Pastor Thadius

I came from a very poor family, and my father and mother where alcoholics. My father worked on banana farms in our village in Kenya, which he liked because he earned quick money for alcohol. When I was five years old something happened to change my life forever. I was playing with other friends my age and suddenly felt very cold. My legs felt so weak that I could not even walk. My friends helped carry me home where my mom saw that the situation was serous. I was not even able to talk. My condition worsened as evening worn on and by morning my body was so weak that I could not do anything by myself.

My mother decided to take me to the hospital where the doctors said I had been attacked by polio through the spinal code and might not walk again. After many surgeries, the care of a loving mother, and a six-month hospital stay, I was able to walk with a limp. Because of my one weak leg I would never walk normally again. I tried desperately to hide myself because of what I was going through. The weak leg served as source of embarrassment from the community. Other kids made a lot of fun of me. They called me names and tried to imitate my walking. My father was angry towards me and mom; he used to attack my mother and say that it was her fault. These behaviors worked against whom God had created me to be.

My mother and I faced high discrimination from our community. The community spread false information about my health. Some people called me a cursed person, while running away so that I could not spread the same curses to them. As I grew older, I tried to explain to my age mates who avoided me that I was not cursed. My life in the community and school was very painful because of bullying and discrimination.

I experienced a Godly love from her and enjoyed the peace I received from her. When the community realized our relationship was growing, they cursed a demon on me, my fiancé and her family.

Then God proved to me that I was his creature by giving me a female partner who agreed to marry me. My fiancé was the first person to tell me about her Savior, Jesus. I tried to follow her to the church where she was worshipping, and I also tried to be close to Christ to impress my fiancé to marry me. I experienced a Godly love from her and enjoyed the peace I received from her. When the community realized our relationship was growing, they cursed a demon on me, my fiancé and her family. Her family and friends began abusing her. She received several beatings by family members which forced her to move out of her home. This caused me much much pain, almost to the point of killing myself.

My fiancé decided to come and stay with me. I remember sitting at the sitting room window in the evening and I saw her coming. She had several scars on her face as a result of the discipline received from her parents and brothers. I felt shocked, helpless to do anything about it, but I knew she was my lifeline. I realized this was her trait of empathy, and that she desired to have things happen in harmony. She did that to make me proud. She accepted me and I know she loved me. However, at that time I thought of it as a weakness.

 

I was not trusting God. How could he have done this to my wife, since she prayed every day requesting God’s blessings on our family? At this time Jesus had taken all my defenses away

We were married and on April 18, 2004, our second daughter was born. She seemed normal at first, but after two months we realized that she has developed hydrocephalus, a fluid in the brain that causes swelling. My wife and I were both very scared and admitted our baby to a mission hospital to undergo surgery. The doctors gave us a summary of what was needed to save her. They had to insert a shunt in her head to drain the excess fluid. After a successful eight-hour surgery, my daughter recovered in hospital for over a month.

In addition to the anxiety over our daughter’s health, my wife was highly affected by words that were used against her. In my culture people believe that some spoken words are powerful enough to cause calamities for generations. My wife confirmed that I was a cursed person, and that is the reason why she gave birth to such a baby. Even so, I kept visiting them in hospital every day since I loved my wife and the baby very much. I had to accept that my baby might also be a disabled person. It was very challenging trying to convince my wife that I was not a cursed person. My wife used to cry while staring at the baby. She used to pray every day for me and the baby by apologizing to the Lord to forgive my sins and heal the baby.

I was not trusting God. How could he have done this to my wife, since she prayed every day requesting God’s blessings on our family? At this time Jesus had taken all my defenses away. I did not want to surrender my high ground, just to have it fail. Nevertheless, I went to the hospital. The chaplain was preaching and praying to each person who was in that hospital. He spoke on love, taking his text from 1 Corinthians 13. It broke my will. The invitation came, and I stood frozen in place. My knuckles turned white from gripping the back of the pew in front of me. I felt the power of my past trying to keep me. It was as if Jesus would not bother me again if I hardened my heart once more. Then, within my spirit I sensed a calling to come to Christ. That was the most fear I had ever known. By this time, I knew He was the Son of God. The Bible teaches us that Jesus had come into the world to provide salvation to all who call on him. The Bible says, “For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

I knew that the Holy Spirit had grabbed all my garbage and pushed it under the waterfall of God’s love. The Holy Spirit in a moment in time had changed my desire.

I received Jesus Christ in hospital as a sacrifice for my baby to heal. I cannot explain what happened to me, nor would I try. It is so personal that only my Lord and I understand. However, I will say the penalty and burden of my sin left me. I saw the weight of my sin leave my body and fly through the wall of that church, and it became as far from me as “the east is from the west.” I knew that the Holy Spirit had grabbed all my garbage and pushed it under the waterfall of God’s love. The Holy Spirit in a moment in time had changed my desire. He brought me to the place of my creation and began a new work in me. My conversion to Christ totally changed me. I never raced again, and my hate for people immediately turned to love for them.

However, it took a long time to develop my relational skills. The past influenced me as I battled my old nature. I tried to draw upon the witness of the Holy Spirit and my conversion experience when I faced those sinkholes of life. I am learning that God is able! In II Corinthians 5:17 the Apostle Paul says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are becoming new.”

Since that time my wife and I have re-confirmed our marriage vows. We live in Naivasha Kenya, where I have pastored for 15 years, and we started a ministry for disabled persons (PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES HELP FOR HOPE).

It was normal around the people I ran with in my neighborhood. It was accepted. Matter of fact, it was worshipped. You know, hurt people hurt people.

I didn't see the consequences of my actions spiritually or in my environment until years later. As a result, I’ve been through many Cognitive Behavior Therapy programs in the State of Delaware. I've been in juvenile justice. I've been in Gander Hill prison. I've been in the CREST Program for convicted drug abusers.

By this time I was I was no longer selling drugs. I had been consuming prescription opioids for a long time, buying them on the street, and then going to the methadone clinic. I did methadone for about three years and Suboxone and Xanax. Always took other drugs with it. So I weighed about 145 pounds and woke up one day in Christiana Hospital.

My brother, Jeremy, by then had had a long stint in Narcotics Anonymous and ironically showed me the road to recovery. He was sitting at the end of my bed. I had such an overwhelming feeling of shame that I couldn't even look him in the eye when he was talking to me. He said, “The doctor was in here. You died twice. They brought you back to life.” I had seizures from benzodiazepine withdrawal.

Waking up in the hospital was not strange to me. It wasn't odd, it was normal. I lost my girlfriend, Ashley, and my dad in active addiction. I woke up next to people who were dead next to me. My mom's best friend's daughter, who I was dating, died. It felt like God reached down and grabbed for me, but missed. I was ready to go, you know, but He had other plans for me.

As soon as I got out of the hospital I got high again. My parole officer, Officer Denunzio, an Angel dressed in the probation and parole uniform, arrested me and he took me to Gander Hill prison. I’d been there many times. Back then the prisons didn't put you on medication or treat your drug problems with another drug. You went to the infirmary and you withdrew there.

I came out of the cell and a guy I knew from the street who was noticeably high shouted, “Hey, Zach Bibb.” Right then I did something different. I made a decision to turn my life around. By the grace of God I survived. It took every bit of it to get me to surrender when I was 29 years and 10 months old.

More Faith Stories

There are people who sometimes have a stomachache and think it's cancer, they think it is a terminal illness. Sometimes people think there is no solution, but it is only a stomach discomfort. It's something bad that you ate that upset your stomach. It is that people that are losing their faith. They get concerned about so many things. They wake up and see the car with a flat tire, and it is a bad day.

There are more important things we need to learn. We need to seek the Lord, because time is short, time goes by quickly. I've got three children: my first daughter is 25 years old. My son is 21 and my other daughter is 16. I mean, time goes by fast.

This means this is an opportunity for you to devote your heart to Jesus Christ, so that He can save you, so that He can be your guide, so that He can be your path, so that He can be everything in your life. Listen to this message, share it with your family. If you do not have a family do not think you are alone. God is with you wherever you are. God will be with you come what may.

Now, what happened with COVID two years ago was unbelievable. God put us to the test. Many people died, and that's something that's coming ahead. There will be more illnesses, there will be more regulations. But if we keep our faith in God, if we continue to trust in God, He will give us the peace we need, the peace the world needs.

Sometimes in the community, there are a lot of people who are watching their backs. For their own protection they hire bodyguards that watch over them night and day because they feel insecure. But we have God to protect us. Day after day, God protects us. God takes care of us. God gives us strength.

I strongly encourage you, I dare you to seek the Lord. This Why I Love Jesus ministry goes across the globe spreading the word of God, telling the world Jesus Christ is real, He is not dead.

There have been many stories in this world which were looking forward to changing history, but we have this story of faith that we believe, come what may, the Lord will be with us.

So if you have relatives, share this experience with them: brothers, sisters, parents. If your family has never been in contact with Jesus, now is the time for you to tell them to embrace Him, to embrace God. Tell them about the story in the Bible that says there is a man in hell, being burned there, and he would like to have a chance of getting out of there. But unfortunately, he has already lost the opportunity. In other words, there is no way he could leave hell.

And you who are there watching this testimony, this word of the Lord, this is the opportunity that you get. Maybe we don't wake up tomorrow; we don't know what will happen tomorrow.

This is the moment for you to say, "Lord, forgive me. I have failed a lot; I've failed in several things, but I want You to be my Savior, I want You to be my shield, I want You to be my strength, I want You to be everything in my life."

Make your decision. Sometimes in day-to-day life, we make decisions, many of them, but this is the most important decision you should make in your life. That is to devote your life to Jesus Christ, commend your life to Jesus Christ, so that He can be everything in your life. May He be your peace, your strength.

At times, people have enough money in the bank and think with that they will change the world, think that will be their protection. But money is only an ordinary piece of paper. In the end, the paper will run out, the money will run out, but treasures we did will remain when we're in heaven.

So let's make this an invitation. Let's hope this message will reach someone in need of it. So you who are out there, this message is meant for you.

My stepfather was an alcoholic, and we had a difficult life. But God changed us. When I began going to this church in 2000, God changed me. God changes you, and God wants to do great things with your life.

So, I mean, maybe you are also having a hard time with an alcoholic father, an alcoholic mother. Let me tell you, I had bad thoughts in my head about finishing him, killing him, destroying him, so that it all would end. But when I got to the feet of Jesus, when I started going to church, God made changes in me. God makes changes in you. God changes your mind.

When God entered into my life, and I looked at my stepfather again, I saw him in a different way. I held a grudge inside my heart, but nevertheless, God was working on me. God worked on me and gave me peace. I was smart enough not to commit a crime. God showed me the way I should live.

In addition to being at peace with God, He gives you intelligence. God gives you wisdom to be on the side of right every day in our lives.

So, this is an invitation, whether you're a woman, or man, or youth. Young people sometimes make decisions which scar their lives forever. To put it another way, if you are young, make your decision to accept Jesus: don't wait until tomorrow and say, "No, I'd better wait before accepting Jesus Christ, before accepting God in my heart. I've still got a long way to go. I want to live my life, and I want to do things. When I'm older, I'll see whether I change." But we don't know what happens tomorrow, so you should make up your mind today.

I've had some friends who made their decisions too late. I had a friend who said he was going to drink his life away. He was going to drink, that's what he was going to do. He was going to do drugs, to live a totally careless life. He thought he was being cleverer than God. But he wasn't, nobody is smarter than God. At the end of his life he was going to seek God's forgiveness.

Had God been given the opportunity, He would have forgiven him, He would have indeed. But my friend didn't take the trouble to get to that point. He was doing his drugs, drinking and whatnot. Then he grabbed a gun and shot himself in the head.

I mean, we don't know what was the last moment in his life, whether he asked forgiveness or not. We only had the word he killed himself by putting a bullet in his head. Odds are he didn't have the opportunity of begging God's forgiveness, and he lost his life. Or better expressed, do not let the enemy fool you. The enemy hampers your life.

That means to move on and accept Jesus Christ. He is going to give the answers. He is going to give you the peace you need. That's my testimony, and I know this is on behalf of God, so people would turn to Him.

People get lost, people haven't wanted to recognize their faults. God has a plan for your life. That means if He gave you this plan, accept it, accept it. We have free will, people make their own decisions. God has already chosen some individuals. God has predestined people. Whether you are predestined or exercising your free will, make your decision and follow Jesus Christ.

Your life will change, He is going to transform it, and He is going to help you in every way, be it economic, social, psychological, whatever you need, God is going to help you.

Thank you for your time, thank you for this opportunity that God gave me to share my faith. I come from Houston, Texas, but I've been working here in Delaware, and this is an opportunity God has granted me to share good news and continue to spread good news. We're the ambassadors of the word of God. So thank you for this opportunity, and let's move forward with this testimony which is for the benefit of society.

Bill McQuiston

Bill McQuiston

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In May of 1982 Carolyn and I went on a Lutheran Marriage Encounter Weekend. Here was where God opened my eyes and heart to his role in my marriage and life. That weekend changed my relationship with Christ.

Barb Lambert

Barb Lambert

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I wasn’t raised in a church; so I knew nothing about Jesus or God. I did go to Vacation Bible School in the summers and heard and loved the song, “This Little Light of Mine.”