Testimonials
From Hopeless to Hopeful…
I don’t know about you, but I know GOD. GOD loves you so much even when you think you are worthless and meaningless and have no purpose. I am SD. I would like to share my story with you today. I born and bought up in a Bengali (HINDU) family in West Bengal, India. My childhood was not so much colourful due to family’s problems. My parents broke up from each other and we got separated from my father. We suffered many difficulties including starvation. We had so many different issues. I remember stealing food and money from different food shops. I even stole from my neighbour’s home. Growing up there were many times when I remember felling there is no GOD. I though, if someone is there why would that person make us suffer like this?
I remember feeling lonely and confused. When I got access to technology, I also got access to things that made my life worse though temporarily it felt better. Getting access to a mobile phone and different other devices worked as a catalyst to the sexuality and porn desire I had. the problem became bigger when I used to look at girls and used to think differently in the context of sex appealing thoughts. All these things were creating a heavy feeling day by day and I used to feel purposeless and hopeless.
There is a song “What a friend we have in JESUS“. I remember some of my friends who asked me to join a Spoken English Class which was free so I had no excuse why I could not attend. My aim was not just learning Spoken English but I thought maybe there would be girls there. Without losing anything I would have some girls to check out at least.
Now I got to have the first encounter with JESUS through this Spoken English Class which was provided for free from Freedom Fellowship. In the beginning I didn’t care much about JESUS at all. If I remember correctly it was more than 9 months after joining classes before I understood Jesus love for me. I got to see so many people living in different ways and following Jesus day in day out and they were totally different than others. I especially noticed the way they showed love, care and respect to each other and us students. I took a interest to try Jesus. Believe me! One of the elder brother helped me to walk in the path of Jesus as a mentor and here. Now after two and a half years I have so many aims and goals for life. I also love artistic things like photography. God has given me some great talents which I did not know I had before I started class. I love to worship GOD with my GOD GIVEN talent of music. God is so GOOD TO ME in many ways . I love you Jesus. Try HIM, believe me HE will change your entire life.
I would love to pray for you today if you send your prayer request to Freedom Fellowship Prayer BOX. GOD loves you so much!
I was set FREE!
My name is P. I was born in West Bengal, India and was raised in a Catholic Christian family. I am the only son in my family. I completed my secondary education at a local Convent school in Durgapur. At one time I was zealous about my religion; whatever I was told to do, I did so very diligently. I would pray the rosary prayer beads repeatedly with no real understanding. I also was engaging in prayers to the saints, offering sacrifices to the deceased, and worshipping idols. I had a pornography addiction which took hold of me when I was in my late teens. Because of this addiction I developed anger issues. I had completed my education and started working for a steel plant.
It was not until 2010, when I was in my early twenties, I was told to read the Bible by my cousin sister. She was a Jesus follower. She opened some verses from Chapter 1 of the Book of Romans related to fornication and idolatry. When I read them I was really awe-struck by what I saw through the pages of the Bible concerning these things, especially knowing that these were written about 2000 years ago. Despite having access to the Bible, I questioned myself harshly why I didn’t read it thoroughly. I decided to follow Christ and took baptism later that year.
Growth in Christ Stage; From then on, I started reading the Bible daily, about 10 hours per day; I saw my relationship with God grow from strength to strength with the help of the Holy Spirit over the years. One of the first changes I noted was my working attitude, no more being casual; I became serious about getting to work on time and getting my job done well. My addictions too went away and I felt less angry and more forgiving. With the Holy Spirit leading me year after year, I have decided to be God’s living witness to the truth for those living around me. Everyone around me could see that I am a changed person; they were so happy for me, praising God! Therefore, I have dedicated my life to serve God.
-PE 😊
God says in Revelation 21:5a “Behold, I am making all things new.”
I grew up going to church but did not understand who God was. My parents were divorced when I was little. My mom got remarried and then that’s when my family went through a struggle that a family should never have to go through. My stepdad was very abusive in every way you can imagine on a daily basis. My house was not peaceful; my parents yelled often and I did not feel safe. I had a bad childhood until my family moved. There I met a lady that I will never forget. That lady invited my family to church and we went every Sunday and Wednesday. I fell in love with the people at the church as they cared and loved my family and me like we were their very own family. When my older sister got baptized, I thought I should get baptized as well. I got baptized when I was 9 or 10 years old. My church family helped me understand who God was and what I needed to do to have a relationship with Jesus. I was growing slowly in my walk with God and there were times when I fell. Then I found out that the lady that invited my family to church and her husband were serving God outside of my home country. I said that I would want to go to serve there someday. I would always pray for this lady and the people she served. Then my day came when I was 19. I got to go to visit this special place. Then I fell in love with the people and I knew that God wanted me to also serve Him with my life. I struggled trying to find out what God really had planed for me. I would go back a forth to figure out what career I would do. After studying and serving locally I returned to that special place when I was 20 and it became to me that God wanted me to be a Biblical Counselor so I could help those who have gone through bad situations like what I experienced in my childhood.
I love helping and I am a caring person. So when I found out that I wanted to be a Biblical Counselor I started to look at different Bible colleges. I wanted one that had hands on learning and focused on meeting practical needs. Then I saw the website for Teen Missions and their BMW school. They had what I was looking for and one of my friend’s from church said that he knew about it and said that it is a good program for me. I knew that God wanted me to go to this particular school because it had a mix of in-classroom learning and practical work experience and it focused on sharing God’s good news with people. But I still had a problem. Because of all the bad things that happened to me in my childhood I didn’t talk. I liked people, but I was afraid to open up and express myself. I first started talking to Jesus as He always listened to me and I felt safe that He would not share my secrets or betray me. He cared about how I felt and I know He was the one who was changing my situations from bad to good. Jesus gave me hope showing me through the Bible that I was loved. He always put kind, loving people in my life. I began talking and became comfortable opening up with people. With Jesus help I have talked in front of 1000 people and regularly teach in front of classrooms. The Bible says, “The joy of the Lord is our strength”. I have found this to be true. I also believe when it says that “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!”
God provided a great opportunity for me to go to a Bible College so I could get the education and training I needed. I loved the students and the staff at BMW and I thank God for helping me to complete my certificate. I am continuing my education online so I can continue learning but also serve.
Recently, I completed my certificate in Biblical Counseling. That is counseling people from a Bible point of view. This course helped me to learn how to understand how God has always been present. God is always at work and now I have the ability to understand how to obey Him and share the hope and help I received from Jesus with others. Instead of being in a shell, hiding in fear, I see my life as an adventure with so many opportunities to allow Jesus love to flow through me to help others also understand the true love only Jesus has to offer.
-EW😊
Afraid to talk to teaching others..
