My nephews Testimony

This past Sunday at Church, my 16 year old nephew shared his testimony, I am so proud of him and wanted to share his wonderful story of how he found Jesus, with all of you:

 

 

Hey, my name is Dean, some of you know me, and some of you don’t. I don’t have a fancy opening line like everyone else, but I felt completely overwhelmed to share my testimony, so here it goes…

 

I was born to a regular family. Other than being partially hearing impaired, my life, all in all, was your average, middle age family, life, and it was great. My hearing was nothing that ever held me back, and after learning to cope with it, it became natural to me. Devin, my younger brother, was born when I was 3, literally, to the date. He, my dad, and I all share the same October birthday.

 

The year Devin turned one, and I turned 4, he got a cold that he couldn’t fight off. After weeks of medications and examinations, he finally got better. Two weeks after his recovery, the doctors called my parents with the test results they did on him while he was sick. That is when they established that Devin had a disease, autoimmune deficiency disorder, which is basically when the common cold or virus, that most people get annually during flu season, could kill him.

 

We had to completely go into isolation, to prevent the spread of germs. Basically, we were stuck inside our home, excluding short trips to the grocery store, and me going back and forth to school.

 

Being so young I didn’t understand the seriousness of his disease. I continued to go to school up until my 5^th grade year. In the middle of the school year, Devin got sick from a cold that I had picked up while going to school. I was maturing at that time and now understood how my going to school was somewhat effecting his life. My parents sat me down, and we all made the decision for me to start getting home schooled.

 

After months of isolation, and routine doctor visits, Devin was somehow, in remission from his disease. My parents decided that both, Devin and I, could go to school to have that social experience that most kids have. The first three months of school were amazing. We attended school, ate lunch in the lunchroom, played on the playground, and all in all enjoyed our school experience. When December rolled around, and the temperature in the air started to change, so did Devin.

 

He got sick again, but this time it was worse, he was not getting better and they had to admit him into the hospital. Devin’s disease was back. He and I had to be pulled out of school.

 

It was then I went into a depression. I felt like it was never going to end.  I was emotionally and physically exhausted. Between not being able to have what seemed like a normal life, I let my emotions get the best of me, and became very rude to others, and that is not at all who I am or how I was raised.

 

Once things settled down for us and we got back into our normal isolation, home-schooled, routine. My parents, along with the doctors, established that our life would be 6 months on and 6 months off.

 

Similar to the way retired people live. In the winter they come down for 6 months and stay in either South Carolina or Florida, when summer hits, they return to their homes up North.

 

Our life was similar in the fact that during the winter we would be kept in isolation, but when spring and summer rolled around we would be able to get out more. During the spring we decided to start looking for Church’s, so both Devin and myself could get some social interaction.

 

After attending a few Church’s, we ended up going to Ridgeland Baptist one Sunday morning. My dad, who plays guitar, was helping with the music from time to time, and we attended to see how we fit in with the Church family there. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience.

 

We liked our Sunday mornings at RBC that we started to attend Wednesday night service. We made friends and it wasn’t long we felt comfortable with our new Church family.

 

Annually, the RBC youth group attends a youth conference in Daytona Beach, Florida. Due to financial hardships because of doctor examinations and hospital bills we were never able to attend.

 

This year however, we pinched our pennies and were able to go. The first day and night went by and it was fun, I didn’t really take anything seriously, but was enjoying myself. The second day came and I felt myself becoming a bit emotional, because the sermon the preacher spoke about that day responded so closely to me and my life. By the time day 3 rolled around thoughts were swirling in my mind, and on the 3^rd night, a close friend of mine shared his testimony with me.

 

He explained at how the end of his testimony he became saved. I have always had God on my side and he has always provided for our family and gotten us through hard times during Devin’s sickness, but it wasn’t until that night while lying in bed, that I really thought if I had ever truly accepted him into my life, and really become saved?

 

The day before we were to leave to go back home, the preacher once again preached a sermon that was closely related to my life, almost like he knew me personally, and was pointing directly at me. He talked about being saved, it was then the emotions escaped me and I knew what I needed to do.

 

After the final Thursday night sermon, we went back to our hotel to start getting prepared to return home, when Aunt DeAnne gave us all an opportunity to share our testimonies one last time during our trip. People were sharing theirs, and I had a debate in my head on whether or not I should share mine, whether I should tell my secrets of all the feelings I had, and that’s when I came to the conclusion, that God wants me to share my regrets, my hardships and my struggles. I never thought I would share these feelings with anyone.

 

Everyone was staring at me, I stood silently, staring at the ground, and after I let out all of my emotions and my story, I knew I was ready to be saved. I wanted the Lord, Jesus to come into my heart.

 

The next day I felt completely different, like a rough storm had passed through. All the weight I had carried all those years was lifted off my shoulders, and before we left Daytona, I got baptized in the ocean to finalize my salvation.

 

It’s with this I can say proudly: I AM SAVED!!!

 

I could not be more proud of him!

I love you Dean!

 

xo