WHOSOEVER

By Celina Easterling

CONFESS JESUS BEFORE MAN

What do a schoolteacher, a physicist, a chef, a cleaning lady, a waitress, and a deaf woman all have in common?

Author Celina Easterling collected interviews and testimonies of a special salvation moment in the lives of ordinary, everyday peers. After each request to shar

• Language: English
• Publisher: Celina Easterling
• Release date: Jan 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798218265946

Book preview

Preface

Where were you when God whispered your name?

Deep in the heart of Texas on the buckle of the Bible belt, I searched for a willing whosoever to share an intimate connection with our Creator. Bravely, fifty-four ordinary, hardworking, dedicated souls opened their hearts and minds to share their Salvation Testimony. The salvation experience frames our past, present, and future, which has been documented within these pages to inspire and influence your daily journey and destiny.

A salvation testimony is the moment unique to the life of the wayward soul who submits to God’s leadership and direction. We compiled these testimonies for gleaning, reflection, and, if needed — conviction. Take one testimony a week, and read of another person’s walk, trials, and struggles on the road to Jesus Christ. Pace yourself so that you may fill your year with encouragement and hope while drawing near to the Lord in prayer. This can be beneficial to you as well as those around you. You may find yourself in these pages identifying as brothers and sisters. Whosoever is more than just a couple of random stories, it is a compilation of first account experiences testifying to God’s love and Christ's sacrifice in the lives of ordinary Christians.

Special considerations and many thanks to:

My brave brothers and sisters in Christ who revealed their most private stories by sharing their experiences and wisdom.

The nameless prayer warriors who kept me lifted prayers for this project.

Daphne Gilbert, my sister in Christ, who I share a forever spiritual birthday.

The Typesetters: Nancy, Rebekah, Sarah, and Nell, my cheerleading readers behind the scenes.

And certainly not least, Adam, for loving me like Christ loves the church. I could not do what I do – if it wasn’t for you.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1 Surrendering My Life

2 Full Assurance

3 Prideful Walls to Humble Hedges

4 United In Christ

5 God had other Plans

6 New Creation

7 Keep on, Keeping on

8 True and Lasting Repentance

9 Sweetly Saved

10 God’s Peace is Upon Me

11 Saved by Grace

12 God Remains Faithful

13 Courage Over Fear

14 Do you want Jesus?

15 To Live for God

16 A Refined Heart

17 God’s Grace

18 Worthy of God’s Love

19 Drawing Near to the Lord

20 I Experienced God

21 Rooted in Christ

22 The Lord Guides Me

23 Saving Grace

24 Unfailing Faith

25 My Deliverer

26 There HE Was

27 The Truth

28 I Heard the Holy Spirit

29 The Lord Forgives

30 Growing in Grace

31 JESUS AS LORD

32 A Beautiful Vessel He Can Use

33 Just Me and Jesus

34 Persistent Love

35 The 99 and 1

36 Eternal Legacy

37 Believing In Jesus

38 I Am Strong

39 God's Power

40 God's Mercy

41 He Led Me to His Heart

42 God, I Choose You!

43 Called to Battle

44 A Covenant with Jesus

45 In Jesus Name

46 He Is Calling You

47 Faith is Essential

48 Jesus Saved Me

49 God is Faithful

50 In Serving the Lord

51 God Makes Me New

52 He Set Us Free

53 Your Story

Benediction

Reference

Subject Categories by Testimony

Other Titles by Celina Easterling

Introduction

Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Luke 15:10

It was after my father’s death we’d gone to my grandmother’s home looking for something. I forget now what paper of importance we were hunting as we rifled through mementos in her cedar chest. What I found buried in a sea of yesterday’s memories would provide me with a measure of comfort, happiness, and peace. I couldn’t have foreseen or imagined it to be possible. Scanning the content on the document the words jumped off the page that registered information I’d never known possible. I quickly read again to cipher the importance of this letter kept safe for many years. The letter was from the United States Navy addressed to my great-grandmother predating the year of marriage for my grandparents. I read pacing myself, working to slow the beat of my heart. My grandfather accepted Jesus Christ as his personal, Lord and Savior aboard a navy ship while out in the Pacific Ocean. The ship Chaplin had written to convey this information to the family. The joy I felt in that moment couldn’t compare. I’ve been alone in my faith and by family definition rebellious in my beliefs. My grandpa hid Jesus in his heart and passed away before I had a chance to have this conversation. One day, we will be reunited in heaven with tears of joy and love.

Some of us aren’t so talented at sharing our feelings and have hidden the tender points of the heart. You have met the number one non-confrontational author right here. I was eleven when my grandpa left this earth, I was just a kid broken-hearted and confused. Even as an adult, I’d rather hide in the kitchen or shadows to avoid the frontlines with attention. We can’t all hide from the Lord’s work. We each have unique gifts and skills so we must move forward. God has given an idea wings, or flight after steeping silently in my mind for three years. Testimonies of how God works to redeem souls are beautiful. They make even the oldest of Christians soft and squishy with tears of joy, hugs, and smiles. When one more soul joins the family of God—that means one less soul is bound for the pits of Hell and even the angels celebrate this victory for the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, why is it so hard to share such a beautiful, rejoiceful event in our lives? First, we want to tell the world how we’ve been changed. We want everyone to know of the purity and cleanliness of the heart while needing to share the wondrous change so that others might find the same joy and release of burden. After time, years and seasons, family strife, and distraction the enthusiasm sometimes falls making it hard to share the beautiful event. All right, maybe not for you, perhaps it’s just me as it is equally hard to inquire about someone’s soul destination.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Psalm 51:12

I posed a specific question, the same request for individuals in all walks of life, age variants, with a variety of experiences and backgrounds. I believe these people all share a common thread linking them together with me. This simple question held consistent responses from an unconscious gasp of panic with two steps backward and, for others, a display of exciting joy. Initially, the hesitant responses and declines became so numerous imploring me to pray and to petition our Heavenly Father. I fight on, receiving the heavenly courage not to withdraw the question, but to pursue further with a deep breath while asking the Lord to send the willing souls to me.

I am gathering personal salvation stories for a book. Would you share your testimony with me?

A simple request loaded with feelings crossed with either uncertainty or instant joy. After the initial shock of the boldness in question, I wait with an anxious spirit for their answer. Which part of the request is it that causes the hesitant pause, the bit about the book or the testimony?

Testimony, I suspect this is the word most people pause with uncertainty. Is it a catchword holding a hidden meaning? Is it an old word, legal vernacular, or possibly a religious term? Could it be all of these?

Merriam-Webster Dictionary says a testimony is,

1 a: a solemn declaration usually made orally by a witness under oath in response to interrogation by a lawyer or authorized public official.

b: firsthand authentication of a fact: EVIDENCE

c: an outward sign

2 a: an open acknowledgment

b: a public profession of religious experience

The first definition sure sounds legal and yet we can see there are no platforms present for a witness stand, but I think we have your brain waves moving. If you hypothetically were to step up into the witness stand and confess the truth before God, the judge, and your peers, we would expect you to give your information on the firsthand knowledge that you know to be fact. The subject in question for this book represents a person’s relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you think about it, standing and giving an account of events and situations in our personal world started early, we learned to justify our actions or of those we witnessed. Our parents acted as high judges and jury over all household family related issues. Maybe it’s the recalling of a situation involving a skinned knee from a tricycle wreck, an explanation into the accusations involving chewing gum in your sister's hair, explaining the downward trajectory of grades in the report card, or the reasons by which you came to break curfew. Bigger issues unfold with age and emotion involving the wedding day, the travails of childbirth, why you cut in the carpool line or the logical reasoning as to why your husband's white underwear are now pink. This could go on and on. I am looking for a specific testimony from your life.

I want to know what happened when you yielded to the creator of the earth, the moment you took your first breath as a child of God and the same moment in time when your name became etched in permanent ink in the Lamb’s Book of Life. I want to hear of the time Jesus saved your soul, wiping away all sin, doubt, and fear. This unique experience is the common thread, the scarlet twine looping us together as brothers and sisters in Christ. I’m curious to know how God brought you into the fold. Were you willing or did you resist? Did you find Him at home or at church? Did you walk down the church aisle or run out the front door? This special part of our life, unique to you, needs to be shared.

Confess

Whosever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my father in heaven. -Matthew 10:32

The event I asked many people about happened so long ago. Have you stuffed these memories somewhere in the past, in the attic of the mind, as in a musty cardboard box next to the things I once did, like learning to drive, a sweetheart's first kiss, a trip to the beach, or a memorable cruise?

You don’t understand, I’ve made mistakes since then and what good would it be to stir up the past? We need to go back to where it all began. We need to remember the shame or filth felt deep within your soul to appreciate what came next. Have you been back to visit the moment when you finally yielded to the Holy Spirit and said, Okay God, I give up. I bet the relief was quicker than the blink of an eye, sin disappeared and now you wear the robe of righteous redemption. The life slate, now clean, couldn’t predict the floodgates of tears to flow. Do you remember the freedom in the air and forgiveness accounted, blotting out the shame? This moment changed our life forever, sealing our eternal destination in Heaven and wiping away all uncertainty.

We need to remember the joy of our salvation and not just because King David mentioned it in the Psalms. We bring glory to God when we share His sacrifice and goodness with others. We honor God, not only by our choice in choosing him but by sharing our story with people we show our obedience. Don’t back away. This is that moment, the opportune situation to leave a legacy written for those who will come after us, our children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. Why not let them read your testimony in Jesus Christ? It’s time to open that old chest, dust away the cobwebs, drag out the old memories, smooth the frayed edges, bare the history, and feel again.

Parents sometime say confession is good for the soul, a common enough phrase pulled out when a child hasn’t been truthful or has something to hide. Confessing our story of how Jesus changed our life shouldn’t be something we are ashamed of or keep hidden in the past.

The anthem verse bearing the namesake for this book is found in Matthew 10:32, Whosever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my father in heaven.

Whosoever is literally anyone and confessing means to agree, declare, and to say along with.

If I put it in my words, I am a whosoever, and if I declare Jesus before people, JESUS will declare ME before GOD in heaven.

How beautiful is that? If I proclaim Jesus before man/woman- he will proclaim me before Creator and Judge Jehovah God in heaven! I want Jesus to know my name! We have the best advocate in all of God’s creation. This book is compiled with this promise and you in mind.

Each person shared from their heart for your specific benefit. You are not alone in your salvation story as we are brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Every salvation story matters because the blood of Jesus that paid for them all.

I can’t judge how one person, or another comes to the Lord, that’s not for me. The only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). My job was to gather these beautiful rebirths and make a record of the turning point in their lives. What better way to honor God? It is my prayer that these stories might ignite a rekindling of your spirit deep within your soul to remember when He first beckoned you.

Clear your mind and read their words taking heart, you are not alone. Pray for grace and understanding as you flip the pages and let God speak to you.

Pace yourself, read one testimony a week for a year or one a day if you choose. Grieve in their pain and rejoice in their victory as you turn the pages. Take time to record any special person(s) who God recalls or suggests for prayer. Confession is from me (Celina), a summation of thought and spiritual challenge. There may also be some author notes here and there – just little snippets of information from me to you. The Holy Spirit Guide is for you to listen to HIS leadership and pray for someone specifically. It’s not a race to the end of the book but rather a spiritual journey through the pages of everyday Christ Followers called by God. Here are the stories of each Whosoever.

♥Celina Easterling

1

Surrendering My Life

"Whosever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my father in heaven." -Matthew 10:32

Whosoever: Anyone; any person whoever.

Sarah Beth's  Testimony

When I was fourteen, our family’s home church was Calvary Baptist. It was July and the time for our annual revival. My father-in-law, who was not at the time related, delivered thought provoking sermons each night. The entire week he preached with an emphasis on knowing the day of your salvation.

I grew up in a Christian home with a Christian family so, it never occurred to me I needed to have my salvation nailed down. I just knew I was saved, even though I didn’t know when or where it happened. And all week long, I privately questioned myself. Am I really saved? Did I get saved? I didn’t know the answers. On the last day of services, God brought it all to me answering my doubts and questions.

The Lord took me into memories of the past, showing me my first recollection of seeking Him through the scriptures. We lived in Donie, a small town in the middle of nowhere in Texas. Dad started a new job pipelining, and we were attending a Cowboy Church, so I had to be six or seven years old. I remember Mom and I were in the living room, next to the old Dearborn gas heater. I don’t really remember the specific questions I asked her, but I remember the emotion inside me, and knowing that I was seeking the Lord. I didn’t know how to find what I searched for myself. We used my Bible, the children’s Bible I had scribbled in, and Mom answered all my questions for me using the Roman’s Road. Then we prayed together, and I asked Jesus to come into my heart.

Sarah and Grandpa (right)

At the revival service, I went forward during the Invitation to rededicate my life to the Lord. My walk with Jesus Christ seriously started after my willing rededication. I began to understand the gospel on another level and learned how to teach children. Soon after, I got more involved with church work, Vacation Bible School, and in child related ministries. My experiences became sweeter, as I fully understood the gift given to me. Bro. Gunnels sermon challenged me to go back and ask God to show me the truth. The Lord reminded me of the day I got saved all those years ago when praying with Mom. He also instilled a security as I had no more doubts — my salvation means so much more after I knew for sure when and where I got saved. 

Sarah Beth † 19 years of new life in Christ

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:9

Confession - Often, God’s Word is as prevalent and normal in a Christian home as coffee in the morning. We take for granted that our children know and understand what we know. When we seek God earnestly with a sincere heart, He is faithful and true to reveal the joy of our salvation, even when the moment transpired so long ago at a tender young age. Once we accept Jesus, He goes where we go, sticking closer than a sister or a brother.

Holy Spirit Guide: Lord, burden me to pray this week for…

2

Full Assurance

Nancy's Testimony

I need to start with Dad, because his family’s religion or belief background stemmed from Christian Science. He was a career Army man, having served in World War II as a surviving POW (Prisoner of War). After being rescued, he could not go back into a fighting position. After working as a structural engineer, the army assigned him to different locations in the states as well as overseas in the post war reconstruction effort. We didn’t really go to church. Our family was into the social life obligations of the Army. I spent my first three years of life in France where I spoke mostly French. We came back to the United States and spent time in South Dakota where I attended first grade. During this time, Dad went to Korea for a year without us. While he was there, he connected with a missionary group called TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) which was founded over 130 years ago. Dad got saved while he was there in Korea through their evangelism ministries. Upon his return home, he really shook things up on the home front. He dumped out all of Mom’s wine collection that she’d saved from their global travels and changed things around the house. He said, We are not living like this anymore. When Dad got saved, he really made a complete turnaround.

We went with Dad on the next trip and spent two years as a family in Korea where I attended second and third grade. We regularly went to church or chapel services when available. We also went to the officers' club for the dances and things they had while away. I remember very little about our time there. Dad retired from the Army in 1960 and we returned to the States. He bought our family home place in Bath, Michigan, in the town where Mom grew up and near to where Dad’s roots were in Lansing, Michigan. 

We started going to Bath Baptist Church where Reverend Buchanan pastored and later that year he resigned. The congregation called Reverend Burley, an Independent Baptist pastor. His style, dubbed as hellfire and brimstone, is the mark of an evangelist sort for reaching souls. His powerful presence in the pulpit made the gospel message crystal clear: if you don’t get saved, you are going to hell.

When I was 12 years old, I felt a tug of conviction. I walked down the aisle after his sermon, heavy with concern for the first time. I asked Jesus into my heart and soon after, I got baptized. Continuing, week after week, hearing the same style of preaching repeatedly, Satan played a trick on me and made me doubt my decisions. I tried to walk close to the Lord, but when I slipped up and said a bad word or did something wrong, I would doubt my salvation and commitment made to God. I never could cuss very well and on the few times I slipped, Mom would say, even a byword is the same as a cuss word (ex. dang or drat). When I was still in high school, I remember everyone called me Goody two shoes because I didn’t cuss. One day to prove them wrong, I let out a stream of one word cussing’s. I said the D word four times in a row and added, See, I can cuss. 

I can remember at least twice more walking down the church aisle in search of redemption for the sins I committed. The last time was at a youth rally, I was 17 and came under conviction again. I said to myself, this is it. I went forward, prayed the prayer again, and like each time before, I got dunked in the baptismal waters. I continued to doubt my salvation repeatedly.

The summer between 11th and 12th grade, something happened that struck strong with me. Members of our church would always gather after services on Sunday night. Families would congregate playing games together at someone’s house. My parents would often invite everyone that was at the service to come and eat at our house. Back and forth it went each week. On one rare occasion, I was working on a Sunday, and back then, that just wasn’t something we normally did, but I had to. I got home from work about 9:30ish and by 10pm my parents still weren’t home. By 10:30pm no one had come home, and I was worried. I had received no phone calls, nothing, just an eerie silence. I was there at home by myself and all I could think of was that the rapture had taken place and I’d been left behind. Sounds silly, but that’s exactly what I really thought. I was in tears by the time my parents got home. Turns out while I was at work, they all had gone to someone else’s house, but I thought that I’d been left behind. Every time I did something wrong, I felt like I was going to die and go to hell.

There were instances where I had to make big life decisions. I went to visit a friend in the Netherlands for a six-week vacation and I didn’t want to come home. My friend Adele and her parents had told me I could stay there, and they’d pay for my college and expenses. I said, I can’t stay, I must go home. I didn’t know why I had to go home; I just did. I cried on the flight home because I wanted to stay but I knew I couldn’t. A year or two after that, I was going to go visit aunts and uncles while taking a cross county trip to Texas to visit my sister. I had my tickets bought and a week before I was supposed to leave, I told Mom that I couldn’t go. I got all my money back on the tickets. I yielded to the urgency and yet, the situation was far from settled.

I was 19 going on 20 and all the kids that were my age had left for college or had gotten married. I hung around with younger kids from our church and they were interested in buying booze, going parking, and drinking. I couldn’t do that. I knew in my heart that wasn’t what God wanted me to do. And that’s what I was doing, because I was the oldest, I was the one buying the wine. Suddenly, I realized I must go. I told Mom, I must get out of here.

I enrolled in Bible College and went to Springfield, Missouri, where I met my husband. When I got married, I still carried the doubting uncertainty. Satan had me stuck in this realm of questioning my salvation. I shared my concerns with my pastor husband, and he reaffirmed to me salvation’s basis is on fact and not on whimsical feelings. Each time, I walked the aisle based on my feelings spurred by unconfessed sin I felt sure I couldn’t be saved. My husband also reminded me that Jesus said, if you ask, I will come in, I will never leave you, and never forsake you. It was very hard. I didn’t know why I doubted it so much.

Years later, I realized the constant trust issue may have a part to do with the way I was raised. Dad had a hard time showing love in a nurturing way, his parental correction resembled that of an army drill sergeant instead of a loving father. My husband and I went to a special counseling retreat for pastors and their wives after I’d become a grandmother. They helped me realize the connection between how my relationship with my father mirrored my relationship with my Heavenly Father. How Dad was toward me reflected how I thought of God in the same way. I believe that’s why I couldn’t fully trust that God loved me, because I never felt my father’s love. He never held me in his lap or told me that he loved me. He probably did, but I don’t remember those things. I just couldn't feel his love. The counselors helped us work through this and deal with these feelings.

A few years later, we got connected with a man named Michael Pearl and his family ministries outreach. While exploring his various teaching tools, we ordered an audio disk on salvation. This is what really sealed the dilemma for me. When you get saved, you repent or turn from your ways. As a little girl, I didn’t have wicked ways when I first went forward but, from the point when I was 12 on, I never remember a time when I didn’t want to serve God or have Him act supremely in my life decisions. This audio disk gave me the understanding that when I turned to Christ in 1964 at 12 years old –that’s when I truly got saved. I can look back and see evidence of God directing me from doing things that I had no explanation for at the time. He stopped me from doing things that were wrong or that might have led me down the wrong path. If I’d have stayed in the Netherlands, I still would have been saved but, I wouldn’t have lived the life I have now. I wouldn’t have gone to Bible College in Missouri where I met my husband, and I could have fallen into an atheistic type of pattern. Now I know, God showed me it was His design for my life, His leadership directing my ways. I can see how God has carefully worked out my path ever since I turned to Him at 12 years old.

When I look back at my life, I can see how God did everything, and how he never left me, always present guiding with a gentle hand steering me to do certain things. He protected me by not allowing me to fall into a trap that might have led me in the wrong direction. I remember walking down the aisle and giving my life to Christ at Bath Baptist Church. I can’t remember a time in my life that I didn’t want to serve God from that point on. No matter how hard I wanted or tried, I couldn’t turn back and follow the crowd.

Nancy † 60 years of new life in Christ

"Trust in the Lord