Katrina's Story
My name is Kartina. I grew up in church all my life. When I was 17 years old I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I loved Jesus with all my heart. I was in church every time the doors were open. It was a rare occasion that I would miss a service and when I was absent it seemed like my whole week was unbalanced.
When I was 20 years old and still in college I
became good friends with someone much older than me. He was going through a
tough time and he confided in me about some controversial issues he was facing.
I started slipping away from God because I didn’t understand how to stay
friends with this guy and serve God at the same time. Later on, I stopped going
to church. Walking away from God was like killing a part of myself. I was
so ashamed that I couldn’t make myself go back to church. I just stayed in a
state of denial.
At 27 years of age I was so far away from the
Lord that I experimented in the Occult. My experimentation became a lifestyle. I
used Tarot cards on a daily basis, I had an altar where I lit
“special” candles and I used the Ouija board. Don’t be fooled like I was
into thinking that people who have passed on are the ones talking to you.
That’s not it at all! You will come face to face with Satan himself because
he’ll be the one talking to you! He’ll tell you lie after lie and convince
you that you’re talking to a dead family member or some wise person whose
passed away long ago.
Using the Ouija quickly became an addiction. I would spend about eight hours per week in DIRECT contact with the devil. After a while I started to experience strange things. For example: In the middle of the night I’d awaken by the sound of someone running down the hallway and opening or slamming the front door. I would get up to check it out, but there was nothing to see. There were times when I would hear someone walking up my bedroom steps and walking across my floor towards me in bed. I would turn around, but no one was there. I would lie in bed and feel the entire bed shake as if it were pushed. Shadows would move across my walls when there was nothing to cast a shadow. A lamp that sat securely on my desk catapulted out at me. These were just the beginnings of more terrifying things that were yet to come.
You may be saying to yourself right now, “why
didn’t you just turn back to the Lord?” It’s because I really didn’t
know how! At this point my mind was not my own. You see, by stepping into the
devil’s playground I unknowingly gave him permission to control me. I was
terrified! I was afraid to go to bed because I was tormented every night. I’d
get up during the night to use the bathroom and I’d feel something walking
behind me or hovering over me.
I actually know what the presence of evil
“feels” like. If there’s a bad spirit around me every hair on my body
stands on end. There’s also a “whoosh” feeling that starts in the pit of
my stomach and moves straight up my body. It feels like the “going down”
feeling on a roller coaster. This started happening more frequently and it got
more intense to the point where it took my breath away. This was the turning
point in my situation. Up to this point it had been going on for about a year
and a half.
After that, changes started to quickly take
place. I was in my room when I suddenly had the unquenchable desire to listen to
Christian music. As the music was playing I looked over at my Tarot cards
and I just couldn’t stand to see them. Something big was happening in me that
I didn’t yet understand. I had such an urge to get rid of every occultic thing
I had and that’s exactly what I did.
That night I went to bed and had a dream that
changed my life. Jesus stood next to me and said “I’m so jealous. You have
time for your friends, you have time for your work, you have time for everything
else, but you don’t have any time for me.” Then he put his arm up to his
head and he started to weep. At that moment in the dream, all of the pain and
sadness that he was feeling was transferred directly into me. I immediately knew
that I’d been searching everywhere for answers when the answer was right there
in front of me. I broke down and started to sob. I had an encounter with God and
I knew he was my solution. He lead me to a wonderful, spirit filled church where
the people are radically saved. I walked into that church on December 24, 1998
and rededicated my life to Jesus Christ and I walked out a new creation!
After that every time I would enter the
church building I would get a splitting headache. I’d walk back to my car
after each service holding both sides of my head because the pain was so severe.
This happened week after week. Sometimes people who have been into the Occult
end up getting a “mind control” spirit attached to them. I was experiencing
the classic symptoms.
At this point it was still really hard for
me to talk to God because I was dealing with a lot of guilt. With my face
buried in my pillow I began to pray. I went as far back as I could
remember and repented of everything. I was trembling in fear because of
all that was going on around me. After I let everything out I realized
that my headache was gone. The terror I’d been feeling from the start had been
replaced with such indescribable peace. Peace that passes all understanding!
There was a barrier of protection and the loving warmth of Jesus’ arms all
around me. I stayed very still and quiet for along time and just nuzzled right
into him. I knew my Jesus took care of everything. I had the most peaceful
sleep for the first time in almost 2 years. And it’s been that way ever since!
Now I know I have complete authority over Satan in Jesus’ name. What an
awesome God we serve! He deserves all of the glory and honor and praise!
He had to stretch way down to lift me out of Hell. I’m thankful that God has
long arms!
I hope this was encouraging for you to hear.
I’m telling you this because prayer works. If you’ve been praying for a
backslider don’t give up! It is never too late for anyone. It may not look
like God is doing anything, but he is. He’s looking for mighty warriors who
are willing to stand in the gap and pray for lost souls. II Peter 3:9 says:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness; but is
long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. Don’t give up on God. He’s not slow, he’s
just on a different time table then we are. He’s never early or late, but
He’s always right on time!
GOD BLESS YOU!!
