Testimony Time

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15

Thursday I told the story from Acts 26:1-29 about Pauls testimony. We then talked about the 3 parts of a testimony-your life before Christ, how you came to know Christ, and your life after Christ. I took a few min. to share my testimony with the ladies and at the end one of the older ladies started clapping and said, "we have to clap because you were not a good person and now God has changed your life." They then sang a song for me which had to do with a changed life. I just love these women! I broke the women up into groups of two and they practiced sharing their testimonies with one another. We came back together and I had each of the 13 women take turns telling their story. Here are some interesting but sad facts that I would like to share with you:
1- 9 of the 13 women talked about their life before saying that around the age of 14 they became s. active with men. This just breaks my heart because I know this still goes on today and probably at an earlier age.
2- 3 of these women had at least two children before they got married.
3-Most of them didn't get saved until after they were married.
4- at least 10 of them had been affiliated with at least 2-4 different groups before becoming baptist.
5-12 of the 13 did not pray to receive Christ until they were in the Baptist church because they said,"It wasn't until we got into the baptist church that we finally heard the truth of the Word of God."
Well, Amen to that last one that they finally heard the truth but how sad that they went around searching for something(truth-just not realizing it) and not finding it in some of these other groups. I'm thankful that these women's lives were changed after hearing the truth.

Please pray for these women as they go out this week and share the story of Pauls conversion and then share their personal testimony as well. Pray for boldness for the women and receptive hearts to those who will hear.