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My personal testimony.
God used the silent witness of my girlfriend, who was about to dump me because of all my self-centeredness and unbelief, to attract me to going to church for the first time in 20 years, which led to my hearing the Gospel preached in a way that intellectually cornered me into letting God so graciously attract me to Jesus, that I couldn’t resist His calling any longer, so I surrendered my life to Him and had instant peace accompanied by every hair follicle on my body telling me that God loves me and wants the best for me.
Something is missing/ worry about finding a life partner/emptiness/ self-centered/ disappointment/ financial problems/ resentment /religion is for stupid people.
I told myself that religion was for stupid people from age 17 to 38 (21 years) hating seeing the word “God” because it made me feel guilty. 12 years of Catholic indoctrination never required opening the Bible once. I had no relationship with Jesus and avoided hearing that name. But the 2 times I prayed while an unbeliever saved my life.
Then I asked My girlfriend if I could go to church with her on Easter Sunday to the charismatic Eoiscopal church in Darien, CT where very smart Manhattan executives invited me to a men’s retreat. But soon after that, I went to a Hispanic church for a christening and heard the Gospel clearly point out my predicament and I stood when asked if I accepted Jesus. EJ was about to dump me so she and her friend were very surprised because the dumping was imminent.
Peace about eternity/purpose in life/ trust in God’s plan/ sense of fulfillment/ freedom from my past/ 2nd chance at life/ debt free and financially independent
Because I was lied to by the Army, I appealed to get back the 9 month radar school I enlisted for an extra year to stay out of Vietnam as An infantryman. 16 of us , all from Chicago, were promised no infantry if we waived our schools to become officers for non-combat desk jobs states side. But the orders at the end of Basic read “Pre-officer candidate school-Advanced Infantry.” I was the only one who complained to the commanding officer on a Monday night open door policy in the 8th and last week because I heard about the soldiers tossing a grenade at the officer if they didn’t want to obey his order. When I went to confession a year after finishing radar school, to ask God for Germany or Korea, instead of Vietnam, the next in line for confession was an officer, Tony Luna, one of the 16 who knew of at least 8 of those 15 officers were dead. I got Germany, but still didn’t believe in God.
When I finally let God push me through the Narrow Gate, I saw the parallel between going to Vietnam vs Germany as very small in comparison to Hell vs. Heaven. And God doesn’t renig on His promises like the Army did.
Your testimony matters too