Community
My Testimony
When I was a child, I went to church and felt like I was a Christian but as an adult, I realized that I was a sinner, and God could not accept me in that state. He is merciful but He is also just and must punish sin. Jesus came to pay that penalty for me…and you. Jesus came to this earth and died for my sins, and was buried and raised on the third day to pay the penalty for my sin and purchase a place for me in heaven. I had to have heart knowledge instead of head knowledge. Once that happened, God changed my heart. Praise the Lord!
I went to church as a child, and as a teen, but I never lived for Christ. I had a false sense of security because I went to church but I was not saved.
When I was a teenager, my sister got saved and I went down front because she did. For a long time I looked back to that time in my life and felt like I was saved. As I grew, I never lived for Christ. There was no fruit in my life at all. I continued to make bad decisions but God never gave up on me. When I was married to my first husband, a group from a local church came to witness to our house. At that point I prayed but was doing it mostly to show my husband that I was more “holy” than him. I got religion but didn’t have a relationship with Christ.
I ended up getting divorced and really acted out for a time but a wonderful friend invited me to church with her. God continued to work on me and even took me to another church where one Sunday the pastor was speaking on the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13. I felt God showing me that that was me, I was a tare - pretending to be a Christian. Then the pastor shocked me when he said that the original word for tare is darnel… And my maiden name is Darnell! Now I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was talking to me! I had been a tare all this time thanking that I was a Christian. My heart was beating out of my chest, and I couldn’t rest until I accepted Jesus as my Lord!
I can look back on my life and see God’s hand guiding and directing me. He wants the absolute best for us and when we draw near to Him, His desires become our desires.
I was saved when I was 27 years old. I love how God continues to work on us! I have studied His word over the years since but I have never been challenged as I have been since coming to Wills Valley when I was 54 (exactly 27 years later)! He has grown me so much and I am SO thankful for His mercy and grace but mostly for how He pursued me and didn’t give up on me!
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will be in Heaven with Jesus when I die. The birth pains this world is going through makes it evident that His return is very near! I pray that more people will listen to His call to repent and accept Him as Lord before it is too late. Romas 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 6:23 “ for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” 10:9-10 “ if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved; for, with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.“. 10:13 “ for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.“.
Your testimony matters too