As I write about my journey, some are my words, some are words of others from God concerning North and South Dakota and Minnesota. This is not an endorsement necessarily of these ministries, but these words have value. We all must discern what the Spirit of God is speaking. I would encourage you to examine my words as well as the words of others and let the Spirit of the Living God stir your hearts with what you discern to be from the heart of God.
Often when God speaks to us, we see it through what we understand at the time (Like in a mirror darkly – I Corinthians 13:11-13). This Bible passage seems to indicate that we understand the things of God better as we mature in Him. Often prophetic words become clearer as He teaches us more and we mature in what He is teaching us. That is why it is important to hang on to what God has said to us, and meditate on it. Keep that in mind as we explore prophetic words from several years ago.
When we spoke of the Church at that time, we did not have as clear a revelation of the Ekklesia (Greek word translated as Church) as we do today. Also, remember that does not make it any less valuable or negate the fact that it of God. We just understand more now than we did then because we have matured in the things of God. God always meets us where we are, but desires to move us into more understanding of His heart and His ways.
I have lived in all three states that have been classified as the Northland where God has said He would start something “new”. It would sweep across the nation and reach other nations, as well. It took me many, many years to receive the revelation that connected all three states. My initial vision, or so I thought, was the Black Hills. My heart’s desire was doing training and traveling to the nations. I also thought the training part of that would come through establishing a campground. Note, God never talked to me about a campground. It was my thought, and soon I lost focus of His original words and the campground became my focus. This caused me to experience great disappointment until God brought me back to His original words and how He had already begun to fulfill them.
This is the story of the PART of my journey concerning these three states and the fulfillment of His word to me. There is so much more to my story. God has been preparing me all my life for this time in history.
I was born in Wyoming, just across the border to the west from the Black Hills. I “officially” accepted Jesus when I was ten in a Baptist “church”, although I knew Him long before that event. I was baptized when I was twelve and when I came up from the waters, I heard God say I would go to the nations. Little did I know that the very nations I read missionary stories about as a child would be the nations to which I would travel. I have been to Thailand, Burma, and the Philippines in short-term ministry several times. I visited China once just because it is a nation on my heart.
I was baptized in the Holy Spirit when I was 29. I am now an old woman, but I believe in this journey and what God is doing.
1985 10 – move to the Black Hills from Minnesota
I was promoted at work, which would require a move to Minneapolis. Was that what God wanted? I was teaching a group of people in a weekly Bible study at my home and we were seeing miracle after miracle. It would be hard to leave. Finally, God let me know that I should not move to Minneapolis but back to the Black Hills. Once I knew it was the right move, God began to show me some of what He wanted to do.
God told me he was moving me to the center of the Black Hills, At the time that did not mean anything to me of significance. I did not know then the Black Hills was shaped like a physical heart. God wanted me to know His heart and He wanted to trust me with His heart. His Ekklesia was in His heart. The nations were in His heart. I was in His heart. I did not realize then I would need to fully understand His Ekklesia and His Kingdom before the vision in my heart would be realized, thus the extensive wilderness (transitioning) journey. Nor did I understand at the time, this vision was for more than just the Black Hills of South Dakota. With God it is always one step at a time in faith.
This was one of those “new things” God was doing in the earth. It was going to be an adventure. He gave me a name while still in Minnesota for the place I would live in the Black Hills based on Acts 8:8 – “great joy in the city”. I called it Joy Mountain without even seeing it or knowing where it was. A trip to the Hills followed with the search for the place. I had no idea where it might be or what it might be. All I knew was the possibility of a campground where training could also be accomplished. God had revealed the nations being drawn to the Black Hills and there would be training concerning the things on God’s heart there. After two days, it was no closer than it had been, and disappointment was trying to settle in my heart.
Hope was diminished and a spirit of discouragement was banging at the door when I picked up a local newspaper. There I saw a place for sale and my spirit leaped within me. Could this possibly be the place? It was not a campground but a ranch on 50 acres. I had to see it. The place was being rented for the summer. The renter performed gospel music at a local tourist place. The owners were pastors in Rapid City at a “church” called Joy Church. They had named this place Joy Ranch. My name for it was Joy Mountain Ranch. Coincidence? Absolutely not!
Wow! God is so good! I knew this was the place. I found out later it was only a couple of miles from the geographical center of the Black Hills. God did indeed place me in the heart of the hills. I wanted to train people and I believed God would develop a training center through a campground there, but God had other plans. God had basically told me three things, He was moving me, the desire of my heart to go to the nations would be fulfilled, and I would be involved in training His people. I did not know at that time that a part of training would be through my writings.
I had so much more to learn and one of the biggest lesson would be concerning the religious spirit and deception. Another lesson would be discovering who the Church or true Ekklesia really is and that our goal is not to build the Ekklesia. Jesus is the One building. We are to advance the Kingdom of God in the earth. But, one other lesson we all will have to go through is, separating what God actually says and how we imagine He will fulfill what He says. I expected it to come through a campground, and soon my focus became a campground instead of the actual words God had spoken. The lesson to learn is God is going to do what He says, but He is going to do it His way and in His time!
I loved that ranch. It was so peaceful and anointed. I studied and grew in the Lord greatly during that time. I did not want to leave there, but God had other plans. Obedience was a lesson I had to learn, no matter what. I would experience that lesson over and over again until it was firm in my spirit. After six years at that place, a move to Custer, SD occurred. That move was necessary to prepare me for the days ahead, but I was not happy with it at the time because I didn’t understand. (There is more to the story, but that is for another day).
1986 – Spring
As I sat at the dining room table and looked out at the beautiful hills, God gave me Isaiah 60 as a starting point for praying over the Hills. There would be a great light from this area that would touch the nations. During the hosting of a Bible study at the ranch, God spoke to me about what was in His heart. His people were in bondage to religion and He wanted His people to be free. To the leaders He said “Set My people free” and “Let My people go”. To His people He said “Come out of Babylon”.
Those precious words from God have been my battle cry for a very long time and I believe it is the message for this region and a part of the “new thing” God wants to do. I have come to believe that Babylon is satan’s attempt at establishing a counterfeit kingdom, not just a religious one, but it touches every cultural area of society. God wants His people free from religious influence. He wants us established in Him. He wants a mature people, while religion keeps people in immaturity. Isaiah 60 could not happen without God’s people being free.
1989-
South Dakota celebrated its centennial. One of my daughters graduated from high school with the ceremony at Mount Rushmore. Keystone, the nearest town, did not have a high school so Hill City was the only school in the nation allowed to graduate at the monument. This same year God spoke to me and said, “Today millions of people come to see the faces made of rock. One day millions will come to see the Face who is the Rock”.
Since moving back to the Black Hills area in 1985, I have seen a training center in the area that would touch the nations. I am not sure how the training happens, but I know it will. What I do know today is that things will be organic and not built by man. Jesus is the one building this time.
It was around this same time that I became aware that there was once an attempt to house the United Nations in the Black Hills. Links to a few articles are here, but you can find additional information by searching for United Nations Black Hills online. United Nations
I believe he was tapping into something prophetically, but it was not for the United Nations as the organization it is today. It had a spiritual application and was further confirmation to me that God’s heart for the nations was strong in the Black Hills. I believe God allowed this to be planned so His message to the Black Hills for the heart of the nation would be recognized in the right season of time. I knew God wanted to touch the nations from the Black Hills before I discovered this fact about the United Nations. Again, I do not know what this will look like exactly, but I am totally convinced it will be done God’s way and no other.
1991 – 1993
I think it was 1991 when the move from Joy Mountain Ranch to Custer, SD occurred. I do not have exact dates for when God spoke the following things to me, but it was in this timeframe.
God told me that a train would one day affect the economy of Custer. Interesting that there are plans underway (2025) to bring Amtrac to Rapid City and connect with Denver. Perhaps that is the way to fulfil this.
God also told me that gold would once again be mined around Custer. I knew that gold had first been discovered in the Custer area, but shortly thereafter, gold was discovered in the Northern Hills. The prospectors packed up and moved to the Northern Hills. Cindy Jacobs also prophesied about gold in South Dakota in 2002. God told me that was His doing, so that the gold that was around the Custer area would be reserved for His people when He began to do what He was going to do in the Black Hills.
Exploration is now being conducted again. There is opposition to drilling. I am not for or against drilling. I am for what God wants to do in the way He wants to do it whenever He wants to do it.
God spoke several things to me over the years concerning Custer. I prayed that God would give me Custer and He told me He would give Custer to me. In April 1993 there had been a draught in the Black Hills. It ended that year because of all the moisture we received. Here is a link to my journey’s journal for April 1993. Be sure and check out the journal entry on Joy Mountain website for 04 1993 under Prophetic Adventures for South Dakota or click the link here.
1993 04 – Custer and the Black Hills
He was preparing me for my move to North Dakota, but I didn’t know it at the time.
1992 02 – MIKE HYMAN prophesied over me in Custer SD:
I meant to lay hands on you, but I can’t. The Lord, in the Spirit, I can just perceive that’s He’s standing right behind you and His hand is like right on the back of your neck and He’s pouring in a spirit that you will, …. Sister, you are going to decree things in prayer that you never thought possible and He’s going to give you faith to do it. The things that the pastor said in the other room about being impregnated with the vision of God, He’s giving it by His grace.
I believe Jesus was laying hands on me to birth the thing He had placed in my heart, even though I did not realize at the time, the fulness of that vision. He was giving me an apostolic anointing to complete the task assignment from heaven.
1992 –
I had been seeing things in the spirit that God was going to do in the Black Hills, but now I was beginning to see things for North Dakota as well.
My question was why North Dakota? I thought that state was the end of the world. God had shown me the revelation that bread represents the word of God and honey represents the revelation of His word. North Dakota is was one of the top wheat producers and honey producers at the time. In 2024 North Dakota was number one in both the production of wheat and honey. Wheat is needed to make bread. Bread and honey represent the word of God and the revelation of that word! That is one reason for God choosing North Dakota.
1992 08 24 – From My Journal
Please read my journal entry on Joy Mountain website concerning God preparing me for North Dakota. Why North Dakota?
1992 08 30 – From My Journal
God continued to show me more concerning His choosing of North Dakota. Here is another journal entry a few days later. More About Why North Dakota?
1992-1993 – Made my first mission trip overseas (Not sure the exact date)
Travelled to the Philippines, Thailand and Burma (Myanmar). So graced by God and I knew the call to the nations was real. Gone for 3 ½ weeks and was by far the most primitive trip I have taken, but it was the one I enjoyed the most. There would be many more trips. It was fun learning to teach through an interpreter!
1992-93 – dream of Bismarck and the link with the Black Hills – (Not sure the exact date)
I had a dream I was in a well-lit cave with lots of tunnels that had overhead florescent lights. In the dream I was trying to get from Custer SD to the small town in North Dakota where my friends, the pastors from Custer SD, had moved. I was frustrated because every tunnel I went down did not get me there. Suddenly a really tall man appeared. I sensed in my dream that he was an angel.
The angel asked me what I was doing there, to which I responded that I was trying to find my way to the town where the pastors lived. He told me that I could not get there from where I was, so led me to the center of all the tunnels. It was an elaborate command center underground. The tunnel I was in seemed to be the largest and best lit of all the tunnels (from Custer to the command center).
The center had tunnels going off in all directions to cities, to states, to other countries. I turned to ask the angel where we were and the dream ended. I woke and sought God for understanding. Over the next few days, I began to understand the command center was Bismarck. In an instant I knew that was the place the pastors would move and for the first time I began to see perhaps one day I might be there also. The thought was fleeting, but would eventually become a reality.
Later that day or the next, I went to the library to look for books on the history of the Black Hills. As I read about General Custer coming out of Bismarck to the Black Hills, and the fact that Bismarck was a communications center, I instantly knew in my spirit that the command center I saw in my dream was Bismarck. God would later confirm that both Bismarck ND and the Black Hills of South Dakota would be known as His communications and distribution centers and there would be a strong link between them.
Like so many of my dreams and visions, they carry an understanding for a current situation as well as a much higher meaning. This was not only a dream about my friends moving to Bismarck, it was a dream about God’s desire for Bismarck as well as the Black Hills. Not only was Bismarck to be a communications center but also a distribution center. There is a strong connection between Bismarck and the Black Hills and the nations.
1993 April 04-05 – From My Journal – Prophetic Word for Me Given in Kenmare ND
This prophetic word came to me through Sharon Stone under the ministry of Christian International Ministries. She was ministering to the “church” in Kenmare, ND. I was still living in Custer, SD at the time, but God was preparing me for a move. I had a miracle job in Rapid City, and it was hard for me to imagine how God would do this, or why He would. I did not yet understand that the plan God had for my life was not just for the Black Hills.
I share it because it shows there were bigger plans than what I was aware of at the time. It also shows a glimpse into how God works through prophetic words, little by little, here a bit and there a bit, moving us from glory to glory. 1993 April 04-05 Prophetic Word from Kenmare ND
1996 – January – moved to Bismarck
I moved to North Dakota and on January 15 I began a new job in Bismarck, ND. During my time there, God expanded my understanding of many things that were on His heart. I would retire and leave there 20 years later, without all the pieces of the puzzle put together.
1993-97 – not sure when but one of my trips to Kenmare to minister
The pastors had moved from Kenmare to Bismarck. I lived in Bismarck and on occasion would travel to North Dakota to preach at the “church” there. I had made a couple of trips to Kenmore before the pastors left and also preached on one of those occasions. I wrote a note about what I saw in the Spirit on one of these trips, but unfortunately, I did not write a date. On one of those days, I saw Kenmare in the spirit as an oasis in the middle of the desert. There were trucks that came out of Canada that would stop and be refreshed by what was happening in Kenmare.
1996 – March – from journal – Wheat, license plates and oil
The first few months in Bismarck, the Lord began to show me much more concerning the state of North Dakota. A place I thought was the end of the earth was beginning to have a solid place in my heart. 1996 03 – Wheat, ND License Plates and Oil
1996 April – from journal – importance of trains
From a Published Quick Facts: About N.D. Agriculture – *A strong wheat industry is very important to the viability of North Dakota. As an example, if the farm level wheat price is $3.50 per bushel ($129 per ton), an average North Dakota wheat crop of 286 million bushels (7.8 million metric tons) is worth $1 billion, plus at least another $2.5 billion in indirect economic contributions. * Wheat is produced in all 53 counties in North Dakota * About 434 country and subterminal elevators are scattered across the state. They have a combined licensed warehouse capacity of 251 million bushels (6.8 million tons). * North Dakota is served by two major railroads: the Canadian Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe; and three short-line or regional railroads: the Red River Valley and Western, the Dakota Missouri Valley and Western, and the Northern Plains Railroad. Approximately 75 percent of N.D. grain leaves the state by rail and 25 percent by truck. Over the last five years, nearly 100 nations around the world have imported hard red spring and durum wheats from North Dakota.
NOTE: (2025) Railroads played an important part in North Dakota in its history as well as today. It is interesting that the initial vision of the Bismarck – Black Hills connection showed Bismarck as both a distribution (transportation) center and a communications center. There was never a train segment between the two but there was a stagecoach route.
Today both wheat and oil are transported by train as well as truck. Wheat is transported and distributed all over the world. North Dakota has become the second largest producer of oil, in the nation, next to Texas. It reflects that even as a state with a large land area, but small population, can impact the world. It should also be noted that North Dakota is a border state with transportation and communication across nations.
Recently, on my trip to pray and declare God’s purposes over several ND cities (2025), God showed me the significance of Dickinson and its railroad background. Dickinson is also a distribution center for the things of the Spirit of God. The ND Department of Transportation has published an interesting document on transportation in the state as of 2023 if one is interested in further information on railroad and other means of transportation in the state.
2023 ND Transportation Report
1996 01 – 2016 05 – North Dakota
During my years in North Dakota, I learned much from God on where He was leading His Church, His Ekklesia. He taught me much about righteousness and justice, and the difference between the Ekklesia and the Kingdom. In 2013 I published a book called The Mountain Belongs to the Remnant, which can be found in its entirety on this website.
2016 06- current date – Move back to Black Hills
I retired from work and moved back to the Black Hills. Much of my family lives here. My dad was getting older and I felt I needed to spend some time with him. It was great. I had a few good years with him before he died.
I still did not have all the puzzle pieces to what God was doing figured out. It wasn’t until 2020 (very prophetic of vision) when God began to open my eyes to see more clearly. In 2022 I began to formulate another book and early 2024 I published my second book, Establishing the Ekklesia, which can also be found in its entirety. None of my books are for sale. They can be read for free. I believe they were given to me by Holy Spirit and are therefore not mine to sell.
And the journey continues………………