be, Christians can be the peer pressure to the world, rather than the world being the peer pressure to us.  (Applause)

LR:  Amen, that’s right.  And, you know, God places dreams in our heart, no matter what people say, no matter what men and women may tell you.  Sometimes, no matter what you tell yourself, you know, you may mouth it on the outside, but deep inside your heart you know the dream that God has placed in your heart and you know that it’s a good dream, it’s a good vision, it’s something that you believe in.  But maybe the circumstances have tried to tell you you can’t do it.  You know, I say, and I laugh at this but it’s not funny, one of the dirtiest words in the English language is circumstance.  It is the most destructive word in the English language sometimes because we say, “Well, I can’t do this, I’m ugly.  I can’t do this, I’m short.  I can’t do this, I’m too tall.  I can’t do this, I’m,” you know, “I’m not qualified.” That’s right.  You know, an ORU student once said, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”  If you are called of God to do something, it doesn’t matter if you are a drug addict right now, God can turn your life around.  If you knew deep inside your heart you’ve got a dream and you want to fulfill it, God can work on those circumstances and He can do it miraculously.  We don’t always have to do all the work ourselves. Sometimes our hands are tied.  But if we keep our faith up, God can work those circumstances for our good, even when they look like they’re going to destroy us.  Cheryl, for example, had a dream in her heart.  Somebody said to you as a little girl, “Some day, honey, you’re going to be Miss America.”

RC:  No, I entered many pageants.  My first pageant when I was 16 years old and I got third runnerup in a county fair queen pageant, you know, where you put the ribbons on the cows, you know, and the pigs, that pageant.  But I got third runnerup.

LR:  Start right at the top.

RC:  And I entered again and I got third runnerup again, second year in a row.  The first year I entered Miss Illinois National Teenager, I was so excited for this pageant, a whole weekend, you know, for that. And my father, I remember in the talent, I got my eyes off the Lord. I wasn’t centered on the Lord that weekend, and my father came over before I did my talent and said, “You know, have you prayed?”  “Yeah, yeah, I prayed,” you know.  It was just kind of like I was there and got caught up in all the pageant activity.  And I messed up my talent. I forgot eight measures of it and just stood there and smiled.  So that was the first year I entered.  I got in the top 15, but I knew I had failed the Lord.  I hadn’t done what He wanted me to.  took your eyes off of Him.

RC:  That’s right, that’s exactly right.  So when I entered the second year, my goal was to be a winner in the Lord, not to win the National Miss Illinois, but to keep Him first and to be a witness for Him at that pageant.  And when I went with that attitude, it wasn’t as much the competition, it was just the chance–we had prayer backstage with evening gowns, girls took hands and prayed, and I was, you know, “Who’s going to pray? Well, Rhonda, why don’t you pray?”  And we prayed before we went out on stage, and it was so exciting the change. And something, my Miss Illinois National Teenager director, Martha Smith, said was, “Everyone has a crown in their heart.”  It’s a crown that God has given us and we have to keep that polished.  It’s not the external crown.  I mean, we see the glory for the outside.  But it’s what we are inside, and that’s an encouragement to the teenagers especially, that you have a crown in your heart and you need to keep that polished.  Because it’s by actions, as we know. It’s not by our words.  But when the teenagers see a difference, they want to know. Then they want to know why.

LR: And you don’t have to be ashamed of it.

RC: That’s right.

LR: Can I tell the first words you said when you won?

RC: You sure can.

LR: Was, “thank God,” wasn’t it? That was the first thing that came out of your mouth, “praise God for that.”

RC: Sure did. (Applause) I looked up to the lights and during the pageant my prayer was, “Not my will, Lord, but Yours.” And that was so important to me. And when I was crowned Miss National Teenager, I looked up in the lights and the lights coming off the balcony just reminded me of His throne and how beautiful it’s going to be, yes, and I said, “Thank You, Lord.” And I knew that He had opened up this door. In high school I had always kind of been laughed at and called Miss Straight and really made fun of. But I didn’t really have any clout. I mean, they saw my life and they saw the way I lived, but, O.K., she lives a life that way, that’s fine. When I won Miss National Teenager, they had to take a second look, what is she talking about, how did she do that, you know. And it’s been so exciting. And kids that called me and said, “We just really respect you that you said no to drinking and drugs.” And I could say then, “It wasn’t me that said no, it was Jesus in me.” And, you know, they’d ask, “Why are you so happy and so at peace.”

LR: What’s the difference?

RC: It’s the Lord, right.

LR: That’s right. Praise God. You can see the Lord shining through Rhonda. I want you to know that. Rhonda is beautiful on the outside, (Applause) but she’s got something that’s flowing up within the inside and it’s Jesus Christ and that just adds an extra glow. It’s a radiance that maybe Miss America has as Miss America, but I tell you, when you have Jesus Christ, that’s your crowning glory. It really is. And, you know, Rhonda has a story much like Cheryl’s. You weren’t always a winner, were you, Rhonda?

COF SPOT  (Applause)

LR:  Make your plans now to visit the City of Faith because we want to see you get well, in Jesus’ name.  Right now I am really proud to introduce our special guest.  She’s a young lady that is on fire for Jesus Christ.  She’s a special, special teenager. She is Miss, well she’s the 1986 reigning Miss National Teenager. Would you welcome Rhonda Cullison.  (Applause)  God bless you, Rhonda, and thank you for coming.  Thank you for sharing Jesus wherever you go.  Rhonda, you are so special because you just let the love of Jesus shine through you proud of you.  And we want to welcome you here.  (Thank you.)  We want you to tell us a little secret.  You told me this earlier and I want to tell this on Cheryl while she’s sitting right next to you.  We’re going to tell a secret on Cheryl and Rhonda together today.  Something happened to you in September of 1979 when you were about 12 years old, and you saw Cheryl Prewitt win Miss America.

RC:  I sure did.  I was watching TV and she was crowned Miss America and she shortly after that told her testimony.  And I was so elated and so excited.  I accepted Christ as my personal Savior when I was 11 years old, April 8, 1978, and I always watched pageants on TV.  And when you won and told of your Christian testimony, I was so excited. A Christian can win a pageant, you know?

LR:  You said it was the first time you realized a Christian could enter a pageant.

RC:  Yes, and then when I heard I was going to get to meet you, I was excited again this morning that I was going to meet you in person. And a dream that now the Lord has fulfilled in my heart as a Christian teenager to reach out to the teenagers of America to tell them, “It’s O.K. to be a Christian and you don’t have to be a queen to do it,” just everyone.

CPS:  And the first step you can make is to pick up that telephone and call that number because that is saying, I make a decision.  I make a decision to pick this telephone up, dial that number, and I am going to get help.  I have got to get help.  And that’s the first step in realizing you cannot do it by yourself. You’ve got to have help.

LR:  You know, we all need help.  I needed prayer when I couldn’t pray for myself. 

CPS:  Right…to that stage.

LR:  There are times when you need it.  That’s right, when you get so down you don’t know what to do with yourself.  You’re so depressed or you’re so hurt.  And maybe you’ve turned to a family member and maybe they just didn’t know how to help you.  These people are trained in how to help you get help.  We are going to help you any way we can. trained to help you get well, in Jesus’ name.  (Applause)  The band has a song they want to play for you and it’s called “Jehovah Jireh.” Jehovah Jireh means, God our provider.  You know, if you need God to provide help for you in drugs, if you need God to help provide a way for you to get away from alcohol, if you need God to provide a way for you to have a better self-image, if you need God to provide finances for you, healing in your body, healing in your emotions, healing in your family or your marriage, God said He is your provider.  And God wants to provide for you.  God has the resources, if we will call on Him and expect Him–not man, not our husband, not our father, not our sisters or brothers–but expect God to be our provider, God will work a miracle for us.  God will be our provider.  Right now the band has a song for you called “Jehovah Jireh,” God our provider  Let’s give them a welcome.  (Applause)  

ORU BAND:  “Jehovah Jireh”  (Applause)

CPS:  Singing “I’m a Miracle”  (Applause) 

ROLL-IN OF ERNEST AND DANA EMERY  (Applause) 

 LR:  Praise God.  I praise God for that testimony.  Amen.  Praise God for Ernest Emery’s testimony.  You know, he really is a miracle in the way that God touched his life and touched his heart.  He was healed miraculously through God’s supernatural power of prayer.  But, you know, sometimes that’s not always enough.  The reason the City of Faith was built was to merge God’s healing power of prayer and medicine.  And recently we had a wonderful, wonderful lady named Gail Storm.  If you all remember Gail Storm as my little Margie.  She is a precious woman of God.  She loves the Lord with all her heart.  And she came because of her addiction to alcohol.  And she was really totally turned around when God touched her heart and she was healed of the alcoholic addiction that she had.  And she dedicated the alcohol and drug rehabilitation center at the City of Faith.  And I’d like to encourage you, if you need special help, if you need prayer and if you need the help of physicians and people who are trained to help you get rid of the addiction of alcohol and drugs, we want to help you. There’s a toll-free number, if you pick up your phone and dial 1-800-443-3777.  That’s 1-800-443-3777.  You will talk to someone that can help you with drug and alcohol addiction.  At the City of Faith we want to help you.  We want to merge the very best prayer we can for you and we want to also merge the very, very best of God’s healing hand of medicine.  We believe that God heals in many ways.  And one of the ways is through the trained skilled physicians that we have here at the City of Faith.  And it’s not only for young persons, it’s for anybody that needs help.  Originally we started out for young people. And praise God, we were able to expand it and now it’s for anyone, confidence.  We’ll help you get help from alcohol and drug addiction. (Applause)  In case you need the number again, let me give it again. It’s area–it isn’t area–it’s a toll-free number.  All you have to do is dial 1-800-443-3777.  That’s a toll-free call.  And we want to help you.  You know, young people have problems just like anybody else and if you’re a young person and you don’t know how to tell your parents you’re on drugs, if you’re an older person and you don’t know how to tell your children you’re on drugs, we want to help you and we want to keep it confidential.  And most of all, we want to minister to you, in Jesus’ name.  We want to expect a miracle for you from the healing hand of God.

CPS:  That’s right, I’ve heard him say that, expecting a miracle is just like expecting a baby.  You are expecting, the whole time you know that you’re going to have a baby.  And the day will come, you’ll have a baby.  A lot of people, they just don’t get expectant about it. They’re not looking for it.  They’re not expecting– 

LR:  You’re in an attitude of miracles.

CPS:  And their vision isn’t always there.  When I was pregnant and when you were pregnant, I knew, I could picture that little boy or that little girl–in my case it was a little boy–I knew, I kept picturing, what’s he going to look like?  How is he going to feel? How is he going to act?  And we need to expect and picture and envision our miracles. 

LR:  And you had the concept of that baby before he was born. (Right) You had in your mind you were going to have a baby before you physically had him.  I believe that’s a part of our faith. If we have it in our hands, why do we need faith?  (That’s right.)  Faith is for what we don’t have.  Faith is the believing that we have in our heart for the things that we need when we can’t always see them.

CPS:  Before we have it.

LR:  That’s right. 

CPS:  But it also is what brings it into being to put it in the hands.

 LR:  That’s exactly right, our expectancy.  We mothers can understand that and praise God for it, because, you know, you’re in an atmosphere of expectancy.  You don’t have any choice, when you’re pregnant, you’re pregnant.  You are expecting that baby. We need to be pregnant with expectancy of miracles.  (That’s right.)  I believe believe that. (Applause)  Cheryl, you’ve got a song about miracles, called, “I’m a Miracle.”  If you’ll go ahead and sing it, if you’ll get ready.  You know, Cheryl, this song is you because you are a miracle.  And we’ll talk about your testimony, becoming Miss America, in just a few minutes.  Because when God works miracles, He does it right.  He does it right.  He does it completely.  And if you’ll get ready, we’ll have you sing, “I’m a Miracle.”  You know, we have another testimony that really is a miracle.  This is from a woman that called from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and she said, “I was asthmatic and I was having an asthmatic attack for two straight days.  While Richard was praying on the program all of a sudden I realized my breathing was better.”  And she said, “I accept my healing.” Part of our expecting is accepting the fact that Jesus can do it. She said, “My lungs are clear.  All the burning is gone.”  She said, “I am breathing all the way down and I am totally healed and free from pain in my lungs and I’m rejoicing and praising God.”  (Applause)  I agree with you.  Praise God for a miracle. I want you to get your expecters ready.  We’re going to have a miracle program for you today.  Whatever you’re going through, whether you’ve had shortcomings and problems and faults, we want to talk about how God can take those shortcomings and turn them into miracles.  And He can take our failures and turn them into miracles. Right now would you welcome Cheryl Prewitt Salem as she sings, “I’m a Miracle, Lord.”  (Applause)

LR:  That’s exactly right.  You know, we got a testimony about, oh, I would say about a week and a half ago from a little lady, bless her sweet heart, that called in and said, “I have been deaf for over 70 years as a result of having measles as a child.”  She said, “God healed my deafness.”  Praise God.  You see, God never cares about our age or our, you know, or our, our sex or our height or our weight. God just says, you know, “When you come unto Me, I will come right back and work miracles.”  By our faith He will work our miracles.  And it may have taken her 70 years to build her faith, but praise God, she got her miracle.

CPS:  The whole time the devil was probably trying to tell her, “Now 

LR:  You’re too young.

CPS:  And, “Why would you want your hearing anyway?  You don’t need it for anything.”  Well, everybody, it doesn’t matter if we need it for anything or not.  We need to have ourselves healed because God created us whole and He planned for us to stay whole until we go to be with Jesus.  We don’t have to get sick to die. When God wants me to come home, He can call me home.  I’ll go.  I don’t have to get sick to get there.

LR:  You know, it’s just like Rhonda Cullison who is going to be with us in just a couple of moments, Rhonda is a young teenage lady, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have problems.  She needs Jesus just like we need Jesus, just like the little 70 some year old lady needed Jesus.  Wherever you are right now, it doesn’t matter what you’re going through, if you need Jesus you’re not too old, you’re not too young, you haven’t gone too far away from God.  God will touch you at the point of your need.  Right where you need God, that’s where God is, where you need Him the most. This person called in and his name was Richard and he called from Ohio and said, “I was watching Richard on the program and he gave a word of knowledge concerning someone’s healing in the right ear.”  He said, “I’m praising the Lord because I was expecting a miracle and I got my ear healed.”  You see, we have to be expecting a miracle.  (Applause)  And God will honor that.  You know, Oral talks about if you have a special delivery letter, you know, when the airmail, the postman comes to give you a special delivery letter and you have to sign for it, if you’re not there they will take it back.  You have to be expecting it.  You have to be ready.  You have to be waiting.  And I’m expecting my miracle, in Jesus’ name.  I’m ready for it.  I’m wanting it.  I’m claiming it. And I’m not going to let the devil rob me of my miracle.

LR:  I really believe that.  We’ve got some super testimonies today. I tell you, I was reading, there is a stack of healing testimonies.

CPS:  Isn’t that wonderful?

LR:  And that is just a miracle of God.  This one is from a lady in Pittsburgh.  This is Pittsburgh, Illinois, how about that? Richard had a word of knowledge about someone having migraine headaches and said, “As Richard spoke out the word of knowledge, I had been suffering for the past two weeks of migraine headaches.”  And she word of knowledge was given, I realized that my sinuses and allergies over the past six years were instantly healed.”  Praise God.  Sinuses and allergies over six years being healed.  What a miracle! (Applause)  This lady called from Cornersville, Pennsylvania and said, “My lower back was healed when Richard gave a word of knowledge last week.”  And she said, “I’ve been checking it out all week long.”  And she said, “I amfree from pain.”  And she said, “It was severe pain and I’m free from it.”  Praise God.

CPS:  And she should check it out.

LR:  That’s right, check it out.  It will stand up to a healing. That’s right.  (Applause)

CPS:  This is so neat.  This person called in from Indianapolis, Indiana.  They had a chipped elbow.  The bone had been chipped for 12 years, and of course it was in a place where it couldn’t heal.  There was nothing to set and there was no way to fix it, and the elbow was chipped and rough and rugged on the end.  And Richard had a word of knowledge that a chipped elbow was being healed.  They called in and the chip is now just, it vanished. It’s just as smooth as it can be, and that’s the way it should be.  God cares about something that’s been done for 12 years even or five years or 50 years.  God cares about it.  Just because it’s never been healed before or maybe you’ve never even–this person probably thought, “Well, it’s not broken anymore, I’ll just have to live with it every day.”  But you don’t have to live with it.  God cared about this chipped elbow.  Now it’s smooth, and that’s proof that He cares.

Just preach it. People need to hear what you have to say. Well, I know it works because I tried it. I was just a little girl but I believed that if God is like my daddy, and He is, my daddy cried tears of compassion. He wanted me whole but he couldn’t make me whole. My daddy could not make me whole, but he could pray. And he prayed and I believed and I went to God and I looked at Him as my Father. And I said,

“Father, You are God. Yes, but You’re my Father and You want me whole. So I ask You to heal me.” I didn’t tell Him how He had to do it. I didn’t tell Him when He had to do it. But I knew that He wanted me whole. So I trusted Him. And every time somebody would tell me, “No, you cannot have this. No, you won’t be whole. No, you’re going to be a cripple. You are going to be a cripple,” I’d say, “I will not receive that. I will not believe that. God is my God. He’s my Father and I receive it.”

That was, that was doubt talk that you were hearing. That’s right.
Coming from the devil. People were trying to feed doubt into me but I would not hear it. I would not hear it and I would not surround myself by the people that talked doubt. So you decided to talk faith talk and not doubt talk. The Bible says you walk by faith, not by sight. By the
sight of it you couldn’t walk (It’s right) in the natural.

In the natural there was no way for Cheryl Pruitt. But it says we don’t walk by sight. There was no way that you could walk, and there’s certainly no way you could become Miss America 1980. Never, ever, because not only was my leg in a mess, but after God healed my leg I had over 100 stitches in my face and I’ve never had any plastic surgery.

God just proved to me through a period of time that if we trust Him, if I’d be faithful and if I’d trust Him, He would take care of all the circumstances.