Before I truly encountered God, I thought knowing Him was only about religion, traditions, or attending church. I never understood what it truly meant to have a personal relationship with Him or to hear His voice through the Holy Spirit.
Looking back now, I realize that God had been patiently drawing me to Him even during the moments when I was spiritually blind and unaware of His presence. Through many experiences, struggles, convictions, and encounters, God slowly transformed my life and opened my spiritual eyes to know Him personally.
This is my personal testimony of how God revealed Himself to me and taught me that Christianity is not merely about religion, but about having a true relationship with Him. I am sharing this testimony not to glorify myself, but to glorify God and testify to His goodness, grace, mercy, and transforming power.
I pray that through this testimony, others may also open their hearts to God and come to know Him personally.
I remember when I was still a child, I made a stone my god. Although I often heard the word “God,” I never had an encounter or experience with Him. I’ll tell you the truth—this is not about religion. Regarding my background, my family and ancestors were Catholic. But because my father kept changing religions, we were also affected by whichever religion he followed. I remember my grandmother (my mother’s mother) getting angry whenever we went to church with my father. Every time we passed by my grandmother’s house on our way to church, I would feel afraid or nervous because she would get angry. During that time, I was completely blind to God.
Until the time came when we completely stopped going to church. I also remember when I was in high school, we had a card that needed to be signed to prove that we attended church every Sunday. During clearance time, we had to show it so that our subject teacher could sign our clearance. The subject was REED because I studied in a Catholic school. This became one of my problems because I wasn’t attending church every Sunday. What happened was that my classmate and I signed my card to make it look like I attended church so I could get my clearance signed. Remember, during that time, I still didn’t have a relationship with God, although I always prayed to Him. I felt guilty for doing that, but it was part of my spiritual journey before I encountered God. And no one ever persuaded me to join any religion.
At first, I also thought this was about religion, but when I encountered God, that was when I understood that this is not about religion—it is about having a relationship with God. That is why whenever someone asks me why I changed religion, this is the story I tell them.
Even before that, God was already speaking to us. We were just not listening. Every person has a different story in life, and God is the author of it. That is why we should not compare our lives to others because we all have different stories.
Before I reviewed for my nursing board exam, I was about to do self-review at home because during that time, I wasn’t feeling well. I wasn’t ready to study, especially because I couldn’t focus. Instead of studying, what I noticed was the Bible. Before that, I had been praying to God every night before sleeping. I said to Him, “Lord, I want to follow You. Please guide me in Your path.” What I meant was that I wanted God to guide me to what was truly right because my family and I were not attending church, and aside from that, my family situation was very chaotic. God hears us, sees us, and knows everything about our situation.
So during that time, when I saw the Bible while preparing to study, I opened it and started reading. What I read was about the things that would happen in the world. While reading, tears kept flowing from my eyes because I became afraid of what would happen, and deep inside me, I wanted to draw near to God. That was one of the moments when God started drawing me to Him. But during that time, I was not yet aware that God was already reaching out to me.
Then I had a friend with whom I would sometimes talk about God. We would send Bible verses to each other through text messages—just random Bible verses. That friend also met a Christian friend who invited her to their church. Later, I was introduced to that friend, and I also attended their church. I was 100% willing to be baptized even though I still didn’t fully understand God.
Every time I attended church, my mind felt distracted. I mean, I didn’t really feel the presence of God. I simply attended church physically, but my heart was not yet truly seeking God. My heart was not fully focused on God yet, and I still did not fully understand what it meant to have a real relationship with Him. Then one day, while the pastor was preaching, I was shocked because everything he said felt exactly like what I was going through. It felt as though he was talking directly about me. I was amazed because I wondered how he knew the sins I had committed. His words were so sharp that they pierced my soul and spirit. It was my first time experiencing something like that. I felt like sinking into my chair because I wondered how he knew about my sins. But even then, I still wasn’t aware that God was already touching my life.
Later, when I was in Cebu, Philippines, the friend of my friend—who also became my friend—suddenly contacted me and asked about my relationship with God. To be honest, I didn’t understand what she meant by “relationship.” I had never experienced having a relationship with God. Then she sent me a Bible from Bohol to Cebu, Philippines, through her brother who came to Cebu for work. During that time, I had already stopped working, so I started reading the Bible she gave me. It was a New Testament Bible.
I started reading it from the beginning, and while reading, tears continuously flowed from my eyes. The next day, I felt restless because of the conviction in my heart, and I wanted to go to church. I started searching for a church even though I didn’t know where to go. I had a friend with me, and my friend told me that maybe we shouldn’t go to church because it was already getting late and we still didn’t know where to find a church.
We searched on the internet, but the church we found online was not the one we actually arrived at. It was the same place, but when we got there, we kept walking until we found a church that was empty. Still, I did not give up. Eventually, we found another church that was open.
I suddenly entered that church, and the moment I walked in, I could no longer hold back my tears. I cried intensely, even though I didn’t know anyone there. Suddenly, my whole body became cold, and I started trembling. My mouth felt like it wanted to speak, but I held it back because I was afraid and didn’t understand what was happening to me at that time. It was the first time in my entire life that I experienced something like that.
At that time, the pastor asked anyone who wanted prayer to come forward, so we fell in line while the pastor prayed over each of us. There was a man standing beside me, and I almost asked if I could borrow his jacket because my whole body felt freezing cold. My tears would not stop flowing until the worship service ended.
After the service, the two girls from the church approached me and asked about me, but I could barely answer because I was still crying heavily. They told me to just cry it all out. Then the pastor also came and told the two girls to mentor me because God had a calling for me. It felt like he was filled with joy while telling me that. He said, “That is so exciting, whatever that calling is.” At that time, I couldn’t understand what the pastor meant by “calling,” especially because it was my first time hearing about it.
While we were on our way home in a taxi, I still felt the coldness throughout my body, so I asked the taxi driver to turn off the air conditioner and open the window. But even then, I still wasn’t aware that God had already touched me during that time.
Then I went back home to Bohol (Tagbilaran), Philippines. I was in my wilderness season. (I will share about the wilderness season another time.) Eventually, I met the man who is now my husband. In our conversations, we often talked about God. Because of that, I started reading again the Bible my friend had given me. From there, I continuously read the Bible cover to cover.
Then the friend who gave me the Bible visited me. We had a Bible study together. Honestly, I really couldn’t understand what she was telling me. She said that God had spoken to her and that it was a revelation from God, and so on. I truly did not understand her, but I stayed quiet and simply listened. Then she told me that the Holy Spirit would teach me.
At that point, I became even more confused because I didn’t even understand what the Holy Spirit was. I had heard the word before, but I didn’t know Him, understand Him, or experience anything about Him. I remembered that when I was a child, my father once said that the people of God wrote the Bible through the Holy Spirit. So I asked my father what the Holy Spirit was. He told me that the Holy Spirit had no flesh and bones. In my mind, I wondered what he meant by that.
I also remembered what my friend told me about speaking in tongues. I was amazed because I had never heard anything like that before. She said that when we speak in tongues, we speak different languages that only God understands. She said that words would begin to flow naturally through our mouths. I also wanted to experience that.
So we prayed together, and she led me in surrendering myself to God. A few days later, I was shocked because while I was praying to God and crying during my prayer, my mouth suddenly started speaking words that sounded unfamiliar, as though I was stammering but continuously speaking. I thought it happened only at that moment, but the next day, when I woke up and prayed again, it happened once more. Eventually, it became natural for me until now.
From that moment on, my focus became God. I read the Bible every day, and later I returned to our hometown. I was amazed because every time I read the Bible, I truly felt that someone was speaking to me through the Word of God. I was amazed because while reading, it felt as though God knew everything I had done that day. Sometimes, while reading the Bible, it also felt like He was speaking ahead of time about things that would happen.
There were verses that I suddenly understood deeply because they related to my situation or to future events. One thing I understood and heard was that someone would come to our house to question me about my faith. But God told me not to worry or be afraid because He would use my mouth, and the words would come from Him.
The very next day, while I was still sleeping, my parents woke me up because someone was looking for me to talk about faith in God. He was connected to my father’s belief. It felt almost like a debate, and during that time, I was still a baby Christian. My relationship with God had only just begun.
While he was asking me questions, I silently prayed to God about how I should answer. Then when I responded, he suddenly became quiet.
Based on my experiences from the beginning, the more my relationship with God grew, the more I understood that those were the moments when God was speaking to me through the power of the Holy Spirit. I later understood that this was what is called revelation. God gives wisdom, understanding, discernment, and many other things.
God speaks to us in different ways—through the Bible when we read it, through people, and through situations that align with the Word of God (the Bible). That is why the Bible is so important because it is through it that we know the Word of God.
But the reason many people cannot hear the voice of God is because their hearts and minds are focused on worldly things—such as ambitions, desires, and especially sin. God is HOLY. That is how pure He is. We cannot come near Him without Jesus Christ in our hearts and lives.
Through Jesus Christ, we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we come to know God, hear God, and see God. The Holy Spirit purifies us so we may become clean and be transformed to become like Jesus Christ—humble before God and obedient to Him.
That is why if our lives have no space for God, our lives will not reflect godly things. If our hearts are filled with selfish desires or worldly desires, naturally we will not understand the desire or plan of God for our lives. We cannot hear His voice, see His goodness, understand His mysteries, or comprehend His glory. In short, we cannot understand spiritual things.
HEBREWS 12:14 (NLT)
“Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.”
ISAIAH 59:2 (NLT)
“It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.”
MICAH 3:4 (NLT)
“Then you beg the Lord for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!”
PROVERBS 28:9 (NLT)
“God detests the prayers of a person who ignores the law.”
Spiritual things are very important in our lives because they are connected to the natural realm—our current life, situation, and even our future. Yet these are the very things that many people ignore.
Sin separates us from God and hardens our hearts toward His voice. If the Word of God does not touch our hearts, it is because our hearts have become hardened. If we are not interested in godly things, it is because the desires in our hearts are focused on worldly things. That is why people cannot hear God—because they are spiritually dead.
JOHN 3:3-8 (NLT)
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
In order for you to hear God and see His Kingdom, your spirit must be born again. Surrender everything to God. Accept Jesus Christ into your heart as the Lord and Savior of your life. Surrender to Him everything you are carrying in life—your burdens, dreams, and everything else.
God looks at your heart, and when He sees humility and true surrender before Him, He is faithful to restore you. He will renew and transform everything in your life. That is why you become a new creation in Christ and a child of God.
Instead of following your fleshly desires or sinful nature, because the Holy Spirit now dwells within you, you begin to follow Him. Your desires, plans, and purpose become aligned with God, and this is what gives us everlasting life.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 (NLT)
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
1 JOHN 1:10-13 (NLT)
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him.11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
Looking back on my journey, I now understand that God had been calling me long before I even recognized His voice. There were many moments in my life when I was spiritually blind, lost, confused, and focused on worldly things, yet God remained patient, loving, and faithful in drawing me closer to Him.
Hearing the voice of God does not begin with religion, human effort, or simply attending church. It begins with surrender, humility, repentance, and having a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. The more we seek God with all our hearts, the more the Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes to understand His Word, His will, and His presence in our lives.
God still speaks today. He speaks through His Word, through the Holy Spirit, through conviction in our hearts, through people, and through situations that align with His truth. But in order to hear Him clearly, we must make room for Him in our hearts and allow Him to transform our lives completely.
My prayer is that whoever reads this testimony will come to know that God is real, loving, patient, merciful, and faithful. No matter how far you feel from Him, God can restore your life, heal your heart, and lead you into a true relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
God changed my life completely, and I truly believe that He can change yours too.
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