Moving in the Strength You Have - Kristi Overton Johnson - Revival of Hope 2026

It was amazing. I got to go into prisons, I got to go into orphanages, but the first part of the trip was not awesome, because after 48 hours of going there, a kidney zone decided to dislodge, and so two days after I landed and I'm on the -- you got some bouncy highways, well, this was in Malawi, actually. Malawi had some really rough roads. Kenya was actually really good in comparison. And seven hours of bouncing the next day, that thing dislodged, and it was rough. And for days, I got to visit the hospital, and then for days, I'm laying in this hotel room while everybody else goes on the mission, and I'm like, "Lord, I don't understand. Why would you -- and people's voices are starting to come. God's trying to sit you down. You go so hard he had to send you all the way to Kenya to put you in a hotel room, so you'll rest." I really didn't need that. There were other voices, and then there's the internal voice that tells you you might have missed it. Maybe you weren't supposed to be here. And I kept praying, and even the people with me, they're godly people. They're like, "You're going home, right?" But God hadn't told me to go home. God had given me enough sense to know if I climbed on a plane for one of the plane rides was 16 hours, and I'm getting over the ocean and having another kidney stone attack. I'm going to be in trouble, and so are all those people in that plane with me. So I decided I'm going to stay where I am, because sometimes trusting God is staying, staying still and watching what God's going to do, and sometimes it's going. And so I kept hearing the word "go," like, "Where am I going?" And when the team's dispersed and Jack Brewer's team, they go back to America, I was flying to Kenya by myself to connect with a man and his family that I met on the internet. How does that sound? And I have a husband that lets me go connect with men that I meet on the internet.

"Kimmy, you're crazy." So it's because we've heard from God. We've heard a word from God, and he's heard from God to let her go. And so I kept hearing in my spirit, "Go, go," but you have to know me. You don't become a world champion, water skier by being timid and cowardly and not being a little bit hard-headed. And I had someone say to me one time, "Your greatest strength is that you can keep going and you can keep going and you can keep going." It created this ability for you to keep getting up and say and hit it to that boat driver when everything in you was screaming, "Stop." You kept saying, "Hit it instead of acquit it." And that's what led to the top of the podiums. So I didn't trust myself. I said, "God, what if it's me saying, 'Go,' what if I'm being so stubborn that I'm going to risk my life by going and put myself in danger?" I have to hear from you because I'm hearing all these voices out there and all these voices in here and all of a sudden I heard this go in the strength you have. And this is why you've got to know the Word of God because immediately I recognized judges 614 because Gideon's story is one of my favorites. And Gideon was hurting, Gideon's in this wine press, and if you've been to Israel and you've seen a wine press, it is this hollowed out stone area where you get in there and squish in with their clean feet, I hope, squish in and that wine just goes on down and gets into these vats. Well, he, if you read a story, he is not pressing wine with his feet. He is beating wheat and he's hiding, and this is something that should have been done in public because you want the wind to come through and blow the shaft away. But he was too afraid there was so much coming against him that he had lost hope. So he's hiding and that's when God's man shows up on the scene with a word. And here's what Gideon says, "If God's so good, where is he? If God's so good, why is all this happening, where are your people?

If God's so good, where are the miracles? And God doesn't give him an answer. God says, "Go in the strength that you have." I'm not giving you an answer while that happened, but what I'm telling you is you're a mighty man of valor. You're a mighty woman of valor, lady in pink right there. Woo-hoo. You're a mighty woman of valor, a mighty man of valor. me as you're a champion. God didn't see a scared man in the world. In a few chapters later, you see that man up, blowing the trumpet, calling the battle craw. You see that man going into war against tens of thousands of people with 300. When God says, send that army home, there's too many. I won't get the glory with that many. Get him down, what was it, 300? Send him on home and he marches against thousands with 300 men. How does somebody do that? Because they have a word from God. They knew God's calling when God said, I choose you, you go. They knew their identity. When I heard go in the strength that you have, even though it didn't make sense. Lord, why would you send me to Malawi to lay here? When everybody else is in a maximum security prison, because you called me to prison ministry. Why would you sit me down? And so I want to share a little bit with you how I was able to fan and to flame the hope in me that

was confused, that was starting to get a little bit dwindled down, and I didn't know what to do. The first thing I did, and Sheridan, you'll love this because I hear her doing it all the time. And that is clicking on that praise music. I laid there in that room with that music just blaring, right here by my ear. Even in the midst of, and any told my mom and dad this stuff or my husband, in the midst of the attack, and I'm bouncing down this highway in this van with people who were strangers two days before, and I'm literally kicking the ceiling of the van screaming. I was crying out to God saying, God, I trust you. You didn't bring me this far to let me die. And if I do die, thank you that I'm going to heaven. Like, I kept screaming out, and the young girl behind me, a young Hispanic girl, I just met. We were roommates sharing a bed, just met. And she's putting her hand through and putting the praise music up, and she's singing over me. And there's kids in the back going, what's happened? Literally, I hear, what's happening right now? Because Jack's kids were with us. But what they got to see is, what do you do when you're hurting? What do you do when the pain's so bad? And you're there, and you don't have your husband, and you don't have your mom, and you don't have your doctors. Because when I went into that hospital, it looked like I was on the set of mash. And I was like, I got to get out of here.

Even Jack came up, he goes, you ain't coming out with all your body parts. We got to get some pain pills, we got to get some sleeping pills, and we got it out of here. And I was so thankful for the welcome that I got at that hospital and the love. But I was really thankful when I got back to the Marriott in Malawi. And here's where the cries turned to Thanksgiving. Thank you, God, that I'm here with Jack Brewer in them right now. And they know the former president of this country, that if I really need some attention, I can get some. Thank you, God, that this bed is so comfortable, that even though I'm hurting, that I can just snuggle up to this down pillow. And I can tell you this, not one person on the other side of that hotel had a down pillow. They didn't have the hot water that I had, the tub, even that I was able to soak in. They didn't have that. So I had to turn my cries to worship. I had to turn the cries to Thanksgiving. I thank God, you got to get up, get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up, get up, get up out of that grave. Get up, get up, get up. Get up out of that grave because he's not going to fail you. You always see this, he won't fail. He won't.

And that's what you got to remind yourself of. So I made it to Kenya, and I'm met by a man from the internet with roses and his two beautiful daughters. And I get to his house, and I'm welcomed by his other four daughters and his wife. And I am fed dinner, and I was hungry, but I was like, how do you ask your host for food, like right as you walk in the door? At 10 p.m. at night, they had chicken and rice and japatis and all sorts of things laid out for me. And they had all waited for me, three-year-old, the four-year-old, the 10-year-old, the 12-year-old, all of them there, just like little step ages. And they were there waiting to eat at 10 p.m., hungry for their guests. And they walked me out, and they gave me the best of their house. And I got to experience new things, like what it is to boil water and take a bath in a bucket. And it was the most glorious thing I'd ever experienced because as I was pouring that water, I was like, Lord, I got up and I went and I didn't have any strength, but I went in the strength that I had. And as you said, Lisa, grace was sufficient for me. And then when I took a step, even hurting, he met me there and he held my hand and he got me to the next step and he got me on the airplane and he got me off in Nigeria.

In Nairobi, Kenya, not Nairobi. And he got me on that ride over to their house and I was like, God, you've been faithful. I went in the strength that I had, which is this much and your grace and your strength was sufficient and made perfect in my weakness. And so what do we have to do when everything's coming against you? You got to cling. She's already, you stole everything Lisa that I was gonna say earlier, but it's good because it's gonna be a reminder 'cause what do we have to hear things? Two or three times to get it? And it was vernators, it's just confirmation. I said, she needs to stop, she's taking all of it. And it was to remember, like remember who God is. That's what Paul over and over, when he's like, Acts 27 is one of my favorite stories too. And he has been given a word. You're gonna appear to Caesar. You're going to Rome, Paul. But Paul finds himself in a ship that's going back and forth. People are throwing up. People are throwing off the luggage and the food and all the provisions. They're cutting the, no, they're dragging the anchors. They're taking down the sales.

And here's what Paul says. It says, "When all hope was lost." Paul looked at the man. He says, "Take courage, men. "We're gonna crash." The ship's going down. But I have a word. God has told me that I'm gonna appear before Caesar and Rome. So what does that mean? I'm not gonna die today. And you know what else the angel of the Lord told me? That not one soul was lost. So you may have to swim to shore hanging onto a plank. And they did, 'cause that's what the Bible says. And Acts 27, that some swam and some clung to the rubbish and they swam to shore. So now you think it's gonna be all great. But then he gets bit by snake, a viper. But what does Paul do? He shakes it off and he keeps going in the strength that he has, knowing that he's going to prison. He's gonna stand trial and he's got all these things that are coming, but yet he keeps going in the strength that he has. Why? Because he had a calling. He remembered his calling. He remembered who God was.

He remembered what God said. But the only way you can know that, ladies, is getting in the Word. So when you hear, go in the strength that you have, you know, that's not me. That's not gas in my stomach. That's not indigestion. That's just not this feeling. That is God saying, go. I don't know that, are the pictures working? If there's a picture of Ivy and I, I'll get you a baby girl. Now, no cry. I hadn't thought about this story, but yesterday when I was printing out my notes, I looked at my computer and this, for some reason, was sitting there. I just moved and this was a picture that was laying there. And all hope was gone to get this little girl. My son and my husband and I, Tim, we had one biological son, Ty. He lives in Phoenix and our life was beautiful, but we knew that God had put on our heart that we were gonna have more children. And we knew that we did not feel directed to go and to seek all the doctors help. We knew we were to adopt. And the Lord had told us, He'd put on our heart, you're getting two children. But everybody kept saying, no, you're not,

you're only gonna get one. That's what the adoption agency said. But God has said two. So what did I do? Paint at a room pink. 'Cause He had said, a boy and a girl, painted a room pink. And we waited and we waited for that call and we got this call and they said, you can come get your son Dalton. His name was Denise. Where is Denise? Where is he? He's somewhere in here. They said, you can come get him, but there is no little girl for you. I said, we're coming. 'Cause that little boy waited a long time for a mom and a papa. There's no little girl for you. There's no little girl for you." But I kept remembering what God has said. He had changed my husband's heart to, we're not going to adopt to coming in and saying, "Not only are we going to adopt, we're getting two. You got to be careful what you pray for." Dalton always says it was a bo-go about one get one. That's what he says. He's told his sister that for years. So we get to Russia and that was a faith trip of its own. When you're climbing on the back of this plane that said, "Storitus," because you can't even

say that in America anymore, and you're looking at these open racks and these curtains, these planes were from a graveyard somewhere, and you're going on the back of this plane, entering from the back, and you look at a man with a broom and he's sweeping off a foot of snow with a water hose trickling out some antifreeze, and you're like, "Not the day Satan. I'm not going down today." And they were passing out vodka as the plane's going down the runway. Someone is going and the flight attendant, the stewardess as they call him, had passed out cups, and passengers are giving each other vodka, and I looked at him, I said, "They know something we don't know. This is going down, and they don't want to feel it." I said, "I can't believe," I kept saying, and I looked at him, I said, "My daddy's a poet." I said, "If he could see this, he would have a heart attack. But I can't remember him." God said, "Go." God said, "You're going to get these kids." I can't remember all that God had done to make that moment possible. All my surgeries that year, I had my whole pelvis reconstructed that year. I had arranged it, so the day I came off crutches was the day I got the call to go to Russia. I remember I packed pillows because I was in so much pain, and the pillows were to sit on the plane, and when I got off, the lady looked at me, she was, "You don't think we have pillows in Russia." I couldn't tell them how I just had surgery because I didn't want to give anybody a reason not to give me that child, Dalton. Every day we got to meet Denise, Dalton, Denise, and it's so beautiful, but I knew that only half the promise had been fulfilled, and I didn't want to settle as wonderful as he was. I couldn't just walk away and settle for half the promise, and that's what we do every day. We settle for half the promise.

God has said you're in air to everything he owns. He says that the power of God that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is in you, and yet we settle that says, "I can't do it." Yes, you can. Yes, you can, because he's in you, he's for you, he's not against you, and everything you need in this life and the life to come, it has been provided for you. So we kept praying, and here's what I heard the Lord say the night before we were leaving, ask one more time. I prayed that night, the next morning at breakfast this lady goes, "Last night a girl suddenly appeared," and she flops open this probably three-inch notebook, and there's just thousands of children, all without a mom and dad, and she said, "This little girl just appeared," she looks just like her father, talking about Tim, and this was the day that I walked him. And that little girl who has bites on her face and feces on her legs, and they brought us a tray to feed her, she almost ate the spoon out of my hand, because she was so hungry. And years later, I said, "God, I want faith that moves mountains." And you don't have to have this massive faith. He says, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move that mountain." And he said, "Christy," can you put that back up? He said, "Christy, you had faith that moved a mountain, because the reason she suddenly appeared is not because she just suddenly appeared, it's because your faith moved the mountain." You didn't believe anybody when they said, "You weren't going to get her." You didn't believe the Christian lady that would come up, and she says, "You're not going to get her. Then why would you want to orphan anyway, because you're not going to have anything but problems. There's plenty of kids in the United States, just go get one of them." And I had to just keep, she meant, "Well, but I kept having to center my thoughts in perfect peace as the one whose mom is steadfast on the Lord, and keep saying, "But you said, I'm getting a little girl on this trip We had to leave them and I wept and I wept.

And they said, don't worry, you'll be back in two weeks. We weren't back in two weeks. We were back five months later and in between in the meantime, you're waiting and they decide Americans can't adopt anymore. So they put them up for adoption and they start paying people to foster there and the kids are disappearing. But and that's when that lady says, well, if you don't get them, you can get another one. Why would you want them anyway? And I'm like, but they're my kids. They're my promise. I'm not going to not that getting someone here would settle, but that's who God had chosen for us. So I kept believing when as it says in Acts 27, when all hope was gone, I just kept believing God. And one day we got the call and we got to go. And if you could see them now, Dalton somewhere, you'll see him somewhere, he's here. Go give him a big hug, he loves hugs. Right Sheridan, you got to come in from the side and do a tap because he don't like him. If Ivy was here last year and she was one on stage and just beautiful, but if I hadn't fanned into flame, now you can put that picture from the prison guys. This was me in Novosha, Kenya, just a few weeks ago. And I don't know if you could see me. I'm the white one in the middle. And they were teaching me, Naomi, they were teaching me how to roll out chapatis, which looks like a tortilla.

And there was a piece of plywood. And we're in the prison because they don't get food in that prison unless it's brought in. So we had brought in lard, we had brought in flour, we had brought in water and Vaseline and baby diapers because there's babies in there with their mothers. And they're teaching me, they said, how come you don't know how to roll out? Now I'm going from a Russian accent to all sorts of stuff. Why don't you know how to roll these out? I said, 'cause I've never made them. They said, well, where do you get your chapatis? I said, the grocery store and they're wrapped in plastic. And so they were just laughing 'cause mine were square, mine were jagged, but we rolled them out and this lady would then come, another inmate would come with this big metal tray and they would take the chapatis, I'm not saying it right, chapatis, and they would put them on the plate for the transporter. That's what they called her, the transporter's coming. And the transporter would take it, so you can kind of see that lady's rear end at the front there, bent over. She has bent over the chapatis on an open flame, you will not see that in American prison, but this is their only source of fuel and fire. And then one lady, there was four ladies cooking and one lady went from fire to fire. She took a piece of paper, or it wasn't paper,

I think it was like a broom or something, and she fanned it into flame. And that's what the Lord reminded me of when Paul was telling Timothy, fan into flame. He didn't say, you go, and we do need to go fan someone else's flame, but he says, remember who you are, remember your calling, remember the gift that was given to you, this gift of faith, and fan into your own flame. Fan your gift, that gift of faith, that gift of hope, the gifts of this spirit, fan them in the flame by remembering where you come from, remembering in whom you serve, and don't forget. Because if you forget, he says, you're gonna be ashamed of the gospel. He says, don't be ashamed of me. He was ashamed of Paul. He was being persecuted, he was a young man in a leadership position in the flames around. See, flames burning out here, so we gotta make sure we're burning in here so we can face it. But if not, we're gonna shrink back, and that's why he kept saying, take a new grip with your tired hands and just steady your feeble knees and keep going. By remembering, by declaring, by decreeing, you've already heard everything. Your faith's gotta get loud, you gotta start talking to yourself.

Last night, I went home, and I was discouraged. And as Ashley says, we wanna cry, I actually did. I was discouraged, 'cause I said, God, where are the people? This breaks my heart. And he said, it breaks my heart, Christy. That these thousands would drop by here. And it's, the word has been out. I've been on radio stations, all these things. BJ has just pumped it up on the social media. But you're here. And that's your responsibility. It's to first keep it strong in here by all the things that you've heard today. Have your little cry if you need it. I got on the floor with my four doggies, and I said, "Asher, we had less people than last year." And I cried for 30 seconds. And I said, "But God, I know I did what you said do." And I know that at the end of the day, the people that were here that received it, they were touched. And I know that we can't give any more than we gave. So I'm gonna show up tomorrow. I'm gonna do it again, even though there's less people. And if there's only one tomorrow night, I'm gonna trust you, God, because I know I did what you said. I know I had the speakers that you said have, and I'm gonna trust your love for me,

your love for others, your plan, your purpose. And I'm not gonna quit. 'Cause Satan wants you to quit. So what are you burning you and William? Come on, not burning, burning, yes, y'all can come on. But ladies, I don't know what you named. Here's what I named. What have I been carrying? This event and the outcome of it. So I'm gonna sign the back. Lord, I've released this to you. Can you pick up your cards? And today I choose to declare that, God, you've got me, you got them. And God, you've got this, the revival of hope. God's got you, God's got your kid, God's got your situation. Give it to them. Remember, declare, decree, stand on the word. Keep fighting the good fight of faith. But then you got to surrender it. I looked at this bracelet that cruel witcher had given me right before I went to Africa and I was laying in that hotel room and this is what I said. I got so many things up here, sorry. This was my journal Sunday, August 9th, from that hotel bed. God, you could say a word, one word, and I'd be completely healed, but you're not.

But you didn't and I'm okay, but I'm confused as to why. And I'm unsure what to do next. Father, I look at this bracelet that cruel gave me. It says God's got this. You know when you sent her to my house to give it to me before I left, I needed it then as I was packing to be reminded that you had the trip. But right now I look at it and it reminds me that you knew this was coming and you have this, this sickness. So I give you this, my pain, my tears, my disappointment, the purpose, my health, this trip, my next step, my questions, you've got it all. And I'm gonna trust in the Lord with all of my heart and I'm not gonna lean on my own understanding and in all my ways I'm gonna, in my comings and my goings and my sitings and my line downs in this hotel room. I will acknowledge your lordship. I didn't even know then this was gonna be behind me. Lauren's grandfather painted this picture. He is in heaven, but a piece of him is here and it's just Jesus is Lord. Lord, you are Lord over this. And that's how you can keep going. That's how you can wait. Because then you can say, it is well with my soul. So we're gonna sing it is well with my soul. And we're gonna invite you to put your,

I don't wanna have them. There's some clips right there. I just stick them on right there. I've named it and I released it 'cause I'm not carrying that anymore. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at Victoria's Living Correspondents PO Box 2751 Greenville, North Carolina 27836. To view Victoria's Living Magazine in its entirety, please have your chaplain contact us at 352-478-2098 or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to provide our Victoria's Living Magazine free of charge in bulk with or without staples. (upbeat music)