Testimonies (Part 1)

I was in a revival and turned away from Christ during an alter call / I prayed when I got home and promised the Lord that I would come to the alter the next night, I thank Jesus that he allowed me the time.
I took one step out of my pew and Jesus saved me without question I felt HIS presence in my heart, I later backslid and again HE forgave me.
We need more REVIVALS and a lot more of the Holy Spirit to rain down on us.
I almost died from cancer and I had a 4 way bypass and HE is still with me and I am great Thank you Lord








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Originally Posted by jfunston

I was in a revival and turned away from Christ during an alter call / I prayed when I got home and promised the Lord that I would come to the alter the next night, I thank Jesus that he allowed me the time.
I took one step out of my pew and Jesus saved me without question I felt HIS presence in my heart, I later backslid and again HE forgave me.
We need more REVIVALS and a lot more of the Holy Spirit to rain down on us.
I almost died from cancer and I had a 4 way bypass and HE is still with me and I am great Thank you Lord

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Thank you for giving your heart to the Lord, and following what Christ said " But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. " Matt 6:6. Truly, I tell that only GOD can save anyone, since all that anyone can do is plant the seed to allow Him to bring it to fruition. Thus saith the Lord, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Rev 3:20
Stay in the WORD, and please make just a little time to read even a few passages from the Scriptures, preferably, start with the Gospel of John, and may our Lord bless and keep you and yours.
:praying::praying::praying:

A very good thread.

So interesting!!!! Gives me faith that no matter your choice of religion....if you believe in the One True God....repent your ways...life as Christ has taught us...your on the road to salvation!!

On this forum I am tlmjl...

https://thepoliticsforums.com/thread...on-5-years-now

Good Morning! I have stumbled onto this thread! I have been on BBC for some years now and have never clicked on this faith section. I have been reading, and am encouraged! I enjoyed reading the testimonies and felt the excitement to share mine!

I would like to share with you guys my testimony in a time line format!

2003 (11 years old)- "saved" by repeating a prayer at a church I attended on weds nights. (no real heart change, had no acknowledgment of Christ, just wanted to say the prayer and get the award badge...not really saved)

2006 (14 years old)- "saved" again at an FCA camp after repeating another prayer. (Again, no real heart change, Just said the prayer so i would feel good about myself...again, not saved and still doomed for hell)

Go on living my life for myself and of the world. Not living my life for Christ but assuming I was saved because people told me I was because I raised my hand and repeated a prayer some guys told me to.


2015 (23 years old) I WAS NOT LOOKING FOR GOD!!!! GOD SIDE SWIPED ME AND TURNED MY WORLD UPSIDE DOWN!! I am forever grateful to the Lord that by his grace he decided to wreck that 23 year old idiots world. This is where it gets amazing. SO I am in college at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, I was a junior at the time. Thought I had the whole world figured out. I had just finished playing Baseball at Tennessee Wesleyan University and decided to transfer to UTC because it was home and they had a great college fishing team, I had a nice boat, nice truck got to fish whenever I wanted and was partying the rest of the time. I was such a slave to sin! Fishing was my God and alcohol was my other escape. Fishing and drinking was all I could think about and do! I spent all of my time and money on it. every second I had I was fishing. It was my life. Very long story short I got out of class one day and decided I had enough time to make it back home in time to hit the water. I was driving home in my brand new 2014 Silverado, on I24 towards Jasper, TN.. I had just crossed the TN river and had cruise control set on 72 all of a sudden the person in front of me had to slam on their brakes really fast and I swerved and clipped them in the rear passenger fender, it immediately flipped my truck in the air like something on a Dukes of Hazzard episode and my truck landed upside down on its roof all the way in the shoulder up against the guard rail... (every one was fine, totaled my truck) so at this point I finally get back home. I'm laying on my couch and this is where the Lord sends the Holy Spirt to start to work in my heart OUT OF NO WHERE! I'm sitting there and I remember asking myself...where would I have gone if I would have died in that moment (Like I should have)? The only answer that kept coming to my mind was hell....I was doomed for it. and I knew it! The only way I can explain it is the Lord had placed it on my heart. So all of this happened on a Friday, I ended up getting a rental truck that evening so that only meant one thing....time to go fishing Saturday! Like I said, all I could think about! I had to serve my god which is fishing! Saturday I wake up go fishing and on my way home the Lord decided to humble me again... Trailer hitch breaks on the truck while on the interstate sends my boat up under the truck damages all kinds of stuff... I am mentally destroyed at this point. I've got nothing left in the tank. So I spend the rest of my weekend jus trying to figure out how to handle this mess I'm in. I am so lost...so confused...no hope! My god (fishing) is just letting me down, the world is letting me down! So Monday rolls around and I'm in class and I'm talking to a girl and we seemed to really hit it off (not really, she wanted nothing to do with me rightfully so) I end up messaging her on Facebook and I told her about the crazy weekend I had just had with the wrecks and what does she do? She shares the Gospel with me. Out of no where. She didn't even know me. She actually sends me some sermons to listen to (the pastor was actually her father) and I am HOOKED. I cannot stop listening to these sermons this guy is preaching. The Lord literally just lit me on fire for his word. for 2 weeks straight I am listening to these sermons every chance of the day. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was so humbling! I quickly discovered I was a lost man. That I need a savior and it was not fishing. I needed Christ. I started to visit that church of the sermons I was listening to. it was 2 hours away in Muscle Shoals, AL. I went almost every Sunday. The Lord saved me through the preaching of his words. I had a heart TRANSPLANT this time. There was nothing I did, in fact I couldn't do anything. (For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, it was by grace along through faith alone in Christ alone. Ephesians 2:8) Only he could orchestrate something like what I've just told you and save a wretched man like me. If he can save me from the depths of hell he can save anyone.

2021 (29 years old) I am now a member of that Church (Grace Life Church of the Sholas) Moved here in 2017 so that I could be a faithful member of the Church and Serve Christ. The Lord has blessed me so much more than I deserve...The girl in class that didn't know me and shared the gospel to me.... well... she's now my wife of 3 years and we are expecting our first daughter in October. We are so thankful and excited. (Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:17)

I ended up stepping away from fishing for a few years, I just needed to get away from it and grow and mature in the Lord. Thankfully I feel I have done so by His grace, I now get to enjoy the great outdoors in such a better fashion and not in an obsessive way. I now find myself thinking on the creator of the woods and waters while out enjoying fishing and hunting. it so much more enjoyable when your true joy is in the Creator not the creation.

I don't know if anyone or who will read this. but there is HOPE in only one person and that is Christ. Call out to him!! Beg him for mercy. If there is any way i can pray for you or lend you any words please reach out to me, I cant save you...but I can point you to the one who can!

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit - Titus 3:5


Visit us!
Grace Life Church (gracelifeshoals.org)

Amen Brother Sam. Praise God in all His Glory...

And welcome to the forum.

Smughall31……. Praise God!

I followed a similar path. I attended varying churches as a kid and went through the motions just as you did. I said the prayers and said that I accepted Christ on at least 3 occasions throughout my teen years yet never truly knew God. I essentially went through my childhood as a “good person”.

However, I joined the Navy at 18 and my life began to spiral a bit as I began to drink each weekend, lie and chase women throughout my enlistment. I even still claimed to be “saved” although I did not know God. I married at the age of 25 and it only lasted a very tumultuous 2 years. As the marriage crumbled, I continued a sinful life (adulterous, alcohol, drunk driving, pride, and much more) and cared only about myself. This life continued until I married my second wife at the age of 42. While I became a “good person” again, I still didn’t know God.

At age 45, God led me to start reading the Bible although it still made no sense to me. One day, I was reading Psalms 22 and God “opened my eyes”. I became a believer in Christ and truly felt the Holy Spirit overcome me. The Word of God became clearer and clearer as I continued to read scripture. I am so thankful for Gods Grace and Patience that He allowed a lowly fellow like me get to know Him.

Through faith (alone), I am saved through Christ, who died on the Cross to take on the sins of mankind, was buried, and was resurrected. He is now sitting at the right hand of God and guides me in my life. Praise the Lord!

Immediately after JESUS admonished HIS disciples faithfullness, the HOLY BIBLE then states: "...he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, AND IT WAS COMPLETELY CALM." (Matt. 8:26)

I am a seasoned prayer warrior and have walked with my Savior Christ Jesus many years having accepting HIM as my LORD and MY Savior at the age of five years old. Grew up in church, experienced life, fell into the same entrapments and experienced many of life's frustrations as many here have also stated. As one of my former Bible teachers often stated: "I am only here to show everyone else where some good food can be found." July 7th of this year, one phone call completely changed the current direction of my life as an OTR truck driver in the music industry for the past 20+ years. "Billy, the doctor says that I've got cancer and you need to come home." I stopped my truck for fuel only one time between Nashville and a small town in East Texas. Momma was sick. I had never seen my Mother laid up in a hospital bed my entire life and I'm pushing 60 years old. My 9k a month job was gone. My lengthy engagement to a wonderful woman came to an end. My Dad, whom Mom had daily cared for and who has dementia, had to be relocated to nursing care. My daughter's marriage fell apart. The phone rang non-stop for two weeks and was often fielded using both hands and held to each ear. The adage, "GOD will not put on you more than you can handle" is non-scriptural. HE will and HE did. I cried out: "LORD GOD, WHERE IS YOUR MERCY?!??" Three minutes had barely past and my phone rang. In despair and frustration, I almost picked it up and threw it across the room when suddenly; that "still small voice" implored me to first look and see who was calling.

A very very dear Brother-To-Me-In CHRIST was calling me on my phone. (We almost NEVER talk by phone but almost ALWAYS text and message one another). "Billy? You doing alright? I just received a deep and compelling needful desire to stop everything here and call you. What can I do for you?" GOD... showed up. In the weeks that past, I came to deeply know that GOD IS SOVEREIGN...HE IS HOLY...and again reminded that HE ALONE IS GOD! Another phone call came in a few weeks later that just buried my human pride and self-sufficiency. I was caught completely red-handed in my despair, overwhelmed by life's UNPLANNED and devastating circumstances, embarrassed and spiritually crushed in witnessing GOD'S complete faithfullness and control in EVERY single facet of our lives. My former employer was calling me to inform me that an end-of-tour music bonus check was being sent from the office to my home and that I needed to ensure that I was in expectation of receiving it. A week later, the letter arrived with a check in excess of $90k....more than NINETY THOUSAND DOLLARS. GOD provisioned for me to become debt free as I stayed and cared for my Mother and Father. Additionally, and I had been saving up funds to buy myself a bass boat, a used one of course; however, without employment as of July 7th, that dream was crushed.

Again my phone rang. A dear friend of mine had spotted a really nice but USED bass boat at a dealership near me and encouraged me to go look at it. After taking Mom to one of her hospital appointments, I stopped by and asked about it. The dealership brought me around back and there before was the most beautiful 21 foot Triton bass boat with a HUGE Mercury 250 on its transom. The asking price was the EXACT same amount that I had been savings towards in a much lesser and smaller boat. Mother is doing better and her initial chemo treatments are coming to an end BEFORE she goes in for re-assessment and re-diagnoses. Her hair has thinned considerably and Dad has become a fall risk at the nursing care facility. This past Sunday, my BIL and I boated sixteen fish on my new boat.

The Book of Mark chapter 16 and verse 7 says that JESUS sought that HIS disciples and Peter were aware of HIS presence and where HE was going. "But go, tell my disciples and Peter..." Was not Peter one of JESUS' disciples? OF COURSE he was but in the very hour that Peter could have stood strong, he failed...not once but three times. JESUS knows exactly who we each are. Many many times in these past few months, I have been just like Peter. Many of us, perhaps all of us can substitute Peter's name in this passage for our own. In the end of all things this remains: GOD IS FAITHFUL!

Wyldbill

I am glad to hear that your mother's cancer prognoses has improved with the chemo treatments she has received, and I pray that her side affects are minimal without the severe nausea which can come from them.
This has been a life changing yr for me as well, since on Jan 6, the day of epiphany, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I have received 15 rounds of chemo and radiation therapy, and Lord willing, I will have a follow up CT scan on Nov 29 to determine the type of surgery.
I am truly sorry to hear about your father's decline, yet as you have stated and experienced, God will no burden us with a challenge we cannot bear. I will pray for y'all, that by the power of our loving Father and by His mercy, y'all shall overcome these troublesome stumbling blocks before you.
May the love and grace of Christ be upon y'all,
Frank

Praying for you this day, Frank, as you undergo your surgical procedure. GOD IS FAITHFUL and HE IS GOOD.