Dan's Testimony

In high school I remember the Lord drawing me. There was a life in me that my friends did not have- something so real. There were some outward experiences, calling on the Lord, driving around with my brother, shouting out, "Jesus is Lord" at the top of my lungs. So there was this life in me, and I had only begun to know the Lord in a real way.

The summer after high school I began taking classes at a community college and started to work. During my first year of college I fell away from the Lord. I pursued after the world. The people I spent time with had no heart for the Lord. During many things I did, or often times after I did them, I had a sense within me. The Lord was in me, but He wasn't being lived out of me. During the summer before my second year of college, I backslid to a very low point. I pursued something and put my heart into it, and got nothing in return. I was in Egypt and I needed to enter the Good Land. I am thankful the Lord preserved me by not allowing certain situations to take place. He let me fall down to a point where I had to turn to Him. He had actually been with me all the time, in everything I did, for He was walking with me, so that He could bring me back Him.

Over the next year, the Lord started to draw me back to Himself, reconciling me to Himself. He placed a couple Christians in my classes, whom the Lord used to fellowship with me, and further reconcile me (2 Corinthians 5:19-20). Eventually I was invited to a youth group, which brought some enjoyment of the Lord to me. Also during the year, my brother had invited me to a meeting with Christian Students Association.

That summer, I went to see my brother graduate from a Bible school. At the end of my time there, I saw a testimony of many Christian brothers living a life I had not seen anywhere else, and it attracted me. They loved the Lord. They loved to read the Bible. I realized I needed what my brother went through- I saw where I was at and the Lord touched me to pray to Him. I gave myself to the Lord, willing to let Him in and to grow in me. Later that summer, I got baptized and re-consecrated myself to the Lord. I look back and realize I was being prayed for.

I was drawn to the meetings with CSA. I thoroughly enjoyed each meeting I went to. I love singing songs and hymns to the Lord, especially with those who pursue the Lord.

My direction in school began to take shape as I let Christ come more and more into my life. There was a problem with my situation. I only met with believers on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. These weekly meetings were not enough for me, and this caused a hunger deep inside me, to spend more time with the Lord. During the week, I had no contact. This was tough, and I longed for more fellowship. With this longing came a desire to finish up quickly and transfer to the UW.

I eventually finished my Associates degree and transferred to the UW. From my first day at the UW, I enjoyed fellowshipping with other Christians. The Lord has brought me through a long process through all six years of my college experience. Now that I'm about to graduate, I can say that there has not been a better place for me to be. At each Bible study, or any meeting, whether during the week or on Fridays or Saturdays I get nourished and supplied with God Himself. I enjoy speaking forth the Word of God to the students here at the UW, announcing to them the unsearchable riches of Christ as the Gospel (Eph 3:8). I cannot but speak the things which I have seen and heard (Acts 4:20). The Lord has been growing in me and I in Him.