Stories

“… I have been a part of North Mackay Church for 17 years, I was born into the Adventist church and have never left. There have been times when I have faltered, when I have doubted, when I have wanted to give up because the narrow path seemed too hard. But through it all Jesus has been faithful. He has kept me following Him, He started a good work in me and has been faithful to His promise to keep working it until completion at the second coming. I am so grateful to His leading and His grace. Without Him I wouldn’t have anything, I wouldn’t be able to do anything, He is my all in all. I am grateful everyday that I was born into a Christian family, but there comes a time when we all must make the decision to be followers of Jesus, not just church attenders. My passion now is to be a true follower of Jesus, to get covered in dust serving Him, to reach those who don’t know our wonderful Saviour…”

Jess

“…My earliest memories of going to church was when I was five or six I was a member of the Eungella church which consisted of My Mum, Grandma, Dad, Mr Goldhorn and Mr Hess.  My Grandma was the Sabbath school teacher which was great, it made Sabbath school so close to my heart a real family thing. My family moved to Mirani when I was eight and that’s when I started going to North Mackay church, I’ve been a member there ever since. I was baptised by Pastor Frank Gorry in 2001. But since being baptised I have struggled with my faith and fitting into the Adventist community and at times my church. I was baptised young and looking back I was too young I didn’t understand what I was doing and why, and honestly I’d like to say that I’m fine and that I have it all figured out but I don’t, I still struggle with many aspects of my faith and for the few victories I have, I feel like I have more defeats. So what is my testimony, in the last five years I have applied the message of Justification by faith to my life and I no longer worry about how good I am or if I’ll get to heaven, that pressure goes off me and on the cross with Jesus, and my job then becomes wholly and solely to grow a closer relationship with him, and sure I still have defeats but they are slowly becoming less and less. So I want to encourage you all,  don’t look at the members and say, wow I want to be like them or they have it all together, trust me no one is perfect, rather look to Jesus coz that’s where it’s at, and take it from me your defeats will start to turn into victories.  My bible verse that I look to in times of stress or trouble is 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 Each time he said,”My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.    I want to encourage you all to never give up on Christ, because just like me he’ll never give up on you.…”

 Joel