Charles E. Pariseau

My Testimony

I Peter 3:15 states ". . . sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always
 to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason of the hope in you, with 
meekness and fear;"

If you're reading this, you must be asking!

I grew up in Baltimore, MD in a row house, in a 'family' that would give new
meaning to the term "dysfunctional."  My father was a chronic alcoholic and my
mother was a chronic enabler.  I attended 12 years of Roman Catholic parochial
schooling and was well schooled in Latin and doctrine and religion.  My parents
were not people of faith and not really religious; it was more of a tradition.

We had a cleaning lady provided by my grandparents by the name of Mabel.  I
never knew her last name.  Mabel was poorer than poor, monetarily, however, 
she was wealthy in faith and walked her talk.  She used to sit on the edge of the
bathtub in our house with a rag wrapped around a putty knife and clean the
grout between the tiles in the bathtub and tell me Bible stories.  These stories I 
never heard in Catholic school.  I learned about Noah, and Jonah, and Father
Abraham, and David and Goliath.

In Catholic school we were taught to pray to "saints" and that the Pope was 
"God on Earth" and was infallible.  There was the Baltimore Catechism too.  Some
of it was not too bad, but other elements were simply that of tradition and not
faith.

Mabel was never critical but just said "Read your Bible."  And she said words that
stuck with me then and stick with me today: "Jesus loves you, Charlie, and so do I."

Mabel stopped coming around after my grandfather died in 1965.

I gave my heart to Jesus in October of 1975 and I would have to say that my
walk has been anything but consistent until the last decade.  God is faithful even
when I was not.  Thankfully, He never gave up on me!  I am so thankful for that.

Now I realize the difference between faith and religiosity and that we are made
to "Pass the Blessing" onto others.  See Genesis 12.  And the seeds we plant, God
will not let pass into the void but will bring fruit in due season.

Mabel saw that too.  One day I stopped to visit my mother who was then 
living in Baltimore, in the same row house I grew up on.  I was on my way back
home after attending a meeting in Baltimore and routinely stopped to visit when
I was in town.  As I opened my mother's front door, there seated in her living
room was Mabel.

Mabel looked at me and I looked at her and no words could describe what
happened then.  We both broke down and cried as our spirits bore witness to
each other.  She knew I was saved and her words had indeed bore fruit.  Her
faithful witness had won a soul for Jesus.

About three months after that my mother informed me that Mabel had passed
away.  The Lord allowed her and I to see His hand of faithfulness just before her
passing.

If you're reading this and have read this far, please keep in mind a couple of
points:  Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father and there is a BIG
difference between being religious and having faith.

Jesus paid the price for you and me and everyone who accepts His FREE GIFT of
Salvation.  Nothing you can do can atone for sin.  It's not complicated.  It's not
cheap, either.  God has a love for people that we can never fully understand.
He just does.  And He made a way for us to be with Him in eternity.  Nothing that
this world can offer can compare.

See Ephesians 2:8-9 and John 3:16.

Please look inside; deep inside and see the Truth.  You'll find it in His Word: the Bible.

-=Charlie=-

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.