The Power of Personal Testimony: How Sharing Your Story Can Inspire Others

The reason we go through the things we do in life, is so that we can have those experiences and life struggles to use as our testimony of God's love, peace, strength and glory. There are times I look back and think "wow, I can't believe I didn't come to God back then with everything He clearly did for me." But it's because I wasn't ready to accept Him into my heart completely so that it would change me deeply. It took 32 years for me to have a relationship with God. I grew up believing in God, regardless of not attending church or reading the Bible. My mom would talk about God, and express how she believed in Him also, but neither of us had a relationship with Him. There is a huge difference in practicing "religion" or simply believing in God, then to have a personal, flourishing relationship with Him.

He knew that I needed to wait until I was at my lowest. That may seem cruel, but I don't think it is. He wanted me to do it on my own, until I no longer could, and He came in and lifted me up and showed me his grace and love when I needed it the most. I was in such a dark place, full of self hate and anger. At one point, I remember breaking down to my husband crying telling him that I hated myself. I didn't like the person I was at the time, and I felt utterly broken. I didn't know how to fix it, and he didn't either. But God did. No one will ever understand the feeling of being saved until you experience it for yourself. And there is no "right or wrong" way to come to Jesus. Some people grew up in the church, and have known Christ their entire life, and others like me, find their way to Him eventually. It's been a year that I've come to God, and next month will be a year that I've been at my amazing church home. And within that year, I have changed so much, in many different ways. I still get from people how I'm different, or "well you used to like this". You're absolutely right, I did used to. But I'm still me, I just have a different outlook on life and my priorities have shifted. Some don't understand it, and some do.

I have no shame in my love for Jesus. I want to tell everyone how He's made me feel so completely loved and at peace, and how He quite literally reached His hand down in my time of suffering and helped me stand back up. I honestly don't think I ever could have without Him. I think I would have continued down a dark road, continuing to live life in sin, continued looking deeper into how to use crystals and witchcraft to help myself come into my "higher self", as if there is anything greater or higher than God himself. I cannot even express my gratitude enough that I didn't get a chance to completely dive into that lifestyle, that He saved me before the enemy really got his hooks in me. I still dealt with some really heavy spiritual attacks though, don't you doubt that for a minute.

The enemy does not want us to have a relationship with God. He will try to ruin it at any moment and turn, we just need to continue to keep our eyes on Jesus and stay in prayer. I promise you prayer can do so much. It has helped me through so many hard times since being saved, including spiritual attacks from the enemy. I used to get attacked every single time my husband would go out of town. I'd get woken up, with a feeling of heaviness and unease over me. Since I got baptized, and stay in prayer any time I feel anywhere near that feeling again I have yet to have it happen again, whether he is home or not. He will provide and protect us. God is not the spirit of fear, anxiety or anger. He wants to help you out of those things, you just need to trust that He can do that for you. If you pray about it and your heart isn't in the right place, that's going to be something that He knows, because He knows our heart.

I love you all, and if you've read this I appreciate you so much! If you haven't read my testimony book and are interested, you can click here and it will take you to Amazon to purchase it.

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