Chris's Life Has Been Given Purpose and Direction

I came from a very loving catholic family and had a happy life. I thought from a young age that church attendance was extremely important but as I got older I decided that church was the most boring place I could ever go. I started doing everything that my friends were doing, which was living extremely immorally.

At the age of 24 I was not sure of what I wanted to do with my life. I felt like a real Mummy’s boy living at home. I wanted to be taken seriously and be a man so I bought a Ute, some boots, a swag, a spare jerry can and drove to the NT. I got a job on a big, remote cattle station for a Wild West adventure and I met a lot of people. It was exciting but when I got home I didn’t feel much different. I questioned where I was going with my life. I kept thinking, is this all there is?

It was a pivotal moment. The Lord’s timing is absolutely perfect. He sent Cynthia to preach the gospel and she invited me to a Revival Fellowship meeting. I saw young people reading the Bible - I’d never seen anyone read a Bible in my whole life. I saw all different ages interacting and living the things they were preaching. The thing that had an absolutely profound effect on me was speaking in tongues. How I could go to church for 17 years and never be told about receiving the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues? I wanted to say it was all hocus pocus but the people were the most genuine people that I’d ever met - I was really convicted by what I saw.

I realised that the salvation in the Bible was not negotiable, I had to be baptised. That was incredibly humbling but I did get baptised. A couple of months afterwards I really wanted to have the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit for myself and I wanted to speak in tongues. One day I went to say Hallelujah but what came out was very loud, very clear and fluent; I spoke a language I had never learnt before and it was absolutely unbelievable. Everything I believed up until that point switched, I had to erase that and read the Bible for myself. After 12 years it is still supernatural, unbelievable - it changed my life. I knew from the bottom of my boots that this was for real.

Life completely changed direction. I married Cynthia, we had two children, we have had heaps of blessings and trials. Cynthia had to deal with post-natal depression and we got through that. I had to deal with a family who basically disowned me for a period but then the Lord has turned that around as well. I give Him the glory and thank Jesus for what He has done for me.

Chris is a member of The Revival Fellowship - Canberra, ACT