Testimony time

I am really excited to be able to bring to you this blog's very first testimony, (well apart from my own of course, but I don't think that counts lol).

Author and Youth Minister Kimberley Woolerey sent me an email a few days ago, saying she wanted to share her story on the blog. I was over the moon, after all this is how the blog came into being, me wanting to share inspirational stories with others and what a better way to kick off 2013 with a POWERFUL testimony of how Christ can change lives? And believe me HE CAN!  Nothing is impossible for Him (Luke 1:37). So without further ado, here's Kimberley's story. Praise God for all he does and and all He continues to do. 

I’m K.L. Woolerey and I am a Christian from the UK. I used to work in business admin in my pre-Christian days, but now I write Christian romances for women. I am also a Youth Minister in my church and an evangelist. I have just written and published my first Christian novel, 'Love at the Altar.' I write under the name, K.L. Woolerey. 

I always ask myself how I got here. By here, I mean at a place where I do not look at myself in the mirror and frown with horror at what glares back at me. I did not like the person I was. I felt that other girls were prettier, cleverer and worth more than I was. Sounds glum but frankly my confidence was at an all time low.

By the time, I was seventeen I suffered with my first bout of depression. I had just left college and started my first job in a sandwich shop. Things began well until I started feeling unhappy. Shortly after, I started going out with my friends and drinking. I quit my job and started temping and then unfortunately, I became unemployed. My twenties continued in that same self-destructive pattern. Because deep down I did not like who I was – I wanted to fit in with the crowd. It was easier to go along with what everyone else was doing than stand up and be an individual. I wanted to study accountancy and English – as I had always loved reading and writing. I used to love making up stories and telling them to my friends and family. In fact – I drove everyone mad with my tales. However, I did not go back to college. I wasn’t interested in bettering myself. I am an ambitious person by nature but my confidence would not allow me to stick at anything.

My family was at a loss as to what to do with me. I was bad tempered, ill mannered and miserable. I was not an easy person to be around. I hated the person I had become. I started writing again to console my unhappiness. However, even my writing was dark and full of horror. There was no light in my life. Therefore, I drank more. I found a new job working as unemployment adviser. I thought things would look up but they didn’t. In fact, it became worse. Unfortunately, I became more depressed and lost. Although I was able to hide this as I worked with many sociable people, which offered a place to hide who I really was. I was Kimberley, the life and soul of the party, not Kimberley a girl in need of help.

When I was twenty-seven, I went to church with my mother in Barbados.  She is a Pastor and I’d always declined her offers before. When I first stepped into the church, I felt something different. Everyone just seemed so happy and alive. I remember a woman asking me for prayer – and I said no. I didn’t want prayer. I didn’t see how prayer could help me. Then when I went home that night I found myself reading a scripture from the bible and asking God what was wrong with me? Why was I always feeling like this? I did not want to spend the rest of my life in that state. I wanted to change. Shortly after, I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior and started attending church. I started to build a relationship with God by talking to him every day about my problems and the way I was feeling. The first scripture that I started to learn was Matthew 7: 7. Ask and it shall be given onto you. I started asking. Every day I asked God to change me. When I went back to UK, God gave me the courage to quit smoking and drinking. I distanced myself from bad influences and spent a lot of time alone in prayer. I started to build relationships with people in the church and day by day, I found an inner peace that was beautiful, electric and addictive.

It was more addictive than alcohol or feeling depressed. I started to feel good about who I was. When I smiled, it was real. When I thought of my future, it was full of hope and prospects. Jesus had completely transformed my way of thinking and I was positive for the first time in my life.

I went back to Barbados some months later – not knowing that God was going to do something wonderful in my life. I began working on a Christian romance about a young girl who meets the man of her dreams while she is accepting Christ at the Altar. I did not even think I would complete it as I have started novels before. However, there was something different about this one. I knew that God was with me on this, as I could never have written this book on my own. Fast forward months later – I was looking at the Amazon Kindle chart and 'Love at the Altar' was at number 15! I shouted for joy. I have had such a positive response from people online, in the church, and now I really believe that God can work miracles. I am now working on the second instalment in the 'Love at the Altar' series, and I’ve got people telling me that the book has made them believe in love again. How wonderful. I feel so blessed that God saw someone like me as a worthy enough cause. Even when I was crying into my pillow at night – He saw my tears whilst knowing that one day He would dry them.

My journey to Christ and to publishing my book was a hard one, but He brought me out of a dark pit of self-destruction. My aim now is to inspire others. I want to tell people that they can overcome anything and achieve their dreams. Jesus doesn’t look at what you are. He is interested in what He can do with you. So do not look at what you are now. You are a work in progress. And when God is finished with you – your life will never be the same again.

Glory to God. Hallelujah!! What a MIGHTY AWESOME God we serve. Special thanks goes to Kimberely for sharing her powerful and inspiring testimony. If you have a testimony of how God has transformed your life and you too would like to share it on the blog, just drop me an email at theaccidentalmogul@hotmail.co.uk. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

God bless.