Hearts United Women's Ministry

Knitting Hearts Café
Message & Testimony By Bonita Britt
 “Restoration, Redemption, & Restoration”
Written by Sue Sanders

When guests walked into Bethesda’s fellowship hall, they felt welcomed. A tasty continental breakfast, radiant greeters, round tables beautifully decorated, and joy filled conversations set the stage for the fellowship, worship, praise dancing, and teaching that would follow. Lisa Salyards’s song, “Thy Will Be Done,” and Joyce Sanders’s opening prayer focused on expecting, being hungry for more of God, and experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit. The praise team’s first song was a declaration: “I want the joy of the Lord to come down. I want the joy of the Lord to fall now. I want the joy of the Lord in my life. I want the joy of the Lord to lift me. I want the joy of the Lord to change me. I want the joy of the Lord in my life.” Then we invited the Presence of the Lord requesting that He open the Heavens, send His living water, and come rain down on us. The tempo rose even higher as we sang “Shout to the Lord” singing for joy at the works of His hands, declaring that we would love Him forever. Shelika Daniels’s praise dance focused on obedience, being empty inside and crying out to God for a breakthrough: “Father, hear my pleas, need You to rescue me. I’m broken and bruised. Speak a Word to me.” This song expressed themes of Bonita’s message.

Before Bonita spoke, Joyce Sanders shared Psalm 66:16-20.

“ Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me. ¹⁷ For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke. ¹⁸ If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. ¹⁹ But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. ²⁰ Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me.

The speaker, Bonita Britt, believes in being transparent. Joyce’s Scripture reading reinforces the testimony that Bonita shared. She asked us to be open, to surrender to God’s voice. Her message had three parts: Inner Healing, Emotional Healing, and Physical Healing.

When Bonita was 7, she was in a coma for 7 days. While she was in the coma, she went to Heaven and communed with Jesus. She wanted to stay, but Jesus sent her back. Seven is significant because it symbolizes completion. Bonita’s relationship with her mother was broken. Her mom, being a broken and bruised individual herself, did not know how to love. She herself went from man to man. Bonita was raped night after night when she was 13 until her mother moved them from this home. Bonita’s mom abused her through her speech: “You no good. A man going use you.” The verbal abuse caused Bonita to believe that her mother hated her, and she became very afraid of her.

Bonita didn’t talk about what had happened and was happening to her; instead, she suppressed the hurts, closing herself up to others, feeling ashamed and afraid that others would judge her. By age 16 she had become promiscuous. She stated, “When you open the doors of your mind, you can get into demonic interferences. God wants us to be free from bondage.” Bonita started working for a woman who was in charge of call girls. She started setting up the appointments for the call girls. Then later Bonita, herself, became a call girl. The men were wealthy, so Bonita was able to live well financially. She was living out her mom’s words about being promiscuous. Bonita declared, “God will work right in your mess.” Eventually, Bonita got out of the business and used the money she had saved to go to college.

There are signs that we are emotionally unhealthy.

Emotional triggers—signs that you have open wounds:

1. Overreaction, holding grudges, instant replay, memory recall, insecurities, low self-esteem.
2. Relationship issues.
3. Bad patterns
4. Depression, mood swings
5. Abandonment
6. Broken Trust
7. Lack of commitment
8. Rejection.

Bonita recalls feeling that everything was meaningless. She wore masks, covering up the real person inside. “Nobody knew the real me. I was wounded, hurt, bound.” She shared, “We can’t change ourselves. We have to turn to the Father. Childhood issues stay with us and create the adults that we become. Hurt people hurt people.” Although drugs were always available, she rejected them. She feels as if God covered her. She came out of sexual addiction and has now been celibate for 20 years.

Steps to Healing

1. Follow God. It doesn’t happen overnight. We must make moment by moment choices to be obedient.
2. Choose Healthy Relations with Others
3. Healthy thinking must be based on Scripture. We need to meditate on the Word.
4. We must walk out the Word.
5. Confess our sins one to another.
6. Take control of our thoughts. Let the Holy Spirit direct us.
7. Forgive others.
8. Learn to forgive and love ourselves.

The last part of her message was about physical healing. Bonita recalls that she had good jobs, but she desired to be married. She did marry, but she took her hurts and bondages into her marriage. Bonita had a 5-year old when she married. She worked, and her husband stayed home, cooked and cleaned. Bonita started getting sick. She developed a hole in her stomach. The acid burned out her esophagus and stomach. A prophet told her brother: “Her husband is poisoning her.” Bonita got worse and worse until she became schizophrenic. Her husband had been putting acid in her food. The doctor wanted to put a trach in, but she refused. She declared, “God is going to heal me.” She developed phobias, and for 2 years her daughter took care of her. She had soul ties to the men she had been with. They began haunting her, and she talked to these spiritual men. She was actually communicating with demons. She was a captive of her fear. Everyone thought that she was crazy. She could not even walk. The pain was extreme, and she was on 18 different medications. Her lungs collapsed. She had cancer of the throat, esophagus, and stomach. She could not speak. However, God had a purpose for her. The Lord came to her and told her that she would meet Benny Hinn. A young lady took her to one of Benny Hinn’s crusades. The warfare escalated. It seemed as if the demons were trying to prevent her from entering. God opened the doors for her so that she was healed and even vomited blood clots. Benny Hinn said, “Daughter, you are okay. You are just being purged.” Later the doctors laughed at her when she told them she was healed. When she went for her surgery, the doctors found no cancer. She was not healed of all sicknesses immediately, but she has been progressively healed. Someone who could not talk stood today sharing her story and has her own ministry.

The meeting closed with prayers for healing and deliverance.

God opened up the Heavens. He rained down upon us. He sent His living water. The Father listened to the pleas of the broken and bruised. He paid attention.

We rested in the Truth in the song, “Thy Will Be Done”: “I know you see me. I know You hear me. Your plans are for me. Goodness You have in store.