I grew up in a Christian home, but what does that really mean? To me, it meant nothing but restrictions. Did I really know my bible or the word of God? No—I would attend church week after week only because I had too. As I grew older I would leave the church for good, and I was happy to do so. My life was now one of freedom—total freedom, with no one to restrict me.
My teenage years and young adulthood was spent clubbing. My friends and I would spend our weekends going from disco to disco. Sometimes I got home from the clubs and then in no time I would be heading into work. Those were the years when I had energy…..lots of energy. It was a giddy experience at first. Oh, the feelings of freedom…..sheer freedom, and friendships.
After a few years of my new found freedom, things began to change. I could be in the same room with loud raucous music with my friends around me, yet I felt alone…..I felt lonely! It was shocking to me that I could feel lonely in a room filled with people…..but that’s the way it was. I would stop going to clubs after a while, but it would be many years before I would find myself transitioning from the world and into a walk with God.
It was a gradual process. I noticed more and more, God’s hand in all that He had created around me. I had the opportunity to travel to India and while my friend and I were traveling around the countryside, we went on a day trip to a place called Jaipur. It was magnificent. You could see for miles around. You could see water palaces, and you could see the expanse of big beautiful mountains. I remembered just standing and drinking in the beauty of the place and thinking what a big beautiful world our Creator had made. And I was surprised by the tears flowing from my eyes. I hadn’t thought of God in such a long time.
I would travel some more just having fun along the way. The odd time I would visit the church and it seemed to please family members, but it really meant nothing to me. Years went by and at times I would feel as though I was being drawn to come back to the church, but I was not ready. The drawing I felt was coming from Jesus….most times it was in the way of dreams.
It wasn’t till I fell ill, losing all my energy that I would think of returning to church. One day while at work I had intense pain in my right hip, and life would never be the same after that. All the energy I had was now gone and replaced with excruciating joint and muscle pain. Just like that, my working life would come to an end, and I would be mostly at home in those early years, hardly able to move. Only now did I think about going back to church…..and even so it was for my own selfish reasons. Perhaps so God could heal me, so I could go back to doing as I wish.
For the next several years I lived in pain, also going from doctor to doctor. It took some time to be diagnosed with lupus, and other autoimmune issues. Now all I could think of was my health issues. No one seemed to understand, and as a result, I was now living life fully depressed. My one bright spot was my attentive husband.
Week after week I went to church, but all remained the same. I started to think….there has to be more. Where is this big Mighty God who answers prayers, and why was He not answering mine? One week our minister preached a sermon on “Hidden Treasure.” Matthew 13:44
[ The Parable of the Hidden Treasure ] “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
I decided I wanted to find my treasure, and I would search the pages of the bible until I found it. I started reading the bible from cover to cover. I decided I would be obedient to God’s word, put my trust in Him, and every promise He gave to the Israelite of old I would also claim them for myself.
It was around this time that I had a dream. It was a dream that I will never forget. I had a dream that I met Jesus. I was taken to meet Him, and introduced to Him by the angels. I will never forget the sound of His voice. His voice was quivering, and from the sound of it I knew He was crying. He said to me, “Leola, you finally came. I have waited for you for so long.” By this time I had been back in the church for a few years, and at first I was puzzled by His reaction to me. It was only then I realized what God was wanting from me. He wants our full attention, He wants our worship. I had returned to church for my own selfish reasons. I prayed for healing for me, I worried about me, and why God wasn’t doing anything for me.
After having that dream I changed my focus from looking outward to looking upward. What I mean is, I stopped looking at all the things around me, only worrying about me, and I started looking upward to God. Once I placed my focus fully on God, I started to sense a closer relationship developing. It is at this time that I sense the Holy Spirit’s guiding and leading. Now that I was totally focused on God, a peace and joy came over me. No longer did I feel depressed.
Often we speak of that Still Small Voice, and many times I would sense that Voice speaking to my heart, to my mind, to my soul. At first, I could not understand, but I decided to step out in faith and to believe that I was being guided by the Holy Spirit. I was now familiar with the bible, and I knew that the Holy Spirit would only lead according to scriptures. The Holy Spirit encouraged me, He comforted me. He is real, He is alive and if we would just give our lives totally to the Lord, He will fight all our battles for us.
It is only now I have found the freedom that I was seeking. It is a freedom that brings joy and peace to my heart. The very thing I resisted before is now what I find to be freeing.
John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
I know what Jesus expect of me. He wants me to walk in His footsteps. He wants me to follow Him. How do I do that? What does it all entail? I do this when I keep His commandments. So what I once found to be restrictive is where I now find my lasting freedom. This is the path I now walk as I strive to follow my Lord on a daily basis.
Health wise I’ve improved a lot. I no longer have constant pain like I once did and I’ve change my diet which also helps. I am also sure that turning my focus to God and by looking to Him and by faith depending on Him, it has also help me tremendously.
Leola this is a beautiful testimony. Thank you so much for sharing in such depth your walk with our heavenly Father. God is so gracious to us. So many rich nuggets to hold fast to in your post for all to learn from.
Thank you usathroughoureyes. God is good, and every since I’ve found Him I find myself relying on Him more and more day after day.
It is such a process for us. There are days that all we can do is have faith that He hears and is there.
Yes, that is all we can do at times—just keep trusting and to be patient and wait on Him. Sometimes when I’m waiting on Him I actually find later that it is He who is waiting on me. He’s waiting for me to get to the point where He wants me to be.
When we read your comment this morning we laughed because we have been working on this waiting thing constantly in our lives. Our pace is not His, thank God.
I am not a Christian but I believe in Jesus. I feel Jesus is not a God to one particular religion, he is common to all. I felt Jesus listening to me and answering. Now I can understand him . I won’t tell this to anyone as I feel how Christians will take it. Through your posts I feel you are generous hence I shared. I can even share an incident of how I felt Jesus listening to me but it will become too long and also now I can understand God more than those days.
Sounds like you also have a wonderful story to tell. I don’t mind hearing it and I’m sure others would also love to hear it. Jesus loves us very much and He is very patient with us. I am amazed by the love He has for us. He is love.
The mere fact that you felt Jesus listening to you and answering you, means that He is there for you and trying to get you to connect with Him in an even closer relationship. I feel that for myself and I think that is what He wants from each one of us.
I do believe that Jesus is returning to this earth very soon and He does not want for any of us His little children to be lost.
I hope you will feel free to share your story sometime. It’s nice to lift Him up and it draws us even closer to Him when we do so.
Not a big story, just small incidents. I learned when we are right God won’t leave us in any case. I always believe in one Supreme power. I feel almighty everywhere. I like to visit Grand mosque in Muscat it is even near to me, not as a tourist spot but as a place where almighty lives.
Yes the Almighty has the capacity to be everywhere at once. That’s the beauty of the God we serve.
🙏❤️
Thanks for saying that. God is always with us only we humans not realizing it. You are doing a great job.
Yes, you are so right. I sense that God is trying to get the attention of many people, but they do not recognize Him for who He is. They either are fearful or they refuse to follow because God is pointing them in a direction they are not willing to take.
Thank you for your kind words!!
So Subbashini I think God is speaking of people like you in this particular scripture, it says:
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. John 10:16
That is what it says in our Bible, and how I interpret what it means is that God have other children which may be of religions, and He speaks to them also. And I think this is what you may be experiencing. God I calling you, He is calling His people. He is soon to come and one day we will all live together with Him.
Praise God for all He has done in your life! Powerful testimony! What a cool dream too! We have been set free by the blood of Christ, amen! God bless you!
Thank you so much for reading. Yes, I thank God so much for the freedom that is to be found only in Him. I find that I do have quite a few dreams with Jesus in them….more to share.
Leola, dear Sister your testimony is joyous. 🙂 Thank you for sharing it. God is so merciful. Always waiting for us, just as He was waiting for you.
Thank you for reading Margaret. God is so gracious and kind and merciful, I’m absolutely nothing without Him in my life. Thanks for reading.
I love your testimony!! You were and still are such a beautiful woman!
Thanks Michelle, you’re so sweet. 😃😃
Oh my GOODNESS! Too powerful not to reblog!!!!
Thank you so much, I’m so glad you were touched by it!!
Blessings!
HOW do I reblog this message? I can’t find the button, Oh no!!
Did you find the reblog button?
Apparently with the plan I have there is no reblog button. You have to copy the link.
No I didn’t!
I couldn’t find it either.
🙁
whew….I thought you were going to say you see it!!
You have to copy my link to your page…there is no button with the plan I have….I spoke to WordPress.
Oh ok!
Well, for a lot of sites that option doesn’t pop up on the mobile app but it will if you go to the desktop version.
I’m on the desktop!!
So according to WordPress it depends on the plan. Some one else shared my post by copying the link.
It was Amy at New Life 🙂
Yes, I was so surprised and happy to see that!!
Were you able to do it??
No reblog tab!!
Ok…I’ll try and look into that. Thanks so much.
Let me know!
Ok I will.
So I just finished chatting with WordPress and there is no reblog button. So you will have to copy the link if you want to share it.
Leola, thanks so much for sharing your story with us. I so love reading testimonies 🙂
Thank you for reading Stuart, I’m glad you enjoyed the read.
Wow. So good! God bless you Sister.
Thank you so much for stopping by Purple Rose, and for taking the time to comment.
Telling your story, you never know the one or the many that you will reach. 💜
That’s the only reason I do share, in hopes that it may be of help to others. Thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment.
My God my Saviour while I pray , lead me not to go astray.🙏
Amen Merle. I pray that you may never go astray!!
Thank you for sharing your story with us! God’s hand was on you. This reminds us that He constantly pursues us.
This so true. He never gives up on us. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Leola, That was a beautiful testimony. Thanks so much for sharing it. I really liked this part:
“The very thing I resisted before is now what I find to be freeing.”
That is so true!! So many people think freedom is freedom to keep on practicing sin, but that is not freedom. I know from personal experience. True freedom comes through surrender to our Lord, through submission to his Lordship over our lives, and through obedience to his instructions for our lives. We so need to get this message out!
So, thank you for sharing your testimony.
Thank you so much Sue, for stopping by and reading and for taking the time to comment.
We serve such an awesome God. Yes, I thought I knew what freedom was, not realizing that true freedom can only come from God. It’s also the same for people looking to store large quantities of money for their security, not realizing that they will only find true security in our Almighty Saviour. Thanks again for stopping by.
You are welcome. I believe I found you on Amy’s blog. Yes, true freedom only comes through Jesus Christ. Glad you came and visited my blog, too.
Oh, okay. That was awfully nice of Amy to feature my post on her site.
His love is truly a freedom that brings joy and peace. It’s wonderful to hear that your heart, has found your faith in His love!
Thank you so much. Total and lasting freedom I have found in His love.
Loved reading your story and looking at your pictures 😊
Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read and comment honeybeewhisper!!
What a beautiful story of transformation, Leola. Thank you for sharing. Isn’t it mind-boggling that Jesus’ commandments look so restrictive before we know him, but offer glorious freedom once we say “yes” to him. Praise God he also led you toward physical healing along with the spiritual transformation!
Thank you so much for stopping by and for commenting Nancy. Yes, once we come to know Jesus it is freeing in so many different ways. Not only did I find Him but it also did lead me to make many changes in my physical life in the way I now eat, which certainly does help with my health. For me Spiritual Healing and Physical Healing is a daily adventure, and will be perhaps for the rest of my life. Blessings!!
CONGRATULATIONS!
Thank you so much…I’m only just responding to this comment as it was in my Spam folder. Blessings!!
Thanks a lot.