Maja’s testimony

I am saved.

Hi, my name is Maja and I am Slovak. And I would like to tell you how the time was before I gave my life to Jesus. I grew up in a Catholic family. I used to go to church and learn everything about Jesus at church, but I never read the Bible. I just saw my sister
sitting there, every day reading the Bible. But I never read the Word of God. All my life, I was looking for real love, as many of you are, because without love, we cannot live.

My dad, he was an alcoholic, and my mum, she found it difficult to look after us and feed us. During my childhood, I didn’t receive much love, and all the time I was looking for it. I wanted to be fulfilled by love. I didn’t know what it means, I didn’t know what it looks like, but I knew I needed something.

When I was 14, I left for high school to a different town. And there I lost my interest in Jesus. I stopped going to church. I stopped worshipping. And Jesus was a nobody for me. Because first of all, I felt that God abandoned me, and then I found out that He didn’t exist at all. I proclaimed that everywhere, that it’s this life and then there is
nothing else afterwards.

When I was 18, I moved to Prague – and today I’m 25, so that’s 8 years ago – I came here. I completely left my family, and I said to myself, “Now is the time for me to live a better life, to be happy. To do what I want to do. To meet people I wanna meet, with no influence from my family.” So to me, it was a new start. So I started my life.

It was maybe ok for one year. But then I started feeling that I missed something – I missed love. Real love. Because life wasn’t really good. I made many mistakes, in my decisions, in a lot of things. But God used everything for good.

And then, 3 and a half years ago my mum died. My brother, he called me, “Maja, mum is dead. She committed suicide.” And in the Catholic church, if you commit suicide, you cannot go to heaven. But I couldn’t believe at the time, that I started calling to God. I said, “God, you know my mum. You know she deserves more.”

At that time, I wished that life after this life continued, and I wished there was something more, and I wished that God gives eternal life to my mum. And days after, something changed. God gave me a special dream. I saw my mum sitting in the balcony, and she was looking at me and she was smiling.

At that time I knew it was a dream, I knew she had died. But I saw her, standing beside me, alive. I was speechless, I was just happy to see her. And she said, “Maja, look at me. You don’t see? I didn’t die, I am alive. Don’t cry, because Jesus Christ gave me new life.” And after that, in the morning, I knew that she is in heaven, I knew God exists, I knew that Jesus Christ has the power to forgive. Jesus Christ has power to give us eternal life. He is God.

So this was in December 2007, and after 8 months, after the dream, I gave my life to Jesus, because I need time to understand. And then I knew that I wanted Jesus. I gave Him my life. And from that time, my life changed totally. God took me into His hands. He picked me up and said, “Maja, I am your God, and because I gave you my life.” He
started to change my life, he changed my heart, my personality, my opinions, my values. He started to show me what life is about, who He is, and why we are here.

And one thing I want to share with you, is this picture. Here’s me, and here’s my dad. And I had unbelievable difficulties in finding love for him. Really. And before I knew Jesus, this relationship was nothing. For me, I was finished with my family, and I wanted to live without my family. But because I invited Jesus to my life, and only Jesus could
give me love to love my dad. Because without Him, I cannot do this. If Jesus didn’t fulfil my heart, I could not do this. So Jesus put our relationship back together, and it’s still quite hard, but He is working in every situation, all the time.

So this is my story that describes my life. And I am so glad that today I can tell you that I am saved. And nothing can change this. Nobody can separate me from Jesus’ love. Amen.