TESTIMONY OF JUDYTH HANNAH
There was once a girl, who loved the Lord her God, with ALL her heart, and with ALL her soul and with ALL her mind and with ALL her strength… (Mark 12 v 30). She delighted herself in the Lord… (Psalm 37 v 4), served Him gladly, witnessed about Him courageously, embraced everything that brought Him glory, shunned the things in life that did not. She thought she was invincible against the enemy…
Then came the Queen’s Birthday weekend of June 1968. Her birthday fell on the 8th, one of the days of that weekend… She was turning seventeen… There was a Youth Bible Study Camp on, she decided it would be fun to be there. She met a boy the first day. He (from an unchurched family), was at camp at the invitation of a Christian mate. The girl and the boy talked and laughed together, shyly kept bumping into each other all weekend. She remembers having an awesome weekend of fellowship and teaching (and flirting!). They swapped phone numbers, he found out she was in the habit of going to “Younger Set” on a Thursday night, a Youth for Christ after work thing. He turned up one night and asked her out on a date… They quickly became sweethearts…
The world began its seduction… He’d told her he had been “saved”, she believed him. He came to church, Saturday night Youth for Christ rallies, Younger Set, made all the right noises. But he kept suggesting things she had been taught were wrong. She searched her heart, prayed fervently, stayed firm, but gradually, little by little, she was seduced by the free and easy attitudes that the late sixties brought, free love, flower power, make love not war etc etc. Within three months of that first date she allowed a little, then a little more, then a lot more. She would go inside and kneel by her bed and pray for forgiveness and resistance to temptation. She was a tiny bit disconcerted that her boyfriend was not showing himself to be a proper Christian, but she kept committing it to the Lord in prayer. She responded to altar call at a Youth thing, a call for re-commitment, you know how it goes… “if there is something in your life that is not right, come forward now and get right with God…” He came forward too and was prayed over, she thought it was genuine. The enemy kept telling her it was okay – her parents liked the boy, she was in love, she began to feel good about the relationship. He told her he wanted to marry her. She was over the moon… They became officially engaged when she was only eighteen, she gave away her all to him and felt oh so guilty before God. They were married when she was nineteen, they still went to church, but then they went off to work in North Queensland in a remote place with no church. She drifted away from the Lord, never reading her Bible, the world kept on with its seduction. She began to realise that her husband was sleazy, he began to buy porn and talk stuff that she felt very uncomfortable about. The world kept on with its seduction. They returned to Brisbane within twelve months, she worked in the city with more worldly people, the world kept on with its seduction. He continued to be bored with church, they missed Sundays at church more and more. She grew accustomed to her new way of life. She tried alcohol and tobacco. The world kept on with its seduction. Can you see how easy it was??
Their first child was born… They had been up half the night pacifying a
crying baby… Too tired to go to
church… Everybody bored them… Tried to
get them to help with ministries… They
didn’t want to… The solution was stay
away from church more and more… Easy – the world kept on with its seduction…
The rot set in, the pornography increased, the alcohol increased. By about the tenth year, it was total seduction, the fights were getting worse, there was no peace, there was no communication,
THE WORLD HAD COMPLETED ITS
SEDUCTION…
At Christmas and Easter, she would feel miserable, or she would cry if she couldn’t go to church, or she would go to church and wish things could be different. She was young, in love with her husband, but seduced by the world and not willing to change her life. She was living a life that was everything abominable to God. There was no peace between him and her, there was no peace in her heart, she would drink alcohol to feel okay when she was sinning…
She always knew that God was still there, she still loved Him, she still felt excited to hear of someone giving their heart to the Lord, she was wistful about God, she would pray occasionally when she couldn’t pay the bills or the fights got unbearable. Her darling God-honouring mother died, and she came within a hair’s breadth of coming back to the Lord, but the enemy held her back, told her she couldn’t give up her life as it had become, it was all too hard… God kept tapping on her shoulder, she frequently wondered if there really was a God, then she would be reminded somehow, she knew God still wanted her. She never denied Him, admitted to people that she believed in Him… She would hear Christian music occasionally and hang on every word…
The turmoil continued, on top of the sin, her husband strayed, he denied it, but she couldn’t believe him, hated him for it, could not forgive. She was bitter, resentful, plotted revenge, hardly gave God a thought. She had no peace whatsoever, seduced by the world that she was loved by her friends and that nothing else mattered, and that she would always be taken care of. SEDUCED! But she knew in her heart of hearts that there was only One Way to find peace again.
Her brother started up a church, a two hour drive away, but she went along gladly. She loved to sing the songs, she would sit there wishing and telling herself that it was all okay, that she could have the two, God and the world. God kept tapping her on the shoulder. Her brother asked her what she would like for her 50th birthday and she said a Study Bible like his. The look on his face was priceless! She wasn’t sure why she wanted this Bible, but she knew she needed it, but she only occasionally looked at it.
Then in April of 2002, something happened to change a friendship that had been keeping her from God for 23 years, and within seconds, she knew that she would be returning to God. She heard about the Bible-reading and journaling system that her brother was teaching and listed to how to do it. She read her Bible and moved closer to God, but it was OH so hard to give up her world. Then she knew within weeks that it was to be all or nothing. She prayed for forgiveness on August 4th 2002, of the sin that had been going on for all those years, and has remained steadfast and released from that burden.
There is a lightness in her heart, a feeling of absolute joy, a lifting of misery, relief, a sense of purpose in life… that can only come from filling that spirit and soul part of oneself with the love of God.
That girl of course, is me, and that boy is still my husband, but the relationship has been ruined by the seduction of the world. If only I’d never strayed from God…
Be on your guard guys and girls, it can all change, not necessarily in an instant, but little by little, a gradual seduction of the world and Satan, the prince of darkness…
“I pray that our Father God will keep and protect you, that He would bless you indeed, give you opportunities to serve Him, enlarge your territory, that His hand would be with you, and that He will keep you from evil, that you may not cause pain to others or yourself. God grant you what you request and give you the desires of your heart…” Amen
Folks, if you haven’t got God at the centre of your being, don’t search any further – accept that Jesus Christ gave his life on the cross of Calvary FOR YOU and for all sinners. Make Him Lord of your life, confess all the Him, ANYTHING is forgivable, forgiveness is yours for the asking. Contact with someone now to find out more and experience the love, peace, unspeakable joy, that comes with knowing Jesus Christ and having Him at the centre of your life…