text: Friends,\n\nSpiritually, I am of Israel.  Spiritually, Abraham is my forefather.  I believe and know that God’s New Covenant brings Israel and the Gentiles together through the Messiah Jesus.  My testimony is very long…\n\nI was born as a result of a promise, that my Mother made to God.  She prayed saying that if God would give her a baby girl, she would bring her up, teaching her about him… and that she would be for his work.  And so, here I am.\n\nShe never told me of this promise, until I accepted Jesus.  And I do believe that the evil spirits, namely, Satan, heard of this promise concerning me… in the presence of the Lord… as in the case of Job.  For all of my life, I have been persecuted by peoples, and I have known many demon-possessed persons, who have tried to led me further astray, into Wicca, so forth.    Nevertheless, I was a rebellious person, and I did not trust in Jesus… until I was thirteen. \n\nAs a teenager I was restless in heart.  I find that I was fearful of true Christianity… fearful to put my trust in Jesus.  I wondered if Jesus were truly real… even if God was real… but if God were not real, I wondered… why did anything exist… why did I exist… as ‘complicated’ as I am… what was I to do… where would I go after death… in my mind I am so real… how could I only cease to exist after I died?\n\nWith horrifying thoughts plaguing me more and more… I could not sleep… my heart was so restless… with wondering about religions, views… and Jesus.  \n\nThis was how the nights were until one Sunday morning.  My parents and I went to a place where a Congregation gathered for worship.  At the end of the service… the Spirit of God began convicting me… showing me that I was a sinner… calling to me… to come and accept his sacrifice and be justified… calling me to be his Disciple.  I was afraid… afraid of the call… afraid of being persecuted… extremely fearful.  And I resisted.  \n\nOh, and the week was misery and restlessness.\n\nThe next Sunday, God who is full of mercy and compassion… convicted me again… calling me to him… and I being fearful… did not know what to do… how could I resist him?  He is so loving and full of compassion… and then was the temptation of the evil one (I didn’t know it was his minions to begin with)… “you don’t need to accept… the people will laugh… they will stare at you for accepting.”  But there was the first step… and afterward the temptation fled… I believed in my heart that Jesus was Lord… I confessed that Jesus is Lord… believing that God raised him from the dead.  \n\nAnd so, I was justified in the sight of God. \n\nBut, instead of continuing in my sanctification… I became lukewarm.  No one taught about God’s image… no one taught about knowing God personally… they only preached what they wanted to hear about the Gospel.  \n\nNevertheless, I became tired of the ignorance around me.  Mainly… tired of MY ignorance.  I began praying, searching for God… asking God “where are you,” “what are you like?”  and praying “Lord, I really want to know you, I want to know you as Father, Son, and Spirit, I want to KNOW you.”  My prayers were constantly before the Father and intense in emotion.  Because I wanted to know his living and active words, I wanted to hear him, I wanted to really know him.  I wanted him to ‘be’ my Wonderful Counselor.  My human father had died, and I wanted my HEAVENLY FATHER.\n\nI knew that if the Prophets and the Apostles heard God… I could too.  I knew that if the Holy Spirit poured out the love of God into the hearts of the early Christians… he could pour out his love into my heart. (Romans 5:5)\n\nI became more and more aware of the spiritual part of our world… and I became closer and closer to God, through Jesus my Messiah.  God began to be nigh because I wanted to be nigh to him.  God really does speak.  I can call out “Abba” and he has said “H