Alison Wonderland
Member
I'm new here and would like to give my testimony.
I grew up in a family of unbelievers who never went to church. When I was in my thirties a friend started telling me about Jesus. Of course I had heard about him at Christmas and other places and was sort of fascinated by him, so I tried reading the Bible but it was gibberish to me and too unbelievable. My friend later asked me to go to an altar call at a Billy Graham crusade, which I did. But I didn’t say or do anything at the altar since I still had no proof that the bible was true. But later that day I did ask Jesus to come into my heart. But nothing happened and nothing changed...for years. I still had no proof that the Bible was true.
Then, as my life started falling apart in all areas for almost a decade, including severe depression, panic attacks, and numerous hospitalizations for several suicide attempts, one day, I felt backed into a corner with no place to go. I had come to the end of myself. For the first time in my life I didn’t want to kill myself. I just wanted ANSWERS! I fell on the bed sobbing and with as little energy as a drowning person who is just about to go under, I asked God to help me.
Then, it felt as if someone had put a hand on my back to comfort me. I felt warmth wash through my body from my head to my toes lifting a great heaviness from my chest and then when I opened my eyes, the sun streamed into the window. The room was SO bright that it was almost blinding even though there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky all day. I sat up, looked around me and I remember that the colors on the bedspread were vivid for the first time in my life. I just stared at them wondering what had happened to me. They were vivid blue, green and white floral patterns. It felt as if someone had just removed sunglasses or a veil which had been covering my eyes all my life. Then I said, “No, it can’t be. You’re real! You’re not a theology or a belief system, you’re alive! You’re Jesus! You’re really alive!” I was in shock that He was real.
Then when I opened the bible, the words which had once been as unintelligible to me as if I had been reading a foreign language were CRYSTAL CLEAR as simple as “Dick and Jane”, ‘See Spot run.” I felt like I was eating them, chewing on them and digesting every word. I remember thinking how strange that was until I later read Jeremiah’s words, “When your words came, I ate them. They were my heart’s delight.” I KNEW what he meant and then knew what Jesus meant when he said “I am REAL food.” (Jn 6:53). Then I fell on my knees and confessed everything I had done wrong. I was laughing and crying at the same time.
There was NO explanation for my sudden ability to believe the bible and see how simple the words are when I had tried by my own effort and intelligence to believe and understand it for years but I could not. Yet within 30 seconds, that all changed. So this wasn’t from me, it was POWER from God. 1 Co. 4:20, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of POWER.”
The deep, dark depression that my medication couldn’t cure was gone for the first time in my life. It was replaced by peace and a beautiful light which is still with me today. I didn’t recite a prayer, I didn’t “accept” Jesus into my life, I didn’t decide to believe in Jesus, I didn’t get saved in a local church, I didn’t take someone else’s word that Jesus was alive. HE came to ME and removed the veil from my eyes so I could see and believe. My depression was lifted that day and I’ve been off antidepressants for almost 30 yrs. So I KNOW that Jesus is alive.
My husband had had a similar experience before I met him when Jesus removed alcohol addiction from him in an instant. He had tried for years to stop drinking but never could. Then one day, he had also come to the end of himself so he asked God to help him and he felt the same washing through his body. Then when he looked at the beer next to him, it made him feel sick so he threw it away. The thought of alcohol nauseated him ever since until his death 35 years later. He had no cravings, no desire for alcohol or the life he had when he was drinking. He said that it was as if that life had never happened to him. He had become a new person. The old was gone and the new had come.
I grew up in a family of unbelievers who never went to church. When I was in my thirties a friend started telling me about Jesus. Of course I had heard about him at Christmas and other places and was sort of fascinated by him, so I tried reading the Bible but it was gibberish to me and too unbelievable. My friend later asked me to go to an altar call at a Billy Graham crusade, which I did. But I didn’t say or do anything at the altar since I still had no proof that the bible was true. But later that day I did ask Jesus to come into my heart. But nothing happened and nothing changed...for years. I still had no proof that the Bible was true.
Then, as my life started falling apart in all areas for almost a decade, including severe depression, panic attacks, and numerous hospitalizations for several suicide attempts, one day, I felt backed into a corner with no place to go. I had come to the end of myself. For the first time in my life I didn’t want to kill myself. I just wanted ANSWERS! I fell on the bed sobbing and with as little energy as a drowning person who is just about to go under, I asked God to help me.
Then, it felt as if someone had put a hand on my back to comfort me. I felt warmth wash through my body from my head to my toes lifting a great heaviness from my chest and then when I opened my eyes, the sun streamed into the window. The room was SO bright that it was almost blinding even though there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky all day. I sat up, looked around me and I remember that the colors on the bedspread were vivid for the first time in my life. I just stared at them wondering what had happened to me. They were vivid blue, green and white floral patterns. It felt as if someone had just removed sunglasses or a veil which had been covering my eyes all my life. Then I said, “No, it can’t be. You’re real! You’re not a theology or a belief system, you’re alive! You’re Jesus! You’re really alive!” I was in shock that He was real.
Then when I opened the bible, the words which had once been as unintelligible to me as if I had been reading a foreign language were CRYSTAL CLEAR as simple as “Dick and Jane”, ‘See Spot run.” I felt like I was eating them, chewing on them and digesting every word. I remember thinking how strange that was until I later read Jeremiah’s words, “When your words came, I ate them. They were my heart’s delight.” I KNEW what he meant and then knew what Jesus meant when he said “I am REAL food.” (Jn 6:53). Then I fell on my knees and confessed everything I had done wrong. I was laughing and crying at the same time.
There was NO explanation for my sudden ability to believe the bible and see how simple the words are when I had tried by my own effort and intelligence to believe and understand it for years but I could not. Yet within 30 seconds, that all changed. So this wasn’t from me, it was POWER from God. 1 Co. 4:20, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of POWER.”
The deep, dark depression that my medication couldn’t cure was gone for the first time in my life. It was replaced by peace and a beautiful light which is still with me today. I didn’t recite a prayer, I didn’t “accept” Jesus into my life, I didn’t decide to believe in Jesus, I didn’t get saved in a local church, I didn’t take someone else’s word that Jesus was alive. HE came to ME and removed the veil from my eyes so I could see and believe. My depression was lifted that day and I’ve been off antidepressants for almost 30 yrs. So I KNOW that Jesus is alive.
My husband had had a similar experience before I met him when Jesus removed alcohol addiction from him in an instant. He had tried for years to stop drinking but never could. Then one day, he had also come to the end of himself so he asked God to help him and he felt the same washing through his body. Then when he looked at the beer next to him, it made him feel sick so he threw it away. The thought of alcohol nauseated him ever since until his death 35 years later. He had no cravings, no desire for alcohol or the life he had when he was drinking. He said that it was as if that life had never happened to him. He had become a new person. The old was gone and the new had come.
