Lives are still transformed by Jesus Christ!

---

Revelation 12:11 – “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimonies.”

Around 2,000 years ago, Jesus stated in Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost…”

We are glad to announce that in the 21st century, God is still in the business of SEEKING and SAVING souls that are lost! He is still actively turning lives around from chaos to peace, and from ruin to righteousness!

Now we ask you to take a moment out of your busy day to pause, read this testimony, and allow your heart to believe once again that God can change your life! Read, and while reading, understand that if God will perform a work in this life, that He will do it in yours as well, if you just give Him an opportunity!

Several years ago, I was heavily involved with drugs and alcohol.  My life was a complete disaster.  It all began around the age of 15, when I started drinking on the weekends.  That, along with a growing marijuana habit all through high school, had pretty much set a destructive routine for my life.  After high school came the pills, cocaine, and meth, basically any drug I could find.  The meth, as I came to discover, proved to be the most powerful of all.  It overshadowed not only other drugs, but also family, friends, my job, and every aspect of my life.  I started selling meth just to support my own habit at first, but that quickly escalated into an even worse situation.

There are a lot of other wicked things that come along with that lifestyle that I could go on and on about, but I’ll just say I was completely consumed by it all.  I was destroying my life and the lives of all those around me.  I was arrested in October of 2006 for what I was doing.  Once I bonded out of jail, I had to sell everything that the cops hadn’t already seized, just to make it.  Then, one day it hit me.  That was it, I had lost everything:  job, friends, and possessions, absolutely everything.  I had hit “rock bottom” and I knew it was time for some major changes.

My grandparents had been going to a Pentecostal Church for a couple of years.  They had always tried inviting me but I wanted no part of it.  I just didn’t see myself as the “church type.”  After all I had been through, however, my opinion on church started to change.  I was desperate for something different than what I’d been doing.  Brother Totsch had come to see me when I was in jail.  I guess that’s what really “planted a seed”, so to speak.  So, after a lot of thinking and consideration, I decided to give the whole “church thing” a try.  I got involved with the CEO program and started coming to every church service.  I started putting anything to do with church as a number one priority, and I had no idea at the time the life changing experience and many blessings God had in store for me.

Fast forward five years and it’s amazing how awesome God is, and what an awesome journey it’s been.  I am now married to the best and most beautiful wife a guy could ask for, have a good job that I love, we have reliable vehicles, just bought a house, and most importantly, I am thinking with a clear mind and I am saved.  I find myself thinking a lot about everything God has given me, and about how thankful I am.

Do I deserve any of it?  Absolutely not…none of us deserve how blessed we are, but that’s just it.  That just simply shows how awesome our God is.  And how He can completely transform anyone’s life, no matter how hopeless it seems.  He can and will do it for any one of us that will let him.  So coming from an ex-drug addict…I encourage you to come join us and let God touch your life.

As a single mother at 16 I had been expelled from school and was living on welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid. I had no driver’s license and my apartment was infested with roaches. There was no hope for tomorrow, there was no use even dreaming, nothing would ever be different. I was destined to be nothing more than another statistic, another high school drop out, teen mom living below poverty level.

I was raised in a church and was, by the world’s standards, a pretty moral person. Even though I was living with my boyfriend, I didn’t use recreational drugs, didn’t smoke and rarely drank, and I didn’t cheat people and treated most people with respect. I was drowning and needed a savior.

By the time I was 21 I was married with 3 children and still had no job. My husband was a truck driver and gone most of the week. We were living up by Chicago when a gang member got my husband confused with a drug dealer and pointed a gun at his chest. We moved back home to Evansville that very weekend.

Within a few weeks of being home, my husband’s aunt invited him to go with her to Bethel Pentecostal Church. I remember telling him that he could go if he wanted to but I wanted no part of it. He went to church for a few months without me but never stopped asking if I would go with him sometime, so I caved in and went.

I remember the feeling of comfort, the feeling of finally being home after a long journey. That was 23 years ago. A feeling I had never felt before, even in the church I had been going to since birth.

Since giving my life over to the one, true God, my life has never been the same. I raised all 3 of my children in this church and my husband and I are still together (27 years now). My two surviving children met their spouses in church and are now even raising my 4 grandchildren in this beautiful life. This church is my home, these people my family.

I have been a part of some very mighty moves of God. I have seen lives changed alcoholics and drug addicts delivered never to even have an urge to reuse. I felt my daughter’s high fever leave her body right under my touch.  I have seen miraculous healings and even been miraculously healed.

In August of 2014 I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. By October it had metastasized to my liver, both lungs, and even lymph nodes. The doctors told me I would not live long enough to see Christmas of 2014. After God’s people gathered to pray, on December 23 of the same year I was declared cancer free. My cancer even metastasized to my brain. But even though I underwent chemotherapy, 2 rounds of radiation, and 2 brain surgeries, my medical team is calling it a “miracle of God”. They were simply giving me palliative care, which is only supposed to be used for hospice and to make people comfortable in their deaths. I have stage 4b cancer, yet the doctors cannot find any cancer cells and have declared me to be cancer-free. 

Only by the Grace of God, even my medical team calls it a “miracle from God”.

Even when I had to bury one of my sons in April, 2015, God was there! I understand that “life” happens to all of us from cancers, and other illnesses, addictions, and unfortunately, death. But through all of the storms of “life”, God is always a constant! 

Bethel is a place where God dwells. He moves in every service! I would never want to go to a church again where I may never feel the Lord. I would never want to go through “life” without Him!

 I was raised in a large denominational church; my brothers and dad drank often. I knew I did not want to follow in their footsteps early on in my life. I was always more God-conscious than they were, and wanting to be closer to God. In my early teen years I knew my brothers were doing drugs or at least smoking pot, and I knew that path wasn’t for me. I remember a conversation with my brother about smoking pot. He told me if  I ever wanted to try it, I should get a class-mate of mine who ironically lived across the alley from our church.

One Sunday night I was walking to the bowling alley where I bowled in a league; a friend of my parents owned it. We were getting together that night to discuss some things concerning the league. As I was getting close to our church, I remember a presence coming to me, but I really didn’t know what it was. Now I know, it was the Spirit of God drawing me. I remember walking around that church and telling God, “I don’t know if this is you or what, but I know there has to be more than what this church has to offer.”

Not sure exactly how much later, but probably a year or two, I met my wife and she was Pentecostal. I had never heard of it before. We started dating, and, I went to her church. I thought that the people were crazy, but at the same time I liked it. It wasn’t too long before I realized that I needed to be baptized like the Bible says in the name of Jesus Christ.

There was a time before we were married that my wife had to make a stand about going to every church service. I wasn’t on board with that yet, but she had to make a stand. That made me realize how important this really was to her; I had only been used to going to church once a week.

We were married before I received the Holy Ghost, but I was seeking it. It was on Father’s Day after our daughter was born that I received the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. What an awesome experience it was, and it still is 34 years later!

God has kept me from many things! Some people don’t believe it, but I have never been drunk, never smoked pot, or tried other drugs, but I was still lost and had to have my sins forgiven. God has truly been good to me over the years. He is always faithful, even when I am not.

When I was in my early twenties it looked like I had the world by the tail. I was young, had a good job, and independence. Yes, on the outside, it looked like I had it all together, but inside, I knew better. I felt so empty, surely there had to be more to life. Life seemed to be so full of disappointments, and living in the moment brought its own set of difficulties. It was hard to always make the right choices and decisions, and one wrong move often led to more. Where was the happily ever after that life was supposed to be? Just when you thought you were in control you’d discover just how far from the truth that really was. And where was God in all this? Did He even see me? Did He even care? I tried different churches looking for answers, but always came away as empty as I had gone in.

Around this time two different work acquaintances began talking to me about Jesus, how much love and peace they had found in Him. They both attended the same Apostolic Pentecostal church in town. It all sounded too good to be true, too unbelievable. I knew about God. He was big and holy and evidently not interested in me. They talked about it so much it got to be annoying. I tried to talk about other things, but somehow, they always brought the conversation back around to God. These people didn’t give up, but kept inviting me to church, even though I always turned them down. Finally, just to get them to stop, I reluctantly agreed to go to church with one of them.

That Sunday morning the church service was unlike anything I had ever been in before. The music was lively, and it was so obvious the people loved being in church, singing and worshipping. Even the praying was different than I was used to, as if they really believed God was listening and would answer! There was a sweet feeling of love and peace in the church. That was what I knew my life was missing. The people were so friendly and seemed genuinely happy that I had come. They told me Jesus loved me and that He could and would forgive my sins and make me new! It seemed so hard to believe, but I was so tired of living life, that I was willing to try.

Being baptized in Jesus’ name was wonderful! I felt everything they said I would feel; so clean, and new! Then they showed me in the Bible that there was more for me, that I needed the power of the Holy Ghost. It was a gift from God of His Spirit that would help me in every part of my life. I had never heard of that before, but I was so hungry for all that God had for me.

The night I received the Holy Ghost was the most life-changing event I have ever experienced. It was everything they told me and more! What a marvelous thing that God would live in me! Jesus has kept me many years now. He truly is my joy, my strength, and the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother! He is, as Isaiah 9:6 says…Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Being a born again believer doesn’t mean I have a perfect life. Life is life, and there is no “happily ever after” in this world, BUT, I have a perfect and loving, merciful God to walk with me through whatever life brings, and the promise of an eternity with Him when my life is over!