"I felt a fountain springing up inside me... I understood that Christ died for me, I understood His mercy, His grace and most importantly His love"
Testimony,
Hello, I am Ali. I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at the age of 15. When I was younger I believed in a Creator, but I did not know. I had a great hunger for love. My parents could not give it to me. When I was 7 years old, my uncle in my family became a Christian. Then my father, aunt, grandmother and grandfather became Christians. At that time I attended home meetings more than church. I felt close to Christianity, but I didn't really believe in it. When I was in high school, when I was 15, my uncle invited me to church. I had never been to church before, but I couldn't say no to his latest offer.
One Sunday, me, my uncle, aunt, grandmother and cousin went to church. Since I had been to church before, I didn't feel unfamiliar with it. With a warm welcome, they directed me and my family to a back pew in the front. That day an Iranian preacher was coming and there was someone translating the sermon into Turkish. Before the meeting started that day, the Iranian preacher sat in front of me. The Pastor, who was translating the sermon, asked those who had not met before the meeting started to get acquainted. The Iranian Pastor turned to me and we met briefly. Then the worship time started. I started singing hymns like the people there. After a while I realized that the people there were worshipping sincerely, but I was just singing.
Then a picture appeared in my heart. I saw a circle and inside the circle there were many dots. But one dot was outside the circle. Then I realized that the dots inside the circle were the people who were sincerely worshipping there. The dot outside was me, because I was not worshipping sincerely. The worship was over and the sermon began. Towards the end of the sermon the Iranian Pastor asked a question, "Does anyone want to see a miracle?" He also said, "If anyone wants to see a miracle, stand up." Everybody stood up. I also stood up. I believed that God existed and that He could do miracles. I wanted the miracle to be the removal of adenoids in my throat and nose, because I had an operation when I was 9 years old, but the doctor told my parents that "I had to have another operation when I was 18." So I asked for a miracle that this would not happen. Then everyone got in a single line. I stayed in the middle of the line and the Iranian Pastor prayed one by one for everyone who came forward. Some of them took their seats after the prayer and some fell to the ground. It was the first time I had seen such a thing. I felt strange but not scared. I didn't believe that something like this could happen to me.
When it was my turn, I took a step towards the Pastor. There was a distance of 3 meters between us. The moment I took a step, I felt a Force embracing and enveloping me. I couldn't understand what it was. Then tears started to flow involuntarily. I couldn't stop them. The speaker said to me through the translation "the first time I spoke to you I felt that something was going to change in you". Then he asked me, "Do you accept the Lord Jesus as Lord and Savior?" And I cried and said, "Yes." At that moment I felt a fountain springing up inside me and I realized that my body was becoming weak and also that a power was growing inside me. I fell down because my body was weak. Of course, the people who were there at that time grabbed me and put me down. As I was lying on the ground, I continued to cry, and I also felt a trembling in my body. Then something began to open in my heart. And I understood, I understood that Christ died for me, I understood His mercy, His grace and most importantly His love, because that is what I was most hungry for since I was little. At that moment I realized that a great burden had been lifted from me, and that day I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Then I got up and went to my seat, but I started crying again. The pastor called me back to him. He said to me, "God is giving you the gift of prophecy. Do you accept it?" I didn't know what it was at the time, but I cried and said, "Yes." Then he hugged me and that was the day I believed.
Shortly after that day a friend of mine approached me and said, "What happened to you, Ali? You don't fight with us anymore." I didn't know what to say that day, so I said, "I don't know," because when I was little I used to swear a lot and fight a lot. That was the first thing the Lord God changed in my life. Since I was 17 years old, I have been doing worship ministry in the church and now my wife and I are taking steps for the Youth Ministry, which is the vision we have received from the Lord as partners and we are trying to grow in the Lord.