Faith Testimony

Wednesday, May 23, 2012
FAITH Testimony
PRECONVERSION EXPERIENCE: I was raised in a family that attended church and believed in God. My mother read the Bible to me. I knew the stories were true because she told me God wrote them. When I got older I read the Bible, believing what I read in my mind, but not in my heart. I assumed that since I was a "good" person I would go to heaven when I died. Soon after leaving home however, I stopped going to church and stopped reading my Bible.

CONVERSION EXPERIENCE: In 1984 I was married with two children. I was a drunken, foul-mouthed, abusive husband and father. My wife and I were considering divorce. One day she was invited to church and began attending regularly with our children. They came home every Sunday excited and happy. Two months later she told me she had accepted Jesus as her Savior, and was going to be baptized. She invited me to come see, which I did, and that is when I had a life changing experience. The minister taught about "How to be sure of your salvation"; that I needed to know Jesus in my heart and not just in my head; I needed to accept Christ's dying in my place for my sins as God's plan for my life; I needed Jesus as my Savior, He would turn my life around and make me a new man, husband and father, fashioned in His image. When the invitation was given, I ran to the altar, tears filling my face, to ask Jesus to save me from my sins and be my Lord.

BENEFITS OF CONVERSION: Jesus was true to His Word ... He changed me from the inside out. Through His power I quit drinking, cursing and being abusive. I became faithful to Him and His Word. I get great joy telling others about Jesus and how he changed me. I continue to live for Him, by faith, seeking those who I can tell about Him. I may have slipped a few times over the years, but I have never taken my eyes off the cross where I laid my sins, or the Savior who died for them.