From Witchcraft to Christ: An encounter with Jesus that changed everything

In this compelling episode titled "From Witchcraft to Christ: An Encounter with Jesus that Changed Everything," we delve into an extraordinary journey of transformation and faith. Our guest Marianne from New York takes us through her incredible story of moving from the dark realms of witchcraft to the illuminating light of Christ. Hear firsthand how a life once steeped in the occult was radically changed by a profound encounter with Jesus. This episode is not just a testimony of personal salvation but also a powerful reminder of hope, redemption, and the life-changing power of faith. Join us for an inspiring conversation that explores the depths of spiritual warfare, the battles of belief, and the ultimate victory found in Jesus Christ. Don't miss this unforgettable story of transformation and hope.

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Marianne Velez

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianne__velez?igsh=bG05YzlmY3FvbWF4&utm_source=qr

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heavenfocused2?_t=8nTIGss0tmF&_r=1

YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCXwbu3NH5rXyTPmIYjhZ_6Q

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Shop:
https://www.jesusstudio.co.uk
Contact:
thisisjesusstudio@gmail.com
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Transcript

Transcript

Speaker 1
You're listening to the Jesus Studio podcast.
Speaker 2
I actually started working with this woman who told me. She was a witch. And that really piqued my interest and got me interested in witchcraft, so I got interested in witchcraft. Really. When I met her, I went out and bought spell books. I was starting to do like Rich Pinterest spells like you could find spells on Pinterest when you are your own God when you like. Say God is. Whoever you want him to be, then you kind of become your own God and you are making your own. Rules. I could have. I had like an out of body experience where I could actually see myself.
Speaker 3
Oh.
Speaker 2
On the hospital bed and I could see all the doctors and nurses rushing in came to for a second and I looked over to the wall and I just I saw Jesus.
Speaker 4
Hello and welcome to the Jesus Studio podcast. Thank you for listening. I'm so excited. Today we have Mary Anne all the way from New York, and I heard her story and it was just life changing for me. And I really wanted to. Davids Jarrett. And by the grace of God, it's happening. So, Marianne, thank you for being here. Over to you.
Speaker 2
Thank you so much, Gemma. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here today and I'm. Really glad that. My story was able to touch so many and especially you, and that we were able to meet up together today. I'm just so grateful to God. He's been so good to me and he's brought me through. Really, really hard times as you know. So I'll just get started and tell everyone from the beginning. I was born and raised in a Catholic family. My family was Irish, Italian, so we went to church every Sunday. I went to Catholic school from. 3K through college, I was just. That was that was pretty much all I knew was just Catholicism. I wasn't really even aware that there were other branches of Christianity or, you know, I wasn't really too familiar with Jesus personally. I was only taught, you know, the the rituals and the religious aspects. And we went to confession every month as a school, like as a class. They would take us in the every beginning of the month, starting in like third grade. I was like 8 years old at the time. And, you know, that was one of the aspects of Catholicism that really kind of scared me. It was very nerve wracking as a child. You have to go and tell the priest everything that you did wrong and then he would like sometimes yell at you or whatever. And I would even like make up things because I really wasn't doing much at that age that was. Considered so bad, but so I would lie and and make up sentence that I didn't do because we had to go. We were forced. And you know my parents were, you know, though we were Catholic, we were still very secular. It was like we didn't read the Bible at home. We didn't really own the Bible to my knowledge. And I really just relied on what I learned at school. My dad's mom, she is a born again Christian. She's still with us, and she was the one who really introduced me.
Speaker 3
Do you?
Speaker 2
To the Lord and would read scriptures with me and give me scriptures to read on my own. She gave me a Bible. When I was. Probably about in high school. This is when she started to, you know, teach me about the Lord. But I was still very much in the secular world I. I was into like reading my horoscopes and I even started going to psychics when I was around my college age. So I kind of had my foot in both worlds and I would think well, you know, I love God and he's a he loves me, so he's OK with me, you know, doing things like astrology. And it started out very innocent, but. The more and more I got into it, I'd say like the deeper down the rabbit hole I really got, you know, it started off just like reading my horoscope for fun. But then. I would be like almost addicted to it, like I was like checking in constantly. I wanted to know my future and what was gonna happen to me and the idea of going to a psychic was just really exciting to me. So yeah, I was dabbling in that. But still, you know, still believed in God, always believed in Jesus. But like I said, I didn't have a relationship with him. I just knew that he died for me. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know that his blood covered mucins and washed me clean like that was never talked to me in school. So I kind of went off on my own. High school, you know I. I was into all the new I was starting getting into into the new age, things I also got into drinking and partying in high school and I felt like alcohol was my. Kind of released to like not be so shy and timid, and I felt like I fit in more when I was drinking, so I started going all that way and all my friends were doing it so. I stayed on that path kind of throughout high school and college and still dabbling in the new age. Crystals were very. Popular back then, when I became like college age, got my first job, I was doing crystals, sage, Reiki, you name it. Then I went into the workforce, graduated college. Everything was going fine. I actually started working with. This woman who told me she was a witch and that really piqued my interest and got me interested in witchcraft, and I was like, wow. But she just looked like such a normal, unassuming lady. I mean, she was so friendly and kind that she would wear, like, the pentagram necklace and her shirt, and she pulled it out and showed me and. And she was like, yeah, you can be a witch. Like you could, you know, like it's she just made it seem like it was really normal. And so I got interested in witchcraft, really. When I met her. I went out and bought spell books. I was starting to do like which Pinterest. Spells like you could find spells on Pinterest. This was before the days of TikTok, so we didn't have like which talk, but we had Pinterest and you know the Internet. You can just get your hands on just about anything. So I was mainly doing spells to get what I wanted in life, get a husband, get a baby like all these things that I was trying to create my own reality or my own destiny. And I did eventually, like, stop the drinking and. Partying because I was, you know, sexually assaulted when I was around 25 years old. And that was a result of, you know, night of partying and. And I added that I was gonna bring. Go to A and I met my husband there. He he had three three boys from a previous marriage. And you know, I was like, wow, look at this. I'm manifesting all these things. I manifested my boyfriend. I manifested. You know, we moved in together. I didn't know about, you know, I wasn't saved at the time. So I didn't know that I was doing anything wrong. Winning with him without us being married and. I just kind of blindly went into it and I was getting sober, though I was not drinking anymore and I felt good. But the thing about a a Alcoholics Anonymous is that. They. They tell you that God can be whatever you want him to be, and I'm not knocking alcohol. It's anonymous. I think it's a great programme and a lot of people get. Clean and sober there, but it it is kind of a doorway to like, new age and self help. And I made friends there who kind of introduced me to even more of. These. Practises. And and you know, eventually I wanted to get pregnant, so I had a friend give me a satchel in, like, a pink bag because I wanted a girl. So there was special things in there for a girl and you hanging above the bed and. Feel time and I'm sure enough. I did get pregnant with a girl and all the while thinking like this was me. I did this. And you know, I did think to myself every now and then. Like is God OK with this, I wonder. But when you are your own God, when. You like. Say God is whoever you want him to be, then you kind of become your own God and you are making your own rules. I still wasn't really familiar with the God of the Bible, even though my grandmother would tell me. Don't go to psychics. Don't do this. Don't do that. I'd be like, you know, like Ohh Nana. You know, everybody does that. It's it's not a big deal and. You know, she always was like trying to talk me out of these things that I was doing, which now, you know, God bless her for that. That's what she should have been doing. But nobody else was really aware of the harms. Like, like I said, my parents weren't. Aware of it like that, that it was a bad thing that I was doing. So, you know, we really stopped me. So then I I did become pregnant with my girl and. Things just kind of started spiralling out of control. I was. I was not aware that I was inviting demons into my home and into my mind when I was doing all these practises. I used to put like things under my bed like eggs and like crack an egg and like leave it on like all these different things. Then I was still not married, so I wanted, you know, to get married. Cause I'm like, well, now I'm pregnant. We have to get married, you know, like we're doing it all backwards. I didn't even realise the dysfunction, but. I was doing spells for that. I was using pictures of me and my he was my boyfriend at the time. Now my husband and like putting them in an oil lamp and like doing all these crazy things, all these crazy rituals and. Little by little. I started kind of losing my mind and. In my third trimester, I pretty much out of the clear blue sky, became suicidal, and there was no. There was like no indicator that this would happen. It just kind of happened one day and I started to get really paranoid, really anxious. I would wake up in pools of sweat and most. People would be. Like, well, that's just, you know, cause you're pregnant, but like, no, like, I was convinced that. Something bad was going to happen to me. Or that you know, I was going to get arrested because I was changing my name with the Social Security Administration and I I worked off the books like all these crazy things that literally came out of nowhere that don't make sense to a normal person. But that was my reality at the time. And you can, you know. My husband will will attest to this, that I was slowly but surely, like not myself anymore. And he would say that he would like look in my eyes and just. Not see me.
Speaker 3
There.
Speaker 2
So sorry for crying.
Speaker 3
So one day, like I called my mom and I was like, I don't want to go to hell for killing myself and.
Speaker 2
She was like.
Speaker
Yes.
Speaker 2
She didn't expect that, you know? So she, like, rushed me to the emergency room. And they just told.
Speaker 3
Me like I was depressed but.
Speaker 2
You know you don't have postpartum depression when you're still pregnant, you know? So I I didn't think I was depressed. I thought I was. Crazy. And they gave me like they let me go home. They didn't commit me. Thank God, because that's where it was heading. But I was able to kind of talk them out of it and tell them ohh I just have anxiety. Like I'm OK. I'm not going to kill myself. They made me meet with a psychiatrist and they gave me. Some antidepressants. I don't remember what they. Were called I. Was on so many like I couldn't even tell you. So they sent me home. And I started. Taking those and I eventually got a psychiatrist that I had to meet with, you know, and I would tell her. Well, these bills aren't working because I still feel like I want to kill myself. So she would, like, put me on different ones. And like, I kept calling her me like, this isn't working. This isn't working. I still feel the same. And. I think that's another reason that I I know now that I wasn't even I was like, Demon possessed. It wasn't.
Speaker 3
Depression or anxiety?
Speaker 2
Like, I feel like everyone just wants to label these things. But they're actually, they're demonic, but now people just want to call it mental illness or. You know, they want to just slap a label on it, so nothing was really helping me and. The closer I got to delivering my my daughter the the worse I got and I kept telling myself well. When she's born, you know I'll be better because I'll have this beautiful baby. And I'll just forget everything, you know? But.
Speaker 3
You know.
Speaker 2
That really wasn't the case. I will say though, before I gave birth that I did go to, I went to the Catholic Church in my neighbourhood because I didn't know where else to go. I started attending church and I went and I met with the priest. I called them like frantically and the church rectory, and I was like, I need to meet with the priest because something's going on with me.
Speaker 3
And I don't know what it is.
Speaker 2
And the priest basically just told me that I was just hormonal and like there's no I said I think I'm possessed by the devil. And he said no, there's no such thing. You can't be possessed by the devil. Like this is what he's telling me. I did. Eventually I met with another priest after that because I wasn't satisfied with that answer, and this priest told me, well, you definitely just are hormonal and pregnant, but I'll come to your house and I'll. I'll anoint your house if that'll make you feel better. And I said yes. Please. Like anything. Come to my house. So he came to my house one night. Put the holy water and I think he even had incense. I can't remember now and he said a prayer he went through every room and he gave me a rosary beads and he gave me a pamphlet. And then he told me that I should get married in the church because I wasn't married. In the church. I and you know all these things. And then he also told me that he said all those witchcraft items that you have. He said you have to destroy them. He said. You can't just, like, throw them in the trash like you have to go to the river or like, water. Some sort of water and you have to dump everything. So I did. I drove around my my neighbourhood. I found like a stream and I threw them in and I just tried. Got rid of everything. I'm very grateful that he told me to do that. And you know, he knew that those objects were were invitations for the devil. I think this priest. That more of a sense of like the demonic but. That was that I gave birth to my daughter. She was. She got stuck inside of me. Actually, when I was delivering her. And I, I feel like, you know, the devil was he was trying to take her life as well as Molly because I was still feeling the same. Craziness. I was very detached when I was pregnant. I didn't. It didn't really feel real to me. Even when I when I gave birth to her, they had to press the emergency button and all the nurses and doctors flooded in because she was stuck. She was not coming out and she was too big. But they don't want to give me a C-section. I I don't know. I begged. Them to. They didn't listen.
Speaker
So.
Speaker 2
I could have. I had like an outer body experience where I could actually see myself on the hospital bed and I could see all the doctors and nurses rushing in and I was clutching those rooms where maybe it's like for dear life so hard that the cross broke off, I mean. I was praying, praying, praying. She came out. She was not crying and I was able to, like, recognise. Why isn't she crying?
Speaker 3
No, I was out of it.
Speaker 2
I really didn't. It's like I cared, but I didn't care. You know, I can't really explain it. I was just very dissociated. They didn't give her to me to hold. I didn't get to hold her or touch her. They just ran her off to the NICU because she was purple. My husband told me she would purple. I didn't get to see her. But. Glory be to God, she was she was OK. She had to stay two nights in the NICU and then we were able to take her. Home and I remember taking her home. It felt like such a surreal experience, like I was still wanting to end my life. I was still not wanting to be a mom. I was like, I'm not ready for this. I couldn't stop shaking. I was so terrified. And my husband wanted to get formula the next day. Like he was like, alright, I'm gonna go to the. Or and I was like, you cannot leave me with her. I was like I'm. I'm either going to like kill myself or I'm. Going to hurt. Her I I kept seeing visions of myself like in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor with a knife to my throat. Where I would see myself like throwing her off the deck like I was having these terrible thoughts and.
Speaker 3
I was like, you know, this was supposed to get better, but it's just getting worse and worse, so.
Speaker 2
He couldn't leave and we had my mom and my mother-in-law stay with us in the house and they were just, like, round the clock. The three of them taking care of my daughter because I was not. I was not able to. I couldn't even get out of bed. I was just. So crazy and and I was still being prescribed these medications and I was still taking them. But at one point I did stop taking them. I don't think I told anybody and I. And that's 2 bottles. Full in the cabinet in the Medicine cabinet and. It got so bad that it got to the point where I had to send my daughter to.
Speaker 3
Live with my.
Speaker 2
Parents, because I just. I couldn't care for her. And if I'm being honest, I didn't really want to at the time. I just wanted to leave this earth like I didn't want anything to do with anyone and. You know, now thinking back, but I'm like, I don't even know how I survived like that long in that mental state. And I started like contemplating ways to take my life. You know, I, I I drove to the bridge near my house on my birthday, which was like four days after my daughter was born. I'm kind of backtracking. Sorry, but. I snuck out of the house one morning. My mom was sleeping here. My husband and my stepsons were sleeping downstairs. I snuck out of the house. I drove to a bridge that's nearby my home, and I remember I got out of the car and I walked over to the bridge and I looked down, and I was like, this is really gonna hurt if I.
Speaker 3
No.
Speaker 2
Die like there was flowers there and the suicide hotline number like you could tell that somebody else had taken their life there. But I wasn't gonna chance it. So I came back home and I told my mom. I called my mother because she was like, where are you? I was like, I drove to the bridge. She was like, OK, we have to get you into a psych ward. Like so, they checked me into my first hospital stay. And they put me with like. These seriously mental ill people, and I was like, I don't belong here. I kept telling them I was like, I'm not crazy and they're like, yeah, sure. You're trying to jump off a bridge like, and I was. I remember when I checked in, it was on my birthday. It was January 17th. And my mom, you know, she she brought me and she.
Speaker 3
Had to check. Took me in and she was like. We asked for my date of birth and she just started crying. Because I'm a poor baby and like I'm going through this and she couldn't stop it.
Speaker 2
So she was. So I never see my mother cry. My mom doesn't.
Speaker 3
When she was hysterical.
Speaker 2
I was so confused. They wouldn't let me leave. I was like ohh, I thought. Like they're like, no, once you were threatened to take your life, we cannot let you leave.
Speaker 3
And I was like, damn, what?
Speaker 2
I do. I thought so hard to get out. There my my parents were calling. My husband was calling because I told them I was like, I don't belong here. I don't feel safe here. There's people threatening to kill me and here are like. You know. I just. I was like, I don't belong here. You have to Get Me Out of here. So eventually they did. After four days, they convinced them to let me go. Under conditions I had to like see my therapist and whatever a psychiatrist. Then I went to two different hospital stays after that. Over the course of probably like four or five months, I I stayed 4 hospital stays in in a six month period. It was crazy. I was in and out of sight words, trying different ones. My mom was frantically trying to find ones for, like, postpartum and. You know, she was convinced that I had postpartum depression. And and I'm like. You know what? Whatever. If that's what they want to think, let them think that. I just. I need help. But nothing was helping. And so one day I just I. Said, you know. To myself, I waited till everyone was out of the house. My husband was at work. And they took. Those two bottles of pills and I just. I swallowed them and I called my mom 1st and I told her I love you, blah, blah. And then I just. I swallowed them. I didn't tell her what I was doing, but I was researching ways to kill myself before this, and I was Googling, like, near death experiences. Because I was so afraid that I was going to go to hell, I I wanted to see if somebody else tried to kill themselves and, like, went to hell, but then woke up like, you know, you hear these stories about heaven and hell and. You always in the Catholic Church that. And. I don't know if that's true or not, but I was successful. I I I was successful in ending my life. I know I was because I took those. Pill bottles down right here in my kitchen. Then I walked upstairs to my bed and I had you know those rosary beads. Yeah. Holding the rosary beads, and I'm holding a picture of me and my husband and my stepsons. And then just a picture of me and my husband, too. And I'm holding them and I left a suicide. Note a pretty lengthy one on the. Stove over there. I just left it for my husband to see in the kitchen and I went up to to just lay there and die. I just waited and waited and. Soon enough, I don't know how much time had passed, but I started. I was staring up at the ceiling and I started to see this. Ohh really the only way I can describe it is like a blurry circle and the blurry circle just started getting bigger and bigger and then I was like realising OK this is. Like, I'm scared. This isn't like I'm dying. I just had the. Knowledge, you know, and you just know that, you know. And I was like immediately I regretted my decision. I was like, I can't believe. I just, I really did this. Like, I can't believe I did this to my husband, to my kids, to my parents. My sister, like, I was just like, how could.
Speaker 3
I do this.
Speaker 2
And. That tunnel just kept getting bigger, and I could almost I could just feel myself going towards it and I was trying not to go towards it, but it was that regret and that. I was terrified and I never felt more alone in my entire life and. Something inside of me just started saying God, I believe in you. God, I believe in you. God, I believe in you. I said it three times out loud. Don't ask me. I I know now. It was that came from the. Holy. Spirit, but I didn't know about the Holy Spirit, so that wasn't me saying those words, but God knew that I believe in. And. He. I can't really explain it. It's just like he knew my sincerity in that moment, because I really did believe in him. But at the time, I was kind of mad at him. I was kind. Of. Questioning, like if. God loves me. Why is he allowing me to suffer like this, you know? And. So sorry, I. I immediately like was somebody I was somewhere else in my mind. I was in a garden and it was like almost like the pictures were just coming to life like like somebody was drawing a picture or painting. I could see roses and thorn bushes and. I was standing at a doorway and I look over to my wall. I must have came to for a second and I look over to the wall and I just I saw Jesus and a neon green light and it was an outline of him, so I wasn't. I mean, I could see his features, but he didn't have a skin colour. He was just the colour of my wall but he was. Outlined in Neon Green and he had his robe and. He it looked like and I know people. They debate about what Jesus looks like, but to me he he looked like what you see him pictured as looking like. But like I said, he didn't have a skin tone or anything and he opened up his left hand and now if I'm looking on the wall it was like the opposite. He opened up his left hand and a dove flew out and flew towards me. But it was kind of like that flashing. Like I said, I tried to explain it like I opening like a picture book when you're little like those flip books where they're all different pictures, but they come to life and. I don't remember anything after that. But. By the grace of God, my husband came home. Early that day, because he said he had a feeling which also my husband was not saved, you know, we didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit. But when people say that gut feeling, that instinct like, that's the Holy Spirit, told my husband to come home. He was supposed to go to another job. But. You said he just had this feeling that he had to come home. He told me this later on and he found me. In the bed. I don't remember any of those. Apparently I told him that I took the pills. I was like, not come. I don't know. I don't remember any of it. But he called 911. They came to get me in the ambulance and. They said I was like, having seizures in the ambulance, so they had to give me the shot and I don't know, I was really trying to get out of. I was really fighting them, apparently, so I was told and. They took me to ICU. And you? Know the the. Doctor called my mom like the next day and told her, you know, are you the person that we asked if we should pull the plug because we don't think that she's gonna make it so. You know. I did make it. Thanks. Thank the Lord. Those doctors saved me and and he saved me. But. I woke up a week. I'm I'm sorry. I didn't wake up a week later. I think I woke up a few days later. I was in the ICU. I don't remember anything in the ICU, but I remember waking up in the hospital bed and I spoke to several doctors and psychiatrists. And, you know, they're all like, well, you tried to kill yourself. So. You cannot leave. Because again, I was like, I want to. Go home, you know. And they're like, no, you have to stay at the psych ward here for, you know, until we feel like you're ready to go. Home. And it was in that psych ward that I. Truly became. I was. I just became somebody new. I can't explain it to you. I have been given Bibles and pretty much every hospital today. Somebody gave me a Bible. I have them still in my house from the hospital. In each hospital. Say somebody tried to teach me the word. I even had fellow not inmates, fellow patients in the in some of the psych wards who were trying to teach me and read with me, like, let's read Romans. Let's read the I had. Yeah, a guy named Isaiah. Was his name. Funny enough, he was trying to teach me. My roommate would try to teach me. We would read the Psalms. And I still have them highlighted and underlined from when I was in the hospital, but nothing really sunk in until I was in this hospital. Stay after my encounter with Jesus. I'm not gonna say that I. Because. You know, overnight I was just, I was safe. But little by little, you know, the Holy Spirit was getting me. And they had a chaplain come in and he would do Bible studies. I was asking questions. I was reading my Bible. And I'm like, all of a sudden, I could understand the Bible, which to me was crazy because I had tried to read the Bible so many times before. And I would always give up in Genesis. I'd be like, this is boring when I understand this, it's too hard. To this, it's too long, you know, but it was just like coming alive. And I started reading the gospel. I think Luke was the first gospel red and I was just so enthralled with Jesus's life and I just wanted to learn more and more. And, you know, I left the hospital. I still was not. My daughter was. Still not back with. Me, but I did not take any medication after that, like those pills that I tried to end my life. Those. Were the last. Pills I ever took. UM. And you know, I I got my daughter back. I would say like three months later I was like, that's it. I'm taking her back and I think everyone like, you know, kind of knew that I was in a better place now and. Just one day at a time like. I became a mom and I was like, doing what I needed to do. I was taking care of her, which is like such a blessing. And this is how I know that it was the Lord of my life, because. There's no other explanation, you know. And I kept reading my Bible, and every day I looked forward. To like waking. Up the next day and before that, I was like, praying I wouldn't wake up the next day. Now I'm like, excited for the next day and like, I'm like, what is this feeling? I've never felt this before. Like it was like.
Speaker 3
Happiness.
Speaker 2
Enjoy. I couldn't remember the last time I felt happy and. I just I had this like feeling inside of me that it was like a nagging this nagging thing. The Holy Spirit. It was telling me to go find a church and get baptised, find a church and get baptised like that was just. I had to do it. I was like, OK, fine. Like I I would like Google. Different churches and I was church hopping. Because I was like, I don't really know, am I? Like Pentecostal, my. Baptist and my, you know, I finally found a non denominational church near my house and I it was those little tiny church. And there was maybe 10 or 12 people in the church. It was not. What you would think like not like a mega church by any means. And I walked in and all these like little old ladies. And some old man, Lucy ladies, they were so excited to see a young person walk in and I was like, I don't really know where to go, but they just said go to that woman right there and there was this, like, larger than life woman with blonde hair. And I felt like I knew her my whole life. Her name was Chris and Miss Christine, and she just took me under her wing. She invited me to her. She listened to my whole story. Mind you, I just. And that I just and I was crying. And I was like, it was just all this. It just came out on her. And she was like, I believe you.
Speaker
Because I was.
Speaker 2
Like nobody believes me, nobody believes me that I saw Jesus like, you know, nobody believes me. She was like I believe you. And that in that moment I was like, OK, like I'm in good hands. Like I knew I was where I was supposed to be. And she invited me to her house for coffee the next day, and she was like, if you're really serious about getting baptised, I will baptise you. But. She was like you need to read acts Chapter 2 like she gave me homework. She was like I I I know that you you really want to do this, but you need to learn what you're doing and you need to be serious about this. I was like, OK, I said I I am serious about it. And she used to she had, like, one of those gaol baptismals like the the travelling ones. And she, you know, her husband filled it up with warm water. It was February. So he filled it up with warm water and we we went into her backyard because they did Tuesday women's Bible study. So we did it on a Tuesday Women's Bible study. This I went to. Church on Sunday. Got baptised on Tuesday. That's how fast it was and everybody want all the ladies from church and by they they the Ladies Bible study. They were all there watching, they they they didn't even know me you know but. I mean, they didn't have to because I was their sister in Christ and like, we just we knew each other anyway, and she baptised me and it was the best day of my. Life I was. Like I could hear a thing, the church bells rang when I came up out of the water and it was just like the colours were brighter.
Speaker 3
Right.
Speaker 2
Everything felt brighter and more like vibrant. I could hear sounds better. It was. It was amazing coming out of that water and. I from that day I still go to that Women's Bible study. Miss Chris is no longer with us. But I did get to. Be mentored by her for a whole year. She was like more of like a therapist, and if she would come to my house, we would do one-on-one Bible studies and she'd be like, OK, well, you're being. You're complaining about, you know, your husband and your house is too small and business. She's like, you sound like the Israelites. We need to read Exodus like she would. She was just she. Just tough love but and she just. She helped me grow so much and all my challenges in life. She took me through the work. And I'm so grateful to have met her and all the ladies there and. She passed away from cancer a little over a year ago, so, but I know that she's with the Lord. So I mean, there's no way she's not with him. So you know, my life has just ever since then. You know, there's ups and downs, you know, like everybody. Just because we say it doesn't mean we're excused from challenges and trials and tribulations in life. But you know the word says that. Jesus has overcome the world and and we we are more than conquerors in him we can. We can get through. Anything with him and. You know. I just thinking back on this, I'm really glad we're doing this podcast because sometimes I do forget it was it was three years ago. Sometimes I do forget like. Like. Wow, look what God has done for me. So if I'm facing anything today, it's like I know that he's he's in control like. He can get me through that. He can get me through anything. Like there's nothing that I can't overcome because I have him now. So. I mean, I'm sorry if I went on wrong or I might have missed over some parts, but that's basically my story in a nutshell.
Speaker 4
I think it's incredible.
Speaker 2
And thank you.
Speaker 4
It's incredible. A few questions I'd love to know and your husband's story and where he what? What was his fate like? How did his faith come about during all of this?
Speaker 2
That's a good. Question he UM, you know, he he always considered himself a believer. He's still walking his own path with the Lord. He he does read his Bible. He has faith. UM. But what I say he was radically saved. Not yet, you know, not it's it's God's time. God is definitely working on him. But it's been a process. I think him seeing me go through this change has definitely brought him closer to the Lord. Like he'll put on worship music. And you know he'll. He'll read his Bible, and then we'll talk about it. But he wants to. Kind of go his own way, which is OK because. Because I know that one day he'll be sitting with me in church and he has his own testimony like I have mine and he has his. But yeah, I feel like men. It's like a little tougher for them. I don't know if that if I'm allowed to say that, but like, I feel like men think more logically. And at least he does. And, you know, it's harder for men to have, like, this.
Speaker
Is.
Speaker 2
Huge faith in my opinion. I might be wrong because they they think of things in more of a logistical way, whereas me I'm like, well, I know that this happened to me because it happened to me, but I I also believe every word of the Bible, you know, it's like God can do anything. So yes. Noah's ark, even and Goliath, all those things really did happen. You know, it's not just like a story, you know, like. These these events really actually took place.
Speaker 4
Yeah.
Speaker 2
And for me, I have blind faith that that that really did happen. But yeah, they're was working on him.
Speaker 4
Good. We'll be praying for him as well and and I just, I've I've. We've really see it a lot now around is like this really small.
Speaker 2
Thank you.
Speaker 4
Little seeds of like manifesting crystals like even me when I'm on the school run, I hear people talking and ohh I'm going to see this person and I've got this crystal that I hold every day like I hear it and I see it around. And I feel like some people think, oh, that's just a rock that can't do anything. But for me, I'm like, this is like, that's like the white witchcraft slowly bubbling up. And I just, I would love to, like, hear your advice for anyone. Like, if if they're like, dabbling in things like this, even just manifesting stuff into their life, like you said, it's. You becoming God and I don't think people realise this. Manifesting is quite a trendy thing and I've seen it. I've seen it happening. I don't know if you've got any. Like, what would you do if that was your kids, would you be?
Speaker 2
Oh gosh, that was my kids. I would just remove all these crystals. But you know what I think? Well, as far as the kids go, you know, like, train them up in the way they should go. And when they, you know, get older, they will not depart from it. As the Bible says. And I have been, like with my daughter. Just like really driving home, you know, she goes to Sunday school. We read the Bible, read the Psalms. We anoint the house together. I mean, we do. I am doing like preventative maintenance on my daughter, but I know that one day she will grow up and go into the world and she might be faced with these things. So with anybody who's like dabbling in the crystals and all that, I would really just say if you can put your faith in something like a rock and if you can really believe that. This rock will heal you. Like how much? More like how much more will Jesus heal you? Like, put your faith. Try just try putting your faith in Jesus. I don't understand. And I did it too. You know, I think it's just a lack of knowledge. Age and I think so many people are searching for answers and they want they want to be the rulers of their own destiny, but it really takes the pressure off when you don't have to create your own destiny. Like yes, it's good to have goals and to work hard and everything. But when you realise like God is sovereign in your life. And he's the author from beginning to end, he. Knows the whole. Story it really takes the pressure off you and it's like ohh I don't have to like cleanse my house with Sage and I don't have to do all these chakras and all this stuff that is exhausting and it's like you're almost on a hamster wheel like cause you're you're still never satisfied and. You're still always searching for answers, so. I like to think of it as like an outlet in the wall with like a plug and you know, spirituality is the plug. But sometimes the plug has three prongs and it doesn't fit into the outlet like you need to take Jesus. And that's the right one that goes into the that's the right plug that you need to plug into the wall like you're an England. So you guys have different shape. It's like I feel like people have different spirituality, that they're just missing the mark and they need to find the right. Fit. So Jesus is the fit, but yeah, like I would just my advice would be get rid of all those things. But people have a very hard. Time you know. Kind of disengaging. From the new age. Yeah, that's why I'm really glad. Even though I went through a very traumatic experience, I'm very happy that it happened to me now, because I would probably still be doing all those things and I wouldn't have any knowledge of the gospel. You know, I would have just stayed on that track. And you know, I feel like it's our job to plant the seed and then, you know, the Lord, the Holy Spirit, really needs to do the same thing. But I try to educate as much as I can on my social media, and I have TikTok and I share things on Facebook where it's just because I have friends that are still in the new age. They have family members who are still in the. New. Age that are yoga instructors and Reiki masters and I. Pleaded with them to stop and they won't. So all I can do is pray for those people and pray that they'll, you know, they'll find the way, which is Jesus.
Speaker 4
Amen.
Speaker
Alright.
Speaker 4
Can you just pray for everyone listening that this is of really touched their heart or affected them in any way? I'd love you just to pray, pray. Us out and.
Speaker 3
You. Thank you.
Speaker 2
Father. God, I just thank you for this day. Lord. I thank you. For. This podcast that it that it's reaching souls and it's touching lives Lord and I thank you for Gemma and all her work that she's doing to glorify you, Father God. I pray that you would lay your hand upon every misguided soul that is yearning for you, Lord, yearning for your Holy Spirit, to have an encounter with them. Lord Jesus, wash them with your blood. Show them that you are the way and the truth and the life Father God lead their hearts on the right path for your righteousness and for your names. Take Lord Jesus. And I just pray that every every yearning heart that is reaching out for you, Lord, would hear this podcast. And hear the. Many other podcasts and different testimonies of what you've done in other people's lives that our stories would glorify you and not us, Lord, but you and your work within US, Father. God, thank you for giving me the words to speak. Today Lord and I just pray that this message would reach even one person, even one saved soul, for your glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Speaker 1
Thanks for listening to the Jesus Studio podcast. Please rate and subscribe. The testimonials and stories shared reflect the personal experiences and unique journeys of our guests.
Speaker
No.
Speaker 1
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