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Testimonies on this page: Vickie Hall, Steve Hall
(Tips for writing your own personal testimony)
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Vickie Hall (Back to top of page)
3/27/22
I am one of those children who was not raised in church because my parents had been “hurt” by someone, or something. However, they never refused to allow me to visit any church at any time. So I was exposed to many denominations including Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, you name it. Some preached the true gospel, others did not. Very confusing!
I was curious about the Bible and God early on and loved to read, so I read many parts of the Bible on my own. I had no one to answer any questions, so I just read the parts that seemed interesting, especially Revelation!
I don’t remember details of what I read at that time, but I know that I was reading the scriptures through my younger years and trying to understand the Lord and what He wanted of me.
There came a night, when I was somewhere between 12-14 when I was watching the Johnny Cash show. The June Carter Family began to sing a song that I had heard before, but this time I really heard the words. It is called “Were You There?”. The lyrics go like this…
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when He rose up from the grave?
Were you there when He rose up from the grave?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Jesus used these words to let me know that YES, I WAS there! I had heard the gospel in some of those churches. It made sense now. All I needed to do was admit that I had sinned, ask Him to forgive me, HE WOULD! And that He would save me!
Now I still did not understand all that it meant. I was well into my 20s before I truly began to understand how to submit to Jesus as Lord. But from that moment I WAS CHANGED! I began to want to do the right thing even when it was hard. I even gained the reputation in my family as a “Jesus Freak”. Sometimes that did not go over well at all!
Jesus truly gives the Joy and Peace that only He can give.
He has truly taught me so many things through the valleys that He has led me through…
My divorce
The deaths of my parents, in my arms, 2 weeks to the day apart
The death of my 1st born son
My cancer and the complications associated with it
BUT each one has brought me to this place, this moment when I can share with you that Jesus is the ONLY way! Not only to live in this life, for He will give you the strength to make it through anything, but to live ETERNALLY IN THE PRESENCE OF THE KING OF GLORY!!!
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Steve Hall (Back to top of page)
3/10/22
There was a time in Jesus ministry when his disciples were rebuking people for bringing their kids to see Jesus. “But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’” (Matthew 19:14)
When I was a little kid, my grandparents moved to Florida. And the highlight of my year, every year of my childhood, was spending time with them during summer break. When I went to see them during my 10th year of life, in 1957, I had something of a heavy heart. I knew I had done lots of wrong. And I had heard preachers and others talking about our need to be saved. But I didn’t understand much at the time. I knew I could ask my grandpa anything, so I asked him. He took a big old family Bible that I had enjoyed looking at before–mainly because of some of the pictures in it–and he walked me through the gospel verses and explained God’s plan of salvation. I knew I was a sinner. +Grandpa explained that that’s why Jesus came–to die on the cross to pay for my sin. And, without pressure, he told me all I had to do was confess my sins to Jesus and ask Jesus to come live in my heart and that Jesus would forgive me and make me His own. The Bible says that
“9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
He asked me if I would like to do that, and I said that I would. So Grandpa, Grandma, and I knelt in their little living room just outside of Inverness, Florida. I prayed first, then they prayed.
Now I know that many great followers of Jesus don’t have clear memories of when they first trusted Him. And I think it’s important to emphasize that that’s ok. The important thing is that, right now, they’re trusting Jesus. The important thing is not when they started trusting Him or any emotional experiences they might have had.
However, in my case, when I knew that Jesus had forgiven me, He opened the floodgates of my emotions. I found it hard to stop crying. I walked down to the dock that Grandpa had built on the little lake behind their house, and through my tears tried to express my child-like thankfulness to the Lord.
That day began what has now been a journey of 65 years with the Lord. And I wish I had time to share some of the many, many specific ways He has made such a difference in my life. But I will share a couple that come to mind.
My mom was a worrier and tended to be pessimistic and given to depression. And I picked up that tendency from her. If it hadn’t been for Jesus, I think there is a good possibility I would have taken my own life because of the stress of the years of my late teens and early 20s.
The Lord also made my brain so that it’s fairly good at math and science. I had a teacher in high school, those were the days of the post-sputnik panic in the United States, who assured me that physics was the field of the future. He told me I should major in it and that I would have a great career in it. So I went to UT and majored in physics and math. After I received my degree, the Lord drastically changed my direction. I think part of it was because He knew I was prone to pride and arrogance, and that I was heading in a direction that would feed that sinful weakness. I still know that I need to pray often that the Lord will keep me teachable and useful to him. I want Him to use Vickie especially, but others too, to see my blind spots that might make me less useful to Him. But in spite of my weaknesses, He has been incredibly faithful. He lets me enjoy His perfect peace that passes understanding, in spite of my fleshly tendency to worry. And He gives me incredible assurance that because of what Jesus did for me on the cross, not only are all my sins forgiven, but I have an incredible future of being with Him that stretches on into eternity.
It was unquestionably the greatest decision I could ever make. It dwarfs any other decision I could ever even think about making. And yet it was so simple, that as a 10-year-old, I knew I could trust Him to forgive me and save me from my sins.
In fact, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
The Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son and yet fully man, turns out to be my incredibly wise and powerful Master and Lord and at the same time, the most loving Friend I could ever imagine. If you’ve never invited Him into your life, I urge you to trust Him now. I promise you it will be the best decision you could ever make.