Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Personal Testimonies (Mitchell V.) 1


Mitchell V. Testimony

Holy! Holy! Holy! Is the miraculous name of Jesus Christ. I have to praise God that I can write, or speak at all. I speak the truth. Jesus really does perform miracles. I know, because He did it for me. Mitchell Douglas VanNorstran. Man… It’s all I can do to just get in all on one line.


I’ll start by apologizing to anyone I may have hurt out there in the world. You see, I used to be someone else. I lived in the world where money, drugs, crime, sex, big wheels, and loud stereos were what I had to have to be anyone.


No, I’m not from Clay County. I was raised in the city. Which one doesn’t matter, as they all are the same. I wasn’t raised to be criminally insane, even though, I had a psychiatrist tell me that I was.


My great grandparents, grandparents, and parents were all filled with the Holy Ghost. My papaw, he even was a pastor of a church. His name was Rev. Leonard F. VanNorstran. Oh, how I long to hear him praise God again in Heaven. He was a great man of God, as was my mom’s dad, Mitchell Gilbert. I believe they were praying for me as they died. I also believe that their prayers were all answered.


I was the worst sinner ever. I was so bad that I HATED my own name, even though I knew that great men of God had gave it to me. I always knew who Jesus was. I even got saved when I was about 9 at the Grace Baptist Church. I had hair down to my belt. I felt some people didn’t like that, so I quit going.


I joined the army at 17. While I was serving, I started praying and going to Chapel. I guess that didn’t work out because most of the time I was home sick with a hangover from a German weekend with all my G.I. buddies. Not even 21 yet, I arrived back to the states, and realized I was a bad, bad alcoholic. I soon found out that drugs were cheaper.


In the 90’s there wasn’t any work to be found for a drunk/dopehead, even with a general discharge under honorable conditions. I thought who needs a career anyway? What a joke. Instead of straightening up and becoming a cop or whatever, I used my military training (TAC ops, explosives, etc) to commit crimes. There was more money in that than what any honest person could make.


I found Jesus again in prison. Yes, prison. He pulled me through praise God! When I got out, I told him goodbye and made some more money. Yes, He found me again in a drug treatment center or two or three, and then in prison TWICE more.


By then, I had two kids that didn’t know me, a couple of tattoos and scars, as well as a very warped perception of the world, society, the government, and my fellow man.


God was with me all along. I can remember praying for the day that it would all end. I was never a "bad" guy. People liked me. I even had a few followers over the years. Of course, they are all dead or in prison now.


And to think, He forgave me! Yes…. He sure did.

I’m here to tell you that I was working for Satan out there in the world. The only way that God could reach me, was to lock me up or make me sick. I had to pray for my next fix, which generally got me locked up again.


About ten years ago, I got out and decided I didn’t want that anymore. I had paid my debt to society. I was free. But….the chains of addiction were still attached. I was also married to a sinner who wasn’t ready to stop.


I got divorced and not to get into that story, but I divorced her. I already had two kids that didn’t know me, and both were born with birth defects. Donnie Floyd is 18 now. Mia Brittany is 15. They are both good kids. I hope they will forgive me. I wasn’t a person. I was a demonic animal. Not a Dad at all. If they were to read this, I am so sorry. Come, your real father has a legacy for you! You are heirs. I can explain. It is all in God’s plan. He is revealing it to me even as I write out this testimony.


Later, I met a girl which I got pregnant. April 6th, 2006, in a delivery, I began to pray harder that ever. I prayed that this new life would be blessed with all her fingers and toes, and that she would never ever be taken away from me. Yes, the Lord answered that prayer. I promised him then, that I would be the best father ever. But before he could do that, he had to introduce me to our Father in Heaven. That’s what happened. I gave my life to him.


Today, I am blessed! I can’t even contain my joy at being alive and knowing that there has always been an anointing on my life. The same anointing that was on my grandparents, parents, and now my children, and even their children.


The Devil is a liar and I rebuke him in the name of Jesus Christ. He is under my feet!


I am not perfect and never will be. Sometimes it’s hard to keep him there. But the Bible tells me that if God stands for us, who can be against me, nothing and no one. Thank you God for your holy word! I listen to "What saith the Lord now." I study the word now. I worship the one true God. He is the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end. Jehovah Jireh! He has given me a new name, without changing a letter or a pronunciation at all. That is a miracle. The worst name most hated in the world, is now written in the Lambs book of life. Now, I get to praise God in Heaven with my papaws.

All I have to do know is obey all of God’s laws, man’s laws, and keep trying to make this relationship with Jesus stronger. Trust me. It is nowhere near as hard as sinning. I have to be reminded that I was a horrible sinner man all the time now. Now, there are people I love that are out there in the world doing what I showed them how to do. I hate that, and "hate" is not Christian. God is love. I love him, he loves me, and he loves you. He’ll forgive us, I know because he forgave me.


It happened at the altar. When, the last chain of addiction to cocaine fell off, I knew for sure it was over. It’s gone. Praise God! He saved me and I owe him my life. I am not worth one drop of his blood, but I also know that one drop covered a multitude of sins that I committed. All my sins against God, against mankind, and against me are all covered under the blood. Your sins can be too. He’ll answer you too. Need a miracle? Need a healing? Need love? Just ask Jesus.


I’m sorry that I can’t change who I was. I realized that who I was is who I had to be to become who I am today. Eleven years of which I was actively serving the devil, maybe more.


All in all, I didn’t truly feel Jesus in my heart until I was 36. I’ll soon be 39. In less than three years, God has completely changed my whole being. In all this I finally know that it just keeps getting better. After 35 years of sowing bad seeds, it only took a year to start reaping from sowing good seeds. I am now reaping a bountiful harvest. I am blessed!


I sit and think and can not imagine how much money that I spent on drugs or on things to try to buy love.


Since Jesus came into my life, I have nothing. Yet, I am happier now than I have ever been. A couple of hundred bucks is a whole lot of money now, and am very happy to make it honestly. It’s easy to make once you finally realize it is all his anyway. I will probably never be a wealthy man, but I will have a mansion in heaven waiting for me someday.


I have talents that are from God. I can read blue prints, read a tape measure. Some say I’m a pretty fair carpenter. I owe it all to God. All I can say is it is much easier to work now that I pray over my work before I begin. No matter what your work may be, having the Holy Spirit in you, will make you better at all that you attempt to do.


Now, what I can do is serve God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and pray that someone can see what God done for me and will turn their own life around. God is great! I’ll serve him until I die.


I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I’m smart enough to not let the Devil trick me anymore than I have already allowed him to.


All that read this, I ask that you consider your ways and repent. Pray for me that I may better serve Christ.

God Bless!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Highlight of Our Watch Service (A Testimony of Transformation)

Anyone that missed the Watch service missed an amazing Testimony given by Mitchell V. A Testimony of Overcoming Addictions and turning his life around. I know without a shadow of a doubt that someone there needed to hear his message.