Martin D
 

Hi my name is Martin,

My personal testimony is; 

I was raised in a Southern Baptist Church, and at age 9, one Sunday morning, the preacher preached on how we needed a personal relationship with Christ.  That morning I went forward and made a public profession of faith and accepted Christ as Lord and Savior of my   life.  I continued to be active in the youth program at this church until we moved to a suburb of St. Louis.  I continued to be active in the youth program at our new church until age 17, when I decided to stop going to church because of the hypocrisy.  I felt that I knew what the Lord expected of me and could live my life without the fellowship and teaching of these hypocrites.

Within six months, I found myself involved in drugs and alcohol.  I continued to consume drugs and alcohol for the next 9 years. I was living what was considered to be “living the good life” by the world's standards, but God continued to work in my life, putting numerous opportunities in my path to turn back to Him.  On many occasions, I would call on Him for help.  As always, I didn't keep my end of the bargain. I was slowly slipping, further and further away from where I knew I should have been, as a child of God.

At age 26, God revealed to me that if I didn't stop the alcohol, that I was going to loose my wife.  So on Tuesday, March 3rd, 1983, I woke up and told God that if He would save this relationship, I would stop drinking; And I have keep my end of the deal ever since.

For the next four years, God continued to work in our relationship, drawing her closer to Him, and drawing me back.   In August of 1987, my wife chose to move out and live with another man.  For the next seven months, God continued to work in my life and convict me of the things that were hindering my relationship with Him.

In March 1988, my wife called me up and asked me to go with her to a play. It was being held at one of the local churches in town (God was about to work in my life in a big way).  The play was called "Passion Play”. It was about the life of Christ, from the Lords Supper to His assertion into heaven. During the play, I had to explain to her what was going on, because she didn't understand the story.  At the end of the play, she asked me to fill out a response card.  I told her I was not going too, because I knew why they wanted this information. I did not want these hypocrites coming to my house or bothering me on the phone. Looking back, I realized that I was the biggest hypocrite in the church that day.

Over the next five months, God continued to convict me of the sin in my life. I start responding by removing the things that were hindering my relationship with God.  The first Sunday in August, I decided to make a list of the things in my life that shouldn't be, and the things that should be in my life.  The list of the things that should be, changed many times that afternoon.  When I was finished with this list, the only things that were on the list of things that should be, were a strong relationship with God and fellow believers.  That night, I attended a worship service at the same church that the "Passion Play" had taken place five months earlier (the following year I was in the play).

I have, from that day on, continued to attend church and understand that Christ is the same no matter what the body of believers are like.  I now base my relationship on what Christ expects of me and not what I see others doing.  God confirmed to me this was the church that He was calling me back to. There are many stories of how God worked in my life and how I grew in my spirituality while I was there.

Over the next sixteen months, God continued to work in my wife's life also.  She would go to church from time to time, but refused to turn from the life that she was living. On December 3rd, 1989, I gave in to her demands for a divorce.  Due to the relationships that God had built around me within the church, this time wasn't as devastating as it would have been, without these relationships.

Over the next three months, God started working in my life to move me to San Diego.  So in March, 1990, under God's leadership, I moved to San Diego.   At this point, God placed me into leadership. My first job as a leader was Singles Minister at my church.

To this day, I thank God for never leaving me, or forsaking me during my years of falling away. I thank him for bringing me to where He has today and the intimate relationship that continues to grow between us.

Thank you for taking the time to read my testimony,

Martin

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