HOW HAS GOD CHANGED YOUR LIFE?
Pastor Greg Colon's Testimony
Stephanie's Testimony:
I gave my life to Jesus in April 2014. It was a last resort kind of thing for myself and my marriage. One day I came home, and my husband told me about someone who knocked on our door and invited him out to church and he left the flyer on the table. I didn’t care to pay much attention to it until a while later when we were about to get a divorce and I wanted to end my life. I truly didn’t want a divorce because I had grown up in church; I knew it wasn’t right and seen that my mom had already been married 3 times. I also had never gone through with taking my own life because I was terrified of ending up in hell for eternity. One day when I finally hit rock bottom and couldn’t take it anymore and didn’t want to lose my marriage. I told my husband the only thing we hadn’t tried in our marriage was God and we decided to go to church.
We had tried to find a church before but found so many reasons to not even walk in. It was like God had been trying to get us to The Door in Jacksonville, NC since we arrived there in 2011, I had been invited before by a coworker but never went. Our first service I thought people were weird they were so nice and welcoming, even invited us over. Even through feeling as they were weird, we decided to go to every service because you could feel God in that place. As we began hanging out with the people from the church seeing their lives, their marriages and their happiness it made me want that more and more.
Jesus delivered me from suicidal thoughts and daily anxiety attacks. He delivered me from drinking. He saved my marriage. Our marriage was so bad I didn’t even want to have children with my husband until we got saved. By the grace of God, we have two beautiful children today. I can’t even begin to describe how much my husband has changed because of his relationship with Jesus, it’s like he’s not even the same man. That's what happens when we accept Jesus into our lives, He forgive our past and makes us new. I am so thankful for The Door and The Potters House for the family I have in them. I don’t know how or if our lives would’ve continued in the dark path we were in if it weren’t for the people who outreached and followed up on us to help us make it.
Brayden's Testimony:
Before I came to this church and found Jesus, I was in a very bad place. Before I was born, my father wasn't there and when I came into this world it didn't make him any more present. Over the years, this caused so much hate to build up and eventually that hate started spreading to other areas in my life like my family and friends.
This hate even caused me to be depressed and suicidal. I had planned to kill myself and one of these plans I was actually going to go through with. But-and I still don't know why I told them-I told my lab partner in 7th grade and they got the teacher, counselor, and vice principal involved. Looking back, I'm glad because I would have never gotten the chance to experience what I'm experiencing right now.
The way I got to church took a little bit. We moved into a new house and I went to a neighborhood kid's party. I met one of my friends there. His mom came to my door and invited us out to church. It took us a couple of weeks, but we finally decided to go. I hadn't been to church since I was 5. When we first came, I was a little weirded out and thought these people were crazy because they did some things I had never seen before. I had never even heard of the Holy Spirit before coming here. Even though I was new within my second time of going I prayed a sinner's prayer and prayed for the Holy Spirit.
To be honest though, I didn't really understand what it meant to be saved so I started sinning again. When I did learn what it meant I just chose to do the "smaller" sin in my eyes. Until...I went to a teen bootcamp in North Carolina. The Holy Spirit moved in so many ways! I prayed a prayer of repentance and I just heard God saying. "You're my son, I love you and your past doesn't matter anymore."
Since then, I've become an entirely different person. I'm happier than I've ever been, and it seems like everything is falling into place. Now I'm not saying life is perfect. I still have my share of ups and downs, but God has blessed me with a second family that wants me to succeed and make Heaven their home as much as I do. Even though my past actions and other's past actions have hurt me and many other people, I'm glad it all came together for good.
Jaylonee's Testimony
I grew up in church. But I wasn't living for God. Back then, I didn't know the difference between the two. To me it was just a tag or a title. Something I traditionally do on Sundays. I never really cared about a relationship with Jesus because all I wanted God to do was take me out of this world.
I didn't see my potential. I didn't see my purpose. I just saw my parents fighting, my anxiety and depression constantly weighing on me along with bitterness, blinding resentment and a lustful desire to find "the one." All of it distracted me, deprived my soul of hope and kept me stuck in the same room for 15 hours a day for months that turned into half my high school career.
It all kept me from the fact that there was a God in Heaven who care about a girl as broken as me. A God who wanted to heal my broken heart and restore my mind and soul. But then Covid happened...and things only got worse. There was no going to school or a family members house because nobody wanted Covid. So, I was stuck in a toxic home, with people who had many of their own problems to deal with.
However, Covid didn't stop my Pastor, Pastor Greg Colon, from knocking on my door and inviting my family out to church in May of 2020. And I'm so glad all of those burdens that blinded me didn't stop me from going to a service.
It wasn't the flip of a switch or an easy process. There were things I had to let go. People I had to stop talking to. I had to change what I watch and listen to and the words I used. Because that all played a part in what was keeping me down. But I truly gave my life back to God on October 31 of 2021.
2022 — I'm here. Without anxiety, without depression, without the bitter and broken heart. All because God dealt with me and opened my eyes, my mind and my heart to my purpose. To his plan for my life.
From then on, I've been seeking God. God helped and is still helping me to make wise decision that not only benefit me but the people around me. It was by the Grace and Mercy of God that you are able to read my testimony and not my obituary.
Melanie's Testimony
I grew up in a broken home as a child and wanted so badly for the empty feeling in my heart to go away. I was suicidal and addicted to alcohol to mask the reality of my life.
In 2001, I enlisted in the Marine Corps because I felt this would fill the void in my heart. I thought this would bring me the change that I wanted.
I got stationed in Camp Pendleton, California in 2002, met my husband and got married in 2005. By the time we got stationed in Jacksonville, North Carolina, my husband and I were about to get a divorce after just being married 3 years because we felt we could no longer be married. We were fighting over who would take our 3-year-old son.
One day, my husband asked if I would like to try out the church down the street and I said "sure, why not! We've tried everything else." In January of 2008, we walked into that church service and a wedding was taking place. We gave our lives to Jesus Christ and decided to give our marriage another chance.
God completely restored our marriage. he delivered me from being suicidal and my addiction to alcohol. He strategically placed key people in our lives as Godly examples to help us and gave me a piece of love that I've never felt before. To say it has been easy would be a lie, but through His grace, we are able to say we have been married for 17 years.
I thank God for His grace and mercy and for using ordinary people just like me, who even through all of my brokenness, He never left me nor forsook me.
Whether you never knew Jesus or maybe once knew Jesus, He's waiting for you with open arms. He laid down his life so that we could live free. And you can be free if you'd believe.
More stories to come!