Hebraic Musing – Do You Realize the Power of Your Testimony?
Sharing your own personal
testimony is the most powerful tool in you Soul-Winning toolbox.
Three parts – Life before; What happened the moment you accepted Christ; What’s
life been like since.
Here’s mine; hoping you will bless me by sharing yours back to me; and that’ll
sharpen your Soul-winning tool.
Hi, my name is Joe Brusherd; I’m a retired CPA, International
consultant, CFO/COO for a variety of companies.
Some 80+ years ago I grew up in Cicero, Illinois, as the
oldest of eight children. After college,
my career started as a CPA. My first wife
and I raised six children which has since multiplied to a growing family of well
over 40!
During the first 37 years of my life I had a limited
understanding of God and never tried to figure out His purpose for my life
despite the Three questions & answers from my first grade catechism
class that always bugged me:
Q. – Who made me? A. – God made me.
Q. – Who is God? A.
– God is the Supreme Being … who created all things.
Q. – Why did God make me? A. – God made me to worship Him; and
to praise Him forever.
During those years my selfish ways, my anger, my unclean
thoughts plagued me; and in desperation I agreed to go on a Marriage Encounter
weekend to enrich our marriage, which desperately needed enrichment. After that experience in 1976, I became a
curious seeker of the God I had known as a child. I enjoyed fellowship with other couples and there
was one couple I especially admired and respected. Bill and Mary Blessing had something I
wanted; and they frequently referenced their “Cursillo” experience.
On a Thursday in August 1977 friends of Bill Blessing drove
me the 80 miles for a three day “Cursillo” retreat. As I got out of the car I asked, “Aren’t you
coming in?” They answered, “No, we were
just giving you a ride” and they drove off.
That act of sacrificial love was just the beginning.
On the second day a priest, Father Tony Tascheta, spoke and
his message and presentation style was awesome! I kept thinking that he missed his calling; he
should’ve been a VP of Sales. I was in a daze, so we went to the
Chapel. As we walked into the Chapel, I
saw Father Tony Tascheta on his knees praying and thanking Jesus for all the
words Jesus gave him for “the men out there.”
My knees gave out and I found myself kneeling, crying crocodile tears
with pools of tears on the terrazzo floor and saying almost out loud “Jesus Christ, you are real. I need to learn more about you.”
At that moment I knew I would never be the same. My inner peace was unimaginable; no more
feelings of desperation from knowing I was a sinner and, most of all, that I
had been hiding them from God, my Creator.
At the closing ceremony we entered big hall and I saw Bill
and Mary Blessing there; they cut their vacation short in order to be there for
me. I
fell apart. As part of the closing ceremony
we each were to stand up as the Spirit led to tell what the week-end meant to
us. Eventually I went to the podium,
froze, fell apart, finally blurted out “I
talked to Jesus!” That’s all I could
say! Not much of a speech but it meant
volumes; I was never so choked up in my life.
Very late Sunday night the Blessings gave me a ride home and
I immediately woke up my wife and said, “Peggy, guess what happened to me on
the week-end?” She said “What?” I
told her “I talked to Jesus”. And she
said “Does that mean you’re ‘born again’?”
I answered “I don’t know what you call it, but all I know is that I
talked to Jesus. … And I want you and all our kids to experience what I
experienced.” She replied, “Too late
Joe. We already have. We’ve all been praying for you.” (And she could have added “…for 10 years.”)
I found out why Jesus told Nicodemus “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God
unless they are born again.” That’s how Jesus came into my life.
How did Jesus come into your life? What’s your testimony?
Points
to ponder
On August 25th,
1977, I was 39 years old so…
I know how blind a man, a husband, a religious non-believer can be.
Never stop
praying for loved ones who do not yet know Jesus as their Lord
and don’t underestimate the leveraging power of prayer.
“And
this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son.” 1 John 5:11 NIV.
Yosef a.k.a. Joe
Brusherd December 21, 2021
Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages
exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith”
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)” Weekly “Hebraic Musings”
http://insightsbyyosef.blogspot.com/
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