Introducing...Joseph Carroll

​ My testimony consists of as follows: 
     From birth til 5 years old my life consisted of attending the local Baptist church 4 hours a week, (Sunday School, Sunday morning preaching, Sunday night preaching, and Wednesday night preaching), and the rest of the time, as you may assume, was spent playing. 
     From 6 years old til 16 years old my life consisted of attending that same local Baptist church 4 hours a week, public schooling 40 hours per week, (7 hours spent on the grounds, 1 hour on the school bus per day, this is a modest estimate), the rest of the unaccounted for time was spent largely in playing.
     There is one occurrence that I must point out that differed from this routine a little less than a month before my 14th birthday... I came under tremendous conviction of sin from the preaching of the Word of God and I found myself convinced that I was a sinner in need of being saved from hell. I asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me. I believe on that day I was "born again" spiritually. I believe what follows comes from a combination of many factors but in short over the next few years I gradually drifted away from God, even so far from Him that I began to question if sin was even wrong or was it just because some book said so...
     The next 2 years my time was spent in much the same way with the exception of the fact that I no longer rode the bus instead I was driving which also meant that my "play time" was changing in content as well...
     A few months shy of my 18th birthday, certain changes took place. I decided to move out of my dad and mom's house and get out from underneath their authority. I finished my last year of high school, but completely stopped going to church... More importantly than that, I got as far away from the God of the Bible as I could... From just before I turned 18 until sometime in my 23rd year, my time was spent doing whatever I felt like doing...
     I found myself in a horrible pit of filth, and disgust. I found myself to be what I knew the Bible called "a sinner." 
     Somewhere in the midst of my 23rd year, I decided to open a Bible. I turned to a random passage. I read in it II Timothy 3:1-5 which describes what people will be like "in the last days." That passage was like looking in a mirror of what I had become. I decided, at my sister's suggestion to please my mom, to go to church that coming Sunday morning. As I listened to the preacher, years of emotion flowed from me as I cried through the entire sermon... The following week I pondered hard what and where I was in life. I decided to go back to church the following Sunday. Before the preaching was concluded I had already given my heart to God in total surrender. I can remember wondering if it would be ok to ask if I could stay in the sanctuary of that building and just sleep on a pew for the rest of my life...
     My walk with the Lord since then has by no means been a perfect one... But it has been the best thing on this planet that's ever happened to me. To walk with Jesus day by day has been fulfilling in ways words fail to describe.
     In writing this, I must point out that I wish my testimony was different. It's not. I've seen both sides of the fence, God's and the world's, I've seen both perspectives. I have found that the Bible, God's Word, has all of the answers to life's questions that we seek. 
     God and His grace are good. The world, flesh, and the devil are not. This is the conclusion that I've found. This is my testimony.

                Sincerely,
                        Joseph Carroll