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| Testimonials from the believers of Jesus Christ |
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Testimonials are one of the most powerful means we have available to us to show others how God interacts with each of us. God works with each of us differently, and as He does, He builds and crafts us into all that He designs us to be.
As we allow Him to work out in our lives the things that He wants to do, we mature and grow into a relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord.
We continually are seeking new testimonials that we can share here. If you would like to contribute, e-mail our webservant with your testimonial. We do reserve the right to edit the content, and if you would like to remain anonymous, please state that in your email. Thank You
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The Plans I Have for
You - Mirna Barnes
Jesus is
Mine – Catherine Ismail
Cancer, My Blessing – Loretta Converse
Testimony of an Adulterous Woman
Eternally Thankful – Jacquelyn Horness
Addiction
to Sin – David Williams
Healing and Salvation – Lisa
A Personal Savior – Sandi Biancuzzo
Rebellious Son – Eugenio Cisneroz
Arrogance – Cristian Olguin
String
of Hearts Miracle – Kate Lambert
Cancelled Trip - Mary
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The
Plans I Have for You -
Mirna Barnes |
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Jeremiah
29:11
For I
know the
plans I
have for
you,
declares
the
Lord,
plans to
prosper
you and
not to
harm
you,
plans to
give you
hope and
a
future.
"Oh God,
what are
you
talking
about?"
My mind
raced in
confusion,
how
could
this be?
There I
lay
looking
as if
I'd been
dropped
on my
head,
and
unkindly
stitched
up, with
staples
no less!
Why me?
Furthermore,
that
neurosurgeon
wants to
"open
that
same
trap
door" to
reset
the
little
clip on
the
wounded
artery
deep in
my brain
to
prevent
it from
filling
with
blood
and
rupturing
again!
"What is
going
on?
Where
are your
plans to
prosper
and not
harm me?
Where is
my hope
and
future
in all
of
this?"
Several
months
after my
3 week
hospital
stay I
had
become
increasingly
depressed
and took
many,
many
months
before I
could
admit
that I
was
actually
angry at
God.
(That
saddens
me now)
I was so
unsure
of
myself
and
especially
of my
Father.
After I
admitted
my anger
and
confessed
it to my
Lord and
to the
women in
my bible
study
group,
the
burden
lifted
and
God's
promise
in
Hebrews
13:5
Never
will I
leave
you;
never
will I
forsake
you
returned
to me. I
had
initially
clung to
those
words
while I
was in
the
hospital
and I
believed
them.
However,
over
time, I
became
vulnerable
and the
enemy
attacked!
Thankfully,
here I
am 2
years
and 4
surgeries
later
thinking,
writing,
and
knowing
without
question,
without
hesitation;
God has
prospered
me in
ways I
could
never
have
imagined.
I awake
every
morning
to thank
Him, for
the
breath
of my
life,
for
allowing
me to
cook my
own
breakfast,
feed
myself,
and for
all the
things I
am able
to do,
never
mind
those
that I
am no
longer
quite
able to
do;
those
are no
longer
important
to me.
I am so
thankful
that He
and He
alone
brought
me
through
the
valley
of the
shadow
of
death.
Psalm
23:4
My
almighty
God has
given me
vision;
a whole
new way
to look
at my
life. I
wasted
25 years
in the
rat
race,
not
knowing
how to
appreciate
the
beauty
of time
alone
with
Him.
Through
this
difficult
trial as
a
Christian
I have
gained
new
understanding
that I
will not
be
spared
of pain,
or
suffering,
but I
can be
assured
that God
will see
me
through
every
tribulation
til the
very
end.
The Lord
has
indeed
given me
hope and
a future
through
His
perfect
plan.
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Jesus is mine – Catherine Ismail |
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The past belongs to Jesus. There are things from the past that I have wanted to keep, but they do not belong to me. What I have learned is that the past is an account of what Jesus has done. For me, it goes like this:
I was lost. I believed that the world was a great cosmic accident and I was just one of many casualties. I did not know Who made me or why. However, Jesus knew me from the foundation of the earth. He knew then what He made me to be. Jesus pursued me and He went out ahead of me. He helped people tell me about Him. He knew I would recognize Him if I would only open my heart. He had been there when I was a child singing, “Jesus loves me, this I know.” As I grew up in the deceits of the world, I stopped being a little child in my heart and I no longer believed.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and worked in and around me to prepare my heart. Then, one day, He showed me the Father. He said, “Your Father in Heaven is real. He is the Creator. He and I are One.” At that moment, I saw Jesus for the first time as Lord and Savior. Even though I had not become what he had made me to be, He loved me still. He knew He could make up for lost time. He opened up His Word to me and said, “Talk to Me. I will answer you.” He showed me the Way and said, “Follow after Me and I will complete the work I have begun in you.”
All that is mine from the past is Jesus. He is mine, now and forever.
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Cancer My Blessing – Loretta Converse
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Six years ago, my entire life changed. My doctor told me that I had breast cancer. I remember going through several emotions all at once. Cancer was something that other people got. The doctor must be wrong. The doctor was right. I went through surgery and four days later, I was back at work. But, I was a different person.
My story starts back in 1977 when my husband left me and my daughter for a younger person. I had been living in El Paso and what family I had lived on the East Coast. I didn’t know what to do. My world had been turned inside out. I went back and forth from Texas to the East Coast for the next ten years thinking that a new place or a new job would make everything all right. I was running away from myself. I look back now and see that God had been working in my life all along telling me to stay put and stop running from coast to coast.
The last time I ran to the family I hardly knew, to a place I didn’t want to be, nothing went right. I remember standing in the rain waiting for a bus and asking God “What do you want for me? I am so lonely and unhappy. I want to do what you want me to do.”
I soon found myself in Tucson not knowing anyone and not having a job. Things started to work out but after a while that old feeling of restlessness came back. Then I was told of my cancer. I didn’t die. I knew it was God’s will for me. I am thankful for the cancer because it brought me closer to God and made me stay put. I have been in Tucson for 10 years now. I have bought a home, have some horses and dogs and if it hadn’t been for the cancer, might still be searching for myself.
For me, cancer has been a blessing. It’s true that God allows us to have things happen that we may not like or want but He knows what we need to teach us. Now I have peace I never thought I would find and I am truly happy. I enjoy each and every day and I have no desire to ever run away again.
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| Testimony of an Adulterous Woman |
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I grew up with my alcoholic father after my parents divorced when I was eleven. I grew up not knowing any of the Bible stories, not even about the rainbow. I slept many nights on the steps of a nearby church, not because I knew God, but because I wanted to be away from home.
I married young at age 18 to a service man. At a young age I was deceived into thinking that love and affection meant sex. Consequently, I had an affair. After ten years of marriage, I had committed adultery three times and began seeking the Lord’s forgiveness. I felt very strongly led to ask for my husband’s forgiveness as well. There was this overwhelming sense to be completely truthful. I did not receive my husband’s forgiveness and lost the marriage. However, our Heavenly Father has not only forgiven me, but given me salvation, given me hope, and began a sanctification process in me, by His grace. I mistakenly thought that other people would fulfill all my needs. He showed me that He truly is our all in all. He has made me a new creation and is affecting the generations to come in my family. When I went to be baptized in this newness of life, I pulled up to the same church I used to sleep at as a youth. I now know what the rainbow symbolizes and what God intended marriage to be. I know what true love is and I wait upon the Lord alone.
I am praying my husband will come to know the incredible love and peace that comes from being saved by Jesus Christ. Please join me in prayer for his salvation.
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| Eternally Thankful – Jacquelyn Horness |
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Approximately ten months ago, I began attending this church with my friend and her mother. I felt very much at home. About four months ago, it became even clearer to me what my faith in Jesus Christ has done for me. I became very ill and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This was probably the scariest time of my life. The thought of leaving my four children without a mother was heartbreaking.
I prayed with all my heart for God to take care of my family. After my surgery, I continued my prayer and was even visited in ICU by our “Resident Cowboy”. I have no doubt that Our Lord was there, guiding the surgeon’s hands and guarding my children.
My husband is now attending Calvary with me along with my children. Every night at the table my youngest son thanks the Lord for “having his mother back from surgery.” My tumor was non-cancerous and my rehab has gone off without a hitch.
For all these things I am eternally thankful.
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| Addiction To Sin – David Williams |
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The Lord has been working in my life to give me the strength to overcome an addiction to sin. My decision to follow God when I was eight has kept me from totally being overcome by this habit but the Lord has opened my eyes to the fact that my relationship with Him had become fractured and fruitless due to the sin in my life.
I fooled myself into thinking that I was an upright person because I attended church and did good things for others. I became numb to my sin as I allowed it to gradually creep into my life. I would periodically read my Bible but not enough to have an impact in life. I would ask forgiveness for my sin but only to relieve my conscience of any guilty feelings.
Eventually, my prayer life became non-existent. The Lord has recently convicted me of living a life full of lies. Either I need to live totally for Him or I should walk away because a life of riding the fence is shallow and meaningless.
I now hunger for a deeper relationship with God. I am keeping short accounts with Him in regards to my thoughts and actions. My prayers are sincere and I enjoy studying His Word. Thank You, Lord, for Your mercy and for Your power. I am back where I began.
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| Healing and Salvation – Lisa |
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My husband and I began attending Calvary four years ago. We arrived here with a broken marriage and needed God’s help to put back together the pieces. In our strength, we had nothing but failure. We sought counseling to get God’s perspective on how our marriage out to be. Praise be to God for the counsel we received.
Within a year, our marriage was back on track – not perfect – but healing and headed towards restoration. My husband was baptized and came to know Jesus as Savior and Lord of his life. As for me, I returned back to my first love, Jesus. I was also learning how to become the wife and mother that God was calling me to be. I quit my job, stayed at home with our three young children and made our house a home for my husband and children.
We both became involved in serving through ushering and working in the nursery. As we served, we were being blessed with a new circle of close friends that we truly love.
We have both grown in our walk with the Lord, with one another and in our responsibilities here at the church. Looking back, I would have never imagined that we would be where we are today. With God all things are possible. His work is the one that endures. Build your life on the Rock and when, not if, the hard times come, your house will not fall.
I want to encourage you all if your marriage is failing or your life is not what you thought it would be, God is there AND He desires to have a personal relationship with you through the Lord, Jesus Christ. He desires to heal and restore all things that your joy may be full and your life lived more abundantly. We will have trials but be assured that He is sufficient to give you His grace and His strength to weather the storms.
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| A Personal Savior – Sandi Biancuzzo |
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To the outside world we looked like a normal family. Husband, wife, three children, nice cars, home, good jobs. But inside the walls of our home were problems. It wasn’t until November 1997, after the arrest of my daughter, that our problems became public. A year of court hearings, media coverage, and a publicized trial, ended in the incarceration of my daughter. My world was falling apart. I fell into a life of sin, apart from God. It was as if I didn’t care.
My daughter was in jail, my marriage was falling apart, my children were in crisis, I lost my job and friends deserted me. Alone and scared, I lie on the bathroom floor of my apartment, crying out to God. He heard my cry and answered me. The change wasn’t immediate, but looking back on it, I can tell it was directed by God. I got a job that led me to a place that introduced me to a woman who brought me to Calvary Chapel. One morning in May of 2000, I heard Pastor Furrow speak of Jesus in a way that I had never heard before. He said that Jesus had died for my sins and He was my personal Savior and He wanted a relationship with me.
God corrects and convicts me each day to grow in His love and knowledge and I still cry out of amazement of His mercy. I now study and hunger for His Word daily and pray to witness to women in crisis.
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| Rebellious Son – Eugenio Cisneroz |
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I started going to church with my family but somewhere along the way, I let go of my Father’s hand. I heard about Jesus but I never really knew Him. I was lost and started hanging around with the wrong crowd. That’s where the trouble started. I began skipping school to please my friends. I started stealing and talking back and cussing out my mom and dad. So, I got disciplinary action which in English means whoopens. But still I was rebellious. I don’t really know how many times but it was a lot.
I ended up in jail for different crimes. I kept telling my mom and dad when I get out of jail I am going to change but I would try for a little while, maybe one week, then right back into the hole I would go. I could not do it by myself. I needed Jesus in my life. My dad gave his life to the Lord 13 years ago and I have seen the change in his life. I knew that he was a Christian. I hated Christians. I know now it was because I wasn’t one.
I had to learn the hard way. The drugs kept me in darkness. My mom and dad never gave up on me. It was in jail that Jesus disciplined me. I don’t know exactly how He did it but I needed it. I got on my knees and asked the Lord into my heart and asked Him to help me surrender to Him. Since then I have gone through some big storms but my Father said “Trust Me” and He brought me through them.
When I got out of jail I told my dad “You’ll never guess what? Remember all those times when I told you I hated you Christians? Well, guess what? I’m a Christian. My Father gave me the most precious gift. Salvation!” Thank You for breaking the chains around me, Father.
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| Arrogance – Cristian Olguin |
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Proud and arrogant is the simplest way to say what I was. I was convinced of my own superiority. I believed not that I was necessarily smarter than everyone else was but that most everyone found it easier not to apply any cognitive skill to what they said or did. I had realized that at an early age. I felt that my skills and abilities were responsible for my quick rise in the company I work for. Needless to say, I was forever hesitant to share any credit with anyone, much less God, at any time.
It was this attitude that made me responsible for that which followed. My life came crashing down. I thought because I went to church and occasionally read the Bible that I was a Christian. After all, I was raised in a good Christian home with Christian parents with firm godly values. I always had followed half-heartedly. I have had problems before and I had come to rely on myself. Yes, of course, sometimes I resorted to prayer but I always somehow felt I was just spinning my wheels. The reason behind this is that although I prayed it was different.
I had lost everything that mattered to me, my family. Brokenhearted and crying, I made an honest assessment. Now my prayer is different. I am very grateful to my Lord for even being concerned with an insignificant piece of dust, which I am.
Best of all, that a wretched creature like myself could be considered God’s child is a true miracle. Now I have learned to put God first and trust that His will for me is what is best. Amen.
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| String Of Hearts Miracle – Kate Lambert |
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I had never witnessed a miracle before, but believed they could happen.
Although I’m filled with joy and peace, for some reason I’m prone to periods of sadness. An incongruity, huh? Right after moving into the new building at Speedway and Camino Seco, I began to feel the familiar sadness. The feeling continued for three or four months. During that time it grew to the point that on my drive to church, I would weep.
One Sunday morning, I began to weep at home. To try to get myself out of this, I went for a drive. I came back home and still had a couple of hours before church. Gazing out my window, asking God for peace, I noticed the plant on my entertainment center, a string of hearts, had grown. I was surprised not being known for my green thumb, but my brown thumb. Most of my friends call me ugly names such as cacti killer, marigold murderer, etc. I tell them when they gift me with a plant that they are accomplices, but they keep on trying, hoping they will be the one who gives me a plant I can’t kill..
What I noticed about my plant was the new growth; it had grown at least 24” since I had last looked at it. Staring in surprise, I saw several little buds. I first thought they were new leaves, but looking closer realized they were flower buds. I didn’t know that this particular plant flowered but there they were. I then became aware that the whole plant was covered in flowers!
I wasn’t sure if my eyes had been blinded to the flowers until this particular moment or if the plant bloomed all at once although the flowers were in varying degrees of maturity.
I was acutely aware that God was blessing me with this bouquet. I felt His arms surround me and knew He was smiling. I now know miracles exist as I had witnessed one.
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| Cancelled Trip - Mary |
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A friend and I had been planning a trip to the Washington DC-Baltimore area to pay a surprise visit to my stepmother for her 90th birthday in September. Outside circumstances made us cancel our plans. I now know why.
The day that we would have been scheduled to fly back to Tucson was September 11, 2001. God, in His infinite wisdom, knew that we were not supposed to be in that area on that day. I thank the Lord and I will trust Him with my life.
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