Testimonies

[thewomenfolk]

Kevin, I feel spoiled rotten. I was surrounded by sweet Christians all my life, from my birth through all my growing up years until now, and it sounds like you didn't have that advantage. Going it alone is hard, and you've been through an awful lot of soul-searching. Bless your heart!

Take the good counsel of Blue Knight Max and surround yourself with Christian friends and influences. And when it's not easy to be strong, act like David and steal his prayer: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer." (Psa 19:14)

 

[steven.rn]

The testimony of your change is wonderful, Kevin- I just want to add that entering into relationship with Jesus is like marriage- the love, the courtship, the fabulous part, the promise of the something wonderful to come.. the honeymoon, settling down- and now, working on the part of growing into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ.

He picks us up and redeems us while we are yet sinners and small in stature. It makes us no less his "bride", and he is calling us upward.

The friction and drag of that infinite upward call, and especially as you gain momentum, gets pretty testy. Just remember, when your head clears, that He called you, He chose you, and will not unchoose you. He keeps choosing the same thing, his uninhibited love for you and calling you up, up, raising you from the dead. What our lives are about is learning to do what He does, what his Father showed Him; to keep choosing the same thing- not to be double minded.

Are we going to have stress fractures on the way? Yep. Are we going to occasionally get double minded? Yep. But that's what grace is about. We all fail; He never does. He means to teach us, sooner or later, to be just like Him. Sometimes, when I feel the "old man" rearing its' head, when I catch myself I tell myself "Jesus made it possible for me to change, and I can do it (heck, I can do ALL things in Him) and I have to follow His example and keep choosing Him right back.

Do we fall? Yep. Don't let the enemy lie to you and tell you "it's useless- you will never change". Just keep returning to your "first love" like we read the church in revelations was encouraged to- dismiss the yappy chihuahua in your head so the mind can submit to the entwined influence of your spirit interacting with the Holy Spirit. The mind is meant to serve the Spirit, not run the show. Keep remembering to choose Jesus, no matter how dark things may get, no matter how far you might wander off or how long- Jesus is in it for the long haul and he will NEVER change his mind about what He wants for you.

 

[beckah54]

Kevin,

The Lord has given you a wonderful testimony. He is able to change our hearts and fill them with love when He comes to live inside us.

He is able to break the chains of addiction, the bondage of sexual immorality and set us free indeed. He gives us a renewed passion for life and living it to the fullest through Him.

I had issues with my father growing up and it made it hard for me to accept the love that Jesus poured on me. I kept waiting for the punishment when I failed Him. All I received was more love and more grace.

Do I still struggle from time to time? Sure I do, but I know Jesus will be there beside me no matter what life hands me. And He said He would never leave or forsake me. How grateful I am to serve a King that loves me so much,

Just hold on tight to Him and trust Him in all things. Keep Him as the center of your life and stay in the Word. It really does strengthen you, revives you and fills you with a bubbling spring of life.

 

[czarmoney]

I'll add my testimony to the list, though It's not always as radical as some. (Like Kevin, stay strong and be able to forgive yourself when you fall 'cause Christ always will).

I've pretty much grown up in a Christian Home. My Dad had a very strict up bringing, but my mom was a wild, rebellious woman growing up and when they Got married they weren't church goers, and my mom wasn't really a Christian (though she did believe in God). When i was real young I started asking questions about God, which caused my mom to ask my Grandma (the most pious woman I'll ever know) the answers. This lead to my grandma eventually giving her some coupons she had for a preschool at a free methodist church near us (shows how young I was) and after I started attending that preschool the whole family started attending that church. From then on we've been a Christian Family. My parents then decided to send us to a Christian school. Now my dad was a teamster, who did local delivers for a trucking company here in michigan and my mom was a stay at home mom. But they decided they'd do whatever they had to to give me and my younger siblings a Christian education. I would have to say these two decisions from my parents really shaped my Christian Life.

So, I was able to grow up in a Christian home, and attend a Christian school where I got a Christian education. God is good. However, everyone goes through times of trouble. I've suffered w/ depression most of my life. Growing up it'd at most be a few bad days that would end and I'd go on. That changed during college.

I really fell hard for a girl, and when it didn't work out I got ...... at God. It was childish, but I could only describe my mindset as "If God isn't going to give me what I want screw him". And during this period I entered into a real deep depression that lasted probably around a year to 2 years. In fact there was one point where I was so down I decided to kill myself, but when I attempted to I felt physically restrained from doing so. Thats the night things really started to swing back up.

After I finally was lifted out of that depression, I began to really seek God again and what he wanted from me. I became reconnected to Him like I was in my youth. I even took time after I graduated from college to toy with the idea of being a full time minister. However, I learned that my heart wasn't right for a full time ministry yet, though I do enjoy giving sermons and talking with people. Instead I started law school (in some ways going to an entirely different extreme eh?), yet still help out where I can at my local church and am still growing and developing my relationship with Christ.

One thing we can never forget is that salvation isn't an act, something we can just put in our back pocket. It's a relationship we work on, or let slide into oblivion. At least thats what I believe.