All That I Am Today
(A ministry for THIS moment)
"Offering everything we are to the Lord."
most writing is by South Dakota author BJ Reese
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WELCOME TO ALL THAT i AM TODAY
TEACHING MINISTRY
Bonnie (BJ) Reese
Founder
Jan Suntken
Founding Partner
Kelly F. Miller
Ministry Partner
Amy K. Ellis Ministry Partner
"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." ~ 1 Corinthians 14:33
WELCOME TO . . . THE WITNESS STAND
In this new feature, we will showcase YOUR story. Your testimony. Your personal journey of faith . . . of what God has done in your life, and how He got ahold of your heart and drew you unto Himself. Or, maybe, you have a story of something wondrous He has done during a specific time in your life.
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If you have a testimony you'd like to share, click on the link above, to email it to us.
In this week's testimony Michael Reese tells us about some of the ways he recognized God's Hand working in his life when he and his wife bought their home . . . (NOTE: the name is not a trick or error: Michael is my son. ~ BJ)​
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Michael Reese, posted 8/21/2025
Life’s interesting, as you enter the world fresh out of high school you truly have no idea what you’re getting into. You fight to stay alive, try to make ends meet, float check writing and bad payday loans to whether the storm you know is coming, your just hoping to get one more day before it hits.
As you grow, and life unfolds your plans quickly make no sense at all, then life really throws you a curve and wife and kids come along. You do everything you can to be keep them healthy and your first shot falls apart, you fight through divorce courts for your kids best interest instead of your own. Without realizing it your entire life perspective just shifted on a more level!!
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You spend the next couple years as a single father fighting for them, doing everything and trying new things with no idea what you’re doing.
You meet an incredible women that radically changes your heart, without doing anything except for accepting you for you. Now you’re growing together married raising kids, both your own, and getting to know and help her kids as well. Together as a family feeling whole your moving forward, still fighting to make ends meet, still doing everything you can not to let the world around you swallow you hole like you e watched it do to too many people you knew. Over the years your family stresses about “where do we go from here?” “What are we doing” “I can’t live like this forever” “something has to change”
You’re connected with a church, learning the word, practicing it when you can, helping wherever you can. All the while the only answer your able to give each other is “it won’t be like this forever” admittedly knowing you can’t see any way through what you have or beyond what you can just barely afford.
As you grow in the church and work on growing your faith, your family, and who you all are something changes without you ever realizing it, God starts moving in ways in your life you never dreamed. You go from “it’s good enough, because we’ll never afford anything else” to “look what Gods helped us do” expanding our horizons, helping us become successful in all ways our family, our work, our walk, our social atmospheres by putting quality friends and family in our lives. Who we are today is MASSIVELY DIFFERENT then who we were when we met, we have grown, met new family and friends who have helped us out along our way. 5 years ago today we signed on a house we bought together, writing a check for $0.86 for closing costs (not a typo) because of people who took time to value who we were and what we were looking for.
We have grown in more ways than we can count, we have been helped by more people than we can possibly call or return the favor, we have been blessed in so many ways I can’t even begin to explain. Today as this reminder came across, all I can say to anyone and everyone is “Thank You” and I truly hope God blessed you as you and Him have blessed us.
(was a comment posted about the following memory, from 8/21/20)
Well it’s official, after a month and a half of paperwork, driving around and looking. Me and my beautiful wife Patti Reese are official home owners!!! We want to thank our friends Chris Quail with Remax and Aaron Underwood with Unify Mortgage for all your help along the way. You made this process fun and a lot easier than we thought it would be!!
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We are having a “moving sale” tomorrow at our current house come on by and help us relocate some of the stuff!!
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To His Glory . . . BJ, Jan, Kelly, & Amy​
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WELCOME TO . . . THE WITNESS STAND
In this new feature, we will showcase YOUR story. Your testimony. Your personal journey of faith . . . of what God has done in your life, and how He got ahold of your heart and drew you unto Himself. Or, maybe, you have a story of something wondrous He has done during a specific time in your life.
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If you have a testimony you'd like to share, click on the link above, to email it to us.
This week, Gwen Collins share the story of how God worked a medical miracle in her life . . .
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My Story
I am blessed! God worked a miracle through me! I was dying at a Colorado hospital. The doctors couldn’t diagnose me. Boarding a medical flight, I was transported to the Mayo Clinic, where God saved me! Let me tell you my story.
It started with flu-like symptoms: Feeling terrible, very weak, had night sweats, couldn’t eat, lost 45 pounds,
Too weak to lift a fork, severe anemia was rampant, iron blood levels fell below 7 g/dL (normal is 12-15 g/dL). Multiple blood transfusions were administered and iron was given by IV. My arms turned black from the incessant needle poking. The doctors gave me on multiple occasions a cocktail of medicine, which gave me nightmares. They did multiple tests, including a brain biopsy. The surgeon hit the mark, but touched my brain, which caused a stroke, resulting in numbness to my left side. I couldn’t walk, my mouth was drooping, oxygen was given at three to four liters per minute, and my feet and legs were swelling greatly. My temperature would roller coaster from mid 80s°F to 103°F. Time was a blur during the disease, all sense of time and space was lost. The simple task of thinking required intense concentration. The doctors at the Colorado hospital could not determine a diagnosis. Meanwhile, I was getting weaker all the time.
Through the grace of God and my husband’s diligent work, I was med-flighted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Upon arriving at St. Marys, we felt a sense of peace. God’s presence is evident there. It was comforting to see a picture of Jesus or a cross in every hospital room.
Within two days, the doctors at Mayo took 750 ml of fluid off my lungs, which resulted in no longer needing oxygen. I had several blood transfusions and plasma transfusions while at St Marys. Several units of iron for my anemia were applied. I was incontinent. Then within five days of arriving at Mayo, the doctors at Mayo diagnosed me with Primary CNS Lymphoma,(diffuse large B cell) a rare and aggressive white blood cell cancer. The tumor was deep within my brain, and inoperable. They started chemotherapy and physical therapy. I felt Jesus with me. He prevented me from having any pain and told me that I was going to be all right. I was in hospitals at Mayo Clinic continuously from March to late May. Then, in and out of the hospital through August.
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I was treated with MRT chemotherapy for six months and then a stem cell transplant.
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God worked through the doctors and nurses at the Mayo Clinic. I am forever grateful to them. Being treated with respect and love is standard care for them. I am thankful for all the hospital visits from family and friends.
I was in the hospital continually from February through May, then off and on through August as I received chemotherapy. I don’t know God’s purpose for this illness, but He filled my heart with such tremendous love and joy. I hope the light of Jesus shone through me during this time.
In God’s graciousness, He turned my thin, straight hair into thick, dark curls!
I have passed my 5 year mark, so no longer need follow up appointments.
God is good!
In His Name,
Gwen Collins
Psalm 30:2 "O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me."​​​​​​​​
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To His Glory . . . BJ, Jan, Kelly, & Amy​
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WELCOME TO . . . THE WITNESS STAND
In this new feature, we will showcase YOUR story. Your testimony. Your personal journey of faith . . . of what God has done in your life, and how He got ahold of your heart and drew you unto Himself. Or, maybe, you have a story of something wondrous He has done during a specific time in your life.
​
If you have a testimony you'd like to share, click on the link above, to email it to us.
This week's testimony comes to us from an old family friend, who lives in Pennsylvania. As a boy, Corey played baseball with my youngest son, Kevin. They were in Little League together and, later, in a Teen League together. Kevin pitched; Corey was his catcher. Corey's family was a real blessing to us in the weeks after Kevin's father died unexpectedly.
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When I saw Corey's post about his baptism, I was thrilled to know that we would be reunited one day in God's Kingdom. I couldn't figure out how to get the actual video copied into this space, so I have added the link to that video. Hear Corey's story, in his own words . . .
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Told by Corey Bishop, August 24, 2025
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https://www.facebook.com/corey.bishop.988/videos/1124966992959988
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​​​​​​​To His Glory . . .​
To His Glory . . . BJ, Jan, Kelly, & Amy​
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WELCOME TO . . . THE WITNESS STAND
In this new feature, we will showcase YOUR story. Your testimony. Your personal journey of faith . . . of what God has done in your life, and how He got ahold of your heart and drew you unto Himself. Or, maybe, you have a story of something wondrous He has done during a specific time in your life.
​
If you have a testimony you'd like to share, click on the link above, to email it to us.
Our very first Testimony was posted in December, 2024, by my next-to youngest son, Michael Reese. Here, in his own words, is the story of the event that God used to draw Michael to himself.
Told by Michael P. Reese, December 23, 2024
15 years ago today, our lives changed forever. On this day the kids, myself and their mother were headed down from Billings, MT, to Rapid City, SD, for the 1st family style Christmas in years. Along the way disaster struck, the car accident rolled our car 4 full times. I was ejected through the sunroof, landing some 150+ feet away on the interstate at speed. The kids rode all 4 rolls inside the car, and their mother was ejected after the 2nd roll. The car looked much like a pop-can after you step on it, in humanities view there is no way anyone walks away from that. — feeling blessed.
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As my brother got a chance to look at the car later, he said there was 2 bubbles in the back where the kids were that were completely untouched, everything around them was smashed, torn, destroyed, the kids walked away without so much as a bruise from the seat belt, their mother had emergency surgery on the side of the road and then life flighted back to Billings, where she stayed in the ICU for about a month and half. I went to the Sheridan hospital to get checked out, after landing on the interstate that far and fast from the vehicle, I took some 15 staples to close my head (no fracture to the skull at all) and ended with 2 crushed vertebrae, and a few bruises, 2 weeks later I got full release to go back to work.
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With all that said, and much more unsaid, it was apparent that someone bigger than myself had their hand in it, my country size chip on my shoulder melted, my pride (to a point) went away, I gave my life over to Christ there in the hospital. Granted, it took me a while to get my feet under me in my new walk, with more battles than I can mention, but God saw me through all that and more. He gave me a new life, a new direction, a truly amazing wife and some pretty amazing kids.
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Today, I can stand firmly on my feet proclaiming that what I have is because of HIS victory, HIS strength, HIS path, I am but a humble passenger along for the ride, I get the honor of sharing HIS story with those around me. I am SOO thankful for everything HE has done for me, and my family, and pray that everyone gets to experience HIS presence in their life, may God Bless all of your walks today, and all days.
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To His Glory . . .​
To His Glory . . . BJ, Jan, Kelly, & Amy
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ALL THAT i AM TODAY
~ MINISTRY MOMENTS ~
Read All Our Ministry Moments Articles:
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Be Who You Are Become As A Little Child Busy Can You Imagine? Embrace the Changes Every 'E' Makes a Difference
Exciting Changes Freedom God Is Moving! Happy Father's Day How Old Am I?
In these articles, we share lessons our Ministry Team has learned. Lessons which have come to live more vividly as we do this work. We also use this column to let you know what's happening with this ministry as we move forward from here.
This is the page that started it all! The first page God asked me to design for this web site. Its name refers to the treasure-trove of valuable life lessons I have learned, through observing other people.
Through the years, life has taught me SO many lessons. Some, I learned growing up. Others, I've learned during the 50+ years I've been out of my mother's house. Here, I share those lessons with you, in the fervent hope that they will help you find YOUR way through the maze of life.
My mind is filled with vivid memories . . . family stories that have imprinted themselves in my heart. Gathered together, they weave the intricate tapestry of who we are as a family. On this page, I share those stories with you. Some of them are funny; some are heartwarming. All bring a joyful smile to my face as I remember them.
This page doesn't contain stories, or even articles I've written --- not in the traditional sense. Instead, these are excerpts from actual conversations I've had with God, as I've sought a relationship with Him. Things I've discussed with Him throughout my journey of faith. In the hope of helping you become comfortable being honest with God, I share them with you here.
Meet BJ, Jan, Kelly, and Amy and learn how God brought us together for this extraordinary journey.
Read the story of how this site made the transformation from vague idea to God's amazing reality.
More about the topics we teach, plus our
Purpose, Mission, and Vision Statements.
Books written by co-founder BJ Reese. Prices and summaries on each. 20% of all book sales go to help support this ministry.
All but one of these T-shirts has been designed by us and printed locally. Tiles were created by co-founder Jan Suntken. 20% of all sales go to help support this ministry.
A MESSAGE FROM ALL OF US AT ATIAT:
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Besides the list of pages mentioned above, we have archived EVERY article we've ever posted on this web site. To access those pages, go to the "Archives" button at the top of any of our pages. A drop-down menu will reveal a list of "Archive" pages, categorized by the year(s) the articles appeared.
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Thank you all for your continued support and perseverance as we answer God's call on our lives and continue to travel these exciting waters. We thank you for joining us, and we look forward to sharing with you the discovery of where this journey of words will take us next. Rest assured that, where ever this road leads us, we are relying on the LORD's guidance as we go.
BJ wants to assure you that wherever the wonderful world of words takes us next, she is listening for the Lord's guidance in writing them. We cannot do this without Him! We lift up these pages, as always . . .
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To His Glory . . . BJ
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