YOUNG PEOPLE'S CORNER

 

By: Revi Jan Pereira
Grace Bible Church International
Scarborough, Ontario

 

Invitation to All Young People:

You are all invited to write for the Young People’s Corner in the
Baptist Chronicle.
Please send your testimonies, poems, words of encouragement, etc.
along with your name, your picture, and where you are from to revi
pereira@yahoo.ca.
Thank you so much for your support and God bless you all!

Mark Memije’s Testimony:

(Grace Baptist Church International, Scarborough, On., Canda)

I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour at the age of four. I never got baptized then because I wouldn’t have understood what it meant. As I
got older, I still kept putting it off. By the time I was sixteen, I had no doubt about God, His glory and what He had done for my life. However, I still found it so hard to do the right thing. If I could compare myself to one person in the Bible it would be Peter. Not because of his great deeds he would do later as an apostle for God but how, in Jesus’ most dire times of need, Peter denied Him three times. In the same sense, I trumpeted faith to those I was comfortable with but when I was put on the spot, I would crumble. The difference between Peter and I is that right then and there Peter repented and I did not. Every time I messed up, I felt as if God was hitting hard in the back of my head and I couldn’t take it anymore. So, I gave in to the world. I stopped listening in church. I stopped reading my Bible. I stopped praying. I stopped being a Christian. I started new habits, like drinking, swearing,
smoking, and consistent lying. I’m not proud of it, but I became so good at it. I mastered wearing a mask of a good Christian, when in reality, I did not even come close.

One day, near the end of last summer, I decided to hit up Sobeys to steal. I was high from drugs and I wasn’t aware of my surroundings. I wasn’t aware of all the cops surrounding the grocery store and of my friends warning me to stop. Still, I ignored all of these and when I entered the store,
I stuffed whatever I could find in my bag but the security guard caught me. I panicked and ran out the door, where an undercover cop car caught me. No charges were pressed but I said to myself, Next time, next time, I wont’ get caught.

A few days later, I went to this church camp, Camp 09 Advance. It didn’t mean much to me at first. The games were fun and all and I would simply ignore the “church” part. Then came the fellowship and the people there were so real and so sure of their lives, which got me thinking. People started
sharing their testimonies and they were really moving. How can someone stand in front of a crowd and confess all that they have done and still expect to be accepted? I was moved, but still shrugged it off as nothing.

Then came the praise and worship. Personally, when I stood up to sing, I would break in cold sweat. I would feel gravity weighing me down to sit, but there I was with everyone else, not just singing but dancing, jumping and lifting up our hands. It was great! My legs were shaking and I didn’t want
to sit down! There was this one song that came up and hit me in the back of my head. I heard it a million times before, but this time I listened. It went like this, “Lord I give You my heart, I give You my soul, I live for You alone.

Every breath that I take, every moment I’m awake, Lord have Your way in me.” I thought to myself, Wow! Can I say those words and really mean it? Is
God my number one priority in life? This was my answer, Not even close. My priority is myself.

I was so upset with myself, for what I became. Right then and there, I repented. In the end, I did caught, but this time, caught in God’s grace.

Usually after a church camp or retreat, I would be on a spiritual high for about a week and then it would fade. This time I was determined. At first my
thoughts were, What would my friends say? They had always relied on me to do something stupid and here I was, about to tell them that I’m now a “Jesus follower”! I panicked, thinking I would have to give them up. So I showed them my change and told them what happened.

They didn’t like it at first but they accepted it. This was a gradual process, but a true process. I stopped drinking, swearing, and smoking, and
started new habits like going to church and listening, reading my Bible and praying. Here’s a new one, thanking God for everything He has done in my
life and for guiding me every step of the way!

Now I have a renewed faith in Jesus Christ and I have followed His command to be baptized. My means of salvation is useless. Jesus is my Saviour
and He is the Only Way. I was baptized this year because I wanted to please and honour Him, for His glory alone! This was the next step to a new path. The path of walking in Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour!