"Once I did ask Jesus as my Savior, I remember masks lifting from my eyes as the Holy Spirit allowed me to understand more. All that I read earlier quickly started piecing together like a jigsaw puzzle.
...I asked Jesus to be my Savior in December 1981. It seems like yesterday at times. It is an amazing transformation. To God be the glory! God controls my life because He knows better than I do on how to control it. He gives an indescribable peace and joy! The pressure is off! He guides my life and gave me a permanent ticket to Heaven! It is a privilege to serve him out of love, for that is the only way to serve him!"
-Don Grim's Testimony
From Cambridge Christ United Methodist Church:
"That night while sitting in the first pew of the Old Sanctuary, I said a prayer and submitted everything to Christ’s care and control. I was afraid I would be expected to change all the hurts, habits, and hang-ups I had all at once, but God knows what each of us needs when we need it. Little by little he revealed to me hurts I just let build up over the years, and as I confessed I was powerless to change them by myself my wounds began to heal. I began to live one day at a time by the truth of God’s word, by His promises, seeing the world as Jesus would see it and not as I would. When I allowed Him to, God has made these incredible changes in me and every day I am still changing. Not because of anything I have done, but because of what Jesus Christ has done for all of us."
-Suzanna's Testimony
"I don’t remember a time that I didn’t believe in God but I was 28 years old before I realized my need for a Savior. In October of 1979 I prayed asking Jesus to be my Lord and save my soul... At that moment I became a new creation, I had been living in the prison of anxiety and fear for nine years and in Jesus Christ found the hope and strength I needed to be healed. It took several years of learning to trust and obey, my Lord has been will me every step of the way. He has given me His peace that passeth all understanding"
-Vickie L.'s Testimony
From a Reddit user's conversion story:
"Then when I got pregnant and gave birth, something happened when I looked at my son and my husband. I can't describe it too well but I felt called to return to church, I felt like God was calling out to me to accept him, to love him, to let go of my pain and my doubts. So my husband and I packed up our son and started going to the local Methodist church. I sat through a couple of services and we talked about baptizing our son, and then I felt this overwhelming urge one night to reach out to the Reverend. I spilled my guts in an email to him. He responded almost immediately and set up a time to meet with me.
Our meetings were incredibly fruitful. We examined my suffering, and my shame, and all my other messy feelings. We confronted them head on. For the first time in my life I cried in front of a fellow human being without me feeling weak or unworthy in the process. I read a lot of books and a lot of scripture, I prayed even when I doubted anyone was there to listen. I threw myself into acts of love and kindness towards anyone and everyone around me, hoping for some peace and grace of my own.
God spoke to me in small ways. Little moments of serendipitous peace. An overwhelming urge to sob and cry during communion (I almost always cry during the Eucharist). I meditated a lot on the plight of Mary and was overwhelmed with love and emotion as I imagined how it felt for her to watch her perfect son be sacrificed and suffer for all of mankind. God also spoke to me in big ways. I was plagued by nightmares before becoming a Christian but once I opened my heart to love and joy, they stopped.
...My life is so much more full, richer, filled with meaning now that I have found God and dedicated myself to practicing what he has laid out for us. My relationships are deeper, I am able to let go more fully and accept and give love as a result. I am a better, happier, more whole and loving person because of God's grace."
-from Reddit post "My story from a NDE as a child, to angry anti-theist, to Methodist Christian", by inwateraway
Rob Hill tells about his call to the ministry.
"Well, I felt a real strong call to ministry. I really, I can identify a day, an instant, where I really felt like I was being called to serve God in full time ministry...
There was no verbal call. I didn't have a theophany, as they say, when you hear God's voice. I had, I don't know what you call, a feeling, and I knew in that instant that I was being called to ministry. Um, and I went home, and I was so sure about it that it scared me. And I didn't tell my family for weeks that I... intended to go into ministry, or intended to start on that path towards becoming an ordained United Methodist minister."
-You are Not So Smart Podcast, ep. 48, starting around 31:13
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