MY TESTIMONY

BY

JEREMY KITCHENS

(Read to our church by Jeremy 08/20/2008)

 

Growing up I never really knew about Jesus.  I knew I wasn’t supposed to do anything bad, but I thought it was because my parents would whip or ground me and that was it.

           

I never really had a Godly figure to look up to other than my cousin Michael Kitchens.  I’d heard about him running up and down the halls of his house shouting in the Holy Ghost.  My Mom said that when they were young Michael would pretend to be a preacher and his impersonation of the Holy Ghost was “snap, crackle, and pop.”  Then one night when he was 15 years old he caught it and ran wild through his house screaming to the Lord!  He’s an awesome example of a Christian.  He’s stood alone in our family with his Christian walk since my Great Grandma died her name was Gladys Greenway.  He took care of her when she became too weak to do it herself.  I hope and pray that sometime soon I will obtain faith and determination as strong as his.

 

Anyways, I thought I had everything under control, then I got introduced to Maysville United Methodist Church.  And Robbie Fields helped me to realize what I was missing.  One night when him and I were leaving church after revival I told him that I needed to be saved.  I’d been “saved” before when I was young at Commerce Church of God, but I didn’t understand what it meant.  All I knew was that I was getting a lot of good attention from the elders of the church.  But when I really gave myself to Christ and meant every word of it I felt it.  I was standing in Bob Bishop’s shop with Robbie and B.J. on June 9, 2005.

 

After I gave my life to God, everything went smooth for me, I didn’t have any hate, and I wanted my loved ones to join me.  I felt that my life had been completely changed and there was no way I’d ever go back from where I came.  At first my Christian Walk was great.  Then I started noticing my friends and family growing distant because they thought I was acting like I was better than they were.  But I was just on another level, and I was confident in life because I was on the right path.  But everyone distancing themselves started to bother me.  Then I got a girlfriend and I focused my life on her, I began to put her first and God second, and things started falling apart and as I was falling I felt like I was digging a hole and it got deeper and deeper until there was nothing in it but me.  First my girl left, then I lost my license for reckless driving and seven other tickets, and between those two I thought life was over but it was just another beginning point.  Before I lost my worldly things, all I kept hearing at church was “brokenness” and I prayed that God wouldn’t break me cause everything seemed fine but He had other plans I was obviously too comfortable.

 

When God broke me it hurt so bad that I thought about giving up.  But in the back of my mind Christ was always calling me back and I’d take baby steps every week or so to try and come back but it seemed like every baby step I took forward I’d sprint a football field in reverse.

 

Then one of my best friends since 4th grade (Jeremy Luthi) hit a telephone pole in his aunt’s car and died on April 29th, 2007.  And I remembered that he had told me before that he didn’t get the whole Christianity thing.  And it hit me hard that I had wasted his last year on earth by partying and not witnessing to him how great God is.  So I tried the baby step thing again, but the devil hit me while I was down and I chose to go with him again.  So I partied and did my own thing for another nine months and I was standing in a grocery store on January 29, 2008 when my mom called and said that my aunt(Tracy Kitchens) had passed on and it hit me again that I’d missed another chance to save someone but didn’t.  The last day I seen her she told me that she loved me no matter what had gone on between us.  Because one night I was out doing some bad things and she ran my cousin and I out of her house and I said some things that I wish I had the chance to apologize for.  She had some addictions that I was ashamed of so instead of trying to help her I just looked down on her.  She had made it clear that she didn’t enjoy life and I had made it clear that I didn’t want anything to do with her and because my mind was so clogged up with the things that I had been focused on for almost a year I didn’t think to try and help her.  After she passed I gave up on God at the funeral.  Then something clicked and I realized that if I had died at that very moment I would have went to hell.  My heart was empty.  Then I prayed for God to take me back and help me with life because my way wasn’t working and the devil almost won.

           

So I realized that I obviously had nothing because everything God tried to bless me with I’d put all my attention on it and ignored Him.  And I guess He got tired of that.  So He stripped me down to nothing but my Bible and a few other books so I began to read.  And things started becoming clear to me that God had a greater purpose for me other than what I was doing.  As I began to move forward the devil would send things my way to distract me and if I’d made it by a few it would get worse.  But the more I turned down the closer I felt to God.

           

Then we went to Forward ’08 and I feel like I’ve just been saved and now I know what will happen if I ignore Him, now from experience.  And I can say that I’m not going back IN JESUS NAME!  Whatever gets in my way from here on out, I’m just gonna knock it down and walk over it.  Thank you for your prayers and I Love you all.

 

Jeremy Kitchens