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Praise the Lord!
I praise and thank
God that he has kept me among the living beings in this world. I
belong to Pakistan. I was born in a traditional Christian
family. My parents were very strict with regards to religion and
its traditions. My father was very strict in keeping us regular
to Sunday school, church attendance, serving Christ. He always
gave these things the first priority (above everything else). I
really thank God for such godly parents.
I always felt
something different about myself from the beginning. I cannot
explain it, but I did. I was kind of godly person and would fear
God, yet I committed many mistakes in my life.
Since my
childhood, I used to play tabla and harmonium in
the church. During my college times, I started liking to learn
and play guitar. In those days, I encountered an incident which
changed my life forever. God saved me and family from a grave
danger. He showed me his presence and affirmed his unique for
me.
It was a Sunday
morning of 2001. Sunday mass was about to finish. Last song was
being sung and pastor was moving towards exit gate to meet and
greet people, all of a sudden, 5-7 man entered into the church.
They asked pastor to throw his bible away. Pastor refused to do
so and they shot him dead. A bullet was fired on pastor's
forehead and he immediately fell down. He was dead. Immediately
after this, these people started an open fire on the church and
members. This particular day, we had 35-40 members in the
church. We all were scattered and started running. I was sitting
in the front rows with my family and as soon as we heard all the
commotion, we also ran for our lives in different directions. I
am not sure where rest of the family went, but I saw my brother.
One of these militants saw both of us and started firing towards
us. We ran and hid ourselves behind something. After many
rounds, this guy thought that I am dead and he went away. There
was a deadly peace for some time after this.
I came out from my
hiding place and ran where my mother was sitting. I could not
find her but I saw my Sunday school teacher. She was badly hurt
and was shot at several places. I tried to help in order to take
her out, but she asked me to go away and save myself. I did not
want to go but she forced me. I have never seen her after that
incident. She taught me and loved me since childhood, and now
she was dying, and I could not do anything. As soon as I went
out, again one person saw me and he opened the fire on me. I ran
and hid myself. I could hear the bullets passing from somewhere
near. The sound of the passing bullets was passing through my
heart. Yet, I was relaxed. Once the firing was stopped and these
militants went away, I came out. My father was searching for me.
My entire family was saved, no one died. Apart from us, pastor's
wife, his little daughter and couple of more people were saved.
Many were injured but safe; however, several people were deeply
injured who died later in the hospital (probably my Sunday
school teacher was one of them). Many died in this incident on
the spot. I saw pastor, who was peacefully lying on the floor
with his bible on his chest, held tightly.
My brother
observed that I was bleeding. He checked me and found that my
back was injured. They immediately took me to the hospital. I
was not in pain though, but I was bleeding. Doctor did an X-ray
and found that 2 bullets had passed touching me which had
injured my backbone. Looking at my shirt, they found that
approx. 6-8 bullets had touched me, but most of them just passed
through my clothes. My belts hook was also torn away. It could
have been fatal, but God saved me. This incident increased my
faith in God manifold and faith life has changed ever since. I
have seen the living power of Christ to save me from harms and
dangers. I still remember my aunt (Sunday School teacher) a lot
[in fact, as we were writing this testimony, bro. Sharon's eye's
were full of tears]. She would say that as I minister to every
child, I am not making a faithful person, I am molding a
complete household. She has impacted my life deeply too.
I became a part of
a believer's (full gospel) church in 2005. I repented of my sins
and received Jesus as my personal savior and Lord. I became
Christian in a true sense. Now I am saved in Christ, not only
the harms and dangers of this physical world, but the eternal
danger of hell. Now I am compelled all the time to share about
the love of Christ with all. He came for us all to live, to die,
to rise again and now lifted up and sitting in heaven. The
talent of music what God has given me, I use it for the glory of
God. I want to live for him. I lead worship in the church now
and I am confident that as I offer myself to God, he will use me
in a mighty way.
If you are
encouraged by my testimony, then you should also confess your
sins to God, repent from your sinful life, believe in Jesus and
receive him as your personal saviour and Lord. Give him the
first priority and start attending a believers church, God will
change your life and bless you abundantly. Amen |
