These writings are from quiet times I have spent with God, talking with Him and listening for His voice.  And He has spoken!  You also may find excerpts from the book or expansions of topics found in the book.  I may give explanations of topics touched on in the book that people have commented on, or anything else the Lord puts on my heart to share with you.  I pray you will enjoy this section.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.    Psalm 34:4 (NIV)

As I begin to write this testimony about what God has been doing in my life over the last few years and specifically, the last two years, I need to address those of you who are not Christians or who don’t understand how God works in a believer’s life.  This includes non-believers, skeptics, doubters, and those oppressed by the things of the world, the flesh, and the devil, that only bring confusion and/or chaos.

My prayer is that you will read this through, to the end.  You will be glad you did.  Much of what I will share I did not see or understand while it was happening and the full view of it all did not reveal itself until after it all had happened.  I saw some things and understood what was happening but like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, only toward the end of the process did I begin to see the full picture.  However, my relationship with Jesus Christ allowed me to trust that he was in it with me.

To give a better perspective on this testimony I need to go back a good five or six years.  At that time, I started reading books discussing the question: “Do you know who you are in Christ, who God created you to be?”  This led me to an interest in learning about the topic of spirit, soul, and body.  I was reading, studying, and researching this topic and was beginning to understand it, but I just could not quite grasp it all, and the material I was studying just left me needing more.

Then one day as I was on my daily walk, I was talking with the Lord about wanting to understand the topic of spirit, soul, and body, as I often did.  I am a visual person who can learn and understand things better if I can see them or see a visual representation of them.  I had found several diagrams in some of the books I had been reading that were helping me but still left me wanting more.  God brought one of these diagrams before me that consisted of three concentric circles.  The center circle represented my spirit, the next circle represented my soul, and the third outer circle represented my body. 

God asked me what I would see if I took that diagram and rotated it up 90 degrees.  After I did what he asked I gave him several possibilities that came to me and God said, “No, here is what I want you to see!”.  God gave me a visual revelation of spirit, soul, and body that made it all come together.  It changed my life.  If you are interested in learning more about this revelation, read on. 

Over the next four to five years God gave me more and more understanding of this revelation and told me to write down what I was learning.  It took four to five years to get all this done because of my procrastination and self-centeredness, not because God wanted it to take that long.  The Lord finally told me to organize and edit my writings like a book that people could read.  I had never considered the thought of publishing a book, or even writing a book and becoming an author.  Guess what the Lord told me to do next?  Your right, he told me to get it published, and even lead me to the right publisher.  This message to get my writings organized and to write them down as a book started in the spring of 2021 and the Lord made it clear that I needed to get it done as quickly as possible.  This time I was obedient and finished a final draft manuscript and submitted it to the publisher during mid-summer and it was finally scheduled to be released in November 2021.  The book, “God’s Tree: A Revelation of Spirit, Soul, and Body”, was released and is for sale online at most major booksellers.  You can also see the book website at, www.godstree.life.

Around that time, I finally got to see my new cardiologist for my routine yearly checkup, although it had almost been 18 months since my last checkup with my old cardiologist, who had recently left the practice, and this was a new cardiologist I had never seen before.  I was having no signs of any major health issues when I went for my yearly cardiology checkup on November 11, 2021.  After the initial assessment and EKG, the doctor came in and we talked for a few minutes, and he indicated that everything looked good, but he just needed to listen to my heart and lungs.  To my surprise he heard a heart murmur that had not been there before, and he indicated that it was serious.  This led to having a echocardiogram on November 23, 2021, that showed significant aortic regurgitation and a dilated (enlarged) ascending aorta.  My cardiologist ordered a CTC scan and referred me to a cardiothoracic surgeon.  Once the CTC scan was scheduled for December 8, 2021, the surgeon’s office called to schedule an appointment for that same day to review the results.  The CTC scan was done at 7:00 am and the appointment with the surgeon was at 11:00 am.  The CTC scan showed that the aortic valve was leaking (regurgitating) because of the degree of dilation of the ascending aorta (aortic aneurysm).  The surgeon explained all the ins and outs of what this meant with all the statistics and options and indicated open heart surgery was the only appropriate option.  My wife and I had already talked about surgery and knew it was the best option and wanted to have it scheduled as soon as possible.  My cardiologist had also scheduled additional testing and an esophageal echocardiogram, and a heart catheterization, to check for any other problems that needed to be addressed so they could be corrected during the aortic aneurysm and aortic valve surgery.  These tests were scheduled for December 10, 2021.  We went to the hospital on the morning of the 10th and my cardiologist performed both procedures and found partial blockages in two arteries that would need to be addressed during the surgery.  The surgeon was also present during the procedures.  When we talked with them later that morning, they gave us all the results and we were all in agreement to move forward with the open-heart surgery as soon as possible.  We were expecting to have to wait for an open date with the surgeon, but he told us that he had a cancellation and had an opening on December 14, 2021.   We decided to go ahead and schedule it and we were also able to have all the pre-operative testing and paperwork completed while we were at the hospital, so we would be ahead of the game on the 14th.  So, I don’t keep you in suspense, I had a successful surgery and spent five nights in the hospital before being released to go home.

It is amazing that all this happened in such a short span of time.  Sherry and I see God’s hand in this from the beginning and we know he will be in it the rest of the way…. Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!  I truly don’t know how someone who does not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior can get through storms (trials and tribulations) like this without him.

As I look back on this, I clearly see God’s hand at work in my life.  He wanted to make sure that the book he gave me to write got published and he knew it may not get completed, at least not any time soon, if it wasn’t done before my heart surgery.  God knew all about my heart problems before they were diagnosed and that is why he pushed me to complete the book and get it published when I did.  Keep reading, this is not the end of the testimony.

The recovery has not been easy or fun.  There were some problems that came up and required correcting.  I had to have fluid drained from the lining around my lungs twice, some blood pressure problems and a case of covid.  With that said, I am recovering well and feeling better every day.  Thanks be to God!

When this problem with my heart showed up, I began to think about the thought process in someone’s mind going through an issue like this.  I quickly realized that there were lots of answers to this question, but my thoughts lead me to the only place I felt safe going.  I went to Jesus.  As I spent time in prayer about all that was ahead of me, God gave me peace, that peace that surpasses understanding.  I knew my wife was also praying about it, and we had a lot of other people praying about it also.  My wife has a tendency to get anxious and worry about things like this, but when we discussed it, she said that God had given her peace about it and she knew it would be fine.  This was wonderful to hear, but also a surprise.

The more time I spent in prayer and fellowship with Jesus, the more he encouraged me and strengthened my faith and trust in him.  God led me during this time to notes I had taken, about a year earlier, from a sermon by Dr. Charles Stanley in which he gave eight reasons God allows storms in our lives.  This is the list as I wrote it down.  1) To get our attention.  2) To get us to repent.  3) To conform us to His image.  4) To equip us for service.  5) To demonstrate His power in our lives.  6) To reveal Himself to us.  7) To demonstrate His love.  8) To remind us of who is in control. 

After reading the list several times I knew God was trying to tell me something.  I knew God’s hand was in all that was going on, and that I needed to trust Him through it all.  Our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His love for us, must be out front as we enter the storm and as we go through it.  When we have storms come up in our lives, and we will have storms, our attitude must be right.  When we are going through a storm in our lives, God is up to something, and we need to seek His wisdom so we can get through it trusting that He is in it with us.  Most of the time our first response is to ask God to change our circumstances, when God is using our circumstance to change us.  If God is changing us, then it is good change and we need to cooperate.

As I look back, almost a year after the surgery, God has been, and continues to be, in the midst of this storm in my life.  The following is my list of major things I have seen and learned as I reflect on the last year.  

There is a lot we can learn from the storms of life, if we have the correct attitude.  Romans 12:12 gives us that attitude, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”  I knew this attitude was important and I was successful sometimes and not so successful at other times during my recovery.

Here is my list at this point of my recovery.  1) God is in control.  He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipotent, and he will be with me through the storm.  2)  It will be good for me if I go through the storm with the right attitude.  3) God does work in and through our lives if we allow him to by being obedient.  4) When storms come, we often ask God to change our circumstance, but instead if we will trust him and cooperate, he will use our circumstances to change us.  To change us more into the likeness of Jesus.  5) God will see that his will, his plans and purposes, are accomplished according to his timing.  6) I cannot get through the storm in my own power, but I will get through the storm in God’s grace and power, that he has already given me.  7) God is patient, and he is a God of second chances.  8) If we trust God and his promises during our storms, and as we listen to him and obey him, we find that we draw closer to him and our faith and commitment to him grows, and we see his love for us more clearly.  Storms provide the opportunity to know God better and this is the greatest gift we could receive from the storms that come our way.

We must be alert when storms come because our enemy the devil loves to ride the waves of a storm as he searches like a roaring lion to keep us from being joyful, patient, or faithful, during the storm.  He tries to keep us from seeking God’s wisdom to sustain us through the storm.  God’s wisdom is to be able to see our circumstances from God’s perspective (the whole picture) and to respond according to God’s moral, ethical, and righteous principles found in his Word.

When writing this testimony, I tried to condense it as much as possible.  I left out a lot of details, but it tells the story.  I’ve learned a lot in this process and now I understand a little better how people going through major storms in their lives get depressed and despondent.  They don’t go through it with the right attitude, being joyful, patient, or faithful.  They don’t know Jesus.  They may know about Jesus but knowing about something is different from actually believing something and letting it change how you think, speak, and act.

Get to know God.  Spent time in His Word and in prayer, talking and listening to Him.  Learn to hear His voice.  The change in your attitudes that will happen, will be the best changes you could ever hope for.  You get to know God better.

I will end with this short statement.  NOW I SEE, GOD HAS BEEN IN IT ALL ALONG!

John L. Hensel Jr.

Your Word Is A Lamp To My Feet And A Light For My Path.
Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

Have you ever been in a forest on a dark night when it is pitch dark, with no moon, stars, or other sources of light?  Imagine that you did not come prepared for the darkness and had no matches, flashlight, lantern, or other source of light.  You begin to hear all kinds of noises around you, but you do not know what is making the noises or where they are coming from.  Maybe you recognize some of the noises as insects, frogs, night birds or even a coyote howl.  But the noise of something walking or moving through the dry leaves around you, or the sudden snap of a twig breaking can be a little frightening.  You would certainly like to be somewhere else, but you do not know which way to go since you cannot see any paths or even what is in front of you or at your feet.  It is a scary feeling, and it can be especially frightening for someone who is not familiar with being in the forest, especially on a dark night.  When sunrise approaches the sky begins to lighten and the darkness begins to disappear as the light of the sun overcomes and replaces the darkness.  As this happens you start seeing what is around you, and your fears begin to disappear.  You are now able to see what is around you, and the path you need to follow to get home or to your desired destination.

When we became Christians God’s light begins to shine into our lives revealing what has been hidden by darkness.  As we grow in our relationship with God and as we learn more of His word and truths, His light grows in intensity just like a sunrise on a clear day.  God’s light overcomes darkness in our lives and as the light reveals truth our fear turns to peace and joy, and we find hope, trust, and faith with increasing measure.

​​​​​​​The Path Of The Righteous Is Like The First Gleam Of Dawn, Shining Ever Brighter Till The Full Light Of Day. But The Way Of The Wicked Is Like Deep Darkness; They Do Not Know What Makes Them Stumble.  Proverbs 4:18-19 (NIV)

Have you ever been in the Smokey Mountains in the fall when the leaves are changing colors?  Picture the hills and valleys early in the morning before sunrise when it is still dark.  Everything is seen in shades of gray and black and details are not clear.  As sunrise comes the sky lightens and the hillsides start to show the vibrant autumn colors.  The details of the hills, the valleys, the trees and the leaf colors become clearer as the light reveals them.  As the sun rises above the horizon and the sunlight hits the hillsides, the colors and details explode with beauty and God’s creation puts on a glorious display that awes everyone who sees it.  Like the sunrise revealing the details and beauty of creation, God’s light overcomes the darkness in our spiritual lives so the beauty of who we are in Christ can become evident in our lives for others to see.  We must surrender our lives to Jesus Christ so His light can overcome the darkness in our lives.  We must open our lives to the Holy Spirit’s presence and let God’s light overcome all the darkness in our lives.  What parts of your life are you trying to hide from God?  Surrender it to Him, He already knows about it and He is waiting to bless you with freedom and healing. 

Test The Spirits To See Whether They Are From God,  Because Many False Prophets Have Gone Out Into The World.  1 John 4:1 (NIV)

Test Everything.  Hold On To The Good.  Avoid Every Kind Of Evil.  1 Thessalonians 5:21-22(NIV)

The Lord has blessed my life by allowing me the opportunity to spend time in the outdoors, hunting, fishing, or just wandering through many different areas of His wonderous creation.  I have learned through this time in the outdoors to see details and things out of place in nature and this has protected me from danger and disaster any number of times.  I have learned to do so over many years of practice.  As and example, I was walking down an old leaf covered roadbed on a day that had started off cold.  I would not have anticipated that I would encounter any reptiles or amphibians, even though it had warmed up by midday.  As a result, I had not considered putting on a pair of snake boots as I normally would during the warmer times of the year.  I caught myself in mid-step as I notice something at my feet that did not look right.  As I looked down to focus in the road at my feet I saw that my next step would have been on or right next to a 4' canebrake rattlesnake and he was not at all sluggish as a result of the cold morning.  I am thankful for the ability to pick up on small details that allowed me to see the snake before it became a problem.  

The Lord showed me how this is similar to becoming more spiritually discerning and learning to hear God's voice.  As we practice and spend time in His word and presence we get better, but it takes time and practice.  As we learn to hear Him and gain spiritual discernment we must put it to use and share with others what we hear and learn.  Spend time with God and in His Word.  Learn to hear His voice.  You must also learn to discern Satan's voice and presence in your life, so you can take your stand and resist him.

No Temptation Has Seized You Except What Is Common To Man. And God Is Faithful; He Will Not Let You Be Tempted Beyond What You Can Bear. But When You Are Tempted, He Will Also Provide A Way Out So That You Can Stand Up Under It. ​​​​​​​1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

In my quiet time with the Lord I saw myslef preparing to go fishing and I was trying to decide on what type artificial lure I should use.  Artificial lures are imitations of the real prey (bait), they are not the real thing.  They look like the real thing or an exaggerated version of the real thing and are used to deceive so the fish will think it is the real thing and grab the lure and become hooked.  This is often how satan works as the deceiver, he imitates the good things of God and unless we are discerning we often gram the lure (temptation) and get hooked and reeled into sin.

How do we get discernment?  From the Word of God and through prayer. (Duet. 30:19) (1Cor 10:13).  Remember that if you are in Christ He will give you a way out before yo get hooked, or if hooked Hi is the only way to shake loose.