Kate

Wow never did I think I would be posting my testimony on the Web, much less that I would have one. Growing up in a non-Christian home I had a really ordinary life, with two younger sisters we were deemed the fairy tail family. Being the naive person I am in no way did I think divorce would strike my perfect life. Little did I know that God was going to use this in His perfect plans. During this time of turmoil in my home life we had just changed schools, being in grade four it wasn’t hard to find a group of girls who knew how to skip at recess. I became friends with Natalie Kerr and a couple others, she invited me to church and I joined Pioneer clubs, there family drove me weekly. I was young and no one ever really explained that you had to accept Jesus, so I was just going with the flow. Until later on in my Jr. Youth experiences at an annual May retreat (which I had attended before) Now I was in grade seven and there I accepted Jesus. From then on nothing would go as planned, but I had the Lord to help me through… my moms remarriage, grandparents deaths and so on… As I entered high school a family moved into the area and began attending my church, you may all be familiar with the Green family… they became after a short time what I call my adopted church family. After many hours spent hanging out with Kim and Brent and back and forth to church, I was invited to travel to New Brunswick with them to attend a Booster weekend… after forcing my mom to say yes, I took that long drive on the Trans Canada to arrive at Bethany.
I really didn’t believe what I saw, this was a college??? I always thought I would be in University studying some major world changing science…. And even though I am not doing that specifically I am still studying something that is going to change the world.
When choosing to come to Bethany I knew I was called here… but getting that across to parents who think religion is a bunch or hooey.. Is another task… one time when I was actually challenging God that I was not going to come here I decided that I was going to open my Bible to a random page and if it said you are going to Bethany on it the I would if not then I wouldn’t go. So in this foolish act I opened it up and read Acts 20:22-24... Well did God ever show me, it was the passage where Paul says where ever you go let the Holy Spirit guide you, and even though there is going to be hardships along the way don’t forget your mission is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people. As I sat on my floor that night I made the decision to come to Bethany and enter into full time Ministry for Him. As I reflect on my life I see many things that I could complain about and go on for hours, but in all those Times and as problems kept surrounding me… I was always filled with the Peace and Joy of the Holy Spirit. The Lord delivered me not from my problems he didn’t make them go away but he delivered my through them, and he continues to. As we sing in Chorale Jehovah Jireh My provider HE is more then enough for me, Jehovah Rapha HE is My healer, and Jehovah Shammah, The supplier of all my needs.

posted by Kate Patterson @ Tuesday, March 25, 2003