Testimonies

[Malohaut]

Moderator's Note: Two threads calling for forum members to post their testimonies have been merged, resulting in this thread.

Okay everybody. I want each and every one of you to give your personal testamony here. Tell us a little about life before salvation. How did you come to accept Christ? What is life like after salvation? Please share for the edification of all here.

[[toj.cc]phantom]

http://www.cgalliance.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8501

Here's mine Malohaut

[[toj.cc]WildBillKickoff]

Fellas, I believe many of you have stories that begin like mine. Ahem.

See, there was this girl...

that I really liked in high school. So, I asked her out on a date, and she said "Sure, why don't you come to church with me?" My jaw must have dropped about three feet. I thought that was really strange, and didn't follow up with it, but she invited me to this early morning Bible study at school. I figured since I wasn't doing anything anyway, that I'd go.

I wish I could say that I understood what was going on, but I didn't. We watched this Carman video, I thought he looked like a 50 year old white guy trying to rap (still do-- what was he thinking with Mission 3:16?). Anyway, she invited me out to this all-night lock-in that Saturday, so naturally I agreed.

That was where I met my wife, who made me forget all about that other girl. I started dating her, and her parents pretty much hated the fact that I was Catholic (non-practicing). So, anyhow, after being with her for a few months, I finally decided to get serious about God and look into it myself. One night, I was thinking about it, and I finally just asked Jesus to enter my heart.

I'm not sure if I would consider myself saved at that point. All in all, I didn't change and had no desire to. In fact, when I went off to college, I pretty much forgot about God for a while and did my own thing. I even went as far as to break up with my then-girlfriend, now-wife, basically because she wasn't there. Ultimately, my lifestyle left me feeling empty and lonely.

I quit that college after Christmas, due to depression causing me to fail most of my classes. Back in my hometown, I got brought to a high school/college ministry by a buddy of mine, and at that point I gave my life over to Jesus. I was tired of trying to live my way. After a few weeks, I called up my then ex-girlfriend, now-wife, and asked her for forgiveness. The flame was rekindled, and within a month or so, the two greatest love affairs of my life began anew.

[Genesis1315]

Here is my testimony. Please bear with me, it is a bit long

I grew up in a Presbyterian Church. I was confirmed, baptized, an active volunteer, was even looking to going to a Presbyterian College to get a theological degree. When I was 15 or so I started questioning my faith. I saw things going on in the church that did not match with what scripture taught. My minister got divorced and immediately remarried, gossip was rampant, and many of the prayers were robottically repeated every week. So I started exploring other religions.

I first looked into Judaism. I had exerienced a lot of it due to freinds. I tried to talk to a rabbi, but did not get many answers. So my quest continued. As things would turn out, a new age store opened in the area. I started going in and reading about Eastern Religions, Native American Religions, even Modified Christianity (for lack of better term. Those religions that would claim Christ as "saviour" then add things on to Him). The Eastern religions were okay, but since I was also a part of the feminist movement (or whatever it had evolved into) I wanted to get in touch with a more balanced or slightly feminine religion. So, Native American religions drew me in. The thought of a mother earth and all of the different ceremonies really appealed to me. Since I was working in a new age store at this point, I had all of the resources available to me to study them.

This led to participating in their ceremonies, including Sweat Lodges, Vision Quests and mediations on a regular basis. I learned about reincarnation, past life regression etc. I no longer celebrated any traditional holidays. My holidays were celebrated by the phases of the moon. While this was partially satisfying my desires, I still wanted more. I suddenly discovered Wicca. Some of the people I had known for a while now were Wiccan and introduced me to the religion. I began learning more and more and getting deeper and deeper involved in it. I embraced the night and anything magical, enchanting or mystical.

By this point, I was living with a long time boyfriend. The relationship was not really heading in a positive direction. We had different desires and goals and when I expressed my wishes, things at home became not pleasant. He had introduced me, though, to chat rooms, PM's, IRC etc. Many times we would both be on our respective computers typing away, but not saying a word to each other. We were involved with an online Pagan community where we met some interesting people. After a trip to Florida to meet some of them, my boyfriend decided he was moving down there. He packed up and left. I have not seen him since.

So here I was, on my own and out of a relationship for the first time in many many many years. While I played a lot, I also thought a lot. The whole time, something was still missing from my life.

4 months after my boyfriend left, I hooked up with a friend of ours online. We started chatting which soon evolved into nightly phone calls. 5 weeks later, I planned a vacation to go and meet him since he lived in a beach / vacation destination town. Things went along very well. The only area that was a bit awkward was our religious preferences. He was a Christian now (formerly pagan) and I was still Wiccan. Our relationship continued and about 3 weeks later he led me to Christ. We both were baptized together about 8 months after we met and a year (and a couple months) later, we got married. Now, Hescominsoon and I have been married for 2.5 years.

We continue to work on our relationship with each other and with God. What a ride it has been so far

Gen

[[toj.cc]WildBillKickoff]

So Gen... would it be fair to say that before coming to Christ, you were Everythingian?

That's a terrific testimony-- thanks for sharing that.

[Genesis1315]

You're welcome. I was actually an everythingitarian :

Gen

[PapaToad]

I wrote my testimony and want to thank Malohaut For getting me to do it. It took two days and its 5 pages long. I would have to rate it PG 13 (LOL) it was very therapeutic. It gave me the change to really see the changes in me. Mostly the Mental and emotional changes The Lord Jesus Christ has done for and to me. I wasn't gonna post it due to its length. I did shortly, but after reading it on the board. I decided to against posting it publicly. Some of the situations in there are embarrassing to me, and I do not want our Younger readers to feel I was condoning my actions. I am not. I was shown favor by God. Its extremely Personal and graphic, So if you wish to read it, pm or email me your email Address and I will send it to you. Its way to long for PM

[Tek7 (Legacy)]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the Christian Gamers Alliance web site included a section for Testimonies. Since we lost our web site and long before, activity on that front had died down. I want to create a new thread strictly for community members to post their testimonies.

I'd like to keep to an open format, but I would ask that everyone stay on topic.

That being said, I would ask all Christians in this community to post their personal testimonies.

EDIT: Linking to a web page or blog entry with your testimony is cool, too.

[Talon]

Mine

[Tek7 (Legacy)]

/bump

Every Christian has a testimony. Please take a few minutes to write and post yours. You don't have to include any personal information; just share with others what God has done for you.