Watoto Church Co-founder Marilyn Skinner was born deaf in one ear.
After a medical diagnosis, she was also found to have a disease in the upper parts of her body that was eating its way to her brain.
“It was going to eventually kill me,” Marilyn revealed during the Watoto Sisterhood gathering on Friday in Kampala.
“The doctors told my parents that I needed surgery. They were going to take me to the theater. The surgery would save my life, but it would leave me permanently deaf in the other ear,” she added.
It was at this point that Marilyn learnt that prayer has the power to potentially change any situation.
“The night before surgery, my dad called me forward,” Marilyn narrated.
Adding: “He laid hands on me. And he said, ‘Jesus, thank you that I’ve encountered You. Thank You that I know you. Lord, I also know what you’re capable of. And I pray that when they take my little girl to the surgery tomorrow, they will only find scar tissue of where the disease was.'”
“You know what? They took me for surgery, they put me to sleep. 30 minutes later, they came out to my mother and they said, ‘You can take her home now. All we’ve found is scar tissue of where the disease was,'” she revealed.
Marilyn’s testimony sparked off applause from the congregation.
“My parents had had an encounter with God. They knew who God was; And they knew what He was capable of. My dad was a pastor. He never pastored more than 150 people in his life. But I’ll never forget it. I was six years old,” she said.
Marilyn urged the Church never to underestimate the power of the love of God because long before He laid down earth’s foundations, he had them in mind.
“He is capable of the impossible,” she emphasized.
“I went through a time in my life where I didn’t love myself, I felt very insecure and insignificant. I never finished high school. I was never good in school. I was an average student,” Marilyn, now grand mother to many, opened up further more.
“But God sees something in you that is worth having. When He looks at you, He doesn’t see junk. He sees something valuable. You may feel rejected by other people. You may not have a man in your life, but I want to tell you that God sees something in you worth having and knowing. He wants to encounter you. And He’s just waiting for you to say, ‘Father, I want to have that encounter with you.'” she said.
Marilyn’s sermon was centered on helping women live with purpose.
“You’re bound up by chains of insecurity. You’re bound up by chains of rejection, by chains of abandonment, chains of shame. I’ve come to tell you tonight my sister that you can have an encounter with God that will set you free from the things that are holding you captive, because as long as you’re held in captivity, you’ll never be a woman on purpose,” she said.
“You will never live with purpose unless you first have an encounter with God, that’s where it begins. My encounter with God began 58 years ago,” she added. “Before Jesus could leave the splendor of heaven, become humanity, allow himself to be tortured and go to the cross, he had an encounter with His father. Before He could fulfill His purpose, He had an encounter with his father, and you know what that encounter brought? He came to know who God was and what He is capable of.”
Watoto Sisterhood is a ministry of Watoto Church that mobilses women to unite into a powerful force for good on earth.
The initiative includes discipleship and mentorship activities intended to equip women for their God-given purpose.
