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Testimonials By Name
Betty Wagner - Thinking I Was A Christian, But Wondering If It Was True
Myles Wagner - Two Myles To Heaven
Clayton Watson - How I Came to Christ
John Wesley - The Man From Aldersgate
Richard Whipple - Where It All Bagan
Bridget M. Willard - Peace That Passes All Understanding
Kathy Wilson - My Empty Life
Scott Wilson - I walked into the church with blue jeans, a flannel shirt, long hair, a bad attitude, a pack of Marlboros and the idea of getting a Budweiser right after the service... then the Lord got a hold of my heart.
Betty Wagner
Emmaus, PA
EMail: dhammett@xc.orgThinking I Was A Christian,
But Wondering If It Was TrueGrowing up around Christians, and attending a church that preachedthe Gospel, gave me a knowledge of Jesus Christ. At that time I thought that knowing about being a Christian made you a Christian. I knew people who professed to be born again, and I saw a difference in their lives. I just did not quite understand that I needed to be born again to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. (Note: "Saved" and " Born Again" are biblical terms referring to the forgiveness of sins by God and the rescue of the person from the power and penalty of that sin. This is God's requirement for everlasting life.)
Although I had attended church pretty regularly as a child, I did not attend faithfully as I got into my young teenage years. Although I said I believed in Jesus, and thought I was a Christian, I still did not understand the full implications of having a personal relationship with Jesus and living fully as he would have me do.
Later in my teen years, I was influenced by my friends who were not Christians and I fell into all sorts of sin: smoking, drinking, drugs, etc. At 18, I was pregnant and chose to get married. The first six years of my marriage was a disaster. In May, 1984, my husband wanted a divorce. He saw no other way. At this time I still was not attending church and did not have that positive influence in my life.
One night, two men from a nearby Baptist church came to visit my husband. That same night my husband accepted Christ as his Savior. When I came home from work, he told me what had happened. I wasn't too surprised. I was familiar with the terms Saved and Born Again. I really believed I was saved as a child, and I told his so.
At about that time we started to attend church, mostly at my husband's urging. I was still concerned for my shaky marriage and I prayed and asked God to do whatever it would take to save my marriage. He did that, but not the way I thought he would.
We joined Victory Baptist Church and started serving the Lord. I did, and said, all the right things, so I thought, for nine years.
In July, 1992, the Lord led my husband and our family to Lehigh Valley Baptist church. At that time I was away from all my friends who had a more shallow standard of what it meant to be a Christian. I began to hear messages on salvation by repentance and by faith. My focus turned to what God really wanted: a change of heart. I started seeking God's will for my life. I knew something was missing. I began to realize that there must be sin that I could not see. I really needed for God to reveal it to me. This went on for quite a while. I began thinking that maybe I was not saved. Then I thought how stupid that was. Just look at all I do for the Lord. Although I still did not see it, my self-righteousness was the root of my sin of pride.
On September 12, 1993, the pastor preached on the theme of discerning the will of God. One thing that struck my heart was that God never pushes us, but He gently urges us, to do what is right. That topic was right on target. God's will- that's what I had been seeking. Then God spoke to my heart, gently asking me if I was truly saved.
I could not truly answer "yes". There was doubt and confusion in my heart. After the service, I went with my husband to talk to the pastor and try to get some assurance from him. The pastor talked to me about real repentance and faith, which included a change of heart. As he said that, it occurred to me that I had changed everything but my heart. The pastor said that he could not tell me if I were lost or saved. Only God can know my heart.
My husband could not help me the answer the question of whether or not I was saved. He was confused also, because he remembered how I had told him that I was saved as a child. I believed that I was probably a Christian because I knew who Jesus was and what he did. And I thought that I must be saved because when I asked the Lord to save my marriage, it appeared that He did just that.
That's when God opened my eyes. For the first time I saw that I was lost. But, it was God's perfect will and desire to save me on September 12, 1993. That night I bowed my head, repented of my sin, and in faith, asked Christ into my heart and Him to change me and to forgive me, a sinner in need of salvation. Recognizing my own sinful condition in God's eyes, I knew I had to change my heart. I couldn't do anything to earn my salvation. It is His free gift, only to be accepted.
That night I knew I was in God's perfect will--His perfect plan of salvation as found in the Bible, Second Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I was included in the all.
If you have grown up around Christian people as I had, you may feel comfortable that you might be a Christian. But a sinner cannot make himself or herself a Christian. Jesus said, "Ye must be born again, to enter the Kingdom of God." Just like we are born into this world and into a particular family, we must be born into the family of God. Repenting of our sins and exercising our faith in believing that God sent Jesus to be our Savior-- that is the only gate to enter Heaven
Myles Wagner
Emmaus, PA
EMail: dhammett@xc.orgTwo Myles To Heaven
Exactly how far is it to Heaven, anyway? One mile? Ten miles? Ten thousand miles? Ten million miles? Let me show you how close Heaven and the God of Heaven is.
In May, 1984, my marriage was falling apart. Divorce seemed like the only logical solution. Prior to this, friends were concerned for our marriage. They told us about Victory Baptist Church. After attending for a few weeks and hearing God,s word, I began to wonder where I would spend eternity. One Tuesday night, when my wife was ready to go to work, I expressed my sincere desire for a divorce. Shortly after my wife left for work, two men from the church came to visit me.
They shared God,s plan of Salvation with me. They asked me if I realized that I was a sinner. They showed me scriptures from the Bible, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans chapter 3, verse 23). They shared with me the consequences of sin and the precious Gift of God in Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I realized that I was a sinner and needed to repent of my sins according to Acts 3:19, Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. That night I repented of my sins and accepted Christ as my Savior.
God not only saved me, a sinner, but He also saved my marriage.
So how far is it to Heaven? Just on the outskirts of sin. For sure, my sins have been forgiven by a holy and righteous God. My name is Myles Wagner and I have been happy to tell people that it is only one Myles to Heaven. My son is named Myles also. Since he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior in January of 1994, my testimony changed to "Two Myles to Heaven. If I never see you again here on earth, will I see you in Heaven?
Clayton W. Watson
Memphis, TN
EMail: claytonww@bigfoot.comHow I Came to Christ
"... I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes..."- Romans 1:16
I was raised in a Christian home in Germantown, TN. My parents were Methodists, so we went to the Methodist church. Somehow, however, I never really got the imperative gospel message to make a decision for Christ there. That happened later during my 11th summer. My older brother, who was a teenager at the time, was starting to associate with an outspoken group of Christian teens at high school. One day he left a tract laying out in our house, and I picked it up and took it to my room to read. I saw the clear scriptural quotes and a brief explanation of the sinner's salvation prayer. I immediately prayed that prayer, realizing I hadn't a moment to lose!
That was the beginning of my Christian odyssey. My brother also had brought home a Living Bible, a type of bible I hadn't seen before. I was delighted at how easy it was to understand; I had only seen KJV and RSV bibles up until that time. I read from that Living Bible Genesis, Matthew, and parts of other books. I was amazed at what it said. I felt that finally I had truly found the meaning of life; spelled out so clearly, it made sense to me.
Two years later in 1972, again taking cues from my older siblings, (I wanted to tag along and do whatever they were doing!) I managed to attend one of the earliest "contemporary" Christian music events. The band that played there later became known as The DeGarmo & Key Band. I invited a new friend to go to that concert, and he accepted Christ while there. We continue to be good friends to this day. He later invited me to his church, which was non-denominational, a novel concept in those days. I really liked it there, and began attending regularly.
However, being just a boy, I kept most of my feelings and thoughts to myself, and I failed to seek out a steady, serious Christian role model. As a result I waffled around and did not mature. I got distracted by the usual sorts of worldly, youthful lusts: women and song, (but no wine - didn't like alcohol as a teenager). For years I strayed farther and farther away from Jesus. At the darkest point I openly questioned the Bible (although I had no evidence to doubt it's veracity, I just found that it didn't endorse my sinful desires) and the Christian faith in general.
More years passed and at age 22 I joined the US Coast Guard, still groping in spiritual shadows. But I can remember certain points of light even during that time. During recruit training, I shared a barracks with about 80 other young men. We appointed a "chaplain" for ourselves, and every night at lights out he would pray aloud for us all as we struggled to survive the Coast Guard's rigorous boot camp. When he finished, all 80 of us would say "amen" together as we each lay in our bunks, bone-tired. We even had a small bible study group which I sat in on. And on Sundays, we all went to chapel, where they had a band and we sang and clapped our hands to the music. That was the highlight of every week in boot camp, the only time we could let go a little and have fun.
Later I reported for duty in Louisiana. I vacillated back and forth there between short stints of affected piety and long slogs through worldly, fleshly, sinful thoughts and behaviors. I was what the bible calls "a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways". (James 1:8) Then I got transferred to New York City for more training. For the first 6 months there, I swung completely back into the worldly, spiritually-dead side. I was exploring, and having fun doing it; God wasn't included. I partied, and partied some more, hitting every conceivable New York night spot. Rock'n'roll landmarks were big on my agenda, and I spent many an hour at (in)famous Manhattan clubs, just sober enough to find my way back home through the dense urban jungle. I became enamored with the Greenwich Village scene. (Drugs were not part of my life, however; their destructiveness has always been apparent to me.)
But at the center of all this activity there was a vast emptiness. Eventually that still, small voice deep inside me was starting to be heard again after several months in NYC. I bought a Billy Graham paperback, just on a whim; it looked more substantive than the pulp fiction beside it. About that time I visited a church on the upper east side a couple of times too. I was unaware of the small flame that was burning inside of me that was waiting for the right fuel. That church I visited only reinforced some of the negative doubts I was holding about modern Christianity though. It struck me as boring, staid, and uninspired. But I read the Billy Graham book, and the little flame inside got a bit bigger; I didn't realize how close I was to a personal, spiritual revolution.
One Friday night I was in Greenwich Village snooping around alone when I passed a small, storefront Christian church. I stopped and read the signs in the window, and peered inside. This, I thought, looked like a church that could be interesting. That following Sunday I came back and visited their service.
I was awed by the passion the people in this little church had not for their meeting, not for their building program (which they did not have), but for JESUS Himself. The singing and music was the best I had ever heard in a church, and nearly everyone in the congregation got up before the sermon started and shared testimonies of their experiences the preceding week. They spoke of witnessing experiences, and personal struggles, and referred to Jesus as if He were their closest friend.
This captivated my attention and I continued attending that little church. After my second visit, the bottom fell out of my resistance to God. My sinful ways were so obvious to me that they made me sick to think about. I began reading my Bible hungrily -starting with the gospels- and suddenly it became crystal clear to me that what was missing from my life was Jesus Christ. His message in the Bible showed me that in order for His influence to have full reign in my life, I must surrender all to Him and begin to turn from my selfish and sinful habits. His atoning sacrifice on the cross had been my first step. If I would take the second step, He would help me with the third. I prayed fervently to Jesus to forgive me and to clean me up.
I was 24. My world was overturned in ONE day. I felt such strong conviction, I decided that day to completely expunge everything in my life that I thought Jesus would not completely approve of. I remember throwing a switchblade and a set of brass knuckles into New York harbor. I finally realized that rebellious music had become a negative influence in my life, and that it had helped to separate me from God and even from other people. So, I drug my entire record collection to a dumpster, and snapped each of them in half before tossing them in; I didn't want to chance them leading anyone else astray either. My new friends at the little church were also very helpful and instrumental in my life at this time. They prayed for me, pointed me to the scriptural passages I needed to know, and fully accepted me and nurtured me in every way.
I became an outright Jesus freak, a zealot; but it was a special time in my life. We went out for street witnessing in Greenwich Village twice a week. We'd sometimes get up on a short ladder in Washington Square and just preach spontaneously to anyone who would stop and listen. It is a dark, sinful place, and almost nobody listened, but we knew that God was listening, and that He wanted us to speak out as living Christians in a pagan, dead world.
Eventually my fiery passion grew into a faith anchored in reason and knowledge. I settled into a larger church that better suited the Christian I was maturing into being. I have remained on this path ever since.
I enjoy a good rock'n'roll tune now and then, but I never forget that it
once played me, instead of the other way around. I have kept a steady church attendance since that time 14 years ago (it seems like yesterday!) and I try to keep myself moving forward in my walk with Christ. I have endeavored to memorize a fair amount of scripture, in order to make it a part of me.God has blessed me over these years with a wife, two beautiful children, a career, a comfortable home, and other things too numerable to mention. And I owe it ALL to Christ; these things could not have occurred without His influence in my life. I remind myself daily that it is all a gift, and He shares His riches with me as long as it serves His holy purposes. And if and when He wants to take any of these away from me, it will be His will and that will therefore be good also.
When I recollect the worldly life I used to embrace, I think of this:
"But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile - now I've
thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ." - Phillipians 3:7,8
The Living Bible
John Wesley
as submitted by Roger Nelson of "A One Man Play"
EMail: Roger.Nelson@wciu.edu (Roger Nelson)The Man From Aldersgate
I awoke at 5 o'clock the morning of May 24, 1738, and found these words confronting me in the New Testament: "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature."
I closed my Bible to meditate on the words, "Partakers of the divine nature." Then, I opened it again and this time another verse seemed to virtually leap out at me: "Thou are not far from the Kingdom of God."
All the rest of that morning these two promises filled my mind. In the afternoon, I went to the services held in the vast St. Paul's Cathedral.
All the ritual was familiar enough, but yet, somehow it all had new meaning to me. Surely, I thought, this is a most fitting place in which God could reveal Himself to me. But it was not the place of God's choosing.
I did not know just where I wanted to go that evening, but I knew it wasn't to another religious meeting, so I just walked.
Eventually, I unwillingly found myself at a meeting on Aldersgate Street, where a man was reading Martin Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while Luther's commentary was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.
I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation. And an assurance was given me, that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death!
I began to pray with all my might for those who had in particular despitefully used and persecuted me. I then testified openly what I felt in my heart.
How does one describe such an experience--this new birth in Jesus Christ? Is it like being born again? Who can say, for who can recall the events of their first birth? Perhaps it is like being an ugly, wrinkled caterpillar and wallowing in the dust all of your life, then suddenly becoming a beautiful, free-floating butterfly: a creature of the wind, nectar-fed and free!
Now, I actually felt a Presence--His Presence--living and striving, not only with me, but within me! I was no longer alone. And herein I found the difference between this any my former state: Then I was sometimes--if not often conquered. Now I was always conqueror!
Email: GIDGEY@aol.com
Peace that Passes all Understanding
I was raised by my mother--I never really knew my Dad; he lost himself until 3 years ago. My mother is an alcoholic so I'm sure that you can imagine what my childhood was like. I wanted to leave so bad I couldn't wait to be graduated from High School to go to college.
Well, when I was 18 my boyfriend (of 4 years) left me for another girl--that was the hair on the camel's back. It was then that I realized how empty I really was. I was depressed, lonley, empty... I really wanted to die for about a year. I'd been to church, but, I didn't believe in the Jesus "crap" as I called it.
My then friend, now husband, kept on and on and on and on telling me about Jesus I thought really that he'd never stop.. Now I'm glad he didn't.
When I was 19, in Dec of 92, I gave my life to Jesus. I wasn't really different or anyting until our business closed and we had to move in with his mother in Costa Mesa (Jan 95).
A dear sister online saw that I lived in Costa Mesa and told me to go to Calvary Chapel. She told me that Chuck Smith was a great teacher. My husband and I began going......that was really the first time I ever began going to church. I was saved for 2 years before I went...
Because I was going to church, I therefore began reading more and listening to a radio station here (KWVE 107.9) that plays messages all day and praise music. On April 30, 1995 I was baptized at the YMCA in Encinitas CA. I am the happiest I have ever been in my entire life! Jesus really changed me and I have never regretted that decision.....
My sister became born again in 1994! We're now working on Mom.
I began attending Maranatha Chapel in San Diego once we moved there and my husband and I began working in the Children's Ministry! I cannotÉn'É¥xplain how wÅprful that is and how it has blessed me!
We moved to Orange county for a job and began attending Calvary Chapel of San Juan Capistrano (Pastor Brian Wood). Mercier and I teach Children's Church on Thursdays! It's really wonderful!
(ps. Has the Lord given you a heart for chidren? I'd like to encourage you to pray about serving in the children's minstry.)
Richard Whipple
EMail: whipple@UMDNJ.EDUWhere It All Began
Like many others, I was brought up in a home which practiced a religion. We lived across the street from the church, and I grew up as one of the choice altar boys. My parents were involved at different levels, reading for the congregation, becoming involved in a charismatic group, learning to play guitar, writing songs, and leading folk music masses.
I had one experience when I was in 4th or 5th grade, when my mom first brought the rest of us to a charismatic mass/healing service which has stuck with me to this day as unexplainable except by the intervention of God. A priest, reputed to have healing powers from the Holy Spirit, scattered water on the congregation, and, while he did so, several people, including my father and older brother, collapsed where they were standing. Being a child, with a child's mind, I thought that, as they didn't really believe, they were having an experience to help them believe. Well, the next day, Monday, came, and at home we had a ritual of giving my dad a hug before he went to work. I reached up and touched my dad, and ZAP! I was out. I don't know for how long, I only know that I felt nothing, heard nothing, saw nothing, smelled nothing, etc. Now that I have a degree in engineering, and am working on another in biochemistry, I know that no electrical, or chemical means could explain such an event.
Onward past the boundaries of Home
When I moved from my small town to go to college, I encountered many people whose faiths and beliefs were different from mine. My workload was heavy, and I dropped off attending church, wondering all the time if it really mattered anyway. It wasn't until a couple of years after graduation, when I had moved again, that I had an encounter which began to awaken an interest in spiritual matters again.
I met a person who invited me to a Bible study. I hadn't really read too much of the Bible, past the short excerpts which I knew by heart from years of church repeating them. So I went. I was then invited to another 'study' at someone's house. There I was bowled over with readings and testimony designed to engender fear in me. It worked... but actually far too well for those who had started the encounter. I agreed that I couldn't count on any man for my salvation, that my relationship with God was my own responsibility. They had managed to undercut my ties to my past, but failed to see how they, at the same time, made it clear that I could also not trust them to lead me. Their assumption that I would become a docile follower was misplaced, for I logically saw that they had buried the implicit: You can't trust any person... but you can trust me...
So, for a time, I was really lost. Having been a scientist for some time, the possibility that nothing existed after death, that all my consciousness would simply cease to exist, gave me the heebejeebes. I pored over the Bible, refusing to 'memorize the meaning' of particular passages. Noting, as I read from the OT, how particular phrases which I had seen a thousand times before in a different context (i.e. 'son of man', which originally came from Isaiah) took on different meanings. It became evident that giving anyone selected readings who had not, at least once, read through from cover to cover a Bible with a good set of historical footnotes, made it impossible to understand anything 'in context'. Well, I read and read, and found nothing of use to me... so much killing and vowing to shed blood in the name of God, so much punishment... and much which looked like fable (Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt sounds far too much like the 'and that's why we have fire.. ancient Greek fables.) Until I got to John...
I had almost forgotten my favorite gospelist. And I had never had occasion to read the prologue to his gospel before... Yes! The Word was God, not the book.... I had already figured that the truth of the Bible was that it was written by man about God, not written by God about man. The continual use of the term 'the Word of God', stemming from an OT phrase 'Thus sayeth the Lord, your God' used by the prophets, had driven me crazy. The Word was Jesus, not a book. (At this time I also saw a television episode where a chinese character had a saying embroidered in needlepoint on the wall: When a finger points at the moon, a fool looks at the finger.)
Well, I read more, I got to : I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, when something made me realize.... The Word was SINGULAR, not PLURAL... it was not 'the words' but the Word...So I asked myself, could I come up with one word which would sum up who Jesus was?
Love. The Word was Love, The Way, the Truth and the Life was Love.
A Return Home
Now, years later, I have read much of what man has learned of Love. In books, in song, in poems. I have taken personal growth courses which have aided significantly in separating my interpretation of what happens from what happens, and allows me to choose the way I want to see things.
I also came across a different theology. One consistent with everything I had learned. Though the means of transmission were far less than perfect. I read from a posting on a newsgroup about a re-revealment of the Gospel by Jesus, carried out through automatic writing. WELL... I had seen lots of supposed 'prophets' and 'psychics' spouting babble on the 'net before, so I was intrigued, but frankly didn't think I'd find anything worthwhile. Until I began to read.. it all fit. It fit so well with my experience, and with logic, and with Love. I reached out, as directed, to the Father, asking for his
Divine Love to fill me and guide me. I found an experience very similar to what I had when I first discovered that Love was the answer.
I have continued to open my soul to the essence of the Father, as Jesus taught, and did. I find myself growing closer, feeling closer to him each day. I feel less judgment, anger, and anxiousness about where I am going. Having explored the spiritualist roots of those who communicated these messages, and a popular modern psychic, George Anderson, I feel confident that an afterlife does exist, and that the Angels are watching, praying for us to discover that we need to learn to love each other, and that our Father is waiting to share Himself, His Love, with us, to make us Divine Angels, like our brother, teacher and loving example, Jesus.
Kathy Wilson
Boyertown, PA
EMail: dhammett@xc.orgMy Empty Life
I was raised in a home where my mother and my oldest sister took us to a Lutheran Church. I was there for 16 years. I was baptized and confirmed at the age of 14. Even after I was confirmed, I was confused about the true way of salvation. When I went back many years later and looked in the notebooks my father had saved for me, I found the notation, "What is it really like to know God?"
I went on in ignorance, got married when I was 21, had a son, then my twin girls when I was 30. At that time I remember thinking to myself that "this is what life is all about." But, I was also in a marriage that had been split up seven or eight times because of an unfaithful relationship. I began to realize what a mess my life was in. I went to counseling with my minister and all he had to offer me was a psychology book. Even though I was not saved at the time, I thought it was really odd that a minister would not offer me anything from the Bible, the Word of God.
At that time, I just turned to go my own way. My marriage was broken and I had no one in my life. I got into the nightclub scene. I loved to dance and it got so that rock and roll was all I had to uplift me. At the same time it was my downfall. I went on like this for nearly two years. But my life was
empty. Oh, I loved my children, and I got up every day and went out and worked hard to provide a home for them. But it got to the point where I would get up in the morning and look in the mirror and I couldn't stand myself because I knew something was missing. Something was terribly wrong.
About this time, my friend Judy, at work, had started attending an independent Baptist Church she had attended as a child.. She had just built a house and was trying to fill her life with material things, but she felt a void in her life also. She began asking me if I'd like to attend with her, and I didn't respond at first.
But the Lord brought another woman, Barbara Lewis, to work with me temporarily because she had been injured and could not do her regular job. She began to preach the Word of God to me. Every one around us abandoned the area when she started witnessing and preaching. I couldn't leave because this was my job area. But, I really would not have wanted to leave. Something drew me to what this woman had to say. She told me in no uncertain terms that I was a sinner and needed to get saved. (Note: "Saved" is a biblical term referring to the forgiveness of sins by God and the rescue of a person from the power and penalty of that sin. This is God's requirement for everlasting life. It is another way of referring to a person who has become a "born again" Christian.) She opened the Bible and began to read from the book of John, chapter three, verse 16. I just listened and thought to myself, "something is clicking here". While I didn't really understand everything, it was enough of a nudge for me to seek out my friend Judy and ask her if I could take her up on her offer to take me to church with her.
I got my two-year-old twins ready that next Sunday morning, and my 10-year-old son, and we were off for church. I went for two weeks and listened to everything that was being said. The Saturday night before the third Sunday, the Lord opened my heart and let me see myself for what I was
-- a sinner destined for hell if I didn't get saved. I had no peace that night. I knew I had to get alone with God and deal with this. I had read enough of the Bible, the books of John and Romans, to know what I had to do. That Saturday night, May 14, 1981, I got down on my knees and acknowledged that I was a sinner and asked the Lord to come into my heart and change my life.
The next day I couldn't wait to get to church. Even though my children were there with me, I felt like there was no one around me and that the pastor was preaching just to me. I was convinced that those who were there could see my sin because the message was so pointed at me. During the invitation for people to come forward and get to know Christ as their personal Savior, I literally ran up the aisle. I was weeping as I told the personal worker that the Lord had come into my heart the night before, and I said that I so wanted my family to be saved also. I was so focused on getting up that aisle that I did not know until later that my son had come up right behind me and accepted the Lord as his Savior also. The Lord was so good to me, and I praise Him for that.
I continued living in Baltimore. About 1983, things began to change at Western Electric where I had worked for 17 years. I felt I was being pulled in the wrong direction and I prayed to God to remove me from that atmosphere. Little did I know I would be moved to another state.
I was offered a job at the Western Electric plant in Allentown. It was a big decision for me. I went to my ex-husband to see if that door might still be open for me. After talking to him, I knew that chapter of my life was closed and I jumped right in to finding a new life in Pennsylvania. My sister lived with me for a couple of years until she retired in 1988 and moved back to Baltimore. I was pretty lonely after that. I work with both men and women at work, and I had a number of men come up to me and ask me out. But, I had promised myself that I would not get involved with an ungodly man.
So I began to pray to God. I told Him I did not know if I even had a right to ask Him for a husband, but that I was lonely and I would like to have a man that would lead and guide and direct my children. I asked for a man that reads the Bible and a man that would want to sit and have family devotions and share God's word with his family. I asked for a man that I. could have a
spiritual relationship with and good fellowship with.
I believe God gave me that husband when he gave me Scott Wilson. Our marriage has not been without problems. We all have problems. But we can always get down on our knees and ask God for guidance and direction. For me, sometimes, that has meant I've had to go to my husband and ask him to forgive me for trying to lead the family. After being a single mother making all the decisions for so long I find that I sometimes have a tendency to try and be independent. At those times I find it a comfort to turn to the Bible and read the book of Ephesians, chapter five, verses 21 to the end of the chapter. "Submitting yourselves one to the other in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as onto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." That helps me remember what a true Christian home is like under Christ. I find if I submit myself first unto the Lord, then unto my husband, most of the time everything just falls into place. That's the advice I would give to any young woman just starting out in her married life.
Scott Wilson
Emmaus, PA
EMail: dhammett@xc.orgI walked into the church with blue jeans, a flannel shirt, long hair, a bad attitude, a pack of Marlboros and the idea of getting a Budweiser right after the service... then the Lord got a hold of my heart.
I was raised in a religious home. Not a Christian home, but a religious home nevertheless. I was always required to go to church. I had a grandfather who was a preacher in a Brethren Church who had a born again testimony (Note: "born again" is a biblical term referring to the act of inviting the Lord into your heart, asking Him to forgive your sins and to begin your life anew as a Christian. Hence, born again) I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time at seven years of age when I had an opportunity to attend a Monday night service every other week called "Kiddies Treat". It was held at the home of Mrs. Gertrude Frey. Her whole family was involved in an outreach program for the kids in the neighborhood.
I left that program when I was nine years old. Even though she and my grandfather were good friends, I didn't see her again for nearly three decades. But, you'll hear more about her later.
When I was 11 my folks went through a divorce and I became a latchkey child. I didn't have any rules or regulations, or restrictions on my life. I started working almost full time when I was fifteen for some of the luxuries of life and to help my mom put food on the table. I didn't see much of my father because I was angry at him for what he had done to our family.
At 17, I packed up and left for the Air Force. I had already spent a night in jail for drinking, and I was involved in a of lot things that pulled me down as a teenager. Things like rotten music, alcohol, fighting. I went into the Air Force so I wouldn't have to go to school any more and I could get away from all the rules and regulations being put on me at home that I found restrictive. So I became a ward of Uncle Sam, who taught me how to drink and fight and cuss even more. I spent three years in Germany, I married a girl there and brought her back to the U.S. Our daughter, Tanja, was born after we returned from Germany That marriage didn't last long, though, because my life was under the power of alcohol.
I stayed single for five years and married again. Well, that marriage didn't last too long either, for the same reasons that the first one failed. By this time I had another daughter, Kristen, with my second wife. Despite all the vows I had made to myself about never putting my kids through the heartache of a broken home that I had experienced, here I was with two kids and two broken homes.
By this time I was about 36 years old . About four years earlier my brother Bill had been saved. (Note:"Saved" is a biblical term referring to the forgiveness of sins by God and the rescue of a person from the power and penalty of that sin. This is God's requirement for everlasting life and being saved is another way of saying a person has been born again). I hadn't seen Bill for about five years. I hadn't seen my dad much to speak of for probably 16 years. There was just a wide gulf between us. Anyway, when Bill was saved and became a Christian he started to send me literature, hoping to draw me to the Lord.
I took them, and laughed at them, because I just figured he'd gotten religion. I had no idea what it all meant. I had pretty much given up trying to figure life out and I was just cruising along on autopilot in the rut I had made for myself.
One night in 1983, there was a knock on the door and it was my brother, who had made a special trip to invite me to go to the Lehigh Valley Baptist Church that night. I argued with him about why people never go to church on Friday night. Since I didn't have any friends and it was so nice to see my brother, I told him if he'd just stop talking about it I'd go to church with him and his wife. Although I didn't know it at the time, his wife got on the phone and had a prayer chain going that turned into about 400 people praying for my salvation.
Well, I walked into church with blue jeans, a flannel shirt, long hair, a bad attitude, a pack of Marlboros and the idea of getting a Budweiser right after the service...Then the Lord got hold of my heart.
The message that night was preached by Gary Gilmore, a visiting evangelist. He was preaching about the importance of being born again as shown in the New Testament, in the book of John, chapter three. At first I had no idea what he was talking about, but I listened and it seemed the whole message was directed at me alone. I came to the realization that if I didn't do something that night to get right with God I would probably spend my eternity in hell because of my sinful nature.
The preacher asked everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes. He then invited those who wanted to know Christ personally to come forward. My brother cheated and opened his eyes to look at me. He saw I was having a lot of trouble. I was weeping and fidgeting and he leaned over and simply said to me, "What will you do with Jesus Christ?" I turned to him and told him that if I could get down to the front of the aisle, after the mess I had made of my life, I think I could really get some answers from God that could help me. Well, I did get to the front of the church and one of the men took me into a side room and shared several passages of scripture with me. I bowed my head and asked Jesus Christ to come into my life, to save my lost and dying soul. And He did. That was March 18, 1983, on a Friday night. I knew that night what it meant to be born into the family of God.
God began to work in my life. I went to see my dad to share with him what had happened to me, and I asked him if he was saved. He said yes and gave me a convincing testimony of his salvation. He also told me he knew he had made many mistakes along the way and asked me to forgive him for his sinfulness. Through that, the Lord restored the years that we had been apart. He died a few months later.
I also went to see Gertrude Frey, my old Monday night Bible class teacher, to tell her of my salvation. She wasn't surprised though. She told me she had been praying for my salvation for the last 29 years. She never lost faith that one day the Lord would claim me as His own.
Twelve years have passed and while God has given me a lot of challenges, He has also given me the strength to meet them. I've been fortunate to be able to serve for many years at the Allentown Rescue Mission, bringing the word of God, and my personal testimony, to many men who have traveled the path I was on for so many years. The Lord also brought me a wonderful Christian wife and a family to share my new life with.
I'd like to leave you with one final thought. As a young man starting out, I thought that I could pretty much do whatever I wanted to do and get away with it. But God has a way of getting to you...because He loves you. He sent his Son to die on the cross for my sins, and your sins, and for the sins of the whole world. My advice to anyone is to get into the Word of God and judge ourself by the standards in God's Word....so that we won't be found lacking when we face God in eternity.
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