What is your purpose?
Hello and welcome to my page! My name is John and my main objective is to reach as many people as I can to share the love and grace of Jesus Christ! Whatever crisis you may be struggling with is never too big for God to accomplish His plans in your life. If you want help but don’t know how to ask, it’s a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe you died for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and life. I confess you as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you for saving me. Amen.â€
Do you know what that means? If you truly gave your heart to Him and are abiding in Him, you are automatically guaranteed a place in heaven! You also are a new person in Christ! You may look the same and in many ways you still act the same but He has begun a change in your life from the inside out.
If you prayed this prayer, I’d love to hear from you! I can help you get started with your new relationship with God and to be in a place where others can support and encourage your walk. I’m excited for you and I’ll be praying for you!
I'd love to send you a free copy titled Fully Alive by Dr. Charles Stanley. It's my gift to you! Listen to it! It may be the thing that will change the course of your life!
Describe your Christian faith.
Saving faith is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). From my spiritual side, my faith is on the object which is Christ, not in myself. Many people misinterpret this as me having a poor self-image when that's not the case. My faith gets tested by trials and circumstances and it's the response that proves the genuiness of it. Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). So I don't rely on my experience or abilities but what He can do through me. That's faith!
Any Scriptures that are important to you?
Some of my favorite Scripture are Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain", the whole chapter in Ephesians 1:3-14 on the doctrine of election, and Philippians 4:12 on the secret of contentment. It's hard to pick just a few favorites!
What are some of your personal goals in life?
I've learned that unless ones goals are in obedience to God's goals, they have no eternal value. We always measure success by the world's standards when in fact, are futile. It's not about money, status, recognition, or fame. It's about using your inadequacies to Glorify our Father! He doesn't want your shiny trinkets you've accumulated nor your years of knowledge and experience. He wants you just the way you are! Let Him run His goals through you. You won't be disappointed!
Tell us about your testimony.
I was born on May 8th 1965. For the first 9 years, life seemed pretty normal until my parents got divorced. Shortly thereafter, my mom got remarried and that’s when everything went down hill from there. As a kid, I had to put up with the drinking, drugs, and other abuse for several years. I remember one time when I went to a pay phone and called my dad and begged to come live with him. I'd even pay to live in the basement and he wouldn't even see me but he said no. So I had to remain where I was at for a few more years.
Once I graduated, I worked until I saved enough money to come to California thinking things were going to turn out better. It didn’t take me that long to figure out that life wasn’t worth living. So I was going to get 72 sleeping pills and just fall asleep for good.
The problem was never my past or the bad things that had happened to me. I already was dead and needed life! ONLY CHRIST can breathe new life from death!
As I sat there reflecting on my life, I remembered hearing the Gospel when I was a young boy but never really accepted Christ as Lord of my life. I used to pray many times when I went to bed or when trouble came knocking on my door. But it was never a relationship with God. More of a genie that calls whenever you blink your eyes to solve all your problems.
So I cried out to God to save me! I wanted Him to run my life and asked forgiveness for my sins.
At that moment, there was no loud voice, there were no visions or no miraculous miracles. Even my problems never went away. But I had an overwhelming peace that I never had. I didn’t really know what had happened until I started reading His word. It was like a light bulb that turned on and I was able to understand what everything meant.
From that point on, life hasn’t been smooth sailing. But it has built endurance, strength, and even long-suffering. I could not have created these characteristics on my own. God is good! Whatever “momentary, light afflictions†we come across in life is not even worthy to be compared with the glory that is being produced for us!
Share one of your biggest trials.
Hard to believe how long ago it’s been but I’m still able to share what God can do in the middle of any situation in your life.
It was a normal, hot day here in the valley. I just got off work and was waiting for the rest of my friends in Christ for some softball. At that time, I was a fanatic with exercise and always was at my top performance.
Everything was going great until the third inning when the batter hit a ground ball directly at me. The crowd was yelling, “Pick up the ball!†but something happened. It was like out of no where, everything was moving in slow motion. I was watching everything but couldn’t move my body.
At that point, everybody stopped the game and ran to help. They walked me to the shade thinking I might be having a heat stroke and kept asking me if I was okay. I couldn’t say anything. Just holding the left side of my head.
As I was sitting there, I thought to myself, I’ll go to the Doctor and he will give me some pill and I’ll be find when in fact I was dying!
What happened was a tiny blood vessel in the brain that begun to grow like a balloon. Most people don’t survive. I only had one warning about a month prior when me and a friend were driving down to LA when out of no where, a sharp pain on the left side of my head became pretty painful. I was trying to pin point where it was coming from. I thought it was a pinched nerve but never thought it was life threatening. How does a person know the difference between a headache or something serious?
Anyway, I did survive but not without damage. The obvious was I had a stroke that effected my right side, technically, I am partially blind in both upper right corner of my eyes, an occasional seizure, and some memory loss like names, phone numbers, etc.
But here is the good part. In a few weeks, I was walking. So good that you didn’t even know I had a stroke! I did some tests for my vision and though my eyes are perfect, the area that was damaged effected where the eyes are connected in the brain. A Doctor can probably explain that better that I can. I haven't had any seizures for almost 2 years praise God! And my memory is probably the same as normal people. I just saw the before and after so I’m probably tough on myself.
So what have I learned you ask? Well the obvious is, life is so brief (Psalm 90:12; James 4:14). Before this happened, I was still living for myself. Yea, I was saved but my priorities weren't as convicted as they are today. You see, "The world is passing away, and also it's lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever" (1 John 2:17)! So I look for what is eternal because that’s the only thing that’s a guarantee! He has kept me here for a short time and then He will bring me home. I can’t wait till that happens! But until then, I am to use my weakness as my strength! His grace is my sufficiency.
Daily Bible Verse
Life Without Limbs by Nick Vujicic