My Testimony: Looking Back at the Grace of God (Part 3)
The church eventually grew and we purchased a building downtown. The building was an old double movie theatre. I used to laugh and tell my friends that I went to the movies three times a week. They would look at me and then I would explain about the building.
While in the youth group one summer we had a youth revival. The man preached a message called “Don’t Let the Light Go Out”. The sermon was on hell. He had all of the lights off in the auditorium except for one flashing red light. Since our building used to be a theatre there were no windows in the auditorium. It was pitch black. In the background while he was preaching he was playing a tape of people screaming in pain, it sounded like people were falling, and being tortured or in serious pain which was the point. The sound was to be people in hell crying out for relief. At the end of the sermon he shut the light off which represented us dying without Christ and at death we didn’t have any more chances to come to Christ. I felt convicted in my heart that I was lost and on my way to hell. However I regret to say that I did nothing about it that day. I believe that this was in June of 1998 or maybe July. I kept telling myself that I already took care of this a long time ago.
The Lord kept working on me about this over the summer. In September of 1998 we had a revival meeting. The evangelist was telling about his different booklets one night before the service and one of the ones he talked about was his booklet entitled “Salvation is Simple ABC”. I was so convicted about my lost state that I could barely sit in my seat to listen to the sermon. After the service that night I accepted Christ as my savior. I was baptized the next night after the service.
I surrendered my life to serve the Lord anywhere, anyway. I made many decisions as a teenager that have gotten me to where I am today with God’s grace and help. Who my friends were going to be, who I wasn’t going to be like, that I would remain pure until I got married, and the list could go on.
I attended a public school until I was in eighth grade and then was homeschooled until I was done with high school. After high school I attended a bible college for two years and then worked on staff at a Christian summer camp where I met and started dating my husband.
There are several people through the years that have made a major impact in my life. Some of them have passed on to Heaven to be with the Lord. I am so grateful for all of them and there is no way that I can repay them but to invest in the lives of others.
As I look back over the years I see where my life could have lead if I didn’t surrender and follow the leading of the Lord in my life. For all of you who think that God can’t use you because you come from a broken home, or it seems like no one else in your family is serving the Lord. You can make it and serve the Lord if you seek Him in your life and surrender to Him daily. You don’t have to be another statistic or a bad sermon illustration.
Serving the Master,
Diane Cardot
While in the youth group one summer we had a youth revival. The man preached a message called “Don’t Let the Light Go Out”. The sermon was on hell. He had all of the lights off in the auditorium except for one flashing red light. Since our building used to be a theatre there were no windows in the auditorium. It was pitch black. In the background while he was preaching he was playing a tape of people screaming in pain, it sounded like people were falling, and being tortured or in serious pain which was the point. The sound was to be people in hell crying out for relief. At the end of the sermon he shut the light off which represented us dying without Christ and at death we didn’t have any more chances to come to Christ. I felt convicted in my heart that I was lost and on my way to hell. However I regret to say that I did nothing about it that day. I believe that this was in June of 1998 or maybe July. I kept telling myself that I already took care of this a long time ago.
The Lord kept working on me about this over the summer. In September of 1998 we had a revival meeting. The evangelist was telling about his different booklets one night before the service and one of the ones he talked about was his booklet entitled “Salvation is Simple ABC”. I was so convicted about my lost state that I could barely sit in my seat to listen to the sermon. After the service that night I accepted Christ as my savior. I was baptized the next night after the service.
I surrendered my life to serve the Lord anywhere, anyway. I made many decisions as a teenager that have gotten me to where I am today with God’s grace and help. Who my friends were going to be, who I wasn’t going to be like, that I would remain pure until I got married, and the list could go on.
I attended a public school until I was in eighth grade and then was homeschooled until I was done with high school. After high school I attended a bible college for two years and then worked on staff at a Christian summer camp where I met and started dating my husband.
There are several people through the years that have made a major impact in my life. Some of them have passed on to Heaven to be with the Lord. I am so grateful for all of them and there is no way that I can repay them but to invest in the lives of others.
As I look back over the years I see where my life could have lead if I didn’t surrender and follow the leading of the Lord in my life. For all of you who think that God can’t use you because you come from a broken home, or it seems like no one else in your family is serving the Lord. You can make it and serve the Lord if you seek Him in your life and surrender to Him daily. You don’t have to be another statistic or a bad sermon illustration.
Serving the Master,
Diane Cardot
Labels: Guest Blogger, Testimony
posted by Diane Cardot at
12:01 AM
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