The Kingdom came to Vanier!

TESTIMONY from brother David Cholette

I’ve had it on my heart to visit a sector of Ottawa where the quality of life is left be desired. It is a place where many lives are broken and hurting. The use of drugs and alcohol is more rampant. I had the idea to enter that area and offer a free Bible to anyone who wanted one. At the same time, if someone said ‘yes’, I would start asking questions in order to share the gospel if their curiosity permitted.

One particular person I met was a woman who didn’t see much of a future for herself except to spend the rest of her days wasting away until her time came to leave this earth. A brother felt the need to approach her a second time after she had rejected our offer for a Bible. He had the opportunity to pray for her. She experienced some deliverance right at the entrance of her home, where she fell down and some spirits left her. Suddenly, she could move her neck in such a way that she wasn’t able to do so in a long time. All the pain had left her ! The Gospel was shared with her and she ran to her closet and grabbed an old Bible on a shelf, saying « I need to read this book »!

In the following week, I brought her a box of fruit and vegetables to show her we care, but she was sick that day and we couldn’t really talk with her. We came back again the next week and were able to sit with her and share the Gospel with her again. We ended up spending at least an hour and a half with her going through repentance and baptism. Although she understood what we shared and it made sense to her, she decided to take the next few days to think about what she heard.

On our next visit, we spent some more time with her and shared more about following Jesus. As I spoke a little something about how we are children of God, she immediately stopped me and said,

“Wait, you reminded me of a dream I had recently. In the dream, I saw a bright light, and it spoke to me saying,

‘I see they’ve found you’,

to which I asked,

‘who found me?’

And the voice answered saying,

‘My children found you’”

You can imagine how this touched me immensely. Nevertheless, God had begun something in her already. A few days later, she sent a message saying that she was ready to be baptized. We met up with her again to go over repentance and the cost of following Jesus. Just before her baptism she had doubts as to whether God would accept her or not. We tried to encourage her that He did.

After baptizing her, we began praying for her when suddenly she said, “I see a light!”. We slowed down and asked her what she saw. She saw very close to her face a set of eyes that were staring right into her soul. She felt that everything was made visible and nothing was hidden. All the anxiety she felt before, suddenly left and was replaced by a sense of peace that flooded her soul.

Before her baptism, she doubted God's acceptance of her. After her baptism, she came out saying, “Now I know He has accepted me”. Since then, she has been attending a Disciple Discovery Group. She has also read most the whole New Testament in the last three weeks alone.

A few days following her baptism, she received the gift of the Holy Spirit and began to pray in tongues all on her own in her apartment!

I am so thankful for such stories of how God works in a person’s life. It is very rewarding for me to see lives being transformed in a brief moment.