A Word of Testimony
I had the great privilege of being born into a home where my mother was saved and from the age of about four I was sent to Sunday School at a Gospel Hall with my sister. So right from this age I knew the Gospel and I knew about sin and it's consequences and about the One who had died for us to provide a way of escape. By a very young age I was able to quote verses and even whole chapters of Scripture but it wasn't until I was eight years old that I accepted Christ for myself. I remember knowing about Hell and knowing that my sin would take me there- this scared me, even at that age.
One Sunday morning my Sunday School teacher was explaining how to simply accept salvation as a free gift and there, sitting in my Sunday School class, I trusted Christ as my Saviour- I just simply believed that when Jesus was dying on the cross He was dying for me- my child- like faith told me that that was all I needed. I remember after this looking forward to Sunday School and learning more.
When I was eleven I started Ballymena Academy and while I was involved in the Christian Union and some of my friends were Christians. With the C.U. I went on special weekends and we enjoyed great times of learning and fellowship. At the same time I was going to all the different meetings at Cambridge Avenue Gospel Hall and when I was fifteen I felt that it was time to obey the Lord's command in being baptised.
After 'O' levels and 'A' levels I left school and went straight into Nurse training and that was when things started to go wrong spiritually. There were fifteen other student Nurses in my class and only one was saved. She was a great witness and took every possible opportunity to talk to the others about God. However, when I saw how she was laughed at and sometimes alienated from the rest of the class I decided to keep quiet about my faith. I didn't deny the Lord in words but by not saying anything I think that was worse.
After I qualified as a nurse I got my own car and got a flat of my own and this freedom, along with being in the wrong company took me further away from God. I drifted away from the meetings and only occasionally read the Bible or prayed. Satan had got a foothold and for about the next five years I was involved with wrong things, people and places. My life was confused and unfulfilled and, looking back, it was a really unhappy time. However in the early 1990's I met Stephen and we got married in 1992. My life settled down greatly and when Stephen's father died the following year I would find myself thinking about God.
Hayley, our daughter, was born that same year and, due to problems with my back, I was unable to return to work. The rest of my testimony is intertwined with my husband's. Stephen got saved in November 1998, the week leading up to this I had been really convicted about my backsliding and was at the stage where I really believed that I would go to Hell because of how I had treated God. But you know, we have a God who never leaves us even when we wonder from Him. He never fails us or forgets us even when we do it to Him. I will be forever thankful that God used Stephen getting saved to speak to me and bring me back to Himself.
The day after Stephen was saved I was at home alone and reading Psalm 51- the weight of all those years of sin was unbelievable! For the first time in a very long time I spoke to God again and through a lot of tears I asked Him to forgive me for all those years that I had turned my back on Him. I must have cried for half an hour- the conviction of my sins and the relief of confessing was so strong. The feeling was like coming home after being away for a long time. That very day God delivered me from sins that I had been involved in during those years and from then our home has completely changed. A couple of weeks later our daughter very simply believed in Jesus and that He died for her.
I have lived life close to God and have wasted many years trying to live away from Him and do things my own way. There is no other way to live or die than with Christ and, looking back, I know that God was always there through those years. He kept me safe and was always ready and waiting for me to come back to Him. I had walked far away from God but when I found Him He was still in the same place- only a prayer away. I'm sorry for all those wasted years but I thank God that He has brought me and my family into a right relationship with Him.
To the unsaved I would say- come now- accept Christ before it is forever to late- He died for you.
To the backsliders I would say- once you have belonged to God's family you will never be truly happy until you come back- His ways are perfect.
Audrey Johnston