Hi. My name is Dominic and I am 24 years old. I live in England and I finished studying Systems Engineering at Loughborough University in May 2004. I am now at Calvary Chapel Bible College Extension Campus, Cardiff. I have been blessed with a wonderful Christian family, and first gave my life to Christ at the tender age of 5.

THE TESTIMONY OF GOD'S WORK IN MY LIFE


The Lord's hand has been on my life since the very beginning. I had a very distressing birth, having the umbilical cord wrapped round my neck and requiring assistance with forceps. I had also managed to swallow some amniotic fluid, and was born with pneumonia. I was in intensive care for seven days, but the Lord kept me safe, and a week after being released from there I had gained enough strength to be allowed to be taken home. I didn't know it then, but God had chosen me for His own.

For about the first four years of my life, my parents went to an Anglican church. Then they began attending a local charismatic evangelical church, and shortly after, in 1986, my mother received Christ and was born again. Soon I reached primary school age, and started at The King's School, a Christian school supported by our church. Around the same time, aged just 5, I first prayed and "asked Jesus into my life", to use a common expression in Christian circles.

My years at King's were filled with the usual pains and joys of childhood, and steadily I grew in knowledge - both academically and spiritually. I went to church with my family and I went to King's, learning much about God, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and God's Word, the Bible. The Lord continued to bless me, and I did well at school. At six years of age I began learning to play the piano, and progressed through my grades.

Then in 1994 a great wave of spiritual deception swept through the Church, particularly affecting Charismatic and Pentecostal circles. This became known as The Toronto Blessing, after a particular church in Toronto became the focus point for its introduction. The deception, with its associated false doctrines and weird, unbiblical manifestations, was brought into my school and naively I attempted to go along with it. But the Lord protected me from being drawn in at that time, and extended that protection to my parents, who were soon made aware that it was wrong and refused to be involved. I can't remember how or when I was told it was wrong, but immediately I distanced myself from what was happening and began to do a lot of study on the subject. I listened to tapes and read books and magazines my parents had or borrowed, and learned much about the deception - the false doctrine used to support it, what it entailed, and the biblical evidence clearly showing that it was wrong. At the end of October, my family left our church. Several of our friends left the church around the same time for the same reasons, and we began to meet on Sundays at one of their houses. It was from this group that Jubilee Christian Fellowship, the church I attend at home, was formed.

The next few years were a period of substantial growth and learning in my life. My church had changed, and it brought me into considerable conflict with my school mates, and occasionally school teachers, at King's. About nine months after we left our old church I moved school, together with two of my friends from Jubilee, and went to one of the local secondary schools. This was a very different environment to the one I was used to - I knew only a couple of people, and initially found it quite difficult to settle socially. I was seen as very different and on the whole kept to myself and my friends from King's, and so it wasn't until Year 10 that I felt truly accepted by my classmates. But the Lord uses every opportunity to develop and change me, and this was no exception. My time at King's School was very sheltered, for there were few who weren't from church-going families, and going to Cavendish brought me into contact for pretty much the first time with many who didn't share my beliefs.

At around fourteen years of age I began to question the sincerity of my professed faith. I had never doubted the reality of God or the truth of His Word. The thought that God didn't exist or that the Bible wasn't true never entered my mind. I was, however, unsure of whether I was truly born again. I had a great deal of head knowledge due to all the teaching I had received over the years, but I wondered whether it was actually being played out in my life. For several years I battled with these doubts. It was a real period of testing - the Lord was showing me that I couldn't just take my faith for granted. I had to be serious about the Christian life, or there was little point in believing. Then shortly before I turned seventeen, after a particularly difficult few days and troubled nights including a spiritual attack, I made the decision to be baptised. I was fed up with doubting and struggling, and had come to the realisation that I was simply to take God at His Word. If I had done what the Bible says is necessary for salvation - repent and turn to Christ - and I had, then I was born again. God said it was so, and therefore it was true, whatever I "felt". I made a conscious decision to take a stand for Christ and declare that He had saved me, and was baptised on the 16th May 1999.

It was a significant step in my walk with Christ - no longer was I plagued with doubts about my salvation, and I had a new certainty about my faith. At the same time the Lord opened up something that I had never been able to do before - to play the piano and sing at the same time. Though I had been playing the piano for Jubilee for several years previously, I had been unable to sing while I played. As soon as I tried, either my playing would go wrong or my singing would go out of tune. However, after my baptism I was able to do both with little trouble. The Lord's immediate use for the new ability He had granted me was at Jubilee, in taking a greater part in the music group and leading the church in worship. It was a wonderful new experience.

The next summer I aggravated an old repetitive strain injury in both my wrists which meant that I was unable to play the piano. It was a substantial blow, as I greatly enjoyed playing. However, as has been demonstrated on many occasions in my life, the Lord uses every situation for good. One of my favourite verses is Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." The truth of this verse has been made very apparent in my life on many occasions, this being one of them. Clearly, God used that time to develop patience in me. I learnt to accept my injury, and just wait for my wrists to heal, to trust the Lord that "...all things work together for good to those who love God...".

My four years at university have been another time of great development for me. I have grown much in my walk with Christ, learning to discipline myself in prayer and reading the Bible. The Lord has laid before me many opportunities for using the knowledge He has given me, this website being one example. FES (Fellowship of Evangelical Students, Loughborough) has been a great source of encouragement to me, and I thank the Lord for being able to be involved in the work there.

My time at Birmingham City Mission involved all kinds of Christian work - work with the homeless, work with children, door-to-door work, open-air evangelism, and so on. It was sometimes very tough - we were very much on the "front lines" of the spiritual battle that is being waged, and you suddenly realise how vulnerable you are. Yet as I look over my life I realise just how marvellous the Lord's protection over my life has been and continues to be - He has surrounded me with sincere believers, has kept me safe from all manner of deception, and has given me strong, close friends who encourage and support me, exhorting me to press on in seeking and learning about God in His Word and in living a life worthy of God's calling. He has greatly strengthened my faith in Him, and has given me a sure, certain knowledge that He is always there. Though I stumble and fall, He is always going to be there to pick me up again, and I am "...confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in [me] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ..." (Philippians 1:6)


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