posted by Robert Staddon • 8:17pm • November 9th, 2008
If you wanted a walking definition of a “good kid” it was me. I grew up in a Christian home, asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was 7, and went to Church twice a week. However, something was missing in my life! Reading my Bible was a struggle and giving in to peer pressure was not something new. The only difference between me and my friends was that they were cold and I was lukewarm. Something needed to change and I knew it.
That is when I decided to go on a Journey to the Heart. This was the best decision I have ever made. It was a “launching pad” and the real beginning of my walk with God. I rededicated my life to Him and gave Him the next 10 years to do whatever He wanted with it. The small coal of my spirit was alive and the next couple months proved this as I encountered major struggles and the devil threw all the fiery darts he could find at me.
At this point, my relationship with God can be summed up in John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Loving God is the only thing that matters. This is a simple applicable truth that I am and will continue to apply on a day to day basis for the rest my life.
~ Philip
July 2007 Guys’ Journey
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posted by Robert Staddon • 10:00pm • November 7th, 2008
After returning from the Life Focus Journey, Nathaniel joyfully shared how God took the knowledge he had in his head and brought it down to his heart.
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posted by Robert Staddon • 5:37pm • August 17th, 2008
The trip truly was a journey deep into my heart, exposing all of the dark closets to the Light of Christ. As a result, I have never had more joy and passion for serving Christ—with my whole heart. When I cleared my heart of every affection that was competing with Christ and fully surrendered everything to Him, I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace and love as nothing stood in between our relationship.
So many exciting, incredible things happened on the Journey, but the three most important to me were the hours of close fellowship with like-minded believers, the close fellowship I experienced with our awesome God, and the extra power I received through the anointing and laying on of hands.
The anointing for greater works and the laying on of hands has given me an amazing boldness and power to share God’s love with others. Before, I would have been so intimidated to approach strangers and share the love of Jesus, but now I am excited to talk with others.
God is bringing into my life so many to whom I can witness and disciple. I have set my goal of disciples to two million, and I am sure through God’s grace I can reach it! Thank you Mr. Gothard for giving of yourself for me and so many others. You have had a tremendous impact on my life and I pray that God would allow me to do the same!
~ Timothy
June 2008 Guys Journey
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posted by Sharon Kelly • 10:58am • July 17th, 2008
At the beginning of the week I began praying and asking God to give me the two desires of my heart which were to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to ultimately honor my Daddy. In my mind I thought that if I could learn how to truly honor my Daddy, then he would love me more and show more affection to me.
As the week went on, I started to study my pride and selfishness and really ask God to reveal those shortcomings to me. As I searched God’s Word and daily prayed that God would bless my Daddy, I asked Him to give my dad the desire to pursue me and have more open love towards me and better communication. God suddenly turned the light on and I realized that I was asking for these things out of selfishness.
The next night we watched a powerful video called “The Father’s Love Letter.” God really spoke to me through the video and showed me that no matter how much affection my earthly father expresses or doesn’t express to me, my Heavenly Father will always love me more then anyone else in this world. I am now able to humbly bless my Daddy in knowing that if I give all of my love to God, He will give some of it back to my Daddy to love me with.
God has truly used this situation to strengthen my love and personal relationship with Jesus and even with my Daddy. I now have the freedom to love my Daddy without the selfish desires of trying to gaining his love in return, and ultimately focusing on loving the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.
~ Joanna
June 2008 Girls’ Journey
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posted by Chad Paine • 3:49pm • May 19th, 2008
So it all began when I moved to a different neighborhood that my life started to go down hill. First, I was made fun of and picked on. I decided to change so that I could “fit-in”. I began hanging out with the wrong friends, using drugs and such.
I found out that I had to go to Journey to the Heart and I got all excited about coming…but it was all for the wrong reasons. I arrived at the headquarters and I met this kid named Charles. I soon found out that we had almost the exact same interests. We both LOVED rock music, and we enjoyed playing it on our guitars. We also had similar struggles in different friendships. We decided that we would go and ignore God and everything and everyone and just play our guitars and listen to music. But God didn’t have that in mind for us. Later that night I had an interview with Mr. Gothard and I told him that I listened to rock music. He sat and thought for a moment and then asked me to pray and dedicate my music to God. I did but really deep down inside, I didn’t mean it.
On the way to Northwoods our leader told us to get out our Bibles and have a quiet time with the Lord. I was trying to think of something to read when I looked in the front of the Bible that my leader had given me and saw a list of references that you could go to during times of struggle with your relationship with God. I read Matthew, chapter five, which was convicting, but I tried to ignore it.
The first day in Northwoods we began talking about other religions and Satanism. It scared me so much that I was shaking with fear. I recognized that there is only ONE true God that can save and give you eternal life or destroy and sentence you to eternal damnation. That night I verbally asked Jesus to come into my heart and that I would know that He was real…and He did. The next day I recognized that I needed to call my parents and confess some of the struggles and failures that I had kept hidden. I confessed my moral failures, pornography, my language, and wrong music, which was the hardest thing to do. After I had confessed these hidden failures and different
struggles to my parents, I felt a WHOLE NEW freedom come over me. Later on in the week, we went on a walk around the lake and it was like I was having a conversation with God.
When we got back Charles and I went straight for our guitars but I was pricked in my conscience and recognized the need to play the right kind of music. As I look back on the Journey, I see God’s love for me and His abundant mercy that is so great. He desires our whole heart to be seeking Him, not just part of it.
~ Jesse
March 2008 Guys’ Journey
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If you wanted a walking definition of a “good kid” it was me. I grew up in a Christian home, asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was 7, and went to Church twice a week. However, something was missing in my life! Reading my Bible was a struggle and giving in to peer pressure was not something new. The only difference between me and my friends was that they were cold and I was lukewarm. Something needed to change and I knew it.
