Dear Reader,

Thank you for taking some time out of your day to read my testimony.

I would like to share with you my story of how I came to know the Lord Jesus, how I ended up running away from God, and how God restored a runaway to fellowship with Him and other Christians. So here it goes...

I was brought up in a religious Catholic family; we weren’t Christians even though we thought we were. No one in the family had the correct concept of salvation – we all thought that good works was how to get to heaven instead of trusting in Christ. For us, it was about works and not about grace.

Anyway, we moved from our home country and we ended up in England. We left our home, our relatives, and our identity, however, it was in this new place that we heard the gospel. One by one, we got saved, we put our faith in Christ, believing that He paid the price for our sins through His death, burial, and resurrection. We left our world and we gained Christ. We forsook our identities and we were given a new one – as children of God, and the Church our family.

It would have been ideal at this point to say “and they all lived happily ever after” but that’s not the case...

You see, I’m a guy who tends to act out of passion instead of reason, so it’s safe to say that I’m prone to doing things before thinking about it. As a Christian, I was someone who was zealous but with the wrong knowledge, I didn’t realise how important studying the Bible was so I did things that I “felt” was right instead of looking to God’s word and doing what was actually right.

In light of all this, I got myself into a relationship. I was a Christian and she wasn’t and the Bible tells us that we shouldn’t be “unevenly yoked with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14). But my feelings said “You can lead her to Christ” and how wrong I was. The inevitable happened, we broke up and I was crushed. Instead of realising that it was my fault for ignoring God’s word, I blamed God saying “Why didn’t Yousave her?” I became bitter and wanted nothing to do with Christianity anymore. I felt let down by God. So I ran from Him. There were many times that God was reaching out to me but I deafened my ears to the sound of His call. Dancing became my escape from God. So for three years I exhausted myself dancing just to keep God out – but there’s no running from the presence of the omnipresent God.

In early 2015, I recommitted my life to the Lord. A friend invited me to one of the youth meetings of the church which I am now a member of. After a long time, I heard God’s word which is sharper than any two edged sword and it pierced my heart with conviction. God pulled me from the depths of my despair. I’m now a Bible School student, hoping to be a pastor one day God willing.

So what’s the point of my testimony? I want to share with you all that God is faithful. The Bible says, “If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, since he cannot deny himself.” (2 Tim. 2:13 NET). Even when I used His blessings as weapons against Him, He accepted me back into His arms. Not only that, God has humbled me in my years of disobedience; He taught me that a life not lived for Him is not life at all; He opened my eyes to see my pride in my failed relationship. God was faithful to me, even when I denied Him. Truly, I deserve condemnation and yet I stand before the Father justified. Praise God and to Him be the glory.
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- Ric