I implore you to read the thoughts below - testimonies of what the Lord means to this web site team's friends and family. I hope these words bless you as they have blessed me.

The link below navigates to an external web site. Excerpts from the testimony of Karen Strand: "God, if I kill myself I hope you will understand!" I was twenty-four years old when I cried these words, but I cried them out to a God whom I knew nothing about... I numbed my despair with alcohol.  I sought psychiatric help, but could not even describe the emptiness within... I switched my attention to astrology. Then Scientology.  Then parapsychology ... Yet another group believed Jesus had come to earth in a UFO. The circumstances of my life spiraled me downward to a suicidal state.  That’s when a neighbor invited me to church to hear a guest speaker named John Noble .. As Noble spoke, I saw parallels between his life and mine. I too had no hope for the future, and wanted to die.  Now, I too desperately yearned for a brand new life.  And when Noble quoted from John 14:6; “Jesus answered ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No-one comes to the Father except through me,” a soft voice in my heart said, "This is the truth you have been looking for.” Jesus was not a spiritualist, a numerologist, an astrologist, a scientologist, or into parapsychology.  He was God’s loving Son, whose death upon a painful cross reconciled sinful man – me! - to a holy God.  I bowed my head and whispered "yes"... Read the entire powerful testimony

I've been a Christian since I was 12, the vast majority of my life, and have always been assured in my spirit of God's impact upon my life. In the best of times, he's been there for me, rejoicing right alongside me. In the worst of times, he comforts me and I have a keen awareness of his presence. That's why, when I look around me and see all the evil that men do to one another, and just the hardships that life in general brings, I ask myself how those who don't know God can cope with it all. It has always boggled my mind.

Beginning in April of 2007, I suffered great depression for several months. I had, of course, felt bad many times in my life, but this was the first time I had really been depressed for more than a few days. I had already started down the road to unhappiness when an event occurred that triggered the near breakdown. Without going into detail of the event, suffice it to say it filled my mind with the realization of how fragile and frail life is, and that ultimately, I have no control over such things. I felt helpless, useless and worthless.My heart broke in smaller pieces each and every day; I was shattered.

In August or September, the turning point came upon me. I remember lying in bed crying out to God for peace with the issues that troubled me. At that moment, in an undeniable manner, God reassured me of his never-failing love for people. My prayers for peace were being answered. In the days and months that followed, God began reinforcing my heart and mind with encouraging thoughts that refreshed my thirsty soul and gave me reason to go on.

You cannot begin to imagine what an impact God's words of peace and comfort have made upon my life. The deep darkness of night no longer overcomes the light of day for me, and I see fresh new potential for an abundant life in which the hardships and sorrows of life will not crush me in defeat. Christ gives me victory.

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God leaves no stone unturned in drawing people to him. My single greatest desire is that everyone would have eternal life with God, which only a relationship with Jesus Christ the Savior can bring.

God is great!!
-Michael

PEACE IN THIS LIFE AND THE LIFE TO COME

What does Jesus Christ mean to me?

Jesus means eternal life in a heavenly place that eyes and mind cannot imagine. And it will be a forever life with my Savior and my loved ones.

Jesus also means a contented, peaceful life now. Of course, there are troubles in this life but with Jesus, there is a peace that unbelievers cannot understand.

I grew up in a Baptist church in a small town going to all the activities that the church offered. I was baptized and joined the church at age 13. After I was married and had children, they grew up in church also. But it wasn't until we moved to Arlington, that I truly became a child of God. I was reading "The Day Christ Died" written by Jim Bishop and it was then that I really realized what Jesus had done for me. Being a church member does not get a person into that heavenly, forever place with God. Only faith in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection will do that.
-Juanita

I THOUGHT I WAS INDESTRUCTIBLE

All of my life I felt that I knew God, or at lease I knew of Him.  I had learned about God in my younger years when my Mom would drag me to church every Sunday.  As I got older, I thought that I did not need God or anyone else to tell me how to live my life.  By age 19 I thought I was indestructible.

In college I found a cause, a reason for being, a goal.  I thought that was what life was all about. I could be successful on my own. But, as I neared the end of college and started to look further down the road, I realized that this was not the thing that would satisfy me.

That’s when I met Sandra. She started talking about God and Jesus. We started dating and getting serious. We talked about the future and how we wanted children. That got me to thinking about all those Sundays that my Mom took me to church and I think it did some good. So, that was what I wanted for my child.

We agreed to try different churches and a new friend of Sandra’s invited us to a church across town. It was a Baptist Church.  I found myself asking a lot of questions and learning a few things that I did not know.

I learned the reason for Jesus dying on that cross. For my sin. All I had to do was accept this and ask for forgiveness and He would deliver me from a devil’s hell. It was too easy so it took me a while to accept it.

One Sunday, after struggling with my sin problem, I deiced to trust Him. I walked down the aisle at church and gave my life to Him.
-Jay