For the planned session this afternoon we are going to 00:00:12.23\00:00:15.60 be blessed with a testimony from a lady named Deniza 00:00:15.60\00:00:18.76 Hush, and you can read all about her qualifications and 00:00:18.76\00:00:21.86 background in the program booklet. 00:00:21.86\00:00:23.83 She is a good friend of mine. 00:00:23.83\00:00:25.90 She has a very interesting background of how she came 00:00:25.90\00:00:29.56 to know the Lord and her whole conversion experience. 00:00:29.56\00:00:33.40 I encourage you to listen and you will be blessed. 00:00:33.40\00:00:37.16 Prior to the message there were be special music by the 00:00:37.16\00:00:42.00 Ketts family and they will be playing a piece entitled 00:00:42.00\00:00:46.80 "My Peace", may you be blessed. 00:00:46.80\00:00:50.96 Audience: Amen! 00:04:12.60\00:04:15.66 Good afternoon! 00:04:26.50\00:04:28.06 And it is so nice to see you all here. 00:04:28.06\00:04:31.80 It is such a privilege 00:04:31.80\00:04:33.90 to be a part of GYC. 00:04:33.90\00:04:35.93 I had to fly all over, 00:04:37.53\00:04:39.36 from England to the United 00:04:39.36\00:04:41.16 States and it was a very long and turbulent journey. 00:04:41.16\00:04:44.50 As we fly, we experienced, at least for the first time 00:04:44.50\00:04:47.83 in my life, some very, very shocking turbulence winds. 00:04:47.83\00:04:52.93 As I was sitting next to my husband, I'm not a panicky 00:04:52.93\00:04:58.00 person, you will learn more about me in a minute. 00:04:58.00\00:05:02.36 I'm not a panicky person at all, but as I was sitting 00:05:02.36\00:05:06.63 thinking about the height, the altitude at which we 00:05:06.63\00:05:11.33 were flying, and feeling the shaking of the airplane, 00:05:11.33\00:05:16.00 I started being very, very claustrophobic. 00:05:16.00\00:05:21.36 The panic was taking me over, I said Lord, I don't know 00:05:21.36\00:05:26.13 how this flight is going to end up, but if you want me 00:05:26.13\00:05:30.43 to speak to people that GYC You will have to get me 00:05:30.43\00:05:34.70 there safely. 00:05:34.70\00:05:36.46 Also I said Lord if you want me to talk about the 00:05:36.46\00:05:39.43 miracles that You have performed in my life, 00:05:39.43\00:05:42.00 I need a miracle today. 00:05:42.00\00:05:45.00 The Lord is so good, Jesus is so gracious and the 00:05:45.00\00:05:49.96 turbulent winds stop suddenly and we could fly safely. 00:05:49.96\00:05:54.90 I was calm and happy. 00:05:54.90\00:05:57.10 So thank you Jesus, for that experience. 00:05:57.10\00:05:59.26 Now it was a March morning in 1995. 00:06:00.93\00:06:05.53 I was preparing for a youth Congress much smaller than 00:06:05.53\00:06:11.00 this one here. 00:06:11.00\00:06:13.36 I was just a newly baptized Seventh-day Adventist person 00:06:13.36\00:06:16.66 and I got up very early. 00:06:16.66\00:06:19.66 It was maybe seven o'clock in the morning and I 00:06:19.66\00:06:22.00 already went through my Sabbath school lesson. 00:06:22.00\00:06:24.73 I sung a few hymns very quietly in my bedroom. 00:06:24.73\00:06:27.40 Just thinking about the time, to be on time for the 00:06:27.40\00:06:31.53 train and meeting with some friends that were traveling 00:06:31.53\00:06:35.66 together to a little town in Croatia. 00:06:35.66\00:06:38.10 That day I was supposed to give a testimony. 00:06:38.10\00:06:42.00 A testimony about how God worked in my life. 00:06:42.00\00:06:45.83 How God converted a Muslim youth that was struggling 00:06:45.83\00:06:50.00 with atheism, mysticism, new age, occultism, 00:06:50.00\00:06:54.43 sounds terrible, doesn't it? 00:06:54.43\00:06:56.26 But that was my story and as I was getting ready, 00:06:56.26\00:06:59.93 suddenly I heard a little tap at the door and my 00:06:59.93\00:07:03.53 father came in. 00:07:03.53\00:07:05.56 As he walked in the room he noticed that I had my Bible 00:07:05.56\00:07:09.73 my lesson book, my hymnbook open on the table. 00:07:09.73\00:07:13.60 I was ready to leave but he didn't like what he saw. 00:07:13.60\00:07:19.56 He challenged me, he grabbed my hymnbook and tore it 00:07:19.56\00:07:25.46 into pieces. 00:07:25.46\00:07:27.23 He insisted that this was the time and this was the 00:07:27.23\00:07:30.90 moment when I was supposed to declare myself. 00:07:30.90\00:07:34.93 I was supposed to declare that I believe the Bible was 00:07:34.93\00:07:40.03 the ultimate revelation of God. 00:07:40.03\00:07:43.03 I was shaking with fear, not because I was so 00:07:43.03\00:07:47.10 frightened of my dad's stature and strength. 00:07:47.10\00:07:51.13 At the time I was undefeated karate champion from 00:07:51.13\00:07:56.33 Croatia, I was preparing for a world champion 00:07:56.33\00:08:01.50 competition just as much as European. 00:08:01.50\00:08:03.96 I was not frightened of my fathers fists, but that day 00:08:03.96\00:08:10.73 I decided I would surrender my pride, my strength, 00:08:10.73\00:08:17.36 my ability to defend myself and declare that Jesus was 00:08:17.36\00:08:23.93 indeed my God and my Savior. 00:08:23.93\00:08:27.50 I knew the gravity of the situation, 00:08:27.50\00:08:31.10 it could cost my life. 00:08:31.10\00:08:33.43 Trembling and crying I made the decision I would not 00:08:33.43\00:08:40.50 fight my dad or defend myself in any way. 00:08:40.50\00:08:45.66 If I perish I perish were my thoughts. 00:08:45.66\00:08:50.76 I have nothing to hide, Jesus was too great to be 00:08:50.76\00:08:56.46 ashamed of and besides it was His job to protect me 00:08:56.46\00:09:02.13 as His child. 00:09:02.13\00:09:03.90 So I told my dad what I believed. 00:09:03.90\00:09:07.10 With a silent quiet voice I said yes dad I believe Jesus is God. 00:09:07.10\00:09:12.90 Suddenly with streams of curses 00:09:16.30\00:09:20.50 he stepped backwards and I saw 00:09:20.50\00:09:24.60 that he was just trying to gain further leverage for 00:09:24.60\00:09:31.46 what was about to happen. 00:09:31.46\00:09:34.53 The next thing I saw was his fist flying towards my 00:09:34.53\00:09:38.33 face, I anticipated a full blow, 00:09:38.33\00:09:42.90 but it never reached me. 00:09:42.90\00:09:45.96 His fist flying through the mid air just stopped, 00:09:45.96\00:09:51.76 and as he struggled to push further towards me, 00:09:53.36\00:09:56.66 he couldn't move. 00:09:56.66\00:09:59.16 Then he stepped back and tried again and his fist 00:09:59.16\00:10:05.26 wouldn't go any further. 00:10:05.26\00:10:07.43 In his confusion, he tried again to punch me, 00:10:07.43\00:10:10.93 but the same happened again. 00:10:10.93\00:10:13.53 He could not do it, not because he was sorry for me, 00:10:13.53\00:10:19.46 but because his fist was stopped by an unseen hand. 00:10:19.46\00:10:26.36 While this was happening, I recalled Psalm 57:4 00:10:26.36\00:10:31.53 promising protection of God's angels to those 00:10:31.53\00:10:36.66 who fear God. 00:10:36.66\00:10:38.30 I heard a voice saying to me, there are three lines 00:10:38.30\00:10:42.30 of Angels standing around you, encamping around you 00:10:42.30\00:10:46.23 and your father will not harm you. 00:10:46.23\00:10:49.40 Diabolically angry my dad started spitting at me 00:10:49.40\00:10:53.96 but he couldn't reach me. 00:10:53.96\00:10:55.86 And while he was shouting the whole house got up, 00:10:55.86\00:11:00.30 my three sisters, two brothers, my mother came in. 00:11:00.30\00:11:04.70 There was a big argument in the room. 00:11:04.70\00:11:07.13 I was just praying and shaking, this time not in fear, 00:11:07.13\00:11:10.63 but praying for my family. 00:11:10.63\00:11:13.46 I was frightened that the Lord would bring the ceiling 00:11:13.46\00:11:15.73 down and they would perish like those in the 00:11:15.73\00:11:18.50 Philistines Temple with Samson. 00:11:18.50\00:11:22.23 I had to pray for them and the Lord was merciful. 00:11:22.23\00:11:27.33 The last words that I heard that day was the shouting 00:11:27.33\00:11:32.50 of my father saying, that I should never again come 00:11:32.50\00:11:37.66 back home and be part of the family. 00:11:37.66\00:11:42.10 But how did all this story start? 00:11:42.10\00:11:46.50 I was born into a Muslim family, into a liberal 00:11:46.50\00:11:50.16 Muslim family as a second of six children in Zagreb, Croatia. 00:11:50.16\00:11:55.83 My parents were very hard working parents, very loving. 00:11:55.83\00:12:01.46 They were very sacrificial. 00:12:01.46\00:12:03.63 I was brought up in a socialistic country where 00:12:03.63\00:12:08.16 religion was ridiculed, but my father took time to 00:12:08.16\00:12:12.76 instruct us as children to be proud of our Islamic 00:12:12.76\00:12:17.26 origin, and be proud of our lifestyle and our religion. 00:12:17.26\00:12:22.93 As a child in elementary school I used every opportunity 00:12:22.93\00:12:28.40 to witness to my schoolmates and my teachers, although no 00:12:28.40\00:12:33.80 one could understand what I was 00:12:33.80\00:12:35.66 all about, I felt very, very special. 00:12:35.66\00:12:38.56 I felt I was a child of God. 00:12:38.56\00:12:41.30 It was only later, as a teenager, my father started 00:12:41.30\00:12:46.16 being more strict on us. 00:12:46.16\00:12:48.40 He didn't want us mixing with so-called 00:12:48.40\00:12:51.30 Christian youth, although very few people in Croatia 00:12:51.30\00:12:54.56 at the time were truly Christian. 00:12:54.56\00:12:57.93 He imposed lots of rules on us. 00:12:57.93\00:13:01.23 What I didn't like as a person, I didn't like rules 00:13:01.23\00:13:05.90 without meaning, I didn't like rules without explanation. 00:13:05.90\00:13:09.93 So slowly in my heart I started rebelling against my 00:13:09.93\00:13:13.30 father's religion. 00:13:13.30\00:13:15.10 As a teenager I developed an intense interest in 00:13:15.10\00:13:19.06 philosophy, fine arts and poetry. 00:13:19.06\00:13:21.90 I dreamt of being a fine artist and while studying the 00:13:21.90\00:13:27.20 history of art, I got amused by seeing that most of the 00:13:27.20\00:13:32.50 art actually depicts Christianity. 00:13:32.50\00:13:36.26 Up to 19th century, all the European art mainly, just 00:13:36.26\00:13:40.66 tells the story of Jesus, the story of Christianity. 00:13:40.66\00:13:45.03 That was the time when I became interested in 00:13:45.03\00:13:47.80 Christianity, not because I wanted to be a Christian, 00:13:47.80\00:13:50.40 but because I wanted to be an intellectual. 00:13:50.40\00:13:53.00 I wanted to know more about things. 00:13:53.00\00:13:54.90 It wasn't just art, it was the reading that was 00:13:56.16\00:14:00.63 unsupervised, the more I read, the more my interest in 00:14:00.63\00:14:05.00 some deviant subjects grew. 00:14:05.00\00:14:07.03 The more my interest in them grew, the more I read. 00:14:07.03\00:14:12.20 It was like a vicious circle. 00:14:12.20\00:14:13.93 It was an exciting cycle for a growing teenager trying 00:14:13.93\00:14:17.53 to make sense of the world. 00:14:17.53\00:14:19.36 Looking back it was definitely my rebellion against 00:14:19.36\00:14:22.50 the tight fist of my father's rule, his religion, 00:14:22.50\00:14:25.60 and his occasionally vary despotic headship 00:14:25.60\00:14:29.90 in our home. 00:14:29.90\00:14:31.23 My mother at the time became, I'm talking as a 00:14:31.23\00:14:34.56 14-year-old, I made a martyr for myself. 00:14:34.56\00:14:37.96 I would do anything, whatever I desired, shamelessly 00:14:37.96\00:14:43.30 and fearlessly and at the time I knew very little that 00:14:43.30\00:14:48.56 this was truly a description of Satan. 00:14:48.56\00:14:53.33 It made more sense to me to live absurd life as an 00:14:53.33\00:14:58.93 atheist devoid of any meaning to be enslaved by a 00:14:58.93\00:15:04.50 stupefying nonsense religion. 00:15:04.50\00:15:07.30 As a result I chose to immerse myself in alternative 00:15:07.30\00:15:11.36 rock music scene and spend many hours listening to 00:15:11.36\00:15:15.36 music that glorified disturbed thoughts and emotions. 00:15:15.36\00:15:20.80 This trend continued until my university years at which 00:15:23.30\00:15:27.83 I was given a new ultimatum. 00:15:27.83\00:15:30.10 My father said I had to choose between fine arts and 00:15:30.10\00:15:33.20 my rocketing karate career. 00:15:33.20\00:15:36.70 I was happy to leave karate, I really wanted to study art, 00:15:36.70\00:15:42.53 but before I left my karate club I met a friend 00:15:42.53\00:15:48.30 with a very special person who at the time an art student. 00:15:48.30\00:15:52.40 You see when we talk about art, maybe in America, 00:15:52.40\00:15:56.26 or even in England, many people can study art here. 00:15:56.26\00:16:00.26 But in Croatia, out of the whole country, only 12 00:16:00.26\00:16:03.80 people would be selected after rigorous examination 00:16:03.80\00:16:07.30 to become an art student. 00:16:07.30\00:16:09.43 It was something very difficult to achieve. 00:16:09.43\00:16:11.96 A very, very high level of Excellency. 00:16:11.96\00:16:14.50 I needed lots of support, my family wasn't interested 00:16:14.50\00:16:17.63 in supporting me in my art career. 00:16:17.63\00:16:21.13 So once I made friends with this friend from the karate 00:16:21.13\00:16:25.50 club, he offered me art lessons in his studio. 00:16:25.50\00:16:28.10 I was overwhelmed and we became really good friends. 00:16:28.10\00:16:31.40 But what was very interesting in this friendship, 00:16:31.40\00:16:34.76 is that this person not only trained me in art, 00:16:34.76\00:16:38.16 but actually started slowly questioning all my 00:16:38.16\00:16:41.53 atheistic views on a daily basis. 00:16:41.53\00:16:44.66 He wasn't very polite and he wasn't very tolerant of 00:16:44.66\00:16:50.03 my views, he would just question me, and question me 00:16:50.03\00:16:54.46 systematically and in each discussion on spiritual things, 00:16:54.46\00:16:58.83 he would usually win and defeat 00:16:58.83\00:17:01.86 all my arguments. 00:17:01.86\00:17:03.53 So after some time studying in his studio I learned 00:17:03.53\00:17:07.00 to be quiet. 00:17:07.00\00:17:08.73 It wasn't just him being so well-versed in defeating 00:17:08.73\00:17:14.43 my views, I noticed that in that particular art studio 00:17:14.43\00:17:19.20 there was another teacher who was an ex-Catholic monk. 00:17:19.20\00:17:23.93 These people were truly in love with Jesus. 00:17:23.93\00:17:26.93 Every day they would talk about how he lived with His 00:17:26.93\00:17:30.53 disciples and about His teachings. 00:17:30.53\00:17:32.56 Slowly I started listening to their conversations. 00:17:32.56\00:17:36.03 I still wasn't interested in any religion or spiritual 00:17:36.03\00:17:39.63 matters, I just wanted to be as nature says, God is dead. 00:17:39.63\00:17:44.20 I wanted to be like in?, a person that would be a genius 00:17:44.20\00:17:48.76 in my own field, a very self fulfilled person. 00:17:48.76\00:17:52.36 Once we had a visitor, he was a Catholic theologian 00:17:55.23\00:17:59.50 student and I remember I was struggling painting some 00:17:59.50\00:18:03.90 still nature, and as I was painting I heard this young 00:18:03.90\00:18:08.26 man quoting something from the New Testament. 00:18:08.26\00:18:12.20 It was the first chapter from the book of John about 00:18:12.20\00:18:16.70 Jesus becoming flesh, the word of God. 00:18:16.70\00:18:21.73 As I was staring at his strange beaming face, 00:18:21.73\00:18:26.66 I wondered how an intelligent person can believe 00:18:26.66\00:18:31.56 in something so strange. 00:18:31.56\00:18:34.16 As I was listening to him, suddenly a very overwhelming 00:18:34.16\00:18:39.60 feeling came upon me, and for a second I surprised 00:18:39.60\00:18:43.93 myself thinking, I would like to have such a faith. 00:18:43.93\00:18:48.06 I would like to be so truly devoted to something so 00:18:48.06\00:18:52.16 noble like God. 00:18:52.16\00:18:55.70 God answered my prayer. 00:18:55.70\00:18:59.43 I started reading the New Testament, 00:18:59.43\00:19:01.60 I still didn't want to be a Christian. 00:19:01.60\00:19:03.70 I wasn't interested in Christianity to learn. 00:19:03.70\00:19:07.00 I just wanted to get a few references. 00:19:07.00\00:19:10.00 While I was reading the shortest gospel in the New Testament. 00:19:10.00\00:19:14.40 I found more and more information about Jesus. 00:19:14.40\00:19:19.40 I found that He was a strange person. 00:19:19.40\00:19:21.50 He was extremely kind, extremely helpful, worked 00:19:21.50\00:19:26.06 miracles, but what puzzles me the most is when I read 00:19:26.06\00:19:30.43 verses about Him dying on a cross. 00:19:30.43\00:19:33.56 When the captain of the Roman guard, who was standing in 00:19:35.20\00:19:38.56 front of the cross and saw everything happening. 00:19:38.56\00:19:41.83 The way Jesus died, he said with conviction, 00:19:41.83\00:19:45.10 this man was truly the Son of God. 00:19:45.10\00:19:48.70 When I read these words, suddenly something pierced 00:19:48.70\00:19:54.13 my heart, I didn't pray, no one was there with me to 00:19:54.13\00:19:59.20 instruct me, but the gift of faith, the miracle of 00:19:59.20\00:20:04.63 faith, penetrated my mind and I said together with the 00:20:04.63\00:20:09.73 Roman commander, truly this man is the Son of God. 00:20:09.73\00:20:15.23 Secretly, without anyone knowing in my heart I became 00:20:15.23\00:20:20.73 a Christian, what a miracle. 00:20:20.73\00:20:26.10 But my life didn't change, I was still a proud, 00:20:27.80\00:20:31.76 rebellious, unsanctified, prone to sin and attracted to 00:20:31.76\00:20:37.40 anything evil and interesting person. 00:20:37.40\00:20:40.56 It took three years for me to come across a friend at 00:20:40.56\00:20:46.30 my university who was a visitor from an Adventist 00:20:46.30\00:20:51.96 church to start thinking deeper and talk more about the 00:20:51.96\00:20:56.63 Christian faith. 00:20:56.63\00:20:58.46 This friend of mine spent many hours trying to talk to 00:20:58.46\00:21:02.93 me about the Bible. 00:21:02.93\00:21:04.73 It was very difficult to talk to me because I was a 00:21:04.73\00:21:08.36 person who was very much, at the time, into New Age. 00:21:08.36\00:21:12.66 I would go to different New Age sessions because I was 00:21:12.66\00:21:16.90 really interested in spiritual matters. 00:21:16.90\00:21:19.73 Anytime when I had a struggle with, either with health, 00:21:21.83\00:21:26.46 or any deeper issues, I always suffered from lack of 00:21:26.46\00:21:31.03 faith, I never had faith to pray to God. 00:21:31.03\00:21:34.00 I always thought that God would never answer my prayers 00:21:34.00\00:21:38.50 because although I believed in Him, I believed in 00:21:38.50\00:21:41.43 Jesus, I never thought Jesus would actually 00:21:41.43\00:21:43.83 answer my prayers. 00:21:43.83\00:21:45.33 Anyway I was living with a guy who was sort of a fiancé, 00:21:45.33\00:21:50.70 but it wasn't really that way. 00:21:50.70\00:21:53.96 I was a professional liar. 00:21:53.96\00:21:57.20 My parents never knew what I was doing. 00:21:57.20\00:22:02.40 I lived a double life, I was academically excellent 00:22:02.40\00:22:06.60 but in my heart was very disrespectful. 00:22:06.60\00:22:11.60 I hated drugs and alcohol, but because my boyfriend 00:22:11.60\00:22:16.76 was doing it, eventually I started doing it. 00:22:16.76\00:22:20.80 It was just a vicious circle. 00:22:20.80\00:22:24.86 So from time to time, just release our conscience, 00:22:24.86\00:22:29.50 we would together go and attend some spiritual séances 00:22:29.50\00:22:34.06 or enlightening seminars. 00:22:34.06\00:22:40.30 First of all I started meditating. 00:22:40.30\00:22:44.06 At that time I worked during the summer to earn some 00:22:44.06\00:22:47.20 money, I was a student so I started making money 00:22:47.20\00:22:50.30 as a lifeguard. 00:22:50.30\00:22:51.80 Working as a lifeguard is sometimes a bit challenging 00:22:51.80\00:22:55.26 because the weather can change and you are all the time 00:22:55.26\00:22:58.70 in wet clothes and as a girl 00:22:58.70\00:23:01.70 I just started getting sickly. 00:23:01.70\00:23:04.60 I was going to my doctor and they said to me that I had 00:23:04.60\00:23:10.00 some chronic problems and there was nothing they 00:23:10.00\00:23:13.33 could do for me. 00:23:13.33\00:23:15.80 I was quite devastated at the time and even thought 00:23:15.80\00:23:19.40 that I might have some life consequences, that I might 00:23:19.40\00:23:23.20 not be able to have children and things like that. 00:23:23.20\00:23:26.96 It was quite scary. 00:23:26.96\00:23:29.23 I remember coming from a hospital and was quite upset. 00:23:29.23\00:23:34.00 A thought came to me, why don't you pray about your 00:23:34.00\00:23:38.73 problems, why don't you talk to God? 00:23:38.73\00:23:40.73 But I couldn't talk to God, I thought I am to evil. 00:23:40.73\00:23:46.16 I am just evil, how can I pray to God? 00:23:46.16\00:23:49.66 Suddenly I dismissed that thought about prayer and as 00:23:49.66\00:23:54.23 I was walking by a newspaper shop, I was like pulled 00:23:54.23\00:23:58.70 into that shop and picked up this spiritualistic 00:23:58.70\00:24:03.13 magazine "The Third Eye". 00:24:03.13\00:24:06.16 It sounds really yucky, but I picked it and went home 00:24:06.16\00:24:09.80 and with thinking why did I buy, why do I need it? 00:24:09.80\00:24:13.36 I was drawn to it, it was just incredible. 00:24:13.36\00:24:17.46 As I was flipping the pages I came across this guy 00:24:17.46\00:24:21.13 with the turban and he was like a healer. 00:24:21.13\00:24:24.43 I decided to try it, to meditate. 00:24:24.43\00:24:26.83 I would meditate twice a day and once as I meditated, 00:24:26.83\00:24:32.46 suddenly something started happening to me. 00:24:32.46\00:24:36.76 The usual experience something like electrical currents 00:24:36.76\00:24:41.36 flowing through my limbs. 00:24:41.36\00:24:43.20 I would see different color rays of light coming out 00:24:43.20\00:24:46.73 of the picture straight onto my face and body. 00:24:46.73\00:24:50.90 Once as they stared at this picture at friends 00:24:50.90\00:24:55.03 apartment I fell into a strange trance. 00:24:55.03\00:24:57.83 I completely became possessed. 00:24:57.83\00:25:01.26 I lost my sight, I didn't have the speech power, 00:25:01.26\00:25:05.63 I couldn't see, I couldn't speak, I couldn't feel, 00:25:05.63\00:25:09.60 I was just translated into another spiritual realm. 00:25:09.60\00:25:14.03 Around me there were rings of light going up and down. 00:25:14.03\00:25:18.96 I was completely imprisoned and in my mind that was 00:25:18.96\00:25:23.86 the only little bit of me that was still me. 00:25:23.86\00:25:27.43 I was screaming in fear, and while screaming in fear 00:25:27.43\00:25:31.50 how can I be saved, relieved from this? 00:25:31.50\00:25:35.93 Suddenly a calm thought came that wasn't mine. 00:25:35.93\00:25:40.50 Only prayer to God can bring you back. 00:25:40.50\00:25:43.46 Only prayer to God can heal you from this state. 00:25:43.46\00:25:47.33 I took it seriously, I just started praying, any 00:25:47.33\00:25:51.10 prayer, any Arabic prayer I ever heard from Hail Mary, 00:25:51.10\00:25:57.46 and finally I settled on the Lord's prayer. 00:25:57.46\00:26:02.00 It was serious, I was not there anymore. 00:26:02.00\00:26:06.46 If I didn't pray that day I would have ended up in a 00:26:06.46\00:26:10.40 mental hospital and who knows maybe never recovered. 00:26:10.40\00:26:14.23 But as I prayed the Lord's prayer, it was like a 00:26:14.23\00:26:18.03 drumming on a drum. 00:26:18.03\00:26:19.86 Every word has such a meaning for me. 00:26:19.86\00:26:23.63 As I prayed, slowly my condition got better and better. 00:26:23.63\00:26:32.23 My senses returned and I recovered. 00:26:32.23\00:26:37.76 I couldn't speak for about two hours and 00:26:37.76\00:26:40.70 I couldn't walk. 00:26:40.70\00:26:42.30 Someone would think I learned a lesson through that 00:26:42.30\00:26:45.26 experience, but unfortunately I haven't. 00:26:45.26\00:26:48.40 Very soon after I was persuaded by my delightful fiancé 00:26:48.40\00:26:53.33 to go on another spiritual experience of this kind. 00:26:53.33\00:26:58.16 Again looking for a great spiritual enhancement. 00:26:58.16\00:27:03.06 We went to another session where we were supposed to 00:27:03.06\00:27:07.96 meditate, it's called like a speech meditation. 00:27:07.96\00:27:12.50 You sit in a team and have a meditational partner. 00:27:12.50\00:27:17.03 You just speak out anything that comes to your mind. 00:27:17.03\00:27:20.90 Anything, it doesn't matter how awful or how nice 00:27:20.90\00:27:24.76 or anything, you just speak it out. 00:27:24.76\00:27:26.90 After so many sessions you just change partners, 00:27:26.90\00:27:30.16 five minutes you speak, five minutes the 00:27:30.16\00:27:32.93 other person speaks. 00:27:32.93\00:27:34.20 After three days you completely freak out. 00:27:34.20\00:27:37.00 Your brain goes completely numb. 00:27:37.00\00:27:39.76 You have nothing else to think about and nothing else 00:27:39.76\00:27:43.53 to say, you become like an empty box. 00:27:43.53\00:27:47.00 The meditational question that we were meditating on 00:27:47.00\00:27:51.26 is Discover who you are, experience who you are. 00:27:51.26\00:27:55.43 We were searching for the true meaning and essence 00:27:55.43\00:27:59.56 of our own lives. 00:27:59.56\00:28:01.10 This is serious stuff, we even paid 00:28:01.10\00:28:03.10 one hundred of dollars for it. 00:28:03.10\00:28:06.33 As we meditated the third day, each of us, one after 00:28:06.33\00:28:12.40 another we started going into some sort of a trance. 00:28:12.40\00:28:17.93 Suddenly, I had this vision of myself sitting in a 00:28:17.93\00:28:22.70 Yogi position and the tree was in the same color, 00:28:22.70\00:28:27.10 and I was the same color, and suddenly I heard the 00:28:27.10\00:28:31.46 revelation of who I truly was. 00:28:31.46\00:28:34.20 It was implanted into my mind, you are who you are. 00:28:34.20\00:28:38.80 You are, I am. 00:28:38.80\00:28:42.30 Wow, I am God, that is what I heard and that is 00:28:42.30\00:28:50.03 what I experienced. 00:28:50.03\00:28:51.80 After we left that session, although we became gods, 00:28:51.80\00:28:56.53 supposedly, my boyfriend became a heroine addict. 00:28:56.53\00:29:00.93 Other people who had attended this seminar ended up 00:29:00.93\00:29:05.26 in divorces and some other strange lifestyles. 00:29:05.26\00:29:12.56 I became very deeply disturbed and depressed. 00:29:12.56\00:29:19.76 I decided to put aside all these spiritualistic nonsense 00:29:19.76\00:29:26.96 and I decided to read the Koran. 00:29:26.96\00:29:30.60 I wanted to find out the truth about God, because it 00:29:30.60\00:29:34.70 didn't seem quite true that I was God myself. 00:29:34.70\00:29:38.96 That was the time when my friend from the Uni, 00:29:38.96\00:29:43.16 who attended a Seventh-day Adventist church invited me 00:29:43.16\00:29:48.16 to meet a lady who became a Christian through a series 00:29:48.16\00:29:53.13 of dreams. 00:29:53.13\00:29:55.03 At that time I knew very little about Muslim people who 00:29:55.03\00:29:58.80 became Christians. 00:29:58.80\00:30:00.33 I didn't know that it usually takes a miraculous healing 00:30:00.33\00:30:06.90 or dreams, a miraculous God-given dreams for them to 00:30:06.90\00:30:12.06 change from their beliefs, and their faith, to a 00:30:12.06\00:30:17.16 Christian faith. 00:30:17.16\00:30:18.76 I was just intrigued, oh another person who has a 00:30:18.76\00:30:22.30 spiritual experience was going and see and hear 00:30:22.30\00:30:25.76 the lady. 00:30:25.76\00:30:27.06 I had this lightheaded attitude and there we went. 00:30:27.06\00:30:31.96 To my surprise, when this lady started talking about 00:30:31.96\00:30:36.36 her life, it turned out to be a very heartbreaking 00:30:36.36\00:30:40.70 experience, she had a very difficult life. 00:30:40.70\00:30:43.36 In many different points, because she is coming from 00:30:43.36\00:30:46.63 a Muslim background, with a similar lifestyle I could 00:30:46.63\00:30:49.83 identify myself. 00:30:49.83\00:30:51.80 I was really touched, but when she started talking 00:30:51.80\00:30:54.63 about spiritual things and how she nearly committed 00:30:54.63\00:30:58.06 suicide, how she cried to God, she was forced into, 00:30:58.06\00:31:01.46 how do you call those marriages? 00:31:01.46\00:31:05.76 Prearranged marriage, yes she was to be forced into 00:31:05.76\00:31:09.60 an arranged marriage with some Albanian guy she never 00:31:09.60\00:31:13.36 saw before. 00:31:13.36\00:31:15.00 She ran away and jumped from a second-floor apartment 00:31:15.00\00:31:19.73 and barely survived it and then ran away from home. 00:31:19.73\00:31:24.10 She was a student with no means and ended up in Germany 00:31:24.10\00:31:28.43 looking for a job. 00:31:28.43\00:31:30.30 She had a really extremely hard life. 00:31:30.30\00:31:32.70 She was sleeping on the streets in a park. 00:31:32.70\00:31:36.20 A well educated, very nice young woman, but destitute. 00:31:36.20\00:31:41.66 As she cried to God, after thinking about committing 00:31:41.66\00:31:46.10 suicide, the Lord gave her a series of dreams in which 00:31:46.10\00:31:50.60 she saw Jesus revealing Himself to her as the way, 00:31:50.60\00:31:55.10 the truth, and the life. 00:31:55.10\00:31:56.73 Then she had another dream where God pointed to her, 00:31:56.73\00:32:00.50 she needed to go and find the holy Scriptures. 00:32:00.50\00:32:02.96 She did know about the Bible and the holy Scriptures 00:32:02.96\00:32:04.90 were the same thing. 00:32:04.90\00:32:06.46 This is how us Muslim people can sometimes 00:32:06.46\00:32:08.63 be quite duff. 00:32:08.63\00:32:11.43 Then the third thing she also dreamt was about God saying 00:32:11.43\00:32:15.80 to her that she needs to be baptized, she was 00:32:15.80\00:32:18.23 nearly killed in a dream, literally suffocated. 00:32:18.23\00:32:22.50 Then she had another dream where God revealed her 00:32:22.50\00:32:26.73 that she needs to find a church that keeps the Sabbath 00:32:26.73\00:32:30.56 holy, and that was really difficult thing to do. 00:32:30.56\00:32:34.26 You try going around your city looking for a church 00:32:34.26\00:32:37.90 that keeps the Sabbath holy. 00:32:37.90\00:32:39.80 Quite a tedious task. 00:32:39.80\00:32:42.00 So after I heard all these testimonies, I was really 00:32:42.00\00:32:49.03 shocked, then she didn't stop. 00:32:49.03\00:32:52.10 It was about four hour encounter. 00:32:52.10\00:32:54.86 She told us about some basic Bible doctrines. 00:32:54.86\00:32:58.36 She told about falling into sin, about how Jesus 00:32:58.36\00:33:03.63 is the only one who can save us, the state of dead, 00:33:03.63\00:33:08.53 I think I had about five Bible studies that evening. 00:33:08.53\00:33:13.43 It was so overwhelming, I didn't like the things that 00:33:13.43\00:33:18.30 she was saying, some of them I actually hated. 00:33:18.30\00:33:21.56 I really didn't like them, would you like to be told 00:33:21.56\00:33:25.30 that all your family, all your faith group, 00:33:25.30\00:33:28.36 is just doomed? 00:33:28.36\00:33:30.56 You don't know your Savior, you don't know God, 00:33:30.56\00:33:33.93 your sins are not forgiven, would you like that? 00:33:33.93\00:33:37.66 I didn't, but nevertheless, in my mind as she was 00:33:37.66\00:33:41.93 speaking very kindly, very convinced, the Holy Spirit 00:33:41.93\00:33:46.16 was flashing all the time. 00:33:46.16\00:33:49.30 Everything this woman is saying, no matter how much 00:33:49.30\00:33:51.70 you hate it, it is true. 00:33:51.70\00:33:54.43 I was convinced that she was saying truth regardless 00:33:54.43\00:34:00.46 of how I felt about it. 00:34:00.46\00:34:03.00 We departed and she gave us a kiss and said she would 00:34:03.00\00:34:06.43 pray for us that at least one of those three would be 00:34:06.43\00:34:09.83 saved, that was a really hard thing to say. 00:34:09.83\00:34:14.26 It made me cry, no one ever prayed for me. 00:34:14.26\00:34:19.90 She said she would pray one of us get saved. 00:34:19.90\00:34:25.46 After I left, I was so touched, I was so perplexed, 00:34:25.46\00:34:33.23 I just wanted to see God Himself. 00:34:33.23\00:34:36.86 I went home praying and that day I got so sick I 00:34:36.86\00:34:40.83 couldn't breathe. 00:34:40.83\00:34:42.23 I asked my boyfriend to find a Bible in the house and 00:34:42.23\00:34:45.83 he got a very thick one. 00:34:45.83\00:34:47.76 It wasn't a proper Bible, but I shoved it under my 00:34:47.76\00:34:51.76 pillow and I prayed and said, God don't let me die. 00:34:51.76\00:34:55.70 At least I want to know who You are. 00:34:55.70\00:34:58.66 After that day, I survived obviously. 00:34:58.66\00:35:01.60 From that day onwards, 00:35:01.60\00:35:04.40 I prayed everyday, Lord 00:35:04.40\00:35:06.96 reveal Yourself to me. 00:35:06.96\00:35:09.43 You worked a miracle for that woman, You have to work 00:35:09.43\00:35:13.56 a miracle for me. 00:35:13.56\00:35:15.50 I can't go to my family, I can't go to my friends 00:35:15.50\00:35:18.56 saying I believe because someone else told me. 00:35:18.56\00:35:21.60 I need to know it for myself from You. 00:35:21.60\00:35:25.00 I've already chose the wrong boyfriend, I thought I 00:35:25.00\00:35:28.40 had great taste, but I always chose the wrong one. 00:35:28.40\00:35:32.86 I came to the point to realize that I can't really 00:35:32.86\00:35:37.30 trust my ability to make a good choice. 00:35:37.30\00:35:40.80 I tried just choose my spirituality, I always made the 00:35:40.80\00:35:45.56 wrong choice, so I just put it back to God. 00:35:45.56\00:35:48.90 I sit if You really exist, You have to make a choice 00:35:48.90\00:35:53.73 for me, and You have to make that choice clear. 00:35:53.73\00:35:56.26 I have to know who You are, Mohammed's, 00:35:56.26\00:35:58.90 God of Muhammad, who denies the divinity of Jesus? 00:35:58.90\00:36:03.53 Or are You Jesus, God. 00:36:03.53\00:36:07.30 Is the Bible the true way I should follow? 00:36:07.30\00:36:09.56 Or the Koran? 00:36:09.56\00:36:11.53 As the result of this simple, simple prayer remember 00:36:11.53\00:36:16.90 I am still living with the boyfriend. 00:36:16.90\00:36:18.90 I am not a very good girl, but I am praying to God. 00:36:18.90\00:36:24.96 God answers the prayer. 00:36:24.96\00:36:27.76 One night suddenly I had this strange dream. 00:36:27.76\00:36:32.30 In the darkness I was just perplexed, what is life 00:36:32.30\00:36:36.83 about? Constant meaning of what is life about? 00:36:36.83\00:36:41.33 What is my life about? 00:36:41.33\00:36:42.96 Do I have a purpose in life? 00:36:42.96\00:36:44.73 Suddenly I can see a little speck of light and that 00:36:44.73\00:36:48.23 spec of light is coming closer and closer. 00:36:48.23\00:36:50.56 Suddenly it becomes a huge covering city, beautiful, 00:36:50.56\00:36:56.56 shining, Golden Fortress. 00:36:56.56\00:37:01.90 Then the Fortress opens up and the light beam is even 00:37:01.90\00:37:06.60 brighter and somewhere in the middle of that light, 00:37:06.60\00:37:11.23 right in front of me is a simple pulpit. 00:37:11.23\00:37:14.53 Just like this one, simple one. 00:37:14.53\00:37:16.93 There was a book on top of the pulpit, on top of the 00:37:16.93\00:37:22.50 stand and I hear a voice go and read it is for your 00:37:22.50\00:37:28.06 salvation. 00:37:28.06\00:37:29.60 The voice did not order, it did not beg, it just told 00:37:29.60\00:37:34.60 me what to do. 00:37:34.60\00:37:36.26 I came closer, and I looked at the pages. 00:37:36.26\00:37:40.13 It wasn't Koran, it wasn't anything else, 00:37:40.13\00:37:44.00 it was the Bible. 00:37:44.00\00:37:46.70 As I looked at its open pages of the Bible, every 00:37:46.70\00:37:51.73 letter was shining like gold, like precious gold 00:37:51.73\00:37:56.70 gleaming, beaming as if it was alive. 00:37:56.70\00:37:58.93 I tried to read, it surrounded me, I can't tell you 00:37:58.93\00:38:03.26 what book it was, I have no idea which page it was. 00:38:03.26\00:38:07.56 As I tried to read my eyes started to water. 00:38:07.56\00:38:11.73 I became annoyed, strangely annoyed in the presence of 00:38:11.73\00:38:18.06 God revealing His truth, His way, I became annoyed. 00:38:18.06\00:38:24.36 I said Jesus, why do I have to read this book? 00:38:24.36\00:38:28.60 Can't it be just between me and You? 00:38:28.60\00:38:31.63 I would serve You, I can see You are God. 00:38:31.63\00:38:34.23 But no, I had to read. 00:38:34.23\00:38:37.60 As an answer to my question the Lord gave me another 00:38:37.60\00:38:41.90 vision, suddenly I just, because I believe that if 00:38:41.90\00:38:46.10 God just cleanses my soul from all my sins, that will be it. 00:38:46.10\00:38:51.76 I eternally His and that is just it. 00:38:51.76\00:38:55.46 God gave me a second vision. 00:38:55.46\00:38:58.10 The vision was who truly I was. 00:38:58.10\00:39:00.70 What I saw is difficult to explain. 00:39:02.40\00:39:07.33 I saw a black hole with no life, with no light, 00:39:07.33\00:39:14.96 with no feelings, I saw death. 00:39:14.96\00:39:19.83 How do you explain eternal death? 00:39:19.83\00:39:24.90 You just scream, so I screamed. 00:39:24.90\00:39:29.86 I woke up, I screamed and I realized that what Jesus 00:39:29.86\00:39:36.30 said, let dead people bury their dead, you can be alive 00:39:36.30\00:39:41.20 you can love, you can go into motions but you can be 00:39:41.20\00:39:46.06 spiritually dead, and I was that person. 00:39:46.06\00:39:50.23 I was spiritually dead. 00:39:50.23\00:39:51.86 That was the night when I surrendered my life to Jesus. 00:39:51.86\00:39:56.50 That was the night when I figured out that only through 00:39:56.50\00:40:01.10 reading the Bible, trusting His word, 00:40:01.10\00:40:05.16 that life will remain in me. 00:40:05.16\00:40:10.10 This is when my parents slowly started finding some 00:40:13.30\00:40:22.00 changes in me. 00:40:22.00\00:40:24.83 From a very rebellious young person I became a very 00:40:24.83\00:40:30.56 willing person because God loved me, I became a 00:40:30.56\00:40:36.26 loving person. 00:40:36.26\00:40:38.03 Because God forgave me, I became a forgiving person. 00:40:38.03\00:40:43.50 My parents saw the difference and they noticed my 00:40:43.50\00:40:47.43 interest in Christianity my reading the Bible. 00:40:47.43\00:40:51.30 It takes some time for my father to corner me and to 00:40:51.30\00:40:57.76 challenge me on my faith. 00:40:57.76\00:41:00.26 Ever since I left home, it has been 15 years of 00:41:05.66\00:41:11.20 separation, the words my father said, I will never 00:41:11.20\00:41:16.70 come back to my family house, came true. 00:41:16.70\00:41:20.63 Not exactly that day because as a result of God's 00:41:20.63\00:41:26.13 great patience with my parents, I kept returning home 00:41:26.13\00:41:31.56 every time they expelled me, or kicked me out. 00:41:31.56\00:41:34.00 I kept praying for them and claiming God's promises. 00:41:34.00\00:41:38.10 After that crucial Sabbath morning when the angels 00:41:38.10\00:41:42.23 stopped my father fist in the air, I managed to stay 00:41:42.23\00:41:46.36 another full year and a half in my family. 00:41:46.36\00:41:49.96 I was really stubbornly Christian. 00:41:49.96\00:41:56.03 They tried to bribe me, they tried to marry me, 00:41:56.03\00:42:01.20 they tried to, I don't know. 00:42:01.20\00:42:03.76 My mom would plead, she would speak such soft words 00:42:03.76\00:42:07.83 to try and melt me down. 00:42:07.83\00:42:10.90 She would say how can you trust those people in the 00:42:10.90\00:42:14.90 church, I'm your mother, I love you and gave you life. 00:42:14.90\00:42:18.86 Wouldn't you just be my daughter and not trust them? 00:42:18.86\00:42:22.86 Despite all these sweet words, I always cried and said 00:42:22.86\00:42:27.00 mommy I love you, I know this is difficult for you to 00:42:27.00\00:42:31.10 understand, but I can't dishonor God. 00:42:31.10\00:42:35.30 This is about God, it is not about you, you are my mom 00:42:35.30\00:42:40.43 but I can't dishonor God. 00:42:40.43\00:42:42.86 So eventually my parents gave me ultimatum to choose the 00:42:42.86\00:42:48.43 Christian faith or the Muslim faith and as a result of 00:42:48.43\00:42:51.96 my choice, or shall I say as a result of that choice of 00:42:51.96\00:42:56.06 my parents, I was expelled from the family and there 00:42:56.06\00:42:59.70 has been many years of painful separation from my 00:42:59.70\00:43:03.30 parents and my younger brothers. 00:43:03.30\00:43:05.56 But despite all the hardship it has been an honor to 00:43:05.56\00:43:10.50 suffer persecution for Christ in His great mercy God 00:43:10.50\00:43:15.40 has provided me with many family members in 00:43:15.40\00:43:18.46 the Christian faith, a hundredfold of blessings. 00:43:18.46\00:43:22.93 I will close now. 00:43:25.10\00:43:27.50 In 1997 I studied theology at the Croatia SDA Seminary 00:43:30.46\00:43:34.96 and met many ministerial students who came to preach 00:43:34.96\00:43:39.40 evangelistic series. 00:43:39.40\00:43:41.30 That was my future husband, Alan. 00:43:41.30\00:43:45.16 After knowing him for only one week, he proposed in a 00:43:45.16\00:43:50.60 very bold and strange manner. 00:43:50.60\00:43:53.03 We became friends, the first week he ignored me. 00:43:56.13\00:43:58.63 Actually I just wanted to be friendly and said hello. 00:43:58.63\00:44:03.13 But he never replied, three times. 00:44:03.13\00:44:05.83 Be aware of Englishmen! 00:44:07.83\00:44:10.20 I think you Americans are a little more friendly. 00:44:12.30\00:44:14.13 But then something happened and I had a phone call 00:44:16.90\00:44:23.03 from my ex-fiancé who was well on as a heroin addict. 00:44:23.03\00:44:27.86 Who is actually pleading on the phone with me to come 00:44:27.86\00:44:32.56 and nurse him to his health and he was pleading to leave 00:44:32.56\00:44:37.26 and come and basically marry him. 00:44:37.26\00:44:40.66 It was really hard, I really wanted the best for him. 00:44:44.10\00:44:49.30 And I really love that man, but I made my decision to 00:44:49.30\00:44:54.53 move away from that relationship because it wasn't the 00:44:54.53\00:44:59.76 relationship that God wanted for me to be in. 00:44:59.76\00:45:03.06 There was Alan there as the only person I could pray 00:45:03.06\00:45:07.43 with and as we prayed the Lord that day just broke all 00:45:07.43\00:45:11.83 the chains of my emotional slavery to my past life. 00:45:11.83\00:45:16.16 You see sometimes we can be converted people, 00:45:16.16\00:45:19.63 but we can still be chained with our past. 00:45:19.63\00:45:22.36 You understand what I'm talking about? 00:45:22.36\00:45:25.03 That day the Lord just released me from all that 00:45:25.03\00:45:29.66 emotional baggage and five days later I was proposed 00:45:29.66\00:45:34.53 to, shockingly I thought my husband Alan was either 00:45:34.53\00:45:40.30 terribly desperate, imbalanced, or truly spiritual 00:45:40.30\00:45:46.06 and serious Guy. 00:45:46.06\00:45:47.30 He said we would be good missionary team and I love 00:45:47.30\00:45:53.06 that so I said to him I like you but for anything else 00:45:53.06\00:45:58.80 let's go on our knees and pray. 00:45:58.80\00:46:01.43 The next morning another miracle was done and I really 00:46:01.43\00:46:06.06 felt warmth towards him. 00:46:06.06\00:46:08.63 He left three months later, we were courting through 00:46:08.63\00:46:13.93 Internet e-mails at the time. 00:46:13.93\00:46:17.83 The Lord provided the money for expensive telephone 00:46:17.83\00:46:20.86 calls, I was usually cleaning the church, I was 00:46:20.86\00:46:24.40 teaching as well, so little meager income provided 00:46:24.40\00:46:27.90 the money for the telephone calls. 00:46:27.90\00:46:30.26 Eventually after six months of our courtship we got 00:46:30.26\00:46:34.50 married, ever since we have been blessed. 00:46:34.50\00:46:37.86 Why I am saying this as a sort of a closing, you see being 00:46:37.86\00:46:43.30 persecuted for Christ's sake is a true honor. 00:46:43.30\00:46:47.50 Not many people are, all of us are called to serve and 00:46:47.50\00:46:51.70 to witness for Christ, but some of us will be called. 00:46:51.70\00:46:55.83 This is a calling to go an extra mile. 00:46:55.83\00:47:00.30 Although my parents still do not want to have any contact 00:47:05.83\00:47:09.00 with me or their grandchildren, my husband and I 00:47:09.00\00:47:12.86 continue to pray trusting God's saving grace. 00:47:12.86\00:47:16.66 In my parents eyes I have brought shame to my family, 00:47:16.66\00:47:22.03 but in the eyes of Jesus I'm His witness and 00:47:22.03\00:47:25.63 His shiny beacon. 00:47:25.63\00:47:28.23 It is never time to give in and dishonor God, no matter 00:47:28.23\00:47:34.90 who is begging you to do so. 00:47:34.90\00:47:37.53 Some sacrifices might look impossible to bear, but we 00:47:37.53\00:47:43.33 should remember that it is not our calling to calculate 00:47:43.33\00:47:48.23 the costs, all we have to worry about is to have our 00:47:48.23\00:47:53.16 eyes fixed on the shining face of our loving Savior, 00:47:53.16\00:47:58.10 Jesus Christ. 00:47:58.10\00:48:00.06 I am a miracle of Jesus. 00:48:00.06\00:48:03.83 It's not the miracles that God performs, 00:48:03.83\00:48:09.76 it is the miracles of who we are. 00:48:09.76\00:48:14.63 You are miracle of Jesus, you are miracle of Jesus. 00:48:14.63\00:48:22.46 You are miracle Jesus. 00:48:22.46\00:48:27.43 It is not walking on the water that makes a miracle 00:48:27.43\00:48:34.33 a miracle, it's being faithful to God, keeping His 00:48:34.33\00:48:41.20 commandments, being faithful in small things. 00:48:41.20\00:48:45.10 I would like to make a very short and simple appeal 00:48:45.10\00:48:49.46 in this big crowd of people there are some people among 00:48:49.46\00:48:53.76 you who have been called to suffer for Christ. 00:48:53.76\00:49:00.83 In a very difficult way, some among you who have been 00:49:00.83\00:49:06.66 persecuted and who have experienced severe hardship. 00:49:06.66\00:49:12.40 Could you stand with me please! Could you stand with me please? 00:49:15.30\00:49:21.96 Don't be ashamed, it's a great thing to suffer for 00:49:33.00\00:49:37.56 our Christ Jesus. 00:49:37.56\00:49:39.46 Not all of us have to go through terrible things, 00:49:39.46\00:49:42.53 but some of us are called. 00:49:42.53\00:49:45.10 I will pray and call for a blessing, especially upon 00:49:53.06\00:49:56.93 you, but God will anoint you for your ministry and 00:49:56.93\00:50:00.76 service for His namesake. 00:50:00.76\00:50:03.53 Do not be ashamed, let's pray! 00:50:03.53\00:50:08.30 Please bow your heads, our great and merciful God. 00:50:08.30\00:50:13.33 Dear Jesus you suffered for us so immensely and 00:50:13.33\00:50:18.30 terribly, we can never comprehend what You left to save 00:50:18.30\00:50:24.10 us, and Lord Jesus, in this hall we have people who are 00:50:24.10\00:50:29.63 standing because they are persecuted for Your namesake. 00:50:29.63\00:50:35.10 Lord we are all sinners, we make mistakes, 00:50:35.10\00:50:39.90 we make people mad, we step on people's toes, 00:50:39.90\00:50:44.60 but these people are persecuted because 00:50:44.60\00:50:48.36 of Your namesake. 00:50:48.36\00:50:50.10 In their families, their workplace, the places where 00:50:50.10\00:50:53.50 they minister and are missionaries, I pray for special 00:50:53.50\00:50:56.86 anointing of strength. 00:50:56.86\00:50:59.50 Lord anointed me too, anoint us and we pray especially 00:51:01.56\00:51:06.46 for our families, for those who do not understand why we are 00:51:06.46\00:51:12.83 so strange, why we are so different. 00:51:12.83\00:51:17.00 And Lord may Your blessing reach all the people in our 00:51:17.00\00:51:22.10 families that need to be saved. 00:51:22.10\00:51:24.30 All of our friends and colleagues, in Your glorious 00:51:24.30\00:51:27.63 name we pray and thank you Amen! 00:51:27.63\00:51:30.66