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From	Message
tennesseehiker 29-Nov-08, 05:11	A Place for Your Testimony I accepted Christ as my Lord and personal Savior at the tender age of 8. I was born into an abusive household in which my Christian mother, sister, brother and I were subject to the anger of a tortuous father. I am convinced my relationship with Christ enabled me to endure the horrific treatment by my godless parent. After putting up with my father’s abuse against her and us children for 11 years, my mother finally divorced when I was 10 years old. She later married a good man who accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior shortly before marrying her. While I had a very close relationship with Christ as a child and teen, I slowly drifted away from Him as a young adult. I was diagnosed with a debilitating illness at age 22 for which I subconsciously blamed God. However, despite the horrid effects of my illness including many suicidal attempts, I never denounced Him. I only lost my close relationship with God, and Satan convinced me with lies that God no longer loved me. In June 2000 I finally succumbed to the atrocities of my illness and retired on disability at the young age of 39. I have since grown close to Christ once again. Looking back over my life, I now realize that contrary to Satan’s deceptive untruths regarding God’s love toward me, Christ never forsook nor denounced me. Instead, He carried me through the many storms of life as He does now. I have since joined a medium size church in close proximity of my neighborhood where I volunteer my time and witness to others about the abundant love of Jesus. I also minister to others through my support group (www.dbsamadisonchapter.org); I offer free computer training; volunteer at my church’s family life center; and make my other talents available for God’s purpose and glorify.
irontigran1 30-Nov-08, 08:53	My testimony I was brought up in the Catholic religion, went through the communion and confirmation ceremonies. After that which was in 1967, I left the church and for all intents and purposes an atheist. I know of at least one incident where God was preparing for His purposes, which led to my encounter with a Christian from campus fellowship in 1975, who shared the gospel; I recall one question that he asked, and that was did I believe in a personal devil, I answered in the negative. I enlisted in the Army in 1976 and during Basic Training was involved with a fellow trainee Brian Beeker(sp?), who was reading the Late Great Planet Earth, this raised many questions, not all necessarily related to the book. I remember on the weekend when my platoon had a three day pass, Brian and I went to a gospel concert. These incidents were God's way of preparing me for my next duty station in South Korea. I arrived in S.K. January 5, 1977, it wasn't until April that I met Lloyd Forkey, who introduced himself to me, but it was God's design. After a time, Lloyd asked me about me about my spiritual life and shared the gospel, That opened the flood gates of all the questions I had been mulling over in my mind. He gave a Chick Tract, entitled "This was your life." I think I read it about 3 times, maybe? Well, that's when it happened I prayed to invite Jesus to forgive my sins and live in me. WOW! what a change! I still remember to this day 31 years later how I was, amazing. God since then has molded me into the Christian/Philosopher I am today. It couldn't be better!
walkingman 30-Nov-08, 09:13	Wow! To think that God began to work through a gospel concert! That is just SOOO what I needed to hear right now. Awesome testimonies guys! It did my heart much good to read them both. Kinda busy this weekend, but will find time to give a little testimony about my own conversion DV, maybe before the weekend is out. Blessings in Christ Paul
walkingman 02-Dec-08, 21:11	My testimony I came to Christ as a child of 5-6. I struggled hard to get peace with God, even at that early age. I was filled with questions and doubts. The struggle for peace and assurance was another battle that followed on the heels of my conversion. I thought that as soon as I got saved, I would lose my salvation if I sinned again. Finally, I was able to simply accept God's forgiveness and accept the fact that I could never reach a state of personal perfection, where I wouldn't need God anymore. This was a bitter fact for me to swallow, but I had to acknowledge my mortal weakness and leave my pride at the foot of the cross. I began to drift during my school/growing up years. I had a hard time reconciling the "real world" and what I was taught to believe were the facts about the Bible. I could not seem to make the teaching fit with what I saw and experienced every day of my life. I fell into careless living in my late teen years, but at about 19-20 I returned to God with a vengeance. Thankfully, He took me back. In my mid to late thirties I was introduced to "literal creationism". That started a process by which I was able to reclaim the whole Bible as literal truth. I have never looked back, and I have never been so blessed in my soul since that moment. My doubts are gone. My questions have been answered. My heart is on fire for Christ! Praise God for his wonderful works, and for the way He has led us all in our individual paths to that blessed place of peace and rest for the soul. I shall worship Him forever in glory, who alone is WORTHY to be praised! My Lord Jesus Christ! Blessings in Him Paul
tennesseehiker 13-Jun-09, 03:32	My Expounded Testimony God has laid upon my heart the desire to share my testimony with all whom I come in contact. While I had already written and shared a much shorter version of it with a few family members and friends, God led me to expound upon it, which I have included in this email message below. For the most part, I compiled the information all at one time. Indeed, I sat down early this morning and the words flowed forth as I typed them. My hope is that you will in some way benefit from the testimony in such a way that you, too, will be drawn closer to Him. In Christ's eternal and everlasting love, Jim My Testimony I accepted Christ as my Lord and personal Savior at the tender age of eight. I was born into an abusive household in which my Christian mother, sister, brother and I were subjected to the anger of a tortuous father. I am convinced my relationship with Christ enabled me to endure the horrific treatment by my godless parent. After putting up with my father’s abuse against her and her children for 11 years, my mother finally divorced when I was 10 years old. She later married a good man who accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior shortly before marrying her. While I had a very close relationship with Christ as a child and teen, I slowly drifted away from Him as a young adult. I was diagnosed with a debilitating illness at age 22 for which I subconsciously blamed God. However, despite the horrid effects of my illness including many suicidal attempts, I never denounced Him. I only lost my close relationship with God, and Satan convinced me with lies that God no longer loved me. In June 2000 I finally succumbed to the atrocities of my illness and retired on disability at the young age of thirty-nine. I have since grown close to Christ once again. This illness from which I suffer is a rare form of bipolar disorder—atradian rapid cycling disorder. Most individuals who suffer from bipolar disorder cycle through highs and lows one or two times a year. I cycle weekly if not daily or even hourly. This makes my treatment most difficult and challenging. After 17 years of dealing with this extreme form of bipolar disorder, I finally succumbed to my illness at the age of 39 in June of 2000 and filed for disability. Three months later I was approved, and I have been disabled since. The likelihood that I will ever be able to return to work is quite slim. However, I have since found purpose in my life. God led my wife, Teresa, and I to Parkway Baptist Church a few years ago where I am able to minister and witness to others at the Family Life Center as a volunteer. I also minister to others through my support group; I teach computer skills at a Senior Center; and I offer free computer training and support in my spare time. God continues to deliver me from many crises including one very recent one I would like to share with you. You see, in many ways my illness is governed by sleep. If I get too much sleep over an extended period of time, I will invariably experience the depths of depression. On the other hand, should I repeatedly receive too much sleep, a cyclic motion is let into play in which I repeatedly go back and forth between extreme highs and lows. During these lows I am often confronted with strong feelings of suicidal thoughts and tendencies. Just this week I was unable to receive an adequate amount of sleep over a five day period of time due to much worry about not only my life but the lives of others of which I am close. Over this period, I experienced several days of extreme cycling during which time I dealt with desires to end my life. I called upon family and friends, both local and over the Internet throughout the world to pray in my behalf. God heard these prayers and answered them. He gave me peace of mind and spirit that only He can give—peace that defies all understanding. I am now determined to make my story and testimony known to all with whom I come in contact hoping that they might seek to find this everlasting peace. I am doing this to the praise, honor and glory of Jesus, my Lord and Savior, with whom I now have closeness like never before. Thank you for allowing me to share my testimony with you. I pray that you, too, will share in this ever-flowing peace if you do not already.

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