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MY TESTIMONY:
I was raised Roman Catholic - my family and I attended church every Sunday. I was baptized as an infant, attended catechism classes, made confirmation, and took communion. I believed that God and Jesus existed, that Jesus was the Son of God - that he was born of a virgin, performed signs and miracles, died for the sins of the world, rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, would come back to judge the living and the dead. I believed in heaven and hell and considered myself a Christian. After graduating from high school I married a Protestant who also attended church regularly with his family. Early in our marriage we both lost interest in attending church, though once in awhile we would attend a Protestant service. I rarely read the Bible or prayed, when I read the Bible I did not get much from it, and I prayed for the wrong reasons.
One evening in October 2005 after I went to bed, I could not fall asleep, I started to vividly recall past sins in my life - I was under conviction of sin for several hours. I became very ashamed and sorry of my sins, I wept, I knew I sinned against a holy God and did not want to hurt Him anymore. In desperation I called out to Jesus - I asked Him to forgive me and to be my Lord and Savior. No sooner than saying this prayer intense peace came into my heart , it seemed that I was in the presence of the Prince of Peace Himself. My heart felt warm and it literally felt that a heavy burden was lifted off of me. God by His grace saved me several hours after midnight on October 17, 2005.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10.

Since then God has become real, personal, and caring to me whereas prior to being saved I believed He existed but He seemed far away and indifferent. Now I regularly read the Bible and pray since I desire to know God and obey His will. Things that did not seem too sinful became distinctly sinful to me. I know I have been forgiven and made right with God - I am not afraid to die now. I realized all I had before being saved was an "intellectual" or "head" faith, it was not saving faith because there was no conviction of sin and repentance. Real saving faith radically changes a person, it changes their desire to God, and their attitude to sin, they are empowered to live a godly life since the Holy Spirit indwells them.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
2 Corinthians 5:17

If you consider yourself a Christian I beg you to examine your faith to see if it is real. Do not compare yourself to other "professing" Christians, you must examine yourself in light of Scripture.

"Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meeet the test!"
2 Corinthians 13:5.

Read the book of 1st John, it has a series of tests to see if your faith is genuine. The Bible makes it clear that there are MANY who are deceived.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'


In Christ,
Linda