The following is a testimony from a lady who went through our faith-based recovery homes the Women’s School of Discipleship in the early years of RU. In this brief testimony of gratitude, Kathy shares her testimony of the day she met Jesus. It is good for us to proverbially “wear her shoes” for a moment and realize how people often feel when they visit our churches. Let’s remember to be compassionate! Often, a visitor already feels condemnation and judgment…they need the love of God and we need to share it in abundance!
This church had an RU program, and after Kathy got saved, she began discipleship through that RU program. Her needs led her to Rockford where she attended and graduated our faith-based recovery homes. Her story is one that brings us great encouragement as we observe “fruit that remains…”
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Exactly 14 years ago, on January 25, I walked into Old Paths Baptist Church in Dubuque, Iowa. I was scared, nervous, high on meth, lost, alone, filthy (inside), and SO VERY BROKEN. Part of me was hopeful, but part of me was perhaps just looking to cross my last hope off the list. I felt TOTALLY out of place and filled with more shame than I could scarcely bear…but I went.
A couple in front of me turned around and said: “there will be an invitation at the end of the service”. They might as well have been speaking French because I had NO idea what that meant. I found that I liked the “stuff” the man up front was saying, and when it was over he told us to “bow our heads and close our eyes”. Then he said some stuff, and I could hear a lot of shuffling around, so I peeked (not much of a rule follower, then or now! LOL!) I saw the couple in front of me, and many others walking to the front, so in an effort to not look like a complete idiot, I got up and went forth. When I got to the front, the guy in charge looked at me with such care in his eyes and said “young lady, do you need to be saved?” I wasn’t too sure what he meant by that, but I knew that my life needed desperately to be saved. I nodded, and the tears started gushing from my eyes. He sat me down in the front row next to a woman who read things from her Bible to me, and though I wasn’t sure what was happening, I knew that I really was so very sorry for all the terrible things I had done. I did not, however, believe that this man JESUS she spoke of could really forgive ME. Not after all I had done. I was a liar and a murderer, and EVERYTHING in between, and if this woman knew the things I’d done, she wouldn’t even sit next to me.
But friends, I sit here now, forgiven, completely forgiven, and tell you that I met JESUS that day. And my life has not, and will never, be the same. I am still a rotten sinner, but I am saved by His grace! And this I know – my Heavenly Daddy is never giving up on me. Happy Birthday to me!
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Kathy came to Rockford, IL with her new found faith and enrolled in our faith-based recovery homes the Women’s Schools of Discipleship and graduated free from addiction to this very day!
Learn more about faith-based recovery here.
One Response
Glory to God! That’s what real church is all about. That’s what ministry is all about.