ARDA'S STORY

I was blessed from the beginning of my life to be born into a Christian family where the church was the center of our lives. I cannot remember a day of my years at home where we did not have our family altar each morning before going to school or other activies planned for the day. These years were also those where we attended revival meetings each year, and our family never missed going even though it meant my mother had to get five children ready to go. With this type of training the Lord touched my life very early and at the are of ten I accepted Christ.

I would like to say that I have always walked in the ways of the Lord but after leaving home I drifted away from Him but the Lord was faithful and in His mercy drew me back into the fold.

I remember in particular one incident in my life in my early teens when I was in a car with a group of young people and the driver lost control of the car, and we went over an embankment and into a ravine and I ended up in the hospital. When my mother came to the hospital, she told me the Lord had awakened her in the night and she felt led to pray for my safety and God answered her prayer in a special way. How grateful we can be for praying mothers.

I was almost 30 years of age before God gave me a son and it was at the time of his birth that I felt again the desire to be what God wanted me to be. My husband had never attended church but the church where my parents attended always had a Sunday night service, which was evanglistic, and before each service members of the church family met to pray for lost members of their families. My mother had frequently asked us to attend and finally one Sunday night my husband agreed to go and that night he was wondrously saved and he served to Lord until his death. My son is now a pastor of a Vineyard Church and I have three wonderful Christian grandchildren, one of them serving in a mission for handicapped children in Mexico.

I had a very frightening experience in my home in Mazatlan where I was attacked by a young Mexican boy and once again God saw fit to spare my life. I will never forget as I was losing consciousness the peace that the Lord gave to me and the assurance I was one if His. I pray for this young man that someone will come across his path and lead him to the Savior we serve.

I have been retired for a number of years and the Lord has blessed me with good health, and at the age of 81 I spend my time visiting shut-ins and doing other volunteer work. When in Mazatlan during the winter months I do what I can to help with the various outreaches of the Vineyard Church and my prayer is that the Lord will direct my life in the way that I should go and that I might be used of Him for the years He gives me.

JUDY'S STORY

I was brought up in the Roman Catholic Church, and that is where I had my understanding of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. This was settled without a doubt, unfortunately, forgiveness of sin wasn't.

I lived in constant condemnation, never feeling good about myself.

I came from a very dysfunctional family, we were always fighting and we were full of anger and unforgiveness. I didn't feel any love.

When I was seventeen, my mom left home and said I was the reason she was leaving. I believed her. She had a boyfriend, and I felt so bad for my father who was always drinking and just wanted his wife back.

When I graduated from high school I got married, thinking that my mom would come back to my dad if I were gone. She did move back, even though she kept that boyfriend until the day she died.

I was married for nine years and had three children. I tried to be a good mom and wife, but I was so unhappy with myself and the church just brough more condemnation by telling me I was a sinner because I practiced birth control.

I began going out to bars with my girlfriends after work. This opened the door to self destruction. I remember saying, "Well, if I'm going to hell anyway, I might as well enjoy myself!"

I got into drugs and started having affairs with other men, and soon left my husband and two of my children. I took the three year old with me.

I became a topless dancer, but took lots of drugs so I could live with myself, and to cover the conviction I felt from the Holy Spirit when I was straight.

I was a mess, and even to the point where I was about to be admitted to a mental hospital. The weekend before I was to go, I was taken to Calvary Chapel in California. It was 1973, and the beginning of the 'Jesus Movement'. There was a big revival in a tent and the Holy Spirit was present.

For the first time in my life I heard the gospel that Jesus loved and died for ME and would forgive my sins and wash me clean. Oh, how I wanted that!

I went to church every night that week, and by that weekend, I went forward and gave my life to Jesus. I felt a big black cloud lift and I was truly set free.

A month later I was baptized in the ocean and shortly afterwards, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I knew God had forgiven me for leaving my family, but I did suffer the consequences of those sins, and my eyes were opened to the suffering I had caused others.

After the Lord came into my heart, I began work as a nurses aid in the hospital, and experienced so many answers to prayer. I was totally on fire for the Lord.

In 1979 I married again and had two more children. I believed this time life would be different, and in many ways it was. There are still valleys in my life as there are in everyones', but with God as my guide, He walks through them with me, and then He brings me back up to the hilltops, and I can say, "It is well with my soul." Thank You Jesus!