Testimonies
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52
testimony entries
Whole Heart
14 November 2007 17:56 | Delicia
My dad is having hernia surgery tomorrow and asks that we say a prayer for him. He had open heart surgery in July and has done amazingly well but it is a little stressful going back under just 4 months later. A portion of his heart had atrophied, like it had died, stopped working at all. They had not given him much hope before the surgery in that part ever coming back. He went to be checked out to make sure he could have this surgery tomorrow and all portions of his heart have come back to life! His whole heart has blood flow! Praise the lord!
From an Old Friend
09 November 2007 19:37 | Margaret
I have frequently wanted to contact you to tell you what an impact your and Deborah's ministry in London has had on my spiritual growth over the years. I think you knew that at the time but it bears my writing to let you know how much it has meant to me. You were instrumental in taking me from a Christian content to be nourished on milk to one hungering and thirsting after more substantial food. I think of you both often and fondly. I have followed your career over the years and have listened appreciatively to some of you sermons on the Brownsville website.
There is one other thing I would like to update you on - it is a testimony to God's faithfulness and His ability to bring something beautiful out of the mess we sometimes make of our lives. You may remember my telling you I had a son, David, who I gave up for adoption shortly after his birth. You prayed with me for his welfare, his health and that he would come to know the Lord. We also prayed that he would meet and marry a Christian woman. I have to tell you that all but one of these prayers have been answered - and I am still praying he will come to know the Lord. In the early nineties I heard that the Public Registration office in England had created a register to enable the people involved in the adoption triangle to contact one another. I joined the registry and then waited 13 year hearing nothing. Four years ago David contacted me and I have formed a beautiful relationship with my son, his Christian wife and three young grandsons. About the time we were praying for him, David was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He made a good recovery from surgery and treatments but still has some active cancer cells around his thyroid area for which we continue to pray they do not become aggressive. He also met his Christian wife around that time...such answers to prayer! He tells me he had a happy childhood and never suffered any concerns about being adopted. His search was inspired by the birth of his children and a desire to know more of his genetic background. He is a neuro-pathologist in a hospital in northern England. Just after our reunion my middle grandson was diagnosed with a recurrence of a Wilms tumor they thought had been cured two years previously. His odds for survival were very slim but God does not deal in odds and he is now in remission and seems wonderfully healthy. He is still very much at risk for further problems both from Wilms disease and from the results of all his radical treatments - but we have seen what God can do. I have visited three times now and am currently planning my next trip.
I am sorry to make this such a long e-mail but I have often wanted to share that testimony with you - who were one of the few people outside my family to know of David's existence and who prayed for him with me.
I trust that all is going well with you and your family. Do know how much I appreciate you and Deborah and I trust that one day our paths will cross again. With prayers, love and affection. Margaret
There is one other thing I would like to update you on - it is a testimony to God's faithfulness and His ability to bring something beautiful out of the mess we sometimes make of our lives. You may remember my telling you I had a son, David, who I gave up for adoption shortly after his birth. You prayed with me for his welfare, his health and that he would come to know the Lord. We also prayed that he would meet and marry a Christian woman. I have to tell you that all but one of these prayers have been answered - and I am still praying he will come to know the Lord. In the early nineties I heard that the Public Registration office in England had created a register to enable the people involved in the adoption triangle to contact one another. I joined the registry and then waited 13 year hearing nothing. Four years ago David contacted me and I have formed a beautiful relationship with my son, his Christian wife and three young grandsons. About the time we were praying for him, David was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He made a good recovery from surgery and treatments but still has some active cancer cells around his thyroid area for which we continue to pray they do not become aggressive. He also met his Christian wife around that time...such answers to prayer! He tells me he had a happy childhood and never suffered any concerns about being adopted. His search was inspired by the birth of his children and a desire to know more of his genetic background. He is a neuro-pathologist in a hospital in northern England. Just after our reunion my middle grandson was diagnosed with a recurrence of a Wilms tumor they thought had been cured two years previously. His odds for survival were very slim but God does not deal in odds and he is now in remission and seems wonderfully healthy. He is still very much at risk for further problems both from Wilms disease and from the results of all his radical treatments - but we have seen what God can do. I have visited three times now and am currently planning my next trip.
I am sorry to make this such a long e-mail but I have often wanted to share that testimony with you - who were one of the few people outside my family to know of David's existence and who prayed for him with me.
I trust that all is going well with you and your family. Do know how much I appreciate you and Deborah and I trust that one day our paths will cross again. With prayers, love and affection. Margaret
A lost little girl
02 October 2007 16:37 | Ashley Zachmann
i was raised in an atheist family, taught the Big bang Theory, And evolution. Most of my life I spent feeling alone, and lost, not knowing there was someone out there watching over me all along.
I was 12 years old when I started running away from home, doing drugs, and sleeping around. I hurt the ones I love for years, in and out of drug rehabs and mental institutes, jail as an adult. I sold my body for money and for drugs, not caring about myself. I was raped and beaten, broken down, but every time I came out alive, not giving Glory to God, the one who saved me.
Looking back now, i see, why i survived, why I am here. It wasn't luck, it wasn't coincidence. It was a God-incedent. I had a child when i was 15 years old, I named him Zachariah. That name came to me, not knowing who Zachariah was in the bible. still an unbeliever I lived with a man who was also an unbeliever. we both drank and used drugs, and neglected my beautiful son, Zachariah.
I allowed people to use me, and i used people. I drank and I drugged and I slept around, with no regard for myself or my future. i was so alone, so sad, so lost and so confused. i was full of anger, anger i took out on people who didn't deserve it. I didnt know how to forgive.
When i was 19 I checked myself into a drug rehab after doing so much coke I hit the floor 3 times, going unconcious. Once in detox, they ran some tests and told me my heart had stopped 3 times. I was blown away. I had Od'd and didnt even realize it. It was christmas eve of 2006, my son and my mother came to visit me. and when they left, i was ready to leave and go to a bar, or a crack house.
but something compelled me to go downstairs to the chapel. No one was in the chapel, so i just stood there looking in at the cross at the altar. when i got upstairs, I got on my knees and prayed for the first time in life.
You see, even when I was close to death in the past, I never called out to the Lord, I didnt believe he was there. So i got on my knees and I prayed, Lord i hope you are there, because I am sick and tired of being alone!
I went to sleep that night still doubting, still an unbeliever. but i had a dream....I was in a dark room and all I could see was jesus's cross and this beautiful soothing voice of a man said "silly child, who do you think picked you up off the floor" and i woke, covered in chills, a believer!!!
the Lord has worked miracles in my life. I wish i could say, i turned my life around right then, but I didnt. i tried so hard, I got into a halfway house, and I attended church, I met a wonderful man who too was a christian, but the devil came at me with a vengance. I went back out to the drugs for a few weeks and landed myself in jail.
I did 6 months in jail, but they were the best 6 months of my life. I learned so much about the Lord, and his love for me, his forgiveness. I learned to love unconditionally, and to forgive others for their traspasses. Truly forgive them, in my heart. Not just say it to them, but to feel it inside. I spent 40 days and 40 nights in a one man cell, and that was All God's work. 40 days spent by myself, with no one but the Lord to pull me through. i came out of that cell a different woman. I was no longer that lost lonely 12 year old girl who ranaway to the Bronx, I was a woman. A woman of God. A soldier for Him!!!
It's about God. Knowing that he has my back. No matter where I go, there I am, and there He is. He will always love me, and he will always be there for me to call out to when I feel alone. Everything I have ever been through, has had a purpose behind it.
I am strong. It took 20 years, but today I love myself, I respect myself, my body, my mind, my soul. I respect others. I cherish my family, my son, my friends. I cherish God. I praise God for what he has done in my life.
Upon release, I was so scared going back home to a house of unbelievers. But my sister, my baby sister who is my best friend, has come to know the Lord. She sees the change in me, and she has come to believe. She knows he has a calling for her, and though sometimes she tries to run from it, she knows it's always there. and you cant run from the Lord but so long.
Thank you God, for changing this sinner, into a believer. For showing me what life is really about. Feelings...It’s nice to finally feel.
It took going to jail for 6 months to learn what life is all about, what my purpose is, and that my future was allready written. Written by God and waiting for me to just grab on and hold tight for the ride.
But God broke me down, he broke me down so he could build me back up. And I thank him for it everday of my life. I lost my granny while in that cell. In a cell far from home, with no one to comfort me or console me. While my family was together consoling each other I was alone. In my own misery. I screamed out to God and he got me through.
I have learned that life isn't about hate, or envy, it isn't about running, or using, or sleeping around. It isn't about making that almighty dollar. It is about Love, and faith, peace, and serenity.
I dont know what God's plan is for me quite yet, but I know he has something big in store for me. He is preparing me for battle, and I will win. I am a soldier for him.
I was 12 years old when I started running away from home, doing drugs, and sleeping around. I hurt the ones I love for years, in and out of drug rehabs and mental institutes, jail as an adult. I sold my body for money and for drugs, not caring about myself. I was raped and beaten, broken down, but every time I came out alive, not giving Glory to God, the one who saved me.
Looking back now, i see, why i survived, why I am here. It wasn't luck, it wasn't coincidence. It was a God-incedent. I had a child when i was 15 years old, I named him Zachariah. That name came to me, not knowing who Zachariah was in the bible. still an unbeliever I lived with a man who was also an unbeliever. we both drank and used drugs, and neglected my beautiful son, Zachariah.
I allowed people to use me, and i used people. I drank and I drugged and I slept around, with no regard for myself or my future. i was so alone, so sad, so lost and so confused. i was full of anger, anger i took out on people who didn't deserve it. I didnt know how to forgive.
When i was 19 I checked myself into a drug rehab after doing so much coke I hit the floor 3 times, going unconcious. Once in detox, they ran some tests and told me my heart had stopped 3 times. I was blown away. I had Od'd and didnt even realize it. It was christmas eve of 2006, my son and my mother came to visit me. and when they left, i was ready to leave and go to a bar, or a crack house.
but something compelled me to go downstairs to the chapel. No one was in the chapel, so i just stood there looking in at the cross at the altar. when i got upstairs, I got on my knees and prayed for the first time in life.
You see, even when I was close to death in the past, I never called out to the Lord, I didnt believe he was there. So i got on my knees and I prayed, Lord i hope you are there, because I am sick and tired of being alone!
I went to sleep that night still doubting, still an unbeliever. but i had a dream....I was in a dark room and all I could see was jesus's cross and this beautiful soothing voice of a man said "silly child, who do you think picked you up off the floor" and i woke, covered in chills, a believer!!!
the Lord has worked miracles in my life. I wish i could say, i turned my life around right then, but I didnt. i tried so hard, I got into a halfway house, and I attended church, I met a wonderful man who too was a christian, but the devil came at me with a vengance. I went back out to the drugs for a few weeks and landed myself in jail.
I did 6 months in jail, but they were the best 6 months of my life. I learned so much about the Lord, and his love for me, his forgiveness. I learned to love unconditionally, and to forgive others for their traspasses. Truly forgive them, in my heart. Not just say it to them, but to feel it inside. I spent 40 days and 40 nights in a one man cell, and that was All God's work. 40 days spent by myself, with no one but the Lord to pull me through. i came out of that cell a different woman. I was no longer that lost lonely 12 year old girl who ranaway to the Bronx, I was a woman. A woman of God. A soldier for Him!!!
It's about God. Knowing that he has my back. No matter where I go, there I am, and there He is. He will always love me, and he will always be there for me to call out to when I feel alone. Everything I have ever been through, has had a purpose behind it.
I am strong. It took 20 years, but today I love myself, I respect myself, my body, my mind, my soul. I respect others. I cherish my family, my son, my friends. I cherish God. I praise God for what he has done in my life.
Upon release, I was so scared going back home to a house of unbelievers. But my sister, my baby sister who is my best friend, has come to know the Lord. She sees the change in me, and she has come to believe. She knows he has a calling for her, and though sometimes she tries to run from it, she knows it's always there. and you cant run from the Lord but so long.
Thank you God, for changing this sinner, into a believer. For showing me what life is really about. Feelings...It’s nice to finally feel.
It took going to jail for 6 months to learn what life is all about, what my purpose is, and that my future was allready written. Written by God and waiting for me to just grab on and hold tight for the ride.
But God broke me down, he broke me down so he could build me back up. And I thank him for it everday of my life. I lost my granny while in that cell. In a cell far from home, with no one to comfort me or console me. While my family was together consoling each other I was alone. In my own misery. I screamed out to God and he got me through.
I have learned that life isn't about hate, or envy, it isn't about running, or using, or sleeping around. It isn't about making that almighty dollar. It is about Love, and faith, peace, and serenity.
I dont know what God's plan is for me quite yet, but I know he has something big in store for me. He is preparing me for battle, and I will win. I am a soldier for him.
Daughter Comes Home
25 September 2007 23:20 | Anonymous
I spoke with a lady from Tennessee today. She had left a desperate message earlier in the day wanting help for her daughter who has been on the streets in Brownsville. The mom was actually concerned for her daughter's safety. The daughter is an adult and has been in correctional facilities all of her life, beginning in her teens. The mom had talked of Brownsville Assembly of God to her daughter in years past. The daughter called her mom about two weeks ago and told her she was near "that church you talked about." She told her mom about the prayer walks and about the bar-b-que that was coming up and said she hoped to attend. When I called the mom back this afternoon, the Lord had already intervened. The daughter called her mom and said she wanted to come home and the mom is sending her a bus ticket home. The mom already knew about the prayer walks and said to tell the pastor fruit is already coming in.
Great Things Happeni
03 September 2007 01:06 | Drew Jenkins
I have been attending Brownsville for 7 years now and I tell you God is really up to something in our church. I have been through revival and after Pastor Feldshau left I was almost tempted to leave the church, but for some reason God wouldn't release me to leave yet. Service has gotten better and better and the prescence of God is still in the house! I work at McDonald's and I have invited so many people to church and they have enjoyed the services so much they are inviting people they know and telling them what a great church Brownsville is! Brownsville we still got it going on! God is still in the house, doing a new thing!!!! Praise God for his new direction for our church!
52
testimony entries
