Woman 2 Woman Lounge

We would love to hear what God is doing in your life! Your testimony could draw others to Christ just by sharing your story.

If you would like to share your story here with us at the woman2woman lounge as a testimony to Christ and to encourage our readers please send your testimony to sherri@woman2womanlounge.com

I never became a born-again Christian until I was 29 years old. I wasn't raised in a Christian home, nor was I around a lot of Christian people. All through my life, seeds were planted; some grew, some didn't. But, praise God He didn't give up on me! The time that I remember being hungry for something more in my life was just before I had accepted Christ. I was living with my boyfriend (husband now), I was dealing with issues from my past; and I was very tired of living a life of pain and struggle. I knew there was "more to life" than what I was living. At the time, we were living in a community of approximately 2500 people. I was always drawn to one little gift shop on Main Street. It was the only place that seemed to offer me a sense of peace. Over time, the owner would share nuggets of truth with me through our conversations. Little by little, God watered those seeds and drew me unto Him. I remember the night very clearly that I accepted Christ as my Savior. I had wanted the world to stop because I felt so out of control. I didn’t have suicidal thoughts; I just didn't want to feel pain anymore. It was in that type of desperation that I finally chose to let go of me being in control and asked God to take over.

It was like the world was taken off my shoulders. I felt light, even joyful. I had hope! I knew, without a doubt, that I had made the right decision. I would love to say that it's been an easy journey, but it hasn't. But, it has been much easier than doing things alone and in my own strength. "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." ~ Matthew 11:30
And, "that is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:10

~Karla Meachem
http://www.EmpoweringChristianWomen.com

Here's my testimony and I hope it helps others to share as well.

I was saved when I was nine years old. I went forward in church was baptized but without the guidance of spirit filled parents, I soon lost my way.

My parents drank and fought, cursed, committed adultery and were physically abusive to their children. I remember praying God would take me away from it all yet still I remained.

When I was 13, I was molested and it took me years to forgive the relative who did it. Afterwards, I went from one bad relationship to another. Had children out of wedlock with a married man, wasted so many good years chasing after no good men. I eventually went on to marry a man who turned out to be a bigamist, then years later, a sailor who spent his time lying, cheating and doing his best to destroy my self-esteem.

Looking back, I realized I made a mess of my youth. Wasted it and the only good things I can say I retained from those years were my children. Unfortunately, I'm short one child due to a decision to have an abortion. I've never forgotten that child and still wonder what he or she would have been like.

You see, no one told me that after all the ripping and running would come the regret for bad decisions. No one told me I'd one day find out that what I really needed in my life was Jesus. No man, no money, no good time could fill the void.

Lord knows I was stubborn in my search and it took losing a lifetime's worth of worldly possessions as well as almost losing my life and my children's lives, to make me realize that what I needed was there all the time. All I had to do was ask.

One day in October of 2005, I did just that. I asked Jesus to come in and be my Savior. I felt His presence and immediately knew a peace that passes all understanding. I had something I thought I had lost. I had joy. I was in my bedroom with a chair, a desk and a futon. I was starting over again at the age of 38 but I had peace, joy, happiness and the love I was searching for.

Now I start each day, thanking God for letting me continue to be here. I will never forget that even as a sinner, he brought me out and set my feet on a rock. The song in my heart is Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so. I found it! I found the love I needed and I'm never going to live another day without it.

I tell my children constantly that they need Jesus as well and I do my best to let His light shine through me. Throughout my life, I've been through so much yet I'm still here. The Lord has kept me here and I'm so very grateful because I know He isn't finished with me yet.

Now I'm looking to see what the future holds and I've got the promise of a home in heaven that I'm waiting to see. I'm waiting on the Lord, He is my portion an I know He will never leave me or forsake me.

In parting I leave you with the following:

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with the love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 103:1-5.

Oh what a mighty God we serve! Hallelujah and thank you Jesus!

~Gazelle Simmons
http://www.admnsrvcs.com/

Ladies,

Only God has the power to do what He does and as His children, we know that He loves us unconditionally with an everlasting love that is like no other.

Being able to share our testimonies to be a blessing, encouragement and inspiration to others, while giving God the glory, is a beautiful thing. The experiences of life lessons have taught us all well; some of our experiences have led us to call on the name of Jesus and to bring us closer to God. Designed to share a closer and more personal relationship with the Lord, my trials, tribulations, hurt bestowed upon me by those I thought were friends, persecution, suffering, hardships have brought me closer to God helping me to live by His principles and isn't this what he desires for us and I, of course, wouldn't want it any other way.

I grew up in a very loving and nurturing environment with two of the nicest parents and people one could ever encounter. My mother and father's love for God was apparent in our daily living. We would go to church and on some Sundays, my mother would cry; I would sit and look at her and wondered to myself why she was crying. My sister and I went to Sunday school just about every Sunday with Tina, Yvonne, Deborah and Wendy. On the way home from Sunday school, we would stop at the corner store and buy candy and other snacks or should I say junk! My parents always provided us, just as God does, with a loving home with plenty of nutritious, delicious and hot meals. We had the very best of everything it seemed, and we had an enormous amount of love in our home. Being molded and shaped by and in their love has been a tremendous and great blessing that I have passed on to my own children of which there are four.

I went to a school, Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, PA, which is located right across the street from where my mother still lives today; my father died in March 2001 and my life will never be the same, but God is good and is so very good to me.

After high school I went to college for all of a second and left after one year; oh how I regret that to this day and not necessarily because I didn't earn a degree but simply because I had left a group of wonderful young girls who were in search of pursuing their dreams through earning a college degree. The bond that I formed with them was in deed a bond I will forever cherish. After leaving college, I began experiencing real hard life lessons that would come to change my life at a very young. The storms came in the form of hurricanes and tornadoes; the hurt that I would be forced to endure, through my own fault, destroyed my self-esteem leaving me without any kind of feeling at all.

As I walked and continue to walk through my many storms, and believe me, I can't number them, I know that God is my eyes guiding me through the torrential storms that have come to blind me from time to time. With Him guiding me through the stormy and raging seas, I praise and wait for His perfect timing and when He says the storm is over, I thank Him for the lesson that I carried out of the storm with me.

I haven't done too much since then and at 48, soon to be 49 years old, it seems I'm just here wondering what it is I should be doing and not for me, but for God. Sometimes when I get an idea, I get so excited and then the excitement leaves me as fast as it embraced me. I've always loved to write and I majored in journalism in college. I still write today and believe that God is using me in this discipline as I write a little almost everyday. I have also been truly and graciously blessed by the Lord to design all kinds of things and have just started a new website entitled Creations for Christ. I am in the process of building it and hope to have it up by next week so that everyone can see my designs and writings that I do solely for His Kingdom (smile). This is one thing that I have remained excited and passionate about along with all of my short story and poetry writings.

I have been married now for almost 20 years and pray that through all that Bill and I have been through, God will continue to bless us with another 20 years and prayerfully longer. Our children are something else and they just love their mother! They love their father too, but it is something about a mother I think that makes us so special. God is special and He has truly blessed all of us with riches because we have our health and we have each other.

I pray that this forum will continue to be inspire each and everyone of us as we aspire to work for the kingdom of God. He deserves our best and He deserves our love.

Be blessed in Him.

~Cynthia G. Boyer
http://momsinslippers.com

I believe in God with all my heart. There isn't a time that I can recall when I ever believed He didn't exist once I knew of Him, I might not have understood the full picture, but I did believe in His existence. I have a whole new found feeling just knowing in detail what Jesus did on my behalf and what I have in Him. I know that I am a sinner who is unable to meet the requirements that a Holy God wants, I know there is nothing humanly possible I could ever do to pay for my sin debt other than to accept what Christ did on my behalf as God Has told me. His Holy Word says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man can come to Him other than through His Son, Jesus.

I have more than made my share of mistakes in life, thank God there is Jesus and Mercy that I could be and am forgiven for my transgressions. Although my parents didn't attend services on a week to week basis my mother made sure that I did attended Church and hear God's word so that when I grew the word would never depart from me and that I would always know that our God who lives loved and cared about me and that I could always rely on Him, perhaps this is why I have often said I always felt God was there and that it was as if I never not knew he existed. I accepted Jesus as my Savior and he is the Lord of my life (I don't have an exact date but I can tell you it was in the early years of my life, I am now 45) and I know without him I am nothing, and would be a separated, unregenerate, lost soul forever.

I know that no amount of good works or good behavior would cause the gates of heaven to open up and let me in own my own merit, because my heart is futile, not acceptable unto God. It is only through the sacrificing of His Son that my debt was paid in full, and God has told me through his word, I know you can't do it, so here is my free gift to you for the taking so you can have a relationship with me and I will carry you and when your last breath is taken here on earth and your dirt body has no more present life in it, you will come be with me forever and shall never die again.

God has blessed me with two of the most loving and sacrificing parents in the world and the even bigger blessing is that are both still in my life, thank you Jesus, Hallelujah! He also blessed me with a wonderful husband. We have been together a few months short of 22 years and have three children that are from day to day a blessing to us.

What good news it is to know that God loves us and made provisions for us to spend an eternity with Him, the One who is responsible for our existence, for we were not born by chance, we are His creation. He knew us before the foundation of the world. I am so happy to know who Jesus is and what he did for me and I am so grateful unto My Heavenly Father for making a way for me to be saved and to be with Him for all eternity, nothing could turn me away from God, He is my all and ALL, and all that I need! I pray HE is the same to you....

~Sherri C. Walker
http://handsofworshipgifts.com

    I remember being a little girl by my mother’s bedside accepting Jesus into my heart. It was completely quiet and kind of dark. I remember repeating every word she said. 2000 was the year I was “baptized” but I was not fully aware of the purpose of baptism, but I know it had some sort of affect on my life. As I grew older, having Jesus in my life helped me make the correct decisions, helped me choose my friends wisely, and helped me through hard times I’ve experienced. He helped me see the difference between right and wrong and showed me what paths to take and which ones not to.

   Although I’m not perfect I try hard to be as Christ like as I possibly can. Now that I am 18 I feel like it’s time for a change. I want to be closer to God and do things that’ll make him proud versus doing things that will come back to haunt me on judgment day. There are some things I have done that I cannot take back but I can begin now to change those bad habits resulting in more positive feedback in my life. I will admit there was one time in my life when I actually questioned if there was really a such thing as “God”, “Satan”, “Heaven”, or “Hell”. It all kind of sounded like a made up story only crazy people would believe but God must have read my mind because shortly after that thought I was surely proven wrong.

   During the time I was questioning God’s existence I disliked myself and everyone around me because I was questioning the whole religion thing. Certain points where bought up to me that changed my mind such as the Hurricane Katrina situation. If it weren’t for my mother and grandmother I know for a fact that this whole religion thing would be nonexistent to me and I’d probably be somewhere messing up my life right now. They have had the most impact on my life and I look up to them and admire them for their strength, gosh, I don’t want to cry, lol.

   I do wish to get baptized again and for the real reason this time. I want to change my attitude, how I think, and the way I talk and act towards others. As I previously stated I want to be closer to God and I hope this step will draw me closer to him in the process.

Jessica Walker

I always pictured it differently when I was a kid. The poor soul trying to scrape up enough money together to buy drugs instead finds a compassionate Christian who, in a half hour show convinces her to give her heart to the Lord. At that precise moment come rays of sunshine down upon her head from Heaven as this pathetic life beneath it is changed forever in a single instant.

There were no drugs, no ray of sunshine over my head, no "aha moment" and my life was pretty much the same for some time afterward. My testimony is a process, a journey. Mine was a methodical and logical series of questions and answers, nagging feelings and a few significant moments that eventually and most completely changed the purpose and course of my life.

I was raised by two Atheists of Jewish heritage, married a non practicing Catholic and became a non denominational Christian due, in part, to some Amway meetings and a Jehovah's Witness who came to my door. I know. I need to explain...

I never did any drugs. Never even tried cigarettes. I never hung around with a bad crowd. Never did much rebelling. I was a good kid. I just didn't know Jesus. I was raised in a home where I was told only silly or ignorant people believe in some unseen being. Smart, independent people didn't need to believe in a God that would save them because they could take care of themselves. I never was an Atheist. I always felt there was something beyond what I could see and I began looking for it very early in life. I interviewed all my friends about their religious beliefs. I asked what they believed, what the traditions meant and why they felt their beliefs were true. I found the traditions of each religion fascinating and enjoyed talking to people about them.

Years later in college, I met a man who fascinated me. He had grown up Catholic but had turned away from the church though he never turned away from God. He never pushed me, but shared his beliefs and prayed for me. We were involved in Amway for a few years where I became exposed to a church service for the first time. I loved the way they talked about God and I loved how they were so secure in their beliefs without pushing those beliefs on others. I didn't know it at the time, but my husband was praying that I would feel the Lord tugging at my heart and accept Jesus into my life. I did feel that pull to walk down that aisle and accept Jesus, but I had that image stuck in my head and I didn't think it was picturing me: a good girl with no "aha" transforming moment waiting for her.

After a few years a woman came to my door asking if I knew Jesus and if she could talk to me. I didn't know what religion she was but I was fascinated by her peace and the strength of her faith. She began studying with me out of the Bible. Some of the things she talked about made logical sense to me. Some seemed to be an interpretation that I didn't share as I read God's words. I brought God's words to my husband who had never really studied the Bible before. Before too long we were choosing a church to attend each Sunday. My husband hadn't been to church in years! So you see, when God found me, he saved two lives! My husband began to study the Bible and we began a life that was Christ-centered.

As I grew in my faith, I began to see life differently. It was no longer just a journey in which to have the most fun. It was a time to share what I knew with others. It was a time to make a difference! To notice the talents the Lord had given me and to use them to further God's Kingdom.

I have a very unique perspective. I grew up in an Atheist home and I knew what unbelievers think and need to hear about Jesus. I also had been trained in speech communication so I understood how this should be presented and I knew that it needed to be presented differently to each of the souls the Lord created. This changed not only my outlook on faith but my outlook on life and filled me with a purpose.

Many things have changed over the years that stem directly from that day when God just made too much sense to me to deny Him. My job changed. My outlook on life and purpose changed. My children changed! Their education changed. My needs changed. My mission changed. My family changed. They changed in a gentle and slow moving way at first as God is a gentle Father. But looking back on my life before I knew Jesus, I see a totally new creature in Christ.

Even though there was no light shining down from heaven...no instant change of life and purpose. I didn't go from rags to riches. I didn't come from despair. I didn't immediately embrace all God had to offer. God drastically changed this shy little Agnostic girl into a bold advocate for God's Kingdom.

In His Service,
JoJo Tabares
http://www.ArtofEloquence.com

"Uniting, Edifying, Inspiring, Motivating & Empowering Women"