Before I gave my life to Christ I was a medium .I used to accept spirits
into me to talk to others.
I
also read tarot cards and used runes to I believed help others solve their problems .
I saw nothing wrong with that way of life I had been doing this since
about 10 years old.
I must stress
I was not in any way connected with the Spiritualist organizations and in fact even
before becoming a Christian argued against some of their beliefs.
My sister and my mother and brother became Christians ..I hardly talked to my sister
for
2 years because she was
a Christian and she was always telling me about Christ. To be honest
thought she was going daft I just couldn't see what she was talking about.
By 1990 I was drinking heavily and on the slippery slope to alcoholism .
My mother and my brother both kept asking me to go
to church with them but I was
homeless
and spent a lot of time sleeping on settees at friend's or relatives' .
One Sunday morning my mother said, "Right, we are going to church. Do you want to
come it is a baptism?" I don't know why but I agreed. I thought that
just to go once would
stop
them nagging so we arrived at the church and went in. It was packed and I sat
as near to the back behind as many people as possible. I figured that I only had
to sit
there an hour and get
out, but Jesus had other ideas!
I sat there and the pastor came on ..said a few words. People got up and sang a song.
I stayed firmly planted in my seat. A young lad went onto the stage to give his testimony,
it wasn't an astounding
full of miracles sort of thing just ordinary. He had
been bought
up a Christian and lived, what I would have described as the easy life.
As he was on stage talking he was ..nervous and sort of walking...bouncing ...on the stage
quite excitable ..and I could se a light behind him. I remember
thinking they must have
a
spotlight behind him for "effect" and was impressed by the way, no matter how he moved,
the light was behind him ..as he moved to the water it was obvious there
was no spot light.
the light was so bright it put all the
audience in shadow. All I could see was this light he went
into the water and the pastor prayed. I got hot and started to feel sick ...I had to get
out but
there were many people
around me.
As the lad came out the water the audience got up to sing ..it
was too much I was soaked
with sweat. I tried
to get up and just staggered my legs wouldn't work ...then I felt a
hand on my shoulder, the old lady next to me said, "Come
on I will take you for a coffee."
We went out into the church's coffee shop as
the service continued.
I sat at a table still physically trembling. The lady introduced herself as "May".
She was nice and
we just talked. I found myself
telling her about all the things I had done
..about my life. She
asked if I would like to pray, I said,
"yes". She produced a tract
with a prayer on it. I read it out loud and as I read it the words changed to
"Jesus
is Evil". This didn't phase her at all, she just said, "read it again. "
This
time I read it correctly. May asked how I felt ..I said "the same" so she said,
"Now pray in your
own words ..just talk
to Jesus." So I did. It started a bit rough
but as got talking to
Jesus I started pouring out my heart.
I must have prayed
and asked forgiveness and told Jesus everything I could think of.
It
just came out ..at the end I gave my life to Jesus ..I was crying.
I found out later I had prayed for more than an hour.
Then May touched my shoulder and said "receive the spirit !".
People
speak about "seeing the light!"...I saw the light, I saw
Jesus, not physically, but inside . I felt His power flow through
me, it's indescribable. So much power and light inside!
I felt like I had been wearing a jumper like great
thick mohair,
matted, filthy
all covered in crude oil. It was ripped from me
and hit and the wall passing through, screaming as it went.
I knew God had delivered me!
Later I was told that God had delivered me from
seven demons.
I don't know,
all I know is that God accepted me that day.
If you knew my life you would know why I thought God could
never accept me ...yet he did!
There was one more direct battle with the devil, although I
fight a constant fight against evil in my life.
I was baptized a month after
my conversion, it was thought
that
water baptism was the best thing to do after my conversion.
The night before my baptism I felt hands grabbing me in my bed
and throw me across the room so hard I hit the wall
on the
opposite side of the
room.
I stayed there and didn't move, just prayed and prayed.
Nothing else like that happened again, and I
was baptized
the
next day.
Praise God for his
might and gentleness!
