Testimonies

When John and I moved out here from Aylme,r Quebec.  I started hanging around John’s friends wife who was a Christian, and one day she told me the story of Jesus, as she was witnessing to me her face was glowing like Moses was when he came down from the mountain, although I didn’t know anything about the bible yet, I read this later in my walk, I was mesmerized by her face.  I went home and fell on my knees crying out to God to forgive me for my sins and asked Jesus to come into my heart, when I got up, for the first time in my life, I felt clean and I was a new person from that day on.  We went to many different churches looking for Jesus, even tried a home church for awhile and after that broke up, we stayed away from any kind of fellowship for six months.
I talked with John one day and said we need to go to church somewhere or we’re going to die and I suggested the little church on highway 31.   John was not really interested, but I got up Sunday morning with the intent to go and John stayed in bed, while I was getting ready, he heard an audible voice saying Go, it was repeated 3 times, so he got up and we went to Harmony.  For the next three Sundays, every sermon Pastor North preached, touched us in our Spirit, it felt like he was in our home and was aware of our hurt and frustration with churches and Christians in general.   We actually ran out of there the first couple of Sundays because the Holy Spirit convicted us of our sins.  We had never really experienced the power of the Holy Spirit before.  But oh we are so thankful we stuck around to find out what the truth is, and we praise God and thank him for leading us to Harmony.

Donna Vanderwerf

I was asked to give a testimony of how I became a Christian. Being brought up as a Catholic I assumed that I was a Christian, but when I got older I realized it was more than a title; it was a relationship.   The greatest question that I had growing up was why did Jesus die; it was never explained to us as children by our parents or by the priest.  We did not have a Bible and later found out we were not allowed to read the Bible on our own.

It wasn’t until my father was dying of cancer in the hospital in the last few days of his life, he told me to search out the meaning of the book that no one was allowed to read.  I began the greatest new journey in my life that I never looked back on.  You may ask, did it cost me something and I would have to say yes.  Family and friends rejected what we had found; it takes more faith not to believe than to believe in God.

When I started reading God’s Word over the years, it became more and more clear of what a true believer in Christ should be, and I felt that I fell very short of that expectation.  As time went on and the relationship grew, a very new meaning took place in my life. In John Chapter 10 many verses stood out to me, in verse 4 “and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.”

This is something we all need to know; that we have to follow Him, and lean not on our own understanting or listen to what others say, but listen to what God says, In John 10:11 it says, “I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”. After more of an understanding of what following and hearing God’s Word meant, and realizing that I was a sinner and saved by Grace, now knowing that I was a lost sheep and Jesus was my Shepherd and gave His life for me by dying on that cross and bore all my sins there on that Great and Glorious Day.  In verse 27 of John chapter 10 it states, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.”

After much prayer and more reading of the word I came to an understanding, that I needed to be baptized. This, for me, was a public declaration of my love for the One who gave His life for me, like in a marriage to show the one that you hold most dearly for the rest of my life to give my all.

There are a great many verses in the Bible that stand out and if we were to ask those who have read the Word, we would all come up with our own one verse that has captured our feelings of our love for God.  With this in mind, mine is Psalm 27:4. “One this have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple”.  When asked to give a testimony, I still consider it a relationship with the One who gave His life for you and me, and with close to thirty years of being a follower, Matthew 10:32-33 convicted me to confess this.

John Vanderwerf
Elma, ON

The little white country church on the corner. I will be forever grateful for the vision God gave me before I moved back to the Ottawa Valley. I saw this church in a open vision driving through London, Ontario and asking the Lord, “Where will I find a church to go to?” When I saw it, I instantly knew that God had directed me to Harmony.

Before coming to Harmony church, I was lost in the ways of the world. I thought I could handle all situations I was handled with either by myself, or by numbing the pain with the assistance of any substance I could get my hands on. I quickly found myself getting deeper and deeper in the party scene, and was getting deeper and deeper in depression which then made me want to numb the pain. As you see I was caught up in a very vicious cycle. I was living life on my own terms and rebelled against any form of authority.

Then I found myself at Harmony church one morning. An evangelist named David Johnson was a guest speaking that day and the message was all about God being our emergency response crew and being able to help us when we are down and out. That morning the Holy Spirit got a hold of me, spoke to me. Since that day the family here at Harmony has really welcomed me, and made me feel like part of the family. I am blessed to be part of such a wonderful bunch of fellow believers that share the same passion to bring people into the kingdom of God all for His glory and honor.

I look forward to continue to grow as an individual and as a church family with all you. God bless!!

It was my mother’s death 40 years ago that brought me to the Lord. I was devastated beyond belief and for the first time in my life I cried out to God. I asked him, “Is there a heaven and a hell and if there is, where is my mother going?” I sought him and found him not knowing that he had chosen me, Ilsa, before the foundation of the world. God predestined me – adopted me (Ephesians 1). I looked for love in all the wrong places for many years and was “the woman at the well.” I had accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior but was not walking with him – living for him.

In 1999, I moved to Berwick from Thunder Bay. The Lord brought me here, I know, to put me through a wilderness. I knew nobody and became depressed and again called out to my Lord. It was Scott Aspeck that led me to Harmony Church in 1999. I re-dedicated my life to the Lord. I told him I have opened the door and I will not close it again.

The only real thirst quencher is Jesus – the Living Water. John 4:14.