SALVATION TESTIMONY OF PASTOR DEOLA PHILLIPS.
I gave my life to Christ on March 15th, 1985 at the International School Ibadan (ISI). I remember standing at the gate of the girl’s dormitory where I lived as a boarding student knowing that something had happened and my life would no longer be the same.
I was born into a ‘Christian’ family though no one at home ever talked about being born again or even a relationship with God. It was just a church thing. However, at an early age, I had become conscious of God in a way I really couldn’t explain. I certainly didn’t get it from home but I was awakened to the love and presence of God. Still, I didn’t have a personal relationship with Him and I didn’t really understand spiritual things.
When I became a student at ISI, the things of God were last on my mind as I engaged in all the usual activities of student life. ISI then wasn’t a place to ‘find God’, but things were soon going to change.
In my 3rd year of school, a young youth corper joined the school staff as a mathematics teacher. He was a good teacher, but beyond that, he took an interest in us students and became quite influential among us. I marvel now to think how young he must have been as a mere youth corper, but he was quite respected in our eyes. While he taught us mathematics in the classroom, outside of class, he began to plant seeds in us about the love of God and God’s plan for our lives.
Suddenly, the Bible stories I had heard in Sunday School in my parents’ Anglican church began to take on a new meaning… Christ died for me and I needed to respond. There had to be a relationship… Over the course of his stay in our school, our maths teacher spread the Gospel through his love and interest in us.
Finally, on the ‘ides of March’, that year, a senior girl in the dormitory called us to her room and led me and my classmates (14 of us boarders) to Christ. It was a simple transaction: I said the ‘sinner’s prayer’ and asked Jesus to become Lord of my life, but I knew I wasn’t the same.
Later that night, some friends invited me to go with them after hours to the main school area. Some older students were fooling around and we should just go see. We weren’t permitted to go out that late as boarders and it was when I refused to go with them, as I stood at the gate that I realized, something had happened. It didn’t end there, the next day, the senior girl got us filled with the Holy Spirit and so simply, I felt as though a communication channel had been opened straight from my heart to heaven.
I was home… this was the personal relationship that had been missing. At the end of the term, I approached my mum standing near her car when she came to pick up me and my brother for the holidays. ‘Mummy, I’m born again’, I said. She turned, looked at me queerly and answered, ‘you’ll get over it’. I was puzzled by her lack of enthusiasm, but I knew I wouldn’t ‘get over it’.
Today, I’m serving God in the ministry and helping others know Jesus. It’s been almost 28 years and there’s no sign of me ‘getting over it’.
Wow!!! What an awesome 👏Friends, join us as we celebrate the CEO of our great ministry. A woman of results. You can leave your birthday greetings and prayers in the comment section. God bless you!
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