My Personal Testimony By Laurajones

[Left the Bldg]

Someone asked me if I would like to share my testimony.  I would like to because I think it would bring me joy to look back at God's work in my life and possibly be a blessing to anyone who may read this. 

 

Let me start with a bit of family background.

 

My grandmother (on mother's) side was raised Catholic.   I think she despised the Catholic religion. She didn't want to have anything to do with it.  She became Methodist, or at least, that is what she raised my mother to be.  My father was raised Lutheran.

 

We were not raised in church.  My parents didn't think it was necessary and would tell us "you don't have to go to church to believe", which is unfortunate because I know now that it is important for spiritual growth and fellowship.  However, they did not prevent us from going if we wanted to.  We had several Bibles in our home so I would read them occasionally.  My parents would try to answer my questions about certain scriptures the best they could..  

 

When I was a little girl, I always believed in God.  I would say my prayers before bed but mostly prayed when I needed something or was in trouble.  :-)  

 

As a teenager, I had the desire to go to church, or thought it was my duty or obligation.  I visited several churches with different friends through those years.  Pentecostal, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic and Apostolic.  I had my opinions based on my experiences with each of these denominations and none of them gave me any reason to want to go back.

 

When I was 17, my father had a heart attack.  He survived but It was the closest I came to experiencing someone I loved having almost died.  At that point, I developed an anxiety disorder because now I developed a fear of heart attacks and death.  For those who never had the experience or know the symptoms, it feels like you're dying but you don't know from what.  Makes you want to jump right out of your body.  I started having them regularly and it was disrupting my life with friends and going to school.  My first attack was when my family was visiting my father in the hospital.  I just got home from school and was alone so decided to lay on the couch and watch TV.  I started feeling light headed.  My heart began to race, arms tingling, shallow and fast breathing.  I laid there not knowing whether or not I should call an ambulance.  Instead, I started praying to God. I was giving up.  I was fed up.  I prayed that if it was time for me to die (because that's what I felt like) then take me.  All of a sudden, my heart started slowing down, my breathing became normal and I felt a peace like never before.  I got so relaxed that I fell asleep.

 

I believe God has always been in my life.  He was there but I didn't acknowledge Him.  I didn't pay attention.  Not as I should have.

 

Nowadays, I don't suffer from anxiety like I did back then.

 

A couple years later it was at the AOG church that I learned about salvation and the need for the Holy Spirit to live inside me to help me grow as a believer and be led by Him to please and serve Him.  I never knew I could have a relationship with Him before I was saved.  I was in and out of that church for about 25 years.

 

I read my Bible most of the time, went to prayer meetings and Bible classes but It wasn't until I experienced some tragedies in my life that gave me the hunger to study it.  The more I studied, the more I was concerned about what I was being taught.  My main concern was the teaching of losing one's salvation.  The pastor mentioned during a service about missing the rapture.  I started to get discouraged and felt I couldn't live up to those standards but, I didn't want to continue the cycle my parents instilled in us by not going to church.  I then started looking up churches and different denominations on the internet and read their belief statements.

 

Now I belong to an IFB church and I love it.  From all the choices I had in the area I felt IFB was the closest to scripture, based on their statement of belief.  Do I think It's perfect?  No.  There is no such thing. But I am content and happy to be there and so are my children.  I don't have to walk away discouraged anymore and am secure in my salvation and want to continue to grow and serve the Lord.

 

Amen!  :-)

[allen32]

it is hard to lose  i love one i lost my mom at 6yr old i will tell the hole story someday.

[No Nicolaitans]

Thanks for sharing...I enjoy reading the testimonies of others! 

[HappyChristian]

Thanks, Laura! That was interesting, and such a blessing.

[Left the Bldg]

it is hard to lose  i love one i lost my mom at 6yr old i will tell the hole story someday.

I just lost my mom this past July 2013 and my father the Dec 2012.  7 months apart.  It hurts no matter when we lose them.  We move on but it still hurts.

[swathdiver]

 

 I never knew I could have a relationship with Him before I was saved.  

 

Thank you for sharing.  Could you expound on this statement for us Mrs. Wallich?

[woolysheep]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Alimantado]

" I never knew I could have a relationship with Him before I was saved. "

 

Thank you for sharing.  Could you expound on this statement for us Mrs. Wallich?

 

I think she means: before I was saved, I did not know I could have a relationship with Him.

[candlelight]

Thank you for sharing your testimony, Laura.  I really enjoyed reading it.

[Left the Bldg]

Thank you for sharing.  Could you expound on this statement for us Mrs. Wallich?

I saw God as someone far away even though I knew He was there.  I felt he was out of reach and didn't know I could be personally intimate with Him.  Now I know he cares about every detail of my life no matter how small and I can go to Him for anything...not just when I have a big problem.   I didn't talk to Him before.  Now I talk to Him all the time.  I see Him as a personal friend.  Does that makes sense?

[swathdiver]

I saw God as someone far away even though I knew He was there.  I felt he was out of reach and didn't know I could be personally intimate with Him.  Now I know he cares about every detail of my life no matter how small and I can go to Him for anything...not just when I have a big problem.   I didn't talk to Him before.  Now I talk to Him all the time.  I see Him as a personal friend.  Does that makes sense?

 

 

Ok, that clears up a question I had.  I have another if I may.  What did the AOG teach about salvation that led to your conversion?  Forgive me if I'm slow or being repetitive, I've had a massive migraine for 5 days now.

[John81]

Ok, that clears up a question I had.  I have another if I may.  What did the AOG teach about salvation that led to your conversion?  Forgive me if I'm slow or being repetitive, I've had a massive migraine for 5 days now.

Wow! Sorry to hear about such a bad headache. Thankfully I've never had one last more than two days at a time but those really almost incapacitate me sometimes. I really feel for those of you who suffer through such for so many days. A couple folks in our church suffer such.

 

I was saved at an AOG night service. For me, it was the first time I had ever heard of the end times and it was the first time I ever heard of the need to be born again in Christ. I had grown up in Methodist Sunday school, and also attended a few Christian Church VBSs and in all those years I had never heard the Gospel. Little wonder since the Methodists were teaching a works based salvation saying that one must be "good enough" and the Christian Church taught baptism as being necessary to get to heaven (though I didn't understand the Christian Church view when I was a child).

 

Anyway, in my case they showed the film "Thief in the Night" at that AOG night service (everything in that movie was totally new to me!) and then the pastor spoke on the reality of hell and the fact that no one was good enough to get to heaven, that there was only one way to heaven and unless one was born again they were already heading to hell. The Holy Ghost convicted me to the core and knew I had to be born again and RIGHT NOW!

[Miss Daisy]

I also was saved at an AOG church Easter 1994. I even remember the part that got me, was he held up white sheets and asked if we believed that was the only thing left in the tomb when then went to check on the third day. I was convicted right then and there. I was living with a boyfriend, church found someone for me to stay with until I finished college and could get my own place (only 3 months left).

[Left the Bldg]

Ok, that clears up a question I had.  I have another if I may.  What did the AOG teach about salvation that led to your conversion?  Forgive me if I'm slow or being repetitive, I've had a massive migraine for 5 days now.

Basically that I needed to make Jesus Lord of my life and the need for the HS to live in me and that I could have a personal relationship with him.  They teach the way to salvation correctly but teach you can lose it.  That disturbed me.

[Left the Bldg]

Wow! Sorry to hear about such a bad headache. Thankfully I've never had one last more than two days at a time but those really almost incapacitate me sometimes. I really feel for those of you who suffer through such for so many days. A couple folks in our church suffer such.

 

I was saved at an AOG night service. For me, it was the first time I had ever heard of the end times and it was the first time I ever heard of the need to be born again in Christ. I had grown up in Methodist Sunday school, and also attended a few Christian Church VBSs and in all those years I had never heard the Gospel. Little wonder since the Methodists were teaching a works based salvation saying that one must be "good enough" and the Christian Church taught baptism as being necessary to get to heaven (though I didn't understand the Christian Church view when I was a child).

 

Anyway, in my case they showed the film "Thief in the Night" at that AOG night service (everything in that movie was totally new to me!) and then the pastor spoke on the reality of hell and the fact that no one was good enough to get to heaven, that there was only one way to heaven and unless one was born again they were already heading to hell. The Holy Ghost convicted me to the core and knew I had to be born again and RIGHT NOW!

I had the same experiences with AOG.  They taught a lot about the rapture, end times and the Kingdom come...things I never heard before.  I knew Jesus is coming again but never heard how he would come or for who and what would he do when he got here.  My IFB church teaches on more practical principles relating to every day life like marriage, family, finances and the such.  In a way I miss AOG but I don't want to be told I may miss the rapture.  LOL!