Diana K Vitttnesbörd, Uppvuxen i Romersk katolska kyrkan
This is my ongoing testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ in my life.
My journey began 30 years ago. I was married with three children. I was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith and I was a practicing Catholic.
I thought of myself as a “good person”. I obeyed the rules and did as I was told. I believed that if I obeyed the rules, my life would be good and I would live happily ever after.
My life was centered around myself and my husband and children. God and prayer were reserved for one hour on Sunday when I would go to church. I didn’t own a bible nor had I ever read one. Portions of the Gospels were read from the pulpit on Sunday and the priest would talk about current events and how we could become better persons for the good of our families and the community. I had no idea of what being a sinner meant. After all, I went to mass on Sundays and holy days, confessed to a priest at least once a year and took communion every week. I was a faithful wife, a good mother, yada, yada, yada.
When my husband left the marriage, he left me with three kids to care for with absolutely no help from him. It was at that time that I started to hear about Jesus Christ. I heard that He loved me and that He had a wonderful plan for my life, and if I would trust Him, I would never be alone again. The icing on the cake was that when I died I would go straight to Heaven. I accepted the message of that false gospel. I invited “their” Jesus into my heart and then I bought a bible. I started to read the bible, but it was too much work. I didn’t have the time to sit down and study or to really spend too much time reading. Instead I turned on the radio and I listened to the prosperity preachers who were saying things like I was a child of the King and the King didn’t want his children to suffer or to live in poverty. Then I started watching the TV preachers who were preaching the same message. They threw in a few bible verses and twisted the meaning to back up what they were saying.
I floundered around going from church to church, never getting grounded in the Word, never learning any truth.
It was during this period of time that I went back to school and became a certified court reporter. Wow, this prosperity gospel was really working for me. I got a really good job, was able to support myself and my kids. I met a wonderful man, got married and life was good!
But in the midst of all this prosperity, something was not right. I tried to find a church where I could fit in. I wanted to fit into the body of Christ. Over the years of my “occasional” bible reading I read somewhere that we were not to forsake the gathering together of believers. And I had a desire to be with like-minded Christians. I officially joined a little church. I decided that I would make a commitment to God to serve His church. I wanted to work for God. I wanted to give something back for all that he had done for me. I joined the choir, I volunteered for kitchen duty, I helped out with children’s Sunday school.
It was during this time that God showed me that everything I was doing was by my own flesh. I was not serving Him and I wasn’t even pleasing to Him. I was on my way to Hell.
About three years ago, I stopped going to the little church. I started reading my bible in earnest and doing bible studies and learning what it meant to be a disciple of Christ. He showed me what a wretched sinner I really am, and he gave me the gift of repentance. He taught me that if I want to follow Him that I must deny myself, pick up my cross, separate from the world and the things of the world.
God called me; He saved me; He taught me about His grace. My salvation begins and ends with Him. He is the author and finisher of my faith. He is teaching me about sin and repentance, His Righteousness and judgment. His Word promises that He will finish the good work that He has begun in me.
All praise, honor and glory be unto the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen.
Diana
December 17, 2008 Från: