Christian Living
My Testimony:
What I can remember as a young boy living in Christchurch New Zealand. I was unloved with the exception of my grandmother, who was a loving yet hard woman. I recall I got into a lot of trouble. At the age of 8 1/2 I was abandoned by my mother dad had already left when I was 6. I was then placed into a catholic children's home for boys. I remember the cruelty, the hardship, the pain, and the fear. I remained in the home for two years.Here I experienced daily cruel beatings with a cane and sexual abuse, by nuns and priests. I went to live with my dad for six months, this was six months of sometimes, daily beatings and mental torture again. I was sent to another home, which was to be my last. It was the home of a minister Arthur Hill who was at that time director of Ambassadors for Christ. The Hill family welcomed me with such love which was foreign to me. I received discipline in a different way, when I deserved it which was often. I carried the scares of parental neglect and associated trauma, this is the way Arthur put it!
I gave my life to Jesus at a Easter camp. This is really where my testimony begins. When I asked Jesus into my life I had no bells or whistles no warm feeling not even a great joy, I just believed that He came into my life and changed my heart. As a teenager I constantly found it hard being a Christian which saw me following the crowd to be accepted thus I experienced drugs and alcohol. While being a Sunday only Christian, my heart seemed to cry and ache for God but I didn't know it at the time. I felt unworthy to be a Christian, I couldn't meet the grade so to speak. About 5 to 6 years after my conversion I was Baptized, I decided it was time for me to really give Christianity a real shot. So I helped at the camps which Arthur Hill ran. At this time I was introduced to the Pentecostal movement which I ended up in for many years. I did a Newlife Principle course, then I went to Elim church which I became very active in. After the church split etc I left church altogether for approx. 8 years. I didn't want to know about Christian things at all. In fact I fell into a large pit which saw me dabbling in things that I knew were wrong. I got married had two children, we were going to Australia for a new start in life, at this stage my heart once again cried and ached for God but this time I knew it. So I decided to get back with God when I got to Australia, but God had other plans didn't He. I sent all of our furniture over to Australia and three days before I was to fly out of New Zealand God shut the door, my wife took the children and left me. I looked everywhere in Auckland for her. I had to cash in my tickets to pay for a lawyer to stop her from leaving with the children. Within this time I was staying in a motel and I was walking down a not so good area of Auckland, I knocked on a door when the lady of the house answered I said "are you Christians?" she said yes. I just broke down and cried and saying with what I could muster I need to get back with God. Her husband came to the door a big Samoan put his arms around me and took me inside , they rang their Pastor who came around with the ywam director to counsel and lead me back to God. Now knocking on a door let alone a Christian door was the farthest thing from my mind, I was going to the shop for smokes. I didn't know anyone really in Auckland for I wasn't living there at the time. Complete strangers who invited me into their home. I went through a big repentance and deliverance, I had to renounce things before the Lord. This time I experienced joy ,and clear headed. I went to Hebron Bible College via correspondence which I stopped just before receiving my Ministers diploma, because I felt they were grooming me to be their kind of preacher, not God's. Since then I returned to Christchurch where I started a prayer meeting ,got remarried and started Kedesh Christian Ministries which we run today. God has called me to many places over the last four years for His Glory. I have experienced God's healing power, as I had a break down when I lost my business, the doctors said I wouldn't recover for five years; within six months God had restored me. I learned that I was a work- aholic which I needed to learn to slow down and trust God more. Working for God full time is a big challenge as all my work has mainly been physical. We are part of the Eldership in our fellowship where I minister as a full time worker doing the work of a Pastor/Teacher. Through our ministry God has used us to start a youth group which grew to 30 in the first term, and we saw 8 children commit to Jesus, and I had the privilege of baptizing our son. Through training and even in my backsliding God was with me teaching and showing me things I didn't know at the time. Today I have a greater understanding of people and things, that without what I did and experience I couldn't, my heart is for those who have been deceived through false teachings, and the lost. God has brought me through, from being abandoned as a child to Him; from my backlidding to Him again, a true prodigal story. Truly all things work together for good for them who love the Lord. God has changed and blessed me with more than I deserve, today I serve Him with everything that I have.
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