Enrolment and Covenant Service

Finally I'm back to blogging after the long break from blogging im back and boy oh boy. God is good is he not? God has richly blessed me and I thank him. I have decided to post what has occurred over this miraculous weekend followed by my testimony (for those that were unable to make it).

The Miraculous Weekend - Day 1 (Saturday Night)
It all started off with the last supper, or as it seemed where Ben Clapton and his family and fiancé, Stephen and I plus the family (Mum, Dad and Nanna and the little ones), The Corps Officers and Margaret Wilson turned up at the 'Good Fortune Chinese Restaurant' not knowing what to expect. We had a lovely All you can eat banquet full of various foods. We were defiantly full after that, and we shared in some fellowship sharing stories and such at the table whilst eating the food.

Following this we went to the hall. Prior to the service the Captains and us enrolees prayed in the office about our decision we were to make. The night kicked of with the worship team, whom had got a new drummer due to Ben, Stephen and I being allowed to relax and enjoy the evening. We had a responsive prayer, and then the signing of the covenant between us and God. Not the Articles of War (that was on Sunday). All three of us signed our covenant and were happy with the decision we had and have made. The night was a great success and I want to sincerely thank the officers, as I truly loved the night.

Only God knew what was in store next...

The Miraculous Weekend - Day 2 (Sunday Morning)
It started with Stephen and I at open air as usual, in normal Junior Soldier Uniform (same as Senior Soldier except no epaulettes. We then met before the service and prayed for our decision as we signed the Corps copy of our Articles of War. BAMMM, the service began with the Band playing a march before the meeting. About three quarters of the way through the march Stephen and I (after the prayer in the office) went up to the platform and joined the band in the finishing of the march.

The service began with a tune from the band followed by the worship team. We were having a great time. Still could not get over how amazing Saturday night was. It came to the enrolment and we still were not wearing epaulettes as a request by my family and us we decided no epaulettes until during the service. That way we are officially senior soldiers in the service and not before hand. We had our parents (or in Ben's case loved one) come up and put the epaulettes on us. Following this we signed our covenant which is made between Us, God and the Salvation Army.

Me being the last in the line so to speak I was asked to give my testimony first (see below). As nervous as anything due to the fact Public Speaking is one of my hates, I gave my testimony. A fair amount of people commented on how well it was, and loads of people congratulated me on becoming a Senior Soldier. I had done my testimony followed by Ben, then lastly Stephen. We had done it and we had made it through what was the most nervous part of the service.

I thank God for my amazing life, and pray he will use me as a vessel to his will. Amen.

My Testimony:
When I was first asked to give my testimony, it honestly made me think a lot about what God has done in my life... Isn't it funny that everyday we are blessed and we do not realise it, then when you get asked to testify about what God has done in your life you actually realise the amazing things he has done.

For those that don't know me I am going to quickly tell you a little bit about me. I am 17 years old, and was born with Hirschsprung's Disease which affected my entire large intestine. I have been told by my Mum and Dad that I was in and out of hospital for 9 months, before being diagnosed. The surgeon told my parents "There is an operation that we can do; it might fix young Andrew, then again it might not." They were basically told that if I did not have the surgery to remove the diseased bowl I would die, if I did have the surgery there is not a certainty that it would fix anything and that as I was so undernourished through failure to thrive I could die on the operating table.

My parents were faced with a choice, don't have the surgery and have me die, or have the surgery where I could die anyway. My parents prayed for my situation, many of you here prayed for me (Floreat) and there was even a prayer chain occurring overseas. They believed that God was in control and that he would be with me through this. They spent ages up the hospital with me. My mum was with me almost 24/7 except for times where a nurse of someone would come and say "Bronwen, Andrew will be fine, you need some rest, come with me and get a coffee". I know this situation must have been hard for my parents and am thankful for God's hand in this situation. Who would have guessed that the little biafrin back then would become the Person standing before you today... Only God I guess!

All through primary school I was teased for being 'a nerd' and a 'computer geek'. This really let me down, However I put my trust in the Lord and he helped me through it. Then coming into Middle School, Years 7,8 and 9 of high school the teasing continued but along with 'nerd', 'computer geek' came 'fatso' and other words that would tear me down. I admit some of it did and it continued until I became mates with some great Christian guys in the school music program, who even today I am still great mates with. I tell you now, the moment I became mates with one of them who was very popular in school, more than 90% of the abusive comments stopped. God was actually able to begin the 'restoration' process in me because of the fact I was able to be defended from Satan by allowing God to work in my life.

But upon starting Senior School (Years 10, 11 and 12), during Year10 I met a guy who I thought was my mate. Mum and Dad were very concerned as they could see a change in me that I refused to see. Along came the "I don't care" attitude and the large bills with dollars worth of phone calls, sms's and other stuff which 'I didn't care about' I was once again broken and needed the Lord. I called upon him during 'Marching as to War' and 'Insane 2009' and I said those well known words 'All that I am, All I can be, All that I have, All that is me, Accept and use Lord as you would choose Lord, right now today'. I asked God to help me through these struggles and I made a commitment to put God before self. God was going to lead my life.

The Lord has certainly been great. I am a DJ for various online radio stations and am well known by alot of people on the Internet for my Christian behaviour. I look back at those people who used to bully me with their teasing and in a way laugh at them. I currently have a good job in IT working for the government and earning a good wage while the same cannot be said for many of them.

I am able to stand today and say God is doing amazing things in my life and I pray that through my ministry of DJing, Webmastering and Webhosting he can intervene into people's lives and that the Glory of God will shine in my workplace at Landgate and wherever I go. I am not saying that I am perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I am an ongoing project that God is continually working on. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I'm good enough 'cause God don't make no junk!!!