Marcin

"I know that life without God is like chasing my shadow. "

I was born in Poland in 1978 into a very religious family. My mother was a very religious person practising in the Roman Catholic faith, my father also but his love of alcohol never allowed him to practise his beliefs. They were also very busy people working as much as possible. The combination of religion and alcohol created an angry atmosphere in our family life causing conflicts and extreme behaviour.

My two older brothers also chose their own way of life unfortunately apart from God. No one from my family treated Christianity seriously.

The occult experiences of my two brothers also affected my life as I realised later. In my teenage period of life I got involved in the darker side of the music industry which was heavy metal and then step by step into heavier music and occult messages. It had a very bad influence on my physical and emotional life. I found I could put all problems, good and bad moments and all types of emotions into my music. It was only temporary relief for my wounded soul. In my life strange things started to happen, scary supernatural experiences. I was frightened of all those things but something was pushing me deeper and deeper into that.

In the meantime in my parent’s life Jesus Christ took the place of the anger, dissension, bad language and alcohol.

I still lived in my own world fighting with all my strength against God’s voice somewhere in the depths of my heart to not let Him change my life. However something encouraged me to reach for the Bible.

A voice in my head was saying to me that there is no sense in reading the Bible and believing in all the things written in that book because there is no any hope for a case like me. This voice, which I now recognised whose it was, kept saying to me that I was on my highway to hell, where there is no stopping nor turning back.

One evening God showed me His power and focused my eyes on one verse from the Bible that says: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” Romans chapter 10 verse 9.

It was a huge step into light away from my dark world. That evening I decided to follow Jesus. In my room, on my knees I asked God to take my broken life and lead me forever. He took my fear, my sadness and depression away. He has made me spiritually a new person.

What has changed and where am I now? Now I know the purpose for my life. Since that day He leads me and corrects me everyday through His word the Bible, because I am not perfect but I desire the perfection of my faith. Now for over 16 years of walking with God I can see effects of His work and I know that life without God is like chasing my shadow.

Recently with all pleasure I serve my Lord Jesus in Ireland and taking responsibility for the work He has laid upon me. My love for Harley Davidson motorcycles that has lasted for over 16 years does not exclude living in the fullness of Christ.

Patrick

"I've had 3,650 days of peace!"

It was a rainy day outside of Woolworth’s on Thomas Street in Dublin. I felt safe in the pram. However I remember feeling that I no longer felt like “number one.” My baby brother had come along; he was sitting beside me in the pram. 

The next time I felt like I was “number one” was a few years after I gave my life to the Lord. A pastor, his wife, and my wife prayed for me to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit changed my life. When I prayed I felt like God was giving me His full attention. There are seven billion people on the earth and yet God is waiting for me! I’d spent twenty-five years looking for something to get me through the day without feeling worse than the day before. I just wanted peace. One day of peace before I die and I’ll be happy, I thought. Now I know, without the Holy Spirit, without knowing Jesus died on the cross, and without his true love for me, I would still be searching for that one day of peace. However, I do know the Holy Spirit and since then I've had 3,650 days of peace! Those who knew me then and know me now are able to see that a miracle has happened. Let that be my witness to God. I pray God’s peace over everyone who reads this.

Rafal

"My world was falling apart..."

I was born in Poland in 1975, into a Catholic family. I remember childhood very well. Ever since I remember my parents always tried to give their faith to my younger brother and I. They tried to convey their beliefs into our lives but I was not interested. I never thought about faith seriously. Since an early age I discovered my love of motorcycles, which my parents didn’t accept. As soon as I could I bought my first motorbike, I will never forget that feeling…

After the completion of my education, I began living what some would call, "a very colourful life." I began a routine of drinking until I was unconscious, broke the law and many other things that are too shameful to mention. I flew on the wild side for several years, having “fun” with my friends.

However at the same time, many people including my parents were saddened by my attitude, but I didn’t care. In all my selfishness I thought my life is going to look like this until the end of my days, but in 1997 the Lord God placed a woman in my way! A woman of incredible beauty and with a wonderful heart. My passion for motorbikes dropped to second place. I had one goal, to get this girl.

Unfortunately, to my surprise the problems started when we learned more about each other. She had found out about my way of life and that I liked to smoke and drink a lot and have “great fun” with my biker mates. She was a totally different kind of person; she attended church every Sunday, the prayer group during the week, she was reading her Bible every day. I realized it won’t be easy but I had to trick her. So in her presence I started to pretend to also believe in God and when I was alone I lived my own life as I used too. When she discovered my strange behaviour she wasn’t very happy. Then she boldly set out a condition: “You have to make a choice: “Me or Your awful life”.

“The choice was easy”, I said “You are what is most important for me”. However it was yet another lie. I guess I upset God with all I had done. So He allowed me to experience hardship and place me in awkward situations. I lost my driving license because of driving under the influence of alcohol, I was arrested, hand-cuffed and brought to a sobering-up centre, I lost all respect in my younger brother’s eyes and almost lost my beautiful girlfriend. My world was falling apart and my parents were fed up with me.

When everything was beyond my control I decided to go to the Sunday service to check on what was going on with this God. I was shocked from the first few minutes. I never met people like this before, filled with love, kindness and smiles on their faces. There was great music, people praying. The word of God read in such a clear way. All those things worked to touch my heart. So I decided to come for another meeting like that – the next Sunday. Probably after the fourth service I landed on my knees asking God for forgiveness. I realized that God is great, He is mighty and He is Holy and He will not allow anybody to mock Him. I invited God to become Lord of my life, to take all my broken life away and make it new. I started a new chapter in my life and in 1998 and I got baptized. My life has been completely changed since. I felt that the chains of sin were broken!

Where am I now? Today I can tell of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, he gave me new life, the most wonderful wife, great friends surrounding me and assurance of my future. Peace for my soul through the Holy Spirit. He has given me great opportunity to share His gospel with others and what happened in my life. I praise God that He has placed me in this country to be good tool in His hands sharing my faith.