"My testimony is...."

For three hours yesterday I had the privilege of listening to 7 women share their testimonies. We began our meeting with singing and prayer. Then they said their memory verse that they learned for that week. We reviewed last weeks lesson about Paul and talked about testimonies. Then I had them break up into twos and practice telling their testimony with one another. After about 20 min. we came back together as a group and each one proceeded to tell me her testimony. Each time the women started by saying, "my testimony is....." It was very interesting to me that all the women had been in at least 2 other denominations before becoming baptist and one woman had been in 4 different ones. She had gone from Jehovah Witness, New Apostolic, African(in Malawi), Pentecostal, and then Baptist. I was also amazed that several of them told about how before they became Christians that they made beer and sold it. As one woman, Amai Chanda, shared her testimony she began sharing that she was not walking with God, basically she was saying she was back sliding. After the meeting Amai Betty and myself began talking with her. She said she was a lazy woman and that her husband always brought home beer and she drank it. She said that on Sundays she will sometimes plait hair instead of going to church. We didn't believe that she was truely born again so we began to share the gospel with her. She said she felt sure she was a Christian but was just back sliding. So, we switched gears and talked about that for a while. We committed to pray for her and then did so right then. Please pray for Amai Chanda to get her life right with God, whatever that means, either being saved or either letting God be in control of her life.
I was very encouraged after leaving the meeting. There is just something about hearing how God has worked in so many lives to draw them to Himself. Even though it was after 6:00pm when I got home it was a wonderful way to spend my afternoon.
We have a volunteer team coming next week so I will not be able to go to these two churches for the next couple of weeks. Oh, I didn't go to Silver Rest yesterday because they had a women's meeting in Lusaka that they were going to. So, pray for the women of Chainda II Baptist church these next two weeks as they do their home work assignment of going out and sharing their testimonies with at least 5 other people. Pray that as they share, it will lead them into being able to share the gospel.