| Tellyourtestimony URL: |
| http://www.tellyourtestimony.com/LindsayJones |
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| Lindsay's Journals |
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| Marketplace Ministry |
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Promote and advertise your business, events, music and talents. Posting is Free.
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| Status Update |
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Scott is working on a cool new feature for the site! 4 hours ago...
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Happy Birthday Dal1 - I hope you have a great day! 6 hours ago...
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jones is wishing dale, happy b'day!!! 8 hours ago...
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jones posted her favourite painting pictures... see and enjoy 8 hours ago...
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Scott is at work 9 hours ago...
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| Lindsay's Testimony |
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Well, let me start out by saying that God is an everfaithful guide, and I am blessed and HIGHLY favored!! My earnest prayer is that God will be glorified by the sharing of my testimony!
I grew up in a Christian household, with a mother and father who loved and feared the Lord. We began attending a church when I was 2 years old, and it became our home. I was very active in the Youth Group and attended every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday from the age of 12 - 16. Things all changed the year I turned 16 though.
The Youth Group went on a Beach Trip to Rehobeth Beach, DE. We had a great time, several of us had invited unsaved friends, myself included. On the last day at the beach, my friend and I were walking along the boardwalk, and looking in the shops. I noticed her kind of ducking in and out of rows, and I asked her what she was doing. I soon realized that she was in fact, stealing. For some reason, I was intrigued. She told me that it was easy, and that there was no fear of me being caught. So I stole a braclet and, wouldn't you know, I didn't get caught! Well, that is until one of the girls in my Youth Group overheard my friend and I whispering about what we had just done. She told my Youth Pastor, and on the ride home, we had no idea that she knew, until we stopped for dinner.
When we got back to the church, my Youth Pastor sat all the teens (and their parents) who went on the trip down, and she made me tell them all what had happened. I was absolutley mortified, humiliated, and vunerable. I knew what I had done was wrong, and I pleaded for their mercy and forgiveness. My mother and one other parent were the only people who told me they still loved me, but were dissapointed by the desicion I made. The following days, weeks, and ensuing month were terrible for me. The people I had spent my childhood around were no longer allowed to talk to me, much less acknowledge my presence. I was no longer allowed to go on any Youth functions, and on the following Sunday, I was made to tell the entire congregation about what I had done. That was the last straw. Didn't I grow up hearing that we served a loving, merciful God? Where was that example at? If these people were Christians, I didn't want anything to do with church any longer. I rebelled.
I let my grades slack to where I was barely scraping by in school, and this was my senior year. I started hanging out with the kids who weren't quite bad, but were definitly headed towards the path of destruction. There was nothing more I wanted then to live up to the expectations of all who were dissapointed in me. They thought I was a screw up, so I was going to live up to that for sure.
I graduated high school, and got a part-time job. I was re-united with a boy I went to high school with, who had just gotten out of the Marine Corps Boot Camp. We fell in love quite quickly, and took each others virginity in the process. My parents didn't approve of him, and that was all I needed to hear. If they didn't want me to be with him, well, then I was going to be with him. He was being shipped off to Iraq in a month, and I told my parents I wanted to go visit him first. They told me no, and that if I didn't like it, then I could go. So I left in the middle of the night and didn't even say goodbye. I got on a Greyhound bus, and got to Camp Lejune the next day. Well, he went to Iraq, and I came home, and my parents weren't as mad as I thought they were going to be. They were relieved I came home.
Needless to say, the relationship between him and I never worked out, and because of my betrayal, neither did the relationship between my parents and I any more. Shortly after coming home, an elderly lady that we had taken care of since I was a month old passed away. She left me a LARGE sum of money to go to school with, and so I went. I enrolled in a college in Allentown, PA, and shortly there after, I started to go absolutley wild. I began to drink heavily, and shortly thereafter, became addicted to cocaine. I did ANY drug you can name, and slept with numerous men to get a good deal on the drugs, even though I had a lot of money. I overdosed on cocaine twice, and was in the hospital for 3 days the second time. When I got out, I used again. It seemed like nothing would ever end the rollar coaster ride I was on.
Well, 9 months into the sharade, I went broke. I had no idea that the whole time I was partying, the two girls I was close friends with were stealing money from me when I would either pass out, or just fall asleep. By the time I realized I was broke, they were long gone, and so were all the 'friends' I had made. I was homeless, and could no longer attend college, because I had no one to cosign for the second loan I needed to finish my degree. I called my parents, and begged them to come and get me, but they told me no. I was crushed. How could they do that to me??!?! For 2 weeks, I bounced from friend to friends house, what friends I had left that is, and I was at my wits end about what to do. I couldn't go home, and there was no where else for me to go. I was facing living in the streets. The day before I moved into a homeless shelter, my father called me and told me that they were coming to pick me up, but that things had to change. I had to have a job, and I had to comply to their rules, which meant NO drugs, alcohol, or men. I agreed.
I came home, got a job, and attempted to get on my feet. The drugs I left behind easily, but the men, I didn't. I became addicted to being wanted, and soon found myself in a terrible relationship with a drug dealer who lived in the ghetto of Washington, D.C. God had started to open my eyes to sooo many things in the short time I was home. Fallon, my best friend of 8 years called me, as we had lost touch while I was in college. I filled her in on everything, and she was the first person to look past my scarlet sins, and just love me. That radical notion CHANGED MY LIFE. I saw God's face. I saw my Abba Father, and saw just how much he cared for me, in spite of the mess of a life I had been in. In a moment, everything changed for me! I became completly satisfied in God again, and began to slowly lose the desire to be loved by a man. It was a very slow process, but I had had enough. On January 1st, 2008, I gave my life, body and mind back to the Lord. I realized that He had been calling me, and that he had been by my side all through the trying times. I realized that I was being called for His express purpose, which was to "Bind up the broken-hearted." I am living proof that even the darkest and lowest of sinners can be made into a beautiful oak of righteousness for Jesus.
God is calling me into ministry, and that ministry is based on Isaiah 61: 1-4. This is God's calling on my life. That no matter what you have done, no matter where you have been, God can and will use the least of these to further His kingdom. There is nothing that can ever seperate you from the love of God, it covers over a multitude of sins. Today, I am a new creature. My parents still have not forgiven me for the hurt I caused them, and that is a daily struggle for me, but I know that all things are working together for the good of those who love Him, and so I am ok. God had to allow me to go through all of the things I went through so that I could stand firm in Him. I dealt with loss, addiction, neglect, a lack of nurturing, and sever depression, just to turn around and help all those who are going through the same things. He is making me into a warrior for His kingdom. I feel the overwhelming desire to reach out and mourn for the lost, and I know that God is calling me to show them His face, just like Fallon showed me, so that I can allow God to heal their broken hearts, and rebuild their ancient ruins; the places long devestated. I pray that this has touched you in some way, and I know that for someone, I am speaking to you. Nothing you have done is unfixable. God loves you more than you can fathom, and he can take those mistakes and hard times you have gone through, and turn them into a beautiful thing. HE LOVES YOU!!!!
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Lindsay's Testimony Info
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Which categories of people did you belonged to before you were saved?
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The Partier, The Abandonded, The Unaware
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| Who have been your best examples? |
My best friend Fallon, my former Youth Pastor Nancy, and Clyde.
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| List books, music or ministires that have helped your walk |
Breaking Free by Beth Moore
Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
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| List ministries you are involved with. |
The ministry of listening and never judging.
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| List ministry websites. |
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Church:
Church Website:
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The Upper Room Fellowship: Clinton, MD
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| Prayer Requests: |
Pray that God would continue to direct my path. God is revealing His will in my life, and the doors are flying open for me. Along with that comes temptations, so pray that the firey darts of Satan will be put out, and that I would stay faithful.
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| Occupation/Business/School: |
Associate at Hallmark
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| Business Website: |
www.hallmark.com
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