Stories
Testimony 1
I was brought up in an household where I was made to attend Sunday school from the age of 5, then also, at the age of 7, church twice every Sunday, as a member of the church choir and then at the age of 16 I rebelled. I rejected God as I understood him, I went it alone or so I thought (I will explain later), for the next 23 years.
I became a full blown alcoholic; I embarked on a life of embezzlement, deception, promiscuity, broken marriages and finally I was unemployable by the age of 39. I was physically, mentally and spiritually broken and I had hit rock bottom. I eventually made it to Alcoholics Anonymous; it was there that I started to have an understanding of a power greater than myself, at work within me. So I went to see a farming couple, for whom I had done some work for in years gone by, but I knew that they were church goers. After a lot of discussion, they firstly encouraged me, then led me through a discipleship course and then I was in church on the evening of 26th January 1991, the pastor had just preached from Revelation 2 vs 8-11, in verse 8 it says ”who died and came to life again”, I knew Jesus was talking to me through these words and I was encountering a spiritual awakening with Jesus. At this point I became a Christian, I asked him into my life as my personal saviour.
I now walk with Jesus and know that it was through his immense love for me, that I am here today to bear witness and give him all the praise and glory for the many miracles he has performed in my life, ( I know that Jesus never gave up on me). Romans 8 vs. 37-39 says “Nothing shall separate us from the love of God”. So if you want what I have, and are willing to go to any length to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps.
You can always take those steps into the church; we meet every Sunday morning at 10.30 a.m., here at Dorchester Baptist Church.
Testimony 2
TRANSFORMING LIVES – A PERSONAL JOURNEY
Hello, I’m Angela! I live in Dorchester and I want to tell you about how I became a Christian and the wonderful things God has done for me during my life. I am now 80 years old so it has been an amazing journey.
I was brought up in a Roman Catholic family and I went to religious schools. Mass was in Latin and I loathed going to church. It was boring. I married and after my daughter was born, we emigrated to New Zealand in 1960. I still continued to go to the Catholic church and taught art in a Convent school. My first son was born in 1962, and I started to question all the things I had been taught.
Standing one day at the kitchen window looking at the Pacific Ocean at sunrise, I was suddenly bathed in a rush of energy, like being caught in a bright beam of light. I was covered in goose bumps and started to cry. I was told later that I had been blessed by the Holy Spirit. What for I had no idea.
It was not until many years later, in 1980 after I divorced and became a person on the fringes of society, that I joined a group of alternative lifestyle enthusiasts. One of the group wanted to go to a Jesus rally in town and asked me to go with him. The evangelist came from Australia and was so persuasive that my friend and I went down on the stage with several hundred other people and gave our lives to the Lord. We joined the evangelist’s healing ministry, and were baptised as New Born Christians. Incredibly I found I could call on the Holy Spirit at any time using the name of Jesus, and slowly learned how to heal and pray effectively.
I cannot say that my life has been without great physical and emotional pain, but Jesus is always there with me. He helped me to gain my self respect and love myself. He helped me provide a loving home for my family and when the time came to let them go, he comforted me. God was with me when I recovered from numerous major operations. He was there when I had breast cancer and more recently, He was there when I almost died from a stroke and heart failure. I stand as witness to His healing power and love. Throughout my life I have gone where He leads, sometimes kicking and screaming against it. Always He provides encouragement, promising protection and unconditional love. I share it now with you to share with others.
Transforming lives. Join us at Dorchester Baptist Church, Bridport Road. Sunday 10.30 am.
Testimony 3
I am now in my retirement years and looking back I see that at least 20 years of my life were wasted years, sitting on the fence. I had one foot in the Christian camp, and the other foot in the world’s camp, and I benefited from neither situation.
As a family we had gone to church occasionally, but never to Sunday School. We were told about Jesus and the Bible stories by our teachers in primary school and I loved those stories and believed them. But even as a teenager I never understood what Jesus had done for me, or why He died on the cross. I never understood why I needed to be saved.
At that time in the 50s and 60s, I was involved with Christians who were full of ‘Thou shalt not do’ dancing, make up, pretty clothes, films, parties, boy friends etc., so I resolved that I would be in charge of that side of my life, because I couldn’t trust God to make me happy and give me fun – how wrong can you be?!
My life changed in the 70s when I moved to a different town and job. I joined a lively evangelical church with a club for single people aged 20-40 called the Tuesday Club. It was there that I made life long friends, and we had such a fun time together.
I heard the Gospel clearly and was able to respond, and eventually was baptized by full immersion and gave my testimony publicly.
The charismatic movement was much in the news and I longed for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and as it says in Luke’s Gospel 11 v.13 “Our Heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him”.
Coming off the fence has changed my life. Before reading the Bible had been hard work and rather dull. Now the Scriptures have come alive to me and God speaks to me through His word and I am getting to know God personally. I love to worship God and pray, before I never felt I could. The Holy Spirit is helping and guiding me, correcting and comforting me. Jesus wants to be Lord of the whole of my life, not just parts of me.
“Our God is a jealous God, He will not share us with any other so called gods” Exodus 34 v. 14
Testimony 4
I woke up last Monday night and felt God wanted me to write down a particular aspect of my life story as it could help others who have fallen into the same trap of wrong thinking. I’m now 72 so when I was at school no one knew about dyslexia. Learning to read and write seemed an impossible achievement so I gave up trying. I finally learnt to read well at the age of 12, by which time I had an inferiority complex and a very stubborn, rebellious root firmly established in my being.
Our family went to a Church of England church most Sundays when I was about 14 and there we came in contact with a lady called Aileen Bradley who was particularly good with teenage girls. As well as running a Sunday afternoon Bible class we also went to her home once a week in the evenings. We knitted squares to make blankets for Aileen’s friend on the mission field. I don’t ever remember actually finishing a blanket between us because we spent our time talking, generally about our teenage problems and school. One night we talked about the second coming of Christ, everyone seemed very excited about it. I did not share their excitement, but I pretended to. When it was time to get on my bike and cycle home through the woods in the dark, I prayed “Lord don’t come yet, I now know I’m not a Christian after all.”
That year Billy Graham came to London and took over Haringey Arena. I was asked if I would like to go, I jumped at the opportunity because I had an inner conviction that the confusing ideas I had about God would be made clear. Haringey Arena seemed to be full of the presence of God and excited expectation. When Billy Graham invited us forward I couldn’t get there quickly enough and that night I received new life in Christ – that is step one – it can take the rest of one’s life to get rid of the rubbish.
Although I had the Holy Spirit with me, my old sinful nature which included inferiority, stubbornness and rebellion were still very much alive. Many years later, my sister Elizabeth said to me “people who have an inferiority complex don’t feel inferior to everyone, sometimes they feel superior” – I thought yes, that is true. Then she said “you are neither inferior nor superior, you are a child of God” and suddenly the light went on in my mind and heart and I thought YES, I’m a child of God and it was like two great rocks falling on me.
Proverbs 23 v.7 says “For as a person thinks within himself, so he is”.