One Amazing Account Showing Almighty God Cares About Ordinary People

Ever heard a story you’ve just got to share? Wondered about the details of a favorite Christian singer/songwriter’s life? Me, too! That’s why I’ve got to share Jonathan’s story! It’s one amazing account showing Almighty God cares about ordinary people.

Jonathan Helser’s story began long before his first breath. In fact, the Creator who formed his tiny frame inside his mother’s womb waited for just the right moment to reveal His plan.

 

Mom and Dad

Ken earned his living traveling with a rock band, played around with the drugs flowing at the time, and practiced the infidelity so common in his social environment.

Then, in 1970, everything changed. Jesus became the center of their lives and marriage. Not only did Jesus forgive them of all past sin, Linda forgave Ken’s three and a half years of unfaithfulness. With discipline and commitment to God and each other, the two began living a life pleasing to the Lord.

Six years later, one call from Linda’s doctor plunged the couple into the darkness shared by millions of families today. Linda had uterine cancer. The total hysterectomy would be performed in two weeks, removing all of her reproductive parts.

While Ken grieved for what his beloved Linda faced, he reasoned they had two terrific girls, making their family complete already. Ken told no one about his profound fear that his former use of drugs may one day affect the genetic makeup of one of his kids. He felt some relief that now there’d be no risk they’d get pregnant again. Then, Ken received a phone call.

 

Retired-teacher, present-day prophet

Two weeks before the scheduled hysterectomy, a retired teacher phoned Ken to request they meet. The teacher explained he spent hours in the evening at the local ballfield and playground, praying as prompted by the Lord. He had something he wanted to share with Ken.

Ken didn’t really know the teacher, having met him on only one occasion, but he agreed to listen. This is what the teacher shared:

Last night when I was praying on the ballfield, Jesus suddenly appeared before me. I’d never had that happen. Jesus said everything was okay, but He had a message He wanted me to give to his servant, Ken Helser.

Jesus wanted me to tell you

• He has healed your seed;
• you’re going to have a son–Jonathan David;
• he will play the harp;
• he will sing like an angel;
• he will write prophetic songs for his generation; and
• his music will go out to all the earth.

In 1976, the tech world had a few decades of inventing before the click of a mouse brought songs to any spot on the planet. Besides, Linda had cancer and needed the scheduled hysterectomy, didn’t she?

Hearing the dramatic message, Ken had only one question: “God, is this You?” He sensed in his spirit it was. The message began to grow in his heart. “I had no idea I wanted a son so badly.”

Ken and Linda prayed together, followed by a call to her OB/GYN. The doctor agreed to do one more test to confirm the hysterectomy was needed.

The doctor did the D and C on Friday before Monday’s surgery. Ken and Linda returned to the office for the results the following day.

“The pathologist is baffled,” the doctor told the couple. “He called me three times to confirm this is the same patient. Ken, your wife is 200% okay.”

Soon after, Linda and Ken became pregnant. Would the prophetic message from the retired teacher be confirmed? Had God really healed Ken’s seed, or would they be facing an even more devastating health challenge?

 

Jonathan David

In due time, just as the teacher had told Ken, Linda delivered a healthy baby boy.

According to his father, Jonathan David Helser was all boy. “He loved sports. If there was a ball, Jonathan was into it.”

Jonathan David showed no interest in music at all. His parents told their son only that God had healed his mommy so he could be born into their family.

Linda and Ken withheld the rest of what the teacher shared. They didn’t push Jonathan toward music. His parents believed the Lord would confirm the God-given gifting in His own way and time.

As Jonathan approached high school, one wonders if they pondered helping things along. Should they suggest music lessons of some kind? A harp? Since today’s guitars are to this generation what harps were to the youth during the time of King David, should they buy him a guitar?

Ken and Linda waited, holding God’s promise in their hearts—for twenty years.

 

Gifting confirmed

After Jonathan graduated high school, a seed of desire for music sprouted. One evening, nineteen-year-old Jonathan entered his father’s room with the question that changed their lives forever.

“Daddy, didn’t you used to play the guitar? Could you teach me some chords?”

Ken delighted in teaching his son the basics. Before long, Linda and Ken sent Jonathan off to a Youth With A Mission Discipleship Training School (YWAM DTS) in England—equipped with a Bible and a guitar. They’d come for a visit in a couple of months.

On the last night of visiting Jonathan at the school, some of their son’s friends suggested Ken listen to Jonathan’s worship songs. Taking out a little cassette recorder, Ken told his son he’d like to hear him play, and he’d share the recording with his sisters back home.

Not only had Jonathan’s skill with the guitar dramatically improved, Ken sat in stunned amazement to learn the lyrics of the worship song had been written by his son. The words of the teacher-prophet had become reality.

The quiet young Jonathan continued composing beautiful music with lyrics that challenged his generation to follow God. The road ahead would soon round a bend that put Jonathan’s faith to the test. What would happen to his gifting when he struggled to trust God in the face of such profound personal trials?

 

Melissa

With the start of a new millennium came a change in Jonathan’s life. Melissa and Jonathan became one, committing their lives to one another in sickness or in health.

Familiar with his own mother’s testimony of miraculous healing, Jonathan had no doubt Melissa’s story happened just as she explained it to him.

At the age of seventeen, Melissa received the diagnosis of Psoriatic Arthritis. The painful, debilitating disease ate away at skin and bones in each joint of the body. Besides the many skin sores, even the simple movements needed for the routines of daily living brought unbelievable pain. Her doctors warned Melissa had about eighteen months to live.

The prescribed chemotherapy treated the disease, but in spite of enduring the side-effects, the treatment didn’t seem to ease Melissa’s pain. Many times, her parents fasted and prayed for God to touch their daughter.

Melissa’s father served as a pastor in a church familiar with praying for the sick. She’d seen God heal people as a result of the prayers. For the first time, the healing prayers focused on Melissa. Her father took her to every Tent Revival from North Carolina to Florida. Still, the disease progressed.

One evening, as Melissa drove to a meeting held in another church, hope began to fill her heart. “I knew the speaker would talk about healing; I could just feel it would be different this time.”

Imagine the teen’s disappointment when the man announced he’d be speaking about bitterness. At seventeen, she saw his message would have no relevance to her life. Melissa defiantly announced to God that He’d better do something quick or she’d be out of there.

Barely into his message, the speaker abruptly stopped. He looked over the auditorium and said, “Someone here needs to be released from bitterness. If that’s you, would you please stand.”

Of course, Melissa did what everyone else in the room did—looked around to see who had bitterness. abruptly, without conscious intention, she joined the others standing.

She began to cry as thoughts of past bitterness over rejection, church splits, and things her family had endured flooded her mind. About the time her sobbing reached its zenith, Melissa realized everyone else had taken their seats. She was the only person still standing.

The young woman raced from the church, fleeing to her car. As she slid behind the wheel, she sensed someone open the passenger door and sit. Somehow, Melissa got the key in the ignition and pulled onto the road.

Suddenly, the teen recognized her passenger. Jesus said to her, “What are you doing, Mellissa? I’ve given you the authority and courage to stand and fight this disease. Why are you laying down and dying? Stand up and fight. I’ll pour my oil on the fire in your body.”

From that moment on, Melissa took charge. She not only prayed and worshiped God, she tossed away the dreadful medications. She began a thirty-day fast, consuming only juices.

By the end of the fast, Melissa completely regained her health. No debilitating pain or stiffness. No horrendous skin sores. Jesus had poured his oil of healing over the fire in Melissa’s body, just as He said He would.

One year later, boy meets girl. The next year, boy marries girl. The next year, boy and girl are pregnant. The next year, boy and girl welcome Cadence into their family.

Sounds like a storybook tale for Jonathan and Melissa, right? They’re deeply in love with each other, with Jesus, and with their new baby son. What could disturb their peaceful world of singing and composing worship songs?

 

Challenge Entrusted

With only one year of parenting under their belt, tragedy struck. Melissa awoke one day to find the disease had returned, with a vengeance.

Soon, sores covered nearly 80% of Melissa’s body. Her hands had difficulty opening a lid. Some days, she struggled to pull her stiffening, pain-wracked body out of bed to care for Cadence.

Three years into the return of the dreadful agony, beautiful Haven joined their family. How Melissa longed to experience the normal, fun-filled times of playing with her new baby girl and pre-school son.

For seven years, Melissa and Jonathan lived a life of pain. Together, they walked through this valley of death, praying for the Lord’s touch to heal Melissa.

Then, one day as Melissa sat with the Lord, she sensed Jesus wanted her to take the medication she’d taken when first diagnosed at age seventeen. Of course, Melissa wanted another Divine healing, not to wade through the side effects of the chemotherapy drugs.

Jonathan and Melissa lived obeying the Lord, so the young mother agreed to submit to the doctor’s recommendation. Melissa found immediate relief from both pain and debilitating swelling. The side effects from the drugs had to be endured, but Melissa returned to more normal routines for a wife and mother of two.

How long will the complex dance of disease and medication be a part of Melissa’s life? Did they put on hold their worship ministry and composing songs for their generation?

 

Jonathan and Melissa

In the battlefield of adversity, many songwriters have birthed some of their most powerful songs. The same is true for Jonathan and Melissa, but their focus is on the faithfulness of God—His grace under unbelievable circumstances, His love and mercy unconditionally extended, and His perfect plan for each life on the planet. No doom and gloom saturation in self-pity or wading through waters of bitterness or resentment. Their struggles are real, their trust in God genuine.

The lyrics of the Helser duo are an honest reflection of their lives, but the listener will always find encouragement, gaining strength to believe God in the midst of their own challenges.

The lengthy return of Melissa’s illness did not interrupt the call on Jonathan’s life to produce worship music for his generation. In fact, Melissa is an active partner in every aspect of Jonathan’s calling. Truly the Lord has made the two one.

The Helsers are reaching more than their generation with the talented singing and songwriting, but their ministry stretches farther than the recording studio or concert stage. Jonathan and Melissa have spent every summer since their marriage leading camps for teens and young people. The couple joined Ken and Linda, who founded the North Carolina training and retreat center, A Place for the Heart, in 1985. Melissa and Jonathan share his parents’ vision for God’s kids to come to really know Him.

“Our hearts burn to see a generation living from healthy hearts, who can hear the Father’s voice saying, ‘This is my beloved.’ Every year we commit to this dream by leading students from all over the world.” (from 18 Inch Journey page of A Place for the Heart website)

Only God knows when Melissa’s body will be healed of the horrible disease. It’s clear that God’s using her mightily in the midst of her health challenges. I listened to an interview via YouTube, and it’s abundantly obvious that Jonathan loves Melissa deeply, as well as values her partnership in ministry.

 

Conclusion

The prophetic words of the retired teacher are alive today, reaching people all over the world via the internet. Jonathan and Melissa are international conference speakers, as well as gifted singer/songwriters.

Equally important is the young couple’s faithful testimony. Even after fourteen years of praying for Melissa’s body to be made whole again, they continue to obey God, remaining committed to one another.

Please, take a few moments to listen to Jonathan and Melissa singing, You Came. Just click the link and wait to be blessed!

 

 

If you’d like to know more about the Helser’s, check out the ministry website:

www.aplacefortheheart.org