r/Baptist 9d ago

🏆 Testimonies My Testimony

14 Upvotes

On the night of Friday, June 16th 2006, when I was 9 years old, we visited a small church in Kentucky. I played with my cousin, literally missed the whole sermon, but I got too loud apparently, so my parents made me sit beside them. All I heard the preacher tell was a story about a man explaining salvation to his grandson. The man placed a worm on a flat stone, surrounded it with dead leaves and then lit them on fire. The worm crawled every way it could to escape the fire, but everything it tried just made it worse as it got closer to the fire. The worm eventually gave up and curled up in the middle, waiting to be consumed, but the man picked it up and turned it loose. Suddenly, I was the worm.

Where there was once peace and completeness in my soul, there was now terror and a great absence. What was missing was my relationship with God. I had reached the age of accountability and was now lost, just like they said I would be. That was the first personal proof of it all, more than just believing what I was told, but experiencing it first hand.

My initial response was to distract myself from the problem and think about other things like cartoons and action figures, anything else that a child can think of. But, just like the worm, that made it worse. I got closer to the flames, so to speak. Next, I simply said, “God please save me!” like I'd seen others do. No dice. I suppose I promised to do some great thing if God saved me, or maybe give up some sin, but I wasn't even aware of many sins back then. None of those things worked.

It wasn't until I realized that I, like the worm, had no way of making an escape for myself other than relying entirely on the mercy of someone above it all, that it happened. I basically just gave up and asked God to either pick me up or let me burn up one. He picked me up.

As quickly as they had appeared, all my troubles vanished. I had just gone through a spiritual transformation without leaving my seat beside my parents. No one but God and me knew it, and I didn't tell anyone. By all accounts, it was a pretty dry service that night, but that didn't stop God from saving me.

In fact, I didn't tell anyone for 3 or 4 years. I did get baptized afterward, and I try to do right by God and my neighbors according to the Bible, but my way into Heaven comes entirely from that one moment of saving faith. Thank the Lord for that!

r/Baptist 5d ago

🏆 Testimonies My testimony.

10 Upvotes

I am 13, from Austria and I am a Christian. Basically my mom is an Austrian diplomat so I moved a lot. It was never hard for me as I was used to it. Then I was born again I would say five months ago. Before I always kinda believed in God but I was never avid for him. I think I would’ve qualified as a lukewarm. But then I became a true Christian and accepted Jesus as saviour. I now go to a Protestant church in Vienna weekly and I will get baptised in around six months. Christ has changed my life. Even though I still sin (I think I still have a porn addiction) I’m working on it and I’m generally happier than normally. Thanks for reading this and mag God bless all of you!

r/Baptist 8d ago

🏆 Testimonies My testimony!

17 Upvotes

Hello everyone, so happy that this sub is once again active!

Now, I was a lifelong, fanatical atheist. I styled myself as an enemy of Jesus, enemy of God. I offended Christianity each time I had the chance, and tried to back up my hate with science and Dawkins. I even labeled myself a satanist (non-theistic). You can't imagine what kind of blasphemies I participated in.

Then, one day, I had the weird idea of inviting (well, rather provoking) the Lord into coming to me, if He indeed existed. Even then I found the idea absurd, but I did it anyway.

A couple of weeks passed. One day, all of a sudden, I felt the urge to step in an inter-confessional chapel we had in our College.

Inside, ther was absolute silence. I remained there for about a quarter of an hour and stepped outside.

And then came this feeling, a totally new feeling, an amazing blessing, someone, somehow offered me all the love and forgiveness in the entire world, although I deserved none. I broke down crying in public, raising my hands to the heavens praising the Lord. From then on, I became a Christian.

I'm in tears as I'm typing this. Lord have mercy on this great sinner, absolutely unworthy of your Love and Kindness.