Piotr - Poland

Nickname: Piotr

I was born to a Catholic family 34 years ago. God, church and living by faith were for me just a Sunday obligation and did not have any impact onto my life.

Even though there was nothing of God in my life, I remember the time, somewhere at the end of my elementary school, when I would feel very lonely and turn to God to say, "God – Jesus you are my best friend. You are here, right next to me." I just did not know how to relate to God and Jesus, but these words were a genuine expression of some kind of a longing I felt deep inside me.

I cannot say that this confession has changed anything in my life. I just lived on and through my high school years I was a stubborn, mouthy and disrespectful teenager. My life was just as average as it comes, far away from God and doomed for self-destruction.

My way to God started over 13 years ago with an ‘accidental’ meeting of an old friend who gave me a little blue Gideon’s New Testament. I really liked the gift and started to read it. The time and devotion I put into the reading was close to nothing, but little by little, I was getting to know what two years later has started to change my life.

It was then, when I was in my second year of Teachers’ Training College in a city called Chelm in the southeastern part of Poland – my home area – where I met another man whom God used to bring me to Himself.

We were roommates in a school dormitory, and I had a chance to borrow from him some audio tapes with Christian teaching. The preacher that spoke on these tapes would clarify and explain very many issues I had while reading the New Testament.

There was one tape that became the turning point of my search for God. It was entitled ‘Relationship with God’. It spoke not only about Jesus and His death on the cross as a ransom for sin, but it also explained that there was a human input in the process of salvation. It said that I needed to trust that Jesus died for my sins, and it is only by faith in His work that I can have my wrongdoings forgiven. It also spoke about confessing of this faith through a baptism.

This, I must say, was something I knew would not be so easy. As for faith and trust, it was easy for me to think ‘I could do it,' but to actually do something that visibly showed my convictions and stance was a different story. I knew that professing my faith would be laden with consequences of which I was not sure I wanted to bear.

It took me a few times to listen to this tape and say in my prayer to God, "Yes, I want to live with you fully, and I want to be baptized." It was in early December almost 12 years ago.

From that time on, God had shown Himself faithful in each and every moment of my life. He has been leading, teaching and caring for me in ways I just could not imagine. He has led me to a Baptist church where I got baptized some time later and found my first fellowship with Bible-believing Christians. He has also led me to ministry with International Messengers, a mission organization working on spreading the Gospel in Eastern Europe with which I am working currently, http://www.internationalmessengers.org

For the last four years I have been married to Eliza, my dear wife, and for almost a year-and-a half I have been a father to Aleksandra, our adorable daughter.