The testimony of how Jesus found me. A healing story.
A little while later my other brother Ray had his allergies healed and told me of other people who had miracles happen to them. Later John told me of a time when God told him to give away about $160 when that was all the money he had. He did give it away and the day after someone from work came and gave him more money than he had given away without any prior knowledge that he had just given this money away. There are many more stories about him that I can tell, but I will get back to my story. At 22 I began feeling like my life did not really have any special meaning. I began to ponder how God had changed my brothers' lives. I also started to feel lonely because my best friend had a girlfriend and did not really hang out with me that much anymore.
I finally decided to go to church with my brother Ray. After the church service I was getting ready to leave and Ray asked me if I would have someone pray for me at the front. I had had lots of people pray for me before and had never really noticed anything. This time a man prayed for me and then asked me if I would accept Jesus into my heart. I said yes.
One word changed my life. It was like everything that was weighing me down was completely gone. Most people probably would not have said that my life was that bad or even noticed that I was a little depressed. But now something had definitely happened that I could not explain. It was a big miracle to me, because I had had many people pray for me had never seen anything happen. This was a turning point in my life--maybe you could say that a seed had been planted. I still went to the strip clubs and I still went out to the bars and got drunk on Saturday nights. I would usually come to church the next morning feeling a little hung over. I did not really have any church friends and did not feel like introducing myself to anyone. I still felt uncomfortable reading my Bible for some reason. I talked to my brother John about going down to Colorado Springs and went down at the end of May 2000. That's when my life changed.
None of my brothers' friends wanted to go to the bars. The church there was also something that I had never experienced before. When I had visited that church a couple of years previously, I had noticed something different about the atmosphere in the church, but had never really pursued it. I later learned that this was the presence of the Holy Spirit, and this is how my prayer life started to take off. I was also hanging out with Christians who had lived lives like mine and much worse and now were living for God with their past lives behind them. I had tons of questions and started reading my Bible every day.
It made such a big difference to live and hang out with Christians and finally read the living Word. My brother later told me how he was praying and fasting for me all the time before I became a Christian. I knew at certain times that someone was praying for me because of things that didn't happen that really should have. Sometimes I would get really mad, but I knew that I could never do a thing about it.
Now of course, I am so glad now that I had that protection of prayer. I am 28 now and God has done so many things in my life. Since giving my life to Jesus I have seen and heard of so many miracles that have happened in the churches that I have attended. I know now that God does exist in church when people humble themselves and ask Him to come in. I also learned that God does speak to us if we will listen. I have many stories about this also but won't tell them unless you ask. If you have any questions for me please feel free to ask.
Thank-you for reading,
Sam