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My Testimony (Full Version)
I wanted to share my testimony of how I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. My story starts like many who grew up going to church. My parents took my brother, sister, and me to church almost every Sunday. We made the hour-long trip from southern Maryland to N.E. DC. I grew up hearing about Jesus as a teenager but at that time in my life, I was too caught up with wanting to "experience" the world.
I was always big into sports, primarily basketball, and I played throughout Junior High and High School. We moved during my senior year right as basketball season was starting, so to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I had worked very hard and felt like I was good enough to receive a D1 or D2 scholarship. After my HS graduation, I decided to enroll at Bowie State University, primarily because it was close to home. I stayed on campus and would play pickup ball whenever I could. During my freshman year, my parents got divorced, and that put even more strain on my relationship with my dad. He told me he wasn’t going to pay for the next semester of classes. However, to my surprise, I made the BSU Men’s Basketball team as a walk-on that fall, and it appeared that I would be able to stay in school on a scholarship. As things would go, I ended up tearing the ACL in my left knee during the summer of my freshman year, so school was a no-go.
With things stressed at home, a friend ended up taking me in until I got back on my feet. With school out of reach and with few other options, I decided to get a job. I ended up getting an opportunity on Capitol Hill. After experiencing some pretty rough years, things started to get better. I had my apartment, I bought a car, and things were seemingly going in a good direction. Even still, I knew something was missing in my life, but I didn’t know what it was.
During my early young adult years, I would try to go to church at least once a year, I guess I thought it would help keep me “grounded”. In August of 1997, I decided to visit a church called Ebenezer in Clinton, Md. On this Sunday, there was a guest speaker who happened to be teaching about a woman in the Bible named Rahab, who to my surprise was a prostitute, but also was squarely in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Rahab is one of Jesus’ Great Grandmothers! This blew my mind as I had never heard this before. By this time in my life, I believed that I had committed so many sins that God couldn’t or wouldn’t want to save me let alone use me. I thought I had to clean up my life first, yet there I was hearing about this story that God not only had forgiven and accepted this woman (Rahab) but chose to use her in a significant way. At that point, I had no real excuse for why I shouldn’t give my life to Christ, and yet I felt I wasn’t ready to give up control. It was a lot to take in and it got me thinking about what was the true meaning of life and, more importantly, what was my life about, what was going to happen to me when I die? At the end of the sermon, the speaker gave an altar call which was pretty customary for our church. I remember seeing the same people “come to Jesus” over and over so I didn’t think much of it. I couldn’t deny that the Lord was “knocking” on the door of my heart, but I chose not to go down to the altar, mostly out of pride. As the speaker closed the service in prayer, she prayed a prayer I had never heard before, and one I will never forget. She prayed that anyone in the service who didn’t know Christ would not be able to rest that night. At the time, I thought that the prayer was the strangest prayer I had ever heard, but me being who I was, I tried not to let it bother me too much, and so I went on my way.
Well, as you guessed that night, I didn’t get much sleep. I certainly remember that night, the dream, and what followed would dramatically change my life. In the dream, I encountered the presence of God and came face-to-face with the reality that I was not right with Him, and if I didn’t change, I wasn’t going to heaven like many people assume, but I was going to hell. In the dream, it was made crystal clear to me that in God’s view, my life was not acceptable to Him, not just because I hadn’t done anything that He considered good or righteous to that point, but mainly because I did not know Jesus Christ personally. It became evident to me that Jesus had been trying to get my attention all along, but I had rejected Him over and over again instead choosing to have my fun and experience life on my terms. When I woke up, I eventually got down on my knees and cried out intensely to the Lord to save me! And He answered that prayer! (Romans 10:8:11)
I suppose it had quite the impact on my then-girlfriend, as she got down on her knees and asked the Lord into her life as well. Jesus answered my prayer in a mighty way, He gave me a new heart right then and there, and all the weight of my sins which I had been carrying around for years was supernaturally gone. Praise God for His mercy! I would later find out that what happened was that I got born again, just like what Jesus said in John 3:3.
Jesus said, “you are My disciples if you abide in my word and my word abides in you.” He also said, “if any one comes after me, they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Me.” And in another place that a man must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:3-21).
Romans 10:13 says it this way “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out, also feel free to check out the other sections on this site. Look forward to hearing from you, God bless!