I am a 47 year grandma with 6 children and 8 grandchildren I've been a christian for 25 years and I can still remember the day the Lord saved me. I was a single mom of 3 young children and I had just gotten out of a very abusive marriage, I moved 1500 miles west to Nebraska cause I had a sister there. I was living in Ne. for 2 month when I saw a revival poster in the laundry mat and since i had nothing to do I decided to go. I had never been to a Pentecostal church before but what I felt when I was in that service changed my life. when the preaching was over they asked if anyone would like to pray and I went up to the altar and just repented of my sins and then I started to just praise the Lord and with in a few minutes I was filled with the holy ghost speaking in other tongues and then I was baptized in Jesus name. I am now married to a minister who adopted my three children and we then had 3 more. God has blessed me in so many ways, I know when I get to struggling with something in my life I can just go to Jesus in prayer and he is there for me. For me it is truly a personal relationship with my Lord. God bless you all

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God! At the age of 13 I started having thoughts of suicide it lasted until I was in my late thirties. Every day I would say that today was the day I’m gona do it and then something or someone would intervene so I would plan on doing it tomorrow. This went on after both my pregnancies. I felt that I wasn’t loved and didn’t really matter. I was really shy and didn’t have a lot of interaction with other people. By the time my kids were in high school I developed major depression and was held bondage in my own house during the hours my kids was at school. Every day I would promise myself that I was going to go out and check the mail and I couldn’t even do that until my kids came home. I had become so angry that I would lash out at people if their car was blocking the sidewalk when I was walking down the street. One day an acquaintance asked me why don’t I go to church and I said the routine response of I don’t do anything wrong. Well I ended up going to church confessing my sins and asking the Lord to save me shortly after that my whole life changed. I was saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. As shy as I was one Sunday during service I jumped out of my seat ran to the front of the church and started praising and crying. I was the only one and I know it was God because I would have never done anything like that on my own accord. All the depression and suicidal thoughts were no more. God became my strong hold and I’ve been set free. I know it was God’s mercy and grace that kept me. I started facilitating a women’s group in my home that allowed women to come and share their stories if they choose or just listen and we find solutions for our problems/concerns through the word of God. Thanks for allowing me a chance to share my testimony.

I am 23 and I am from South Yorkshire, England, UK. I weigh183lbs and am around 5ft 6in. I am aiming to lose 50lbs by next February.

I don't know what you wanted so I'm just going to give you my life story - I hope you don't mind the length!

I grew up going to my local Baptist church. My mum was saved when I was 2 years old. I have always said that I always knew God. I knew Jesus and I knew that He loved me. I was always saddened that I didn't have a "Eureka!" moment where I found the Lord. I always thought I didn't have a testimony and was jealous of those who had lived in the world and had a life-changing revelation.

When I was around 4 years old, I was sexually abused by a babysitter while my mum and step-dad were at church, holding a worship team meeting. My mum started blaming God - she was doing His work and her little girl was being abused. Fortunately, she must have seen the light because we continued going to church. I don't think she continued in the worship team, though.

My mum revealed this to me when I was 15/16 years old. She thought I couldn't remember but I told her I had always known. I had had flashbacks for years and my (now ex) stepdad would threaten to take me back to the "policelady" who dealt with us afterwards, if I didn't tidy my room, etc. He treat my brother and I horrendously, beating my brother and forcing me to do "garden duty", waking me up to clean the garden in my flimsy nightdress in the winter, after mum had gone to bed. Mum divorced him on these grounds when I was 9.

Due to my experiences as a child, I was wary of men, and I still am. I feel very uncomfortable in the presence of a man, especially if I don't know him and/or I'm alone. I met my ex-fiance when I was 15 and mutual friends convinced me to give him a chance - he really liked me and I wasn't interested. They wouldn't let me sleep until I texted him and said yes. They suggested I give it 6 months, "just to see". It was around this time that I stopped going to church (mum had a disagreement with a few members over her need for individual prayer meetings - long story)

Six months down the line, I had grown to like him. I had never had a real boyfriend and I didn't know what to expect. I was comfortable, so we just carried on. I wasn't ready to have sex yet but he forced me. At 15, I didn't know if it was normal, he told me he loved me and that if I didn't, he might as well just turn gay. We were all sleeping over at a friend's house and he just did it while I was asleep, singing afterwards that I was no longer a virgin. It wasn't until I was 20, and confided in my current partner, that I realise he'd raped me, and I was so naive, I didn't even know.

He proposed the day after my 17th birthday - I say he proposed but he didn't really, there was no offer of marriage, he just put a ring on the table - he didn't know what to get me for my birthday. He'd already told everyone we knew so I felt obliged to say yes. He cheated on me 3 times that I know about and was chatting and webcamming with girls all the time, even when I was lying in bed asleep, behind him. He would pick fights over the slightest thing and never allowed me to make my own decisions. He'd grab me by the neck and pin me against the wall, throw me on the bed and snarl in my face.

I plucked up the courage to leave him when I had just turned 20 and moved back in with my mum. I had recently gone back to church, a previously Pentecostal, now non-denominational, but still very Pentecostal, church and my relationship with God was growing stronger and stronger. I felt that it wasn't right for me to live with a non-Christian who was unsupportive and mocked me and my beliefs. I became ill from stress and lost around two and a half, maybe three stones in less than two months.

I became a Christian on 26th October 2008, when I truly felt that I not only knew who Jesus was, but I had grown to know Him and had a personal relationship with Him. I was baptised in water on 8th February 2009 and before I was immersed in the water, I declared my love for the Lord, stating that I simply could not have gotten through my life without Him. It was hard and at times I struggled, but I always knew He was there, holding me in His loving arms and I made it through. My closing statement was, "I just love Him!"

Riki, my current partner, and I began our relationship via Facebook on 19th January 2009. We had known each other in school, some seven years previously, but had lost touch when he moved to America (Michigan). Although he is not Christian himself, he is very supportive and often talks to me about my beliefs, asking questions and generally showing an interest. He's been to church with me lots of times and everyone loves him! He's just not quite ready to make a decision for Jesus yet - he has too many questions at the minute - but I have claimed his soul for Jesus and I know he will be saved, in God's time! So many people will look down on me for leaving one non-Christian and going to another, but this time I know it's right. I was so cautious in the beginning, with my baptism coming up etc, but it feels right in the Lord, just like when it felt wrong previously. I've never been as happy and felt as fulfilled and blessed in my whole life!

There's so much more I could say but I feel that this is all that's relevent at the moment, and I've taken up way too much of your precious time!

So I don't know what my testimony is, just that I've trusted in the Lord and He's been there for me, and if that's not enough to make Him worthy of my praise, I don't know what is!!

Lisa

Hello! I was born into a Christian family and have always felt that I belong to God. I made a formal decision to ask Jesus into my heart when I was 14 years old April 23, 1982. I knew I wanted to choose Jesus Christ to be my best friend. I was baptized by water in March 1983. I thought I would be perfect and not even want to sin after I was baptized. This confused me for a really long time. If I had the Holy Spirit in me and Jesus had redeemed me from my sins, why did I still get angry and impatient, etc.?

I was a good girl, but when I was 17 I met my first boyfriend. After I turned 18 I had sex for the first time. I did it because I had come away from the protection of my church family and thought I was in love. One night I got drunk and wanted to keep my boyfriend. How stupid I was! The one good thing that came from this relationship is that I met the love of my life because he was my 1st boyfriend's best friend. I remember when he told me his best friend was Rex Drennen, I had a kind of little lift in my mind and said inside, "Rex Drennen, that is a nice name!"

Several years later Rex and I would be reacquainted through my work and he asked me out and we have been together since. My problems really started when I began going to guys to feel loved, instead of leaning on my girlfriends and God. Even when Rex and I found each other and fell in love, I put him before God because I lowered my standards began drinking socially again and began having sex with him. Drinking released my inhibitions and when we had sex the first time after less than one month of dating, that I initiated because I was totally bombed. Earlier in that evening, when I was sober I told him I wanted to adhere to secondary virginity. So I lowered my standards because of my need for him and was disappointed in myself, that I could not wait and lean on God. Now I know I did not have the skills or training to resist and protect myself and come under the protection of my church and family.

We got married on Sept 5th, 1992, when I was 24 years old. He has made me very happy and we have been blessed with four healthy children. Just in the last 10 years, have I began to understand that even though Christ lives in me and has given me His righteousness, I still have a sin nature that needs put to death. I can't choose to follow my own desires and live a life for Christ without conflict. I will be waging a battle even against that which I know is right. So now, I acknowledge my sin or failure and confess it to God and ask Jesus to forgive me, cleanse me and strengthen me with a fruit of the Spirit in place of the sin.I have learned to keep short accounts with God and admit my mess ups quickly. It is so much easier than living with guilt and denial.

So anyway I have been learning how to walk with Jesus for 30 years now. I know I am HIS daughter. I know I am not perfect but the blood of Jesus washed me and Christ has clothed me with His Righteousness. My heavenly Father sees me as complete, just the way He had in mind when He made me. He has given me a portion of His Kingdom on this earth to govern and live for His Glory and Praise, I am a Queen in the Spiritual Realm, and the enemy has no power against me, because I belong to Christ. Scripture has freed me and I want to live victoriously for Christ for the rest of my life! MFP is just another step in the process of taking back my health that I have lost to the lies of the enemy. I know God is with me and He has given me the victory!

I am also praying that my husband, even though he is a committed Christian, will become the godly leader in our home and learn to listen to and seek God with all his heart and all his life and all his strength. I pray he will continually lead me and lift me up when I am weak and that together we will raise our children to live fully for God.

Thanks for all of you Moms Anchored in Prayer! I really need you on this journey.

Living to love like Jesus,

Vivian Drennen