I Was an Atheist

A Moving Story Written by a Listener from Bosnia & Herzegovina

dreamstime_2128541As one of your listeners, I feel it is my duty to testify to what Jesus has done in my life. I was an atheist for 50 years. Up until 1992, my husband, two daughters, and I lived very well.  Then war broke out, and on 23 May 1992, an artillery shell fell and killed our 9 ½-year-old daughter. My world was shattered; I could not comprehend life without her. Whenever a child would call out, "Mama," I would turn around and think that it was my daughter. Sadness and pain ruled my life, but all those years the Lord God was with me, and I did not recognize Him.

I tried committing suicide, but my friends stopped me, so I tried for a third time. As I walked toward the river to jump in, I reached an intersection where I should have turned right to reach the water. But my Jesus instead turned me towards the left. There I happened to meet a friend with whom I opened up and told everything. He referred me to a priest who he said would be able to help me.

When I visited the priest, I began to cry for the first time since my daughter died. I could not stop until he prayed for me. While I was driving home, I heard a voice in one ear: "My family will kill me when they hear that I went to church."  But in the other ear I heard, "You should go to mass like the priest suggested; this is your place," and that voice won.  The first time that I went to church, I sat in a corner, shaking with fear – but then I began to experience God. I said to Him, "If you are here, help me. I cannot live like this." I heard a voice, "This place belongs to you."

No one was happier than I was right then. I bought a Bible, which I read regularly. With each day, I felt better.  I testified in church how my Jesus rescued me out of the mud.  Then my husband also began to go to church, and I began to look at everything differently.  For these past five years, my relatives have not found out about my faith, and without fear I attend church, and in the Holy Scriptures I read, "Fear not, for I am with you even to the end of the world."  Because I have God in my life, it means that not a shadow of fear or unhappiness can capture my heart, but rather it is filled with true joy, a joy which no one can take away.

Visit our Croatian Partner's website at www.twr-hrvatska.org or learn about one of their programs at www.twr.org

Source: Ministry Moments

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