David's Testimony

I would love it if each one of us took a month over the next year and each month we would post our personal testimony.  I think it would be a very powerful example and may reach people in a way we simply can't in regular conversation.  I am willing to go first and post mine here now.

Some of you have heard this before but here goes.

I was born and raised in Toronto, an only child to two working parents.  We went to Church most Sundays.  We were Anglican and went to the "short service" early in the morning that was only 30 minutes long.  Every week we would open the Bible in the pew to page 67 and go through the same motions as the week before.  Despite this boring ritual I did believe in God as did my family.  What I'll mention later is how there is a difference in simply believing there is a God, and having Faith in God.

Anyway my childhood was nothing overly exciting.  I wasn't the easiest child and my parents were older then most when I was born so I think I tired them out rather quickly.  

My father was an alcoholic and I still remember nights being woken up by my mother and placed in the front seat of our old VW beetle, being told we were going to a motel and waiting for her to come back out of the house.  We never made it to any motel as every time this happened, she would come back out and hour or so later, put me in my bed and life went on.

Eventually we moved out, for almost a year.  This was not so much my Mom leaving my Dad but her way of us getting out of his way while he found help.  He did and I am very proud of him.  He has saved a lot of people over his 25+ years of sobriety by sharing his story of recovery and in that way, is a little bit of a hero to me.

I was a very hyperactive child and my parents, on the advice of teachers, put me on Ritalin.  This didn't help and as my dosage was upped on a regular basis they started to run out of ways to deal with me.

As a teenager I was very hard to deal with and although I never got into trouble with the law, never touched drugs or even alcohol, we couldn't seem to find a way to exist together without fighting.  Looking back on it, and again, I will touch on it later, there was never a point where we, as a family turned to God for help.  We believed but had no Faith.

When I had just turned 17 my parents kicked me out of the house having had enough of me and really, me of them.  I lived with friends and eventually moved two hours north of Toronto, in a tent, to be closer to my then girlfriend, now wife, Trina.

The separation of over 6 months from my parents did wonders with how my Mom, Dad and I interacted and after that time, I came back home.  It was still far from perfect but at least it was civil.  Now almost 18 and still none of us was looking upward for help or guidance.

As time moved on Trina and I got married, bought a home in Toronto and had two boys.  We then decided, from what I thought was out of the blue, to move.  To move to Nova Scotia, to a town we had never been to before in a Province where we didn't know anyone.

Trina took the bull by the horns and decided that the Baptist Church was where we should go that Sunday.  Well, I didn't know what to do, we hadn't been to Church more then four times in ten years and I wasn't Baptist I was Anglican.  Not really caring enough to argue, I went along not knowing what lay ahead for me or our family.

That Sunday, I'll never forget it.  Fire prevention week in 2002 and Tom Harvey was preaching.  We sat down and just as we were getting ready for the service, these people turn around and introduce themselves to us, then stand up and introduce us to the entire Church.  Those Rands!!  Needless to say I didn't like Tom's message that day (sorry Tom) and the Church was too full with all the firefighters that were there and I didn't want to go back.  Funny thing is, we felt we had to because the Rands had introduced us and then invited us to Thanksgiving dinner to boot.  The funny thing is, I owe Paul and Janice my life.  If they hadn't done what they did, I may never have gone back to Church.  I may never had gone down the path they helped put me on that would lead me to Christ.  I am saved because two people thought to turn around and say hi, welcome.  I love you both for that and I will never ever forget what you did.

So we went back the following Sunday and Tom's message was a little better.  The Sunday after that better again and then a few months later his message just seemed like it was meant for me.  He was talking to me and things were starting to become clear.  Why we were in a Town where we had no reason to move to in the first place.  Why we were at a Baptist Church when we weren't Baptist.  Why everything that had happened, had unfolded the way it did.  God.  So simple.  We were here for no other reason then God wanted us in this place at this time.  I wept that day in Church and every Sunday after that as Tom spoke.  Every message was for me from God through Tom.  I was filled with a purpose.  Then Tom left, and I felt empty.  I was lost for almost a year, wondering where God was, not understanding how it all stopped so suddenly.  

Then Eric came to give his "job interview" message to the congregation to see if we thought he was a good fit.  I cried in Church that day (not sure Eric if you'll remember that or not), for the first time since Tom had left for the South.  The void had been filled and I felt God was back in my life.  I know now he had never left, but sometimes we can't see that so clearly.

There have been a few moments in my life where God has spoken to me clearly enough that I know it is Him.  Springforth 2007 He spoke to me and I took action (which we don't always do).  Our recent trip to NYC, well actually since being back from NYC, He is talking and I am listening and I am taking action.  I am no longer willing to cover my ears and pretend that I didn't hear anything.  

I have Faith in God.  It is much more then believing.  It is more then simply knowing He is out there, it is knowing He is in here, in us, for us without fail.  How many people do you know that you can talk to at any hour of the day, never have them tell you they are unavailable or too busy to listen?  How many people do you know would lay down their life for you without question?  How many people do you know, accept you no matter how you look, where you're from or how much money you have?  How many people do you know, made a way for you to live forever with your Father?  I know one.  Jesus Christ.  I have Faith now that I never had growing up.  I have Christ in my life and it is awesome.

I hope that others will share their Testimony here and as we grow, we learn from each other, how to see, how to hear and most importantly, how to take action when God speaks to us.

 

Rock On!