Karen's Testimony

I grew up in the small town of Elwood, Indiana. I have three sisters and one brother. My mother was a Baptist and took us to Sunday school and church every Sunday. At the time my dad was not a believer so he didn’t go along with us. He’d stay home and read the Sunday paper. I can remember every Sunday morning my mother trying to talk him into coming to church with us. Every summer my mother would take us to Vacation Bible School. She would volunteer her time and made sure we participated in the activities. I always looked forward to summer and Vacation Bible School. As I got older I was volunteered by my mother as a helper since classes only went up to the sixth grade.

I still remember the day when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. I had just turned sixteen that November. We had a minister by the name of Rev. Milan Johnson. He was a dynamic minister and on fire for the Lord. I remember that particular Sunday feeling like Rev. Johnson was talking directly to me during the sermon. I felt the call of God and went forward and accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. I was baptized after the Sunday evening service. For the next few years I continued attending Sunday school and Church and got involved in the Wednesday evening Bible Study Group.

Upon graduation in 1970 I moved to Indianapolis since I had been hired by an insurance company to work in the filing department. I joined the Indianapolis Baptist Temple and became quite active in Young Teens. In 1974 I left Indianapolis and moved to Springfield, MO to attend Baptist Bible College. I attended a full year. While attending classes I became involved in an Independent Baptist Church and eventually joined this congregation. Upon completion of my first year I left the Baptist College to attend Bible classes that were being offered at the church. In March of 1976 I moved with the church from Springfield, MO to Pennsylvania to start a new church. It was very exciting and I remember we traveled out here in caravans together as groups. When we arrived the minister razzed me because our group was the first to arrive. I was known for having a lead foot and I was the lead driver of the first group that came out! The first year we were here the church grew and we were seeing a lot of new faces and a lot of people coming to know Christ. This young church was budding and growing and reaching out to others with God’s word. The pastor had started the Adult Bible School back up and most of us young people were working during the day and attending night classes.

I don’t know how, where, or when circumstances changed within the church. We started losing members, some of whom had come out here with us from Springfield. All kinds of rumors were flying around. I shut my ears and eyes to all the ugly rumors that were circulating about the pastor and his behavior. At the time I was close to a family who had followed us out here from Texas. They had two children whom I dearly adored. This family had an incident within the church and after a lot of prayer and tears decided to return to Texas. They had informed me they were leaving and not to mention this to anyone within the church as they didn’t want the pastor to know of their departure. I kept quiet and didn’t say anything though deep inside I was distressed and saddened to see them leave. About a week after they were gone a few people within the church inquired as to why this family hadn’t been to church or his children seen at school. I informed them that this family had moved back to Texas and would no longer be attending our church. Well, they went straight to the pastor, and the pastor came to me very upset that I hadn’t told him

this family was leaving. I was immediately told I was to leave the church and the only way he would allow me back into the fold was to admit my sin before the entire congregation. I was a sinner for not informing the pastor and to him this was inexcusable!! To say I was devastated doesn’t even come close to the pain and humiliation I went through. I could not stand before the congregation and admit I had committed such a terrible sin. You see I felt I hadn’t done anything wrong. This family had a right to leave and a right to their own life! Who was I to interfere? If they felt called to leave who was I to say differently? To say the least I was heartbroken and shortly thereafter I completely turned my back on God and did not enter a church for over twenty years. I didn’t want to serve a God who had turned His back on me.

In March of 1979 I met a wonderful man and we were married in September of that same year. My husband was a Catholic and since I wasn’t actively involved in any church I agreed to raise our children as Catholics. After having two children whom we had baptized as infants I kept my agreement and took them to the Catholic Church on Sundays. As they grew older they lost interest in going to church. Since they showed no interest in going I stopped taking them. I was still bitter at God and saw no need for Him to be in my life.

As time went on my marriage started to disintegrate. My life in general was falling apart and I didn’t know how I was going to put it back together. By February of 2005 I was a total wreck. Nothing made sense and I became suicidal. I couldn’t face another day of this inner torture and pain. One night I fell on my knees and cried out asking God to help me and to forgive me for my foolishness of ignoring Him all those years. I couldn’t take the pain any more. I needed Him in my life not just for this night but for every day. I knew my only hope was through Him.

God heard my cry that night. He reached out in His loving way and took me back into His arms. I started looking for a church home where I could grow spiritually. I visited a number of churches but God kept leading me back to Centennial. The love and warmth of the people was something I had not experienced in years. One Sunday after I had been visiting for some time I felt God’s presence and knew Centennial was where He wanted me to serve Him. I became a member and immediately got myself involved in service. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity of attending Valley Forge Christian College and resuming my education. God has been wonderful and my daughter has found Christ as her Lord and Savior. I pray daily that my son will come to know Christ as his Lord and Savior. I do my best to live my life daily for Christ that others may see what He has done for me. God has blessed my life in so many extraordinary ways. He has done for me what I could not do for myself. I have gained so much insight and so many wonderful friends through this fellowship. My life is whole today and full of many blessings. Christ is my rock and my salvation. Through good days and bad days He is my strength, my shield, my shelter, and my one desire. My one desire is to serve Him and reach out to others that they may know the love of Christ in their lives. My prayer is God will touch your life and that you will find riches and blessings far beyond your wildest dreams.

 How about you? Do you have a testimony of turning your life over to Christ, or a witness story about how God increased your faith?  Put it in Patty’s narthex mailbox or e mail to: pattykissinger@centenniallutheran.org

Note:  Have you just read this testimony and want to respond to the author – send me your reply and I’ll see that they get it!  Blessings, Patty