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John Worthington |
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| Member Name: |
John Worthington |
| Member Location: |
Alexandria, Indiana United States  |
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John Worthington's Testimony |
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Much more than light
The testimony of an ordinary man
Life sometimes throws you a curve. At one such point in my life, I found myself in a downward spiral. After leaving the Army having spent nineteen months in sunny Southeast Asia, I had gone from a good job to a worse job three times. I found myself living in rat-infested farmhouse in Butler, Indiana. I was just barely making a living, in fact you really could not really call it a living. One night in bed I said to myself, “ I know I need to be serving the Lord, but I don’t want to do it out fear. I want to do it out of love”. As soon as I said that, the room filled with a light that radiated from the center of the room. At that point, I was scared pretty bad. I thought that it was God saying he did not care if I served him out of fear or love as long as I served him. If that was all there was to the story, then it would not mean much, but my life has never been the same. That night I gave my life to Jesus, and He took the broken pieces of what I called my life and gave me real life. I am not talking about eternal life, though He gave me that too. I am talking here and now life, and life more abundant. After that night, I started looking for another job. I looked in the paper, and there was ad for a company in Muncie, Indiana. I drove by to look the place over, and said, “Lord, you must be kidding!” The place was old and ratty looking. I thought to myself, “I’m not working here.” I went to Indy and took a job with a truck dealership in a nice building. Thirty days later they downsized me out of the job on their way out of business. That ad for the old ratty place was still in the paper. Though that company is not typically open on weekends, I went by on a Saturday. They were there, and I got the awful job. Thirty-one years later, I am taking early retirement. I could not understand why the Lord sent me there, but He had a plan. All I had to do was trust Him. It was not easy; it was not even the type job I thought I wanted. However, after thirty years I can look back and see it was the job I needed. Thirty days after I started they voted to go union. The workforce stabilized, and it soon became a good place to work. We only worked forty hours a week, which left a lot time to be with my wife, children, and work at the church. If I had gotten the job I thought I wanted, I would have almost never been home. God looked around the corner of my job and life and gave me what I really needed, not what I thought I wanted. That was only just the beginning of His hand in my life.
A few years later, I was lying in my bed asleep. All of the sudden, I was spinning around and going up. When I stopped spinning, I was standing before the Lord Jesus. He just said, “Lead my people.” Before I could answer, I was spinning in the other direction. When the spinning subsided, I found myself sitting up in my bed awake. From that day on, I took every chance that came along to serve in the church. I became a Sunday school teacher, a youth pastor, a board member, started a bus ministry, a nursing home ministry, and men’s fellowship.
During that time, some well meaning people commented to me that they felt I was doing the work of the devil. They did not fully support some the stands I was making in regard to the Word. I believed that being righteous was not about the clothes you wear. I believed that the blood of Jesus was stronger than divorce. I would never do the work of the devil. I prayed to Jesus and told him I would rather do nothing than be used as a tool of the devil. I prayed for about two weeks without an answer. My oldest daughter was about one year of age, and I had heard that from the mouths of babes comes perfect praise. I had asked her to speak to God about this matter. On a Sunday night I had given up on hearing from God. My wife and I were in the kitchen, and she (my oldest daughter) was in the living room playing. She came in the kitchen acting and moving funny. I bent down to pick her up. However, she ran in the living room touched my Bible and went back to playing like nothing had happened. I said “Lord where do you want me to read?” The pages stopped on Isaiah 49. I looked down and started reading from the first verse. “Listen, o isles, unto me; and harken, ye people from afar: the lord hath called me from the womb: from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; and said unto me, thou art my servant, o Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” That is what I call an answer to prayer.
I had been going to a Pentecostal church for a while, and I had never received the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Like a lot of people not raised in Pentecost, I had my doubts about it. One night at church I told the Lord that if it was real and from Him, I wanted it. Because the only sin God will not forgive is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, I told him he would have to knock me down and drag it out of me. He did! I was at the altar praying, and all of the sudden, I was praying in a language I never learned. The thing I remember the most is that it was just like the Bible said it would be. This experience was one of the greatest faith building events in my life.
Some time ago, a friend at work started taking vitamins to fight off colds. For many years, I had suffered with severe sinus problems and allergies. I thought that perhaps taking a daily vitamin supplement would be a good idea. I began to take my vitamins daily. However, that year my health was worse than it had ever been. One day I said to myself that I felt better, when I just trusted the Lord and thanked him for my health. I threw away the vitamins and just began thanking God. There was no bolt of lighting, no shudder in the air, but three years later I noticed that I had not suffered any sinus problems or allergies since that time. It has been more than five years now; thank God, not one illness.
This by no means is all of the great things that God has done in my life. It is however, enough to let you know that, with the Lord Jesus, His love, His power, and your ordinary life can make the most wonderful relationship. Jesus wants to have that same kind of relationship with you, who ever will may come. You can have the same experiences in your life because he is not a respecter persons, what he has done in my life he will in yours. I pray that you find that he has been there all the time in your life soon.
GOD BLESS YOU!
With love an ordinary man…
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