My Testimony - by Pam Wade
When I look back at my life, I can see that I spent many years searching for "something" and not really understanding what the "something" was. I tried so many things, searching for something to fill the emptiness I felt deep inside. Most of my life I did attend church, but I wasn’t satisfied. I thirsted for more of God. To be fulfilled and happy, I got involved in as many church activities as my schedule would allow. I taught a Sunday School class, was counselor at youth camp, taught a class at Vacation Bible School, got on a Bible Quizzing team, even entered a speech contest. In addition, I asked my pastor if there were more I could do, and he let me be church secretary/treasurer at a very young age. Still, I felt no better. Something was still missing.
The Sunday I was to be baptized I was so excited! Thinking I’d found what was missing, I got baptized in "the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" and felt worse than ever. We had several "revivals." Each time I’d pray at the altar but still felt that emptiness. I began to think something was wrong with me. I had no peace. Then, when I was 17, a young man I’d gone to school with asked me to go have a Coke with him. I thought, "I don’t know about this. Is he really my type?" He was a Pentecostal, and I knew he believed a lot differently than I did. But I accepted the invitation, and my life drastically changed direction. I visited his church and was shocked at how noisy it was...so different from my church. It was alive! There was a power I could feel there! Soon I began to love that church and the young man who had invited me to be a part of it. I began to search the Scriptures and to pay close attention to the preaching. And though I fought against it at first, the Truth became so simple...I could find it right in my Bible. I’d been raised in traditions of men. I felt an urgency to repent, to be baptized in the name of Jesus, and to receive the Holy Ghost. I couldn’t wait any longer! I sneaked out of the house with my extra clothes in a bag, going to the church on an off-night to be baptized. I felt so clean when I came out of the water, and I knew this was what my soul had been longing for all those years. I had found that "peace that passeth all understanding" (Philippians 4:7)!! The emptiness and sadness was gone. My soul had found true peace.
I married that special man who had led me into this wonderful truth. That was 18 years ago, and I’m so glad God had a plan for my life and sent someone who cared enough to share that Truth with me. Since then, in good times or bad, I’ve learned to hold to Jesus’ hand and to trust Him. Jesus is truly the peace–wonderful peace--that passes all understanding. He is faithful!
For prayer or a free Home Bible Study,
contact the Paoli Pentecostal at (405) 484-7200
