Testimony – Raymond Barnes

I was 26 years old when I received Jesus Christ as my savior, and I thank the LORD for his mercy toward me. Before I was saved I was, what you would call, a pretty good person. I tried to obey my parents and was a well-liked person. I grew up thinking that God was just there for advice when I ran into trouble or needed help. So I lived my life the way I wanted to and never had a relationship with God. When I turned 20 years old I married and continued to enjoy my life thinking I was a good person and husband, but that is when the Lord began to work. It was my wife the Lord worked on first and used her to get my attention.
My wife began to feel the need to go back to church and seek the Lord. She asked me if I would like to go to church with her and I said I will try anything once. Needless to say I did not know what kind of church to look for or how a church should be. Now with that said when we went to a church in town I was not impressed at all, because the pastor was not passionate about what she was preaching which turned me away. My wife could see I did not like the church, so she said we should try her childhood church where she use to attend as a little girl. We went one Sunday morning and this church felt more friendly and passionate about the Lord. After attending the church a couple of times the Pastor wanted to visit and talk with us, which scared me out of my wits. I began to run around the house trying to find things I should hide before the Pastor came over so I would not offend him. The day finally came and we had a nice talk about what salvation is and how to be saved, but I was not ready to believe in what he said. The good thing was the Pastor did not push the issue, because if he did I would have just ignored everything he just said. When our visit was over he got up and right before he left he handed me a tract to read and pray over. I really did not know if I would read it or not, but I did think about it. Then the Lord began to work on my heart and I had to read the tract over and over again until finally I saw the truth. I am a sinner headed to Hell and I needed to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to save me. So I prayed to the Lord repenting of my sins and asking for forgiveness of my sins. I told the Lord I believed in what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross and that he rose on the third day and is in heaven. I received Jesus Christ into my heart and thanked him for saving me from Hell. Right when I finished my prayer I could feel all my burdens begin to melt away like a heavy weight was lifted off of my back and mind. From that day forward I was hungry for the word of God, the Bible, and began to read it from the beginning. I forgot to tell you I am not a big reader of books, so I had to really work at reading the Bible. As I read and studied his word my relationship with God became more wonderful and loving every day. So  I truly found out that God is more than a being in heaven giving advise he is a God that loves me and has a plan for my life.

Raymond L. Barnes

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