The Light I have found !!

In the year 1962,   I was a student in a
primary school in Nakorn town, in
Southern Thailand. There was a teacher
who told stories about Jesus to my class
every morning . I never wanted to listen
because I thought it was boring. But one
day, my eyes were opened and I
understood  that  Jesus is the Lamb of
God, who takes away the sins of the
world. He is the Son of God.   When I
went home and told my father that I
wanted to recieve Jesus as my Lord, 
it turned into one of the worst days of
my life. My father became very angry
and  he beat me so badly that he forced
me to deny my belief in Jesus. (Since
then, I have forgiven my father, and I
will always love him.) He threatened
me many times because he did not want
me to believe in Jesus. He took away
my books, my Bible, and commanded
that I was not to talk about God. He sent
me to study in the Buddist Temple until
I confessed to being a Buddist.

In the year 1971,  I went to Bangkok
to study in the university. At that time,
the Thailand was under a military
regime and  the Thai people suffered a
lot because there were many problems
during that time. I hated the unjust and
corrupt government and  also  rich
people, because they could do anything
they wanted by bribing the government
officials and  then things would be fixed.
I became very angry, especially after
Tragedy Day, October 14th, 1973 and
Killing Day, October 6th, 1976.  So, I
decided to become a socialist student,
and later I went to the jungle to fight
against the government .

In the year 1980, three years after
walking into the jungle to try to change
things the wrong way, I walked out of
the jungle to start a new life with my
family. We opened an ice-cream shop in
Mae Sod, a small town in Northern
Thailand. At that time, there were a lot
of problems  between my wife and I.
We often quarreled and I would get mad
and hit my daughter.We didn't make
much money from our shop, and I drank
every night. I felt like a failure.
So, I started  thinking about  who could
help me. I wondered,  Who is God? ,
Is He real or does He exist ?
How can I know Him?
I went to the library in town and looked
for a book about God. I read and read
read everything that concerned God .
Finally, I found a thin, old book that no
one had ever checked out. The book
was waiting for me to read it. It was
entitled, "Is the Bible the Word of
God?"   At the same time, I was
studying "the Book of John", in the
Bible and I believed that Jesus loved me
and died on the cross for me. He was
resurrected from the dead to fulfill
prophecy and to show God's power,
showing that He is the Son of God and
that he had overcome death. He is pure,
and I  trusted in Him and Him alone as
my Lord and Savior..

Jesus said,
"I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in
darkness,but will have the light of
life."                         
                                    
    "I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life
for the sheep.            
                                                                   
    "I am the way and the truth and
the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me." 
(John 8:12, John 10:11, John 14:6)
        
After knowing the truth, tears
streamed down my face. I knew I was a
sinner. Then, I  prayed to Jesus and
confessed my sins. I felt Him touch my
heart and He forgave me. It was one of
the greatest joys of my life, when I
received Jesus Christ as my Savior. My
life has changed, since that day, and
continues to change daily as I grow
spiritually. My relationship with my
family changed day by day. I  was full
of love for my family. Many problems
were solved . I felt a peace in my life.
Everyday I am happy to be walking
with Jesus.
Jesus said
" I Am the way, the truth,
and the life, and no one comes to the
Father except through Me". 
It is by grace through faith, that we
are saved.It is a gift from God.
----------------------------------
Over a long period of  time, since I was a boy
to the day I really recieved Jesus as my Savior,
when I was a  middle- aged  man,
and came to the Light of life .
Absolutely it  was not too late for me,
to know the real God ,
the most WorthyPerson in the universe.

FROM DEATH TO GLORY LIVE Story of Shelia Holcomb

Before I begin my testimony
I feel it is important to give you some information on my childhood,
so you will be better able to understand some of the decisions
I made in my life, however stupid they may have been.
But every decision I have made during my lifetime good
or bad is what has brought me to where I am now and
I am very thankful for the mountains and the valleys.

When I was born my mother was only fifteen years old
and now years later and after I went through the process of
forgiving her and working through many things,
I am now able to look at her life through her eyes to try to
better understand how she must have felt.
Someone gave me this advice
when I was really struggling with all of this,
I was told that maybe I could forgive easier
if I try to see her life through her eyes
and not the eyes of a hurt child, you know what,
it worked, I can understand her more clearly now.
She was not mature enough to take care
of herself much less a baby.
So she would send me here and there to whomever
would willing to take me at that particular time,
most of the time it was my grandmother,
several times throughout my life she would decide
that she wanted me back and she would come and
uproot me again. I never really knew any stability in
my life and I always felt as if no one really loved me or wanted me.

Then at the age of nine she came and got me
and took me away from my grandmother which,
really at this point of my life, was the only mother
I had ever known and I was very attached to her.
Anyway, my mother came and took me to Illinois
where she lived, by this time she had remarried and
she had two more children by her new husband.
He hated me and the only reason I could figure out
was simply that I was not his child. Now this was not my fault,
although I did blame myself for many years.
He started just physically abusing me,
but at the age of nine that changed, he raped me
and this abuse went on until I was thirteen and I finally told my mother,
she didn’t believe me, actually no one believed me.
Finally I just let it drop and I buried all of those feelings
of anger and hate for years, that has now all been dealt with
and forgiven and now it is all under the precious blood of Jesus,
Praise God. I told my mother that I wanted to go back to Memphis
to live with my gran! dmother and she consented just because
she felt I was causing so much trouble
and she did not want to be bothered.

Now my grandmother was now also remarried
and I resented him for taking her away from me too.
You must remember I was only a child and I felt like
she was all I had and now I had lost her too.
I was very hateful to him and caused so many problems,
he was very kind and loving to me but I just could not accept
what he was offering to me. My grandmother finally
after a long struggle went to the courts and told the judge
that I was out of control and they just could not handle me any longer,
so they removed me and placed me in a foster home,
the home I went to was wonderful, but at that time
I could not see things clearly,
all I could see was that the only person who should love me
had now turned her back on me as well,
I just wanted my grandmother so, I ran away.
The courts then really called my bluff,
so as a ward of the State of Tennessee
I was placed in a Catholic all girls reform school
for three and a half years. Now as I look back,
I can honestly say it was one of th! e best things
that ever happened to me. But at that time all I could see
was that I was totally alone,
unloved and unwanted in this great big world.

Now I will jump ahead some. In 1987
I lost my three children to their father and I totally lost it.
I turned heavily to alcohol and eventually that turned into crack and cocaine.
By this time I had lost everything including my dignity
as I had turned to prostitution to support my drug habit.
I was arrested several times on various charges,
but I was never convicted and I never served any time,
I know that God was taking care of me even back them in my sin,
He saw what I would be one day in Him.
I give GOD all the PRAISE, HONOR AND GLORY
for all that I am today and all that I will be.

The drugs and my roaming had taken me to many places
but on December 20, 1990 I came across a man
that told me about Jesus and how He could deliver me
and make my life an example to others.
I had not eaten in a couple of days and he asked me
if I was hungry, so he took me to a restaurant and bought me something to eat.
The entire time he shared about Jesus Christ with me.
He told me Christ could and would set me free if I was willing,
and how He (Jesus), would give me a new life
without all the pain and turmoil I was living in.
Of course being a Christian does not eliminate us from pain,
trials and tribulation but with Christ in our hearts
He will give us the strength to overcome and withstand
even in the worst times. I began sharing my life story
with this man and he still said Jesus is the answer,
and boy was he right. Right there I gave my heart
to the Lord and I decided to live for Him
and serve Him for the rest of my life.

I had been singing for many years
and I had destroyed my voice through drug abuse,
I just abused the gifts that God had given me.
So I prayed and told the Lord that
if He would heal and restore my voice
I would use this gift for His glory for the rest of my life.
Now, God has done exceedingly and abundantly above all
that I could ask or think. The songs that I sing and others
that I have written they are all His I am only an instrument holding the pen.
It does not matter where you are,
Christ will come to you and meet you if,
you are willing to let your life go and
let Him be God of and in your life.

I have had so many miracles in my Christian life
as I am a walking miracle myself.
One of these miracles really stands out to me
and I would like to share this with you as well.
About four or five years ago
I was diagnosed with an incurable bowel condition,
the doctors were not real sure what it was exactly,
but they had come to the conclusion that with ulcers
all through my body and many in my bowel system,
they said they wanted to do surgery
and remove some of the bowel.
My reply was that I wanted to get prayer for this
and that I believed that God was going to heal me
and I will not need the surgery at all.
They went ahead and scheduled me for another scope the following week,
just a few days after Christmas.
Then on Christmas Eve I placed a long distance call
to a minister friend of mine and asked him to pray for me,
he said no problem but he would need to call me back in a few minutes.
While waiting for him to call back I got about ten bibles
and placed them opene! d on the floor in a circle and
one opened in the middle of the circle.
When he called me back I knelt on the bible in the middle and said,
“pray”. When he prayed for me the fire of God hit me and went through me,
I had such a peace come over me.
I went over to my bed and fell asleep
(now Adam was put into a deep sleep in Genesis
when God removed the rib to create woman)
God did the same for me as I lay there sleeping
He performed surgery on me to heal my body.
I slept for seventeen hours and when I woke
the bleeding had stopped and so had the pain,
I knew without a doubt that I was healed by the precious hand of the Master.
I was on about $400.00 worth of medicine a month
and I went into the kitchen and threw it all in the trash.
I did go back for the scope when I was scheduled
and the doctors were amazed there were no ulcers anywhere
and I just praised God for His healing power.

I am now an ordained minister
and I am married to a wonderful man who is also a minister.
We know God has put us together for a ministry
and we are enjoying serving the Lord together.
I am now a southern gospel singer\songwriter.
The Lord has blessed me and I will continue on this road
He has placed me on for my desire is only to serve Him.
I will travel anywhere I am invited to give my testimony or to sing or both.
God is wonderful and it is to His glory that I am writing this,
if one soul is reached in any way then this is worth everything.

Again I cannot stress enough that this is for the glory of God
that I am here and that my life is what it is today,
for without Christ we are nothing,
but through Him we are joint heirs with Him.
He is our Deliverer, Savior, Helper,
and Healer and any problem we may have is never to great for Him to help us,
we just have to take it to Him and leave it at His feet and in His care.
I thank God for His power is still healing,
still saving and still delivering. He is good all the time.
I have made my mistakes but His grace is sufficient.
God loves us and if we truly repent and confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we can help anyone out there,
please contact us at the information provided below
and we will do our best to help in any way we can.
If you have questions about loved ones
who may be on drugs or other addictions
we will try to answer your questions,
if we do not know we will do our best to find the answer for you.
If you have loved ones that you need prayer for
we will gladly join you in agreeing for that person for the Kingdom.
Please always remember we are human and we will make mistakes
but just confess to God those mistakes
and get them under the blood of Jesus as soon as possible,
God still loves us and He will help us in all of our situations.

----------------------
Jerry & Shelia Holcomb Feel free to email us at:

rainbow@imws.net

From prison to praise! Story of Steven

Two very loving parents raised me,
so I can't blame what happened in my life on the fact that I was from a broken home. I went to church and vacation bible school.
My dear Grandmother taught me about Jesus.

I finished school and went into the Air Force
and experienced the adventures of traveling the world.
I went to college and got an education.
I was ready for life, so I thought.

After a few years of working in the oil and gas industry as an engineer, I started a very successful chemical company.
I was making more money than I had ever dreamed that I would make. With all of the money came the opportunity to do everything I shouldn't. My life went into a downward spiral.
My chemical company went bankrupt,
I lost my wife and kids, I lost my home,
I lost the respect of my business associates.
My life was a waste.

It was in the last week of April in 1995.
I had been locked in my office for the last 20 or so hours and drowning in the abuse for the day.
I was as unhappy with my life as I have ever been.
I knew I was addicted, and I knew I couldn't quit.
I sat there in the early morning hours with a gun to my head
ready to end my addiction
when I remembered my Grandmother telling me
"Steven you don't take your own life,
God will take you when He is ready for you."
At 4:30 AM I walked over to my house.
I lied in my bed and I cried like a baby to God,
"I needyour help!"
My friend had gotten busted
and he was working with the police to get me.
When he handed me the drug money the hotel room door
was kicked in and police immediately surrounded me,
I was busted. I was taken to the county jail.

The Gideons were in the county jail passing out the little pocket New Testaments. I wanted a bible.
Well, I got one and I went straight to my mat
on the floor and I started thumbing through my little bible.
In the back of the bible I found the Saviors Prayer.
I prayed that prayer with all the heart that a man could pray.
God I need you. God I am scared. God please protect me. Immediately I felt the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Immediately all of my fears were gone.
Jesus Christ was with me. I was born again!

I had a $110,000 cash bond placed on me when I got busted.
Four months passed, along with several appearances in front of various judges, pleading unsuccessfully for a reduction in bond.
I wanted to give up. I kept praying.
Then one night while I was lying in my bunk and praying I heard God's voice.
He told me to expect a miracle. I had never heard God's voice before and for Him to tell me to "expect a miracle."
A week later I stood in front of the judge while the prosecuting attorney argued why my bond should not be reduced.
I had heard it all before and I was expecting the same response from the judge denying the reduction,
when the judge asked the prosecutor to have a seat and then looked at my attorney, then at me, and announced that he was reducing my bond to a PR bond. I was going home on the promise that I would return on my own for my trial.

On the day of my sentencing I stood before the judge expecting to get probation. I was nervous as I listened to the judge recite my charges, and then the sentence; seven and one-half years in the state penitentiary. Once again I was handcuffed and taken to jail where I would later be transferred to the state prison.

My first week in state prison I was processed and it was decided I would go to a minimum-security facility where I would spend the next seven plus years of my life.
I was transferred a week later and upon arriving at my new home I immediately found the chaplain and became a chaplains aid.
During that first week we had a Prison Fellowship Seminar.
There I told our group about my circumstances,
which landed me in prison. I shared the story of my cocaine addiction to our group leader, Dick.
At the close of the second night of the seminar,
I was telling Dick goodbye when all of a sudden he took me in his arms and started praying.
When Dick let me go, I looked into his eyes and saw that he was crying. I asked him what that was all about and he told me that God had told him to take me into his arms and pray, then he told me that God told him I was going home in 4 months.

The next week I a received a letter from my attorney telling me that the judge who had sentenced me called my attorney at home and told him to file a Motion for Shock Probation.
He was to wait until my 90th day in confinement to file the motion. My attorney told me that it would take about 30 days before the judge would hear the motion. That total amount of time would add up to 4 months. Well, 4 months later, June 14, 1996, after appearing in front of the same judge that sent me to prison, I was sent home to Texas. I received a 5 year probated sentence.

During all this time I had experienced many miracles from God. He answered my prayer when I cried to Him for help as a cocaine addict. He cleansed me from my addiction. He answered my prayers to be sent home when my bond was $110,000 cash. He changed the heart of a judge who had sentenced me to a long term in prison. He healed my son of a blood disorder. He cared for and provided for my family while I was locked up. I came home and within two months I started a consulting company which has enjoyed success. God has blessed me with a wonderful church home. He has blessed me with countless Christian friends. He has blessed me with the opportunity to serve Him via this Internet Ministry. I continue to receive blessings from God every day.

I serve an awesome God. God is the focal point of my life each and every day. I can never give Him enough praise. I will never be worthy of the immense love that He has for me.