Let's talk about Him.
Share your testimony! Tell us what God has done in your life.
I'll go first.
Age 21-27 were some of the roughest years I've experienced. The sad part is, I actually considered some of those years "fun". I was battling my first real round of depression and struggling with finding myself. I had no idea that all I had to do was open a Bible to find my identity and purpose. Instead, I turned to Jack Daniel, Jim Beam and anyone else who could fill the glass to make me feel "full". They couldn't make me feel enough, so I turned to lust. I had never felt so empty in my life. Keep in mind, I grew up going to church. I knew there was a God and I believed Jesus died for me, but I had allowed Satan to lead me astray by trying to fit in with the ways of the world. I couldn't see it that way at the time, but I was spiraling. If something had happened to me on a weekend, there's a good chance I would have met Jesus with whiskey on my breath. Fast forward to an abusive relationship I found myself settling in (which is a story for another time). I found myself looking close to rock bottom, when I was only trying to look for an answer anywhere it couldn't be found. I finally started to attend church again on a somewhat regular basis. Leaving service always left me feeling the hope I had lost before. I began to pray more consistently and just open my heart to God. I almost immediately felt something inside of me change for the better. I felt like I was being pulled away from everything I had known before. I decided to cut out the lifestyle I knew, leave the relationship I was fighting to be free from and work on my relationship with the only one who could really save me. Months later, I felt like a completely different person with a renewed soul. Is life always a breeze now? Not hardly. But I know I can survive the storm because I cling to the one who carries me through. I knew Jesus since I was young, and He was just waiting for me to come back home. I will forever be grateful for a patient Father who doesn't close the door on me. P.S...it's open for you too.
Hi! Hope its okay that I share something myself!
Similarly to you, I've always believed in God and that Jesus died for my sins and the sins of everyone else. But I was never truly that.. interested in it. Mostly because I was a child who didn't fully understand things and my rough relationship with my dad, who constantly threw Bible verses and lectures down my throat when I was just trying to talk to him about something, didn't help much either (note: my dad meant well with doing that but I was like a kid and he's going in excessive detail that I, in no way, would ever understand)
I've once tried to attend the weekly Bible study when I was a teenager and I lasted for a while, but I think I was there more for socializing than God. I stopped going because I was becoming to socially overwhelmed and exhausted
Fast forward to now, I had lost a very close friend of mine. Not through death mind you. Our friendship was quite literally a month away of officially being 10 years old. I'm not one to keep track of that stuff normally but she did, so I decided that I wanted to draw something nice for her, to show how much I really appreciate her and how I see her as a sister. But then she suddenly went quiet on me, telling me she "wasn't in the mood to talk" (but had also told me that she was feeling fine, so it got me very nervous). Initially, my anxiety was getting to me, assuming the worst. But I know my anxiety so I was like eh, lets not jump to conclusions
But as it got closer to me confronting her on this, as I had decided that if she doesn't say anything in 2 weeks, I'd say something myself, something changed. The anxiety that was making me fear the end of the friendship changed to that of God. I was sad, of course, very sad, but there was a sense of calmness. That this had to happen, even tho I really didn't want it to. And I can see it, as much as I loved this friend, she really wasn't that good for me. She did encourage me to do things I shouldn't and we stood on very different grounds about important topics that she never listened to me to. So it set things up a lot for possible arguments, not to mention her self hatred caused a lot of issues to
I prayed and prayed about this and when the final talk came, I handled it surprisingly well. I know myself, I either would've been very depressing by what she revealed to me (that she was lying to me for so long and she has disdain for Christians, even tho I never really talked about that with her) and would've made her feel so much worse OR I would've been a huge jerk due to how hurt I felt. I knew that despite my tears, God was helping me. I never really had something like that before, it was insane (in a good way!)
That whole ordeal immediately kicked me into gear. I'm now going back to church and have more recently started to read the Bible on my own! But I also did something else that was also just.. so insane to me. I reached out to my pastor and had asked for help (which I did on a phone call, and let me tell you, I do NOT handle phone calls very well unless it someone very close to me. but this time, I was perfectly fine). We set up a meeting where I opened up to my dad. See, my dad has a lot of issues, with anger being his biggest problem. And it has caused a large rift between the two of us (and with my mom to). I avoided him the best I could, I rarely seeked out his company, I felt so much anger, hurt, pettiness and bitterness towards him
I had wanted to talk this out with him for so long but I was always way to scared to. Like genuinely terrified. He does get physical with his anger but that's more of like other things, he rarely hurts anyone directly (especially now, since he's been sober for a long time). But who knows? For all I known, he could've attacked me. I have some very traumatic memories with him.. but I did it. I prayed and prayed and prayed. And it worked! It was hard, I cried the moment I started speaking, but I talked to him, told him how I felt towards him, it all finally came out. And he responded to it very well. I know it must've been really hard for him to hear what I had to say, but he understood that he's been hurting me and my mom for a long time, that there's problems that need to be fixed
I now have more hope than ever for my dad. All that pettiness and bitterness left. I find his jokes funny again (well.. not all of them xD), I don't feel stress or anger when he happens to be around me. I even asked him today to do something this Sunday after church (hoping it won't be that hot, I don't handle heat very well!). This is all stuff that I could only dream of and fantasize about! And yet its real, it happened! There's a healing happening that I never thought could actually happen! And it gives me hope, to, for my mom. I love my mom but she has some healing to do to and I feel that me and my dad healing and being changed through and by Christ will help lead her to the right path
God is absolutely amazing! My anxiety wasn't completely gone, but it wasn't overwhelming like it normally would've been in those cases. I struggle with sleep and getting up early in the morning but God has been helping me get to church anyways. I'm actually reading the Bible now and I'm learning so much! This has all been very recent in my life, like in the past couple months, so I've got SO much more to learn about God and bonding with Him more. It is a great start tho, I've never been so hopeful about my life
Thank you for sharing your story! I too can relate to you on the situation with your dad. As far as your friend, keep in mind that sometimes God removes people from our lives because he hears conversations that we do not. He PROTECTS his children! I look back now on all of those I've "lost" along the way only to realize they were hindering my walk with Him. Keep up the great work and keep reading. If I can help in any way please reach out. :)
Stay blessed!
