Name:  Bethan Davis

Age:  19

Testimony:
I was saved at the tender age of four. Some might wonder if a four year old can truly understand the concept of salvation. I can assure you that I most certainly did. I appeared at my mother's knee that day asking her how a person asked Jesus to come into their heart. My mother patiently took me through the Sinner's Prayer step by step. By the end, I was crying and completely convinced that I was Saved.

Unfortunately, I can't tell any stories about how I was witnessing when I was six or doing God's work when I was twelve. After that initial, tear-filled prayer, I began to lose my way. My parents stopped attending church services, therefore so did I. I never stopped believing in Christ or His Glory, but I did stop thinking about it on a regular basis.

It wasn't until high school that I realized how far astray I had gone. So many of my previous friends had started down dark and dangerous paths. Some were avidly using illegal drugs; others were associating themselves with Pagan organizations in or around my home town; still others had discovered a new sexuality and come 'out of the closet.' For the most part, I had stayed very much the same. I didn't use drugs, pentagrams made me nervous, and I was still very much attracted to the opposite sex. I was beginning to understand that my 'friends' weren't really friends, and I was nothing like the person I wanted to be.

My senior year of high school, two girls in my school decided to start at Tuesday/Thursday morning prayer group. I had considered attending the first meeting, but was still unsure as to whether I would. One of the girls stopped me in the hallway that morning and begged me to come. I did, but only because they were giving away free donuts. Sad, but true. In that room, I finally found the friendship I had been seeking for so long. Those eleven girls and one boy became my closest and dearest friends. We met every Tuesday and Thursday to pray together for whatever problems we might be facing at the time. It was one of the major turning points in my Christian life.

That year saw me grow as a Christian in sometimes subtle ways. By graduation, my faith had increased exponentially as it continues to do each and every day. I am amazed by the way God works in my life. It may not always been visible, but I often feel His presence during the course of my day.

Sadly, there is also another presence whose work is very plain in my day to day existence. Who? He goes by many names...Beelezbub, Lucifer, the Enemy, the Adversary, the Wicked One, I could go on. Of course,we all know that a 'rose by any other name' is still just a rose. And so, Satan is Satan no matter what other names you call him. I cannot even begin to count the number of times he tries to tempt me in a twenty-four hour period. He and his legion are present through every minute of my day whispering words of doubt into my ear. Do I listen? Of course not!

I am not going to claim that every prayer I have ever prayed has been answered to my liking, but they have all been answered. I didn't get the lead in the school musical, I didn't win the Indiana Speech Team State Championship in Poetry, I didn't even get an 'A' on my Sociology final...but that's all right. Why? Because, I we did sell our house just one week before my father was going to declare bankruptcy and leave us in the cold. We did sell our old car just one day before we were going to come to South Eastern Ohio to look for a house. (Subsequently, we needed that $1200 to put down on a rental property or we would have been homeless even with the sale of our old home.) When the recession started and neither my mother nor I could find jobs, my mother's family came forward with at least a thousand dollars worth of aid money. When it came down to it, God didn't give me the frivilous things I *wanted.* He gave me the meaningful things that I *needed.* Over the past six months, I have come to understand that you don't always know what the Guy Upstairs has in mind for you, but whatever it is, it's always for the best.

In short, what am I? A Born-Again Christian? A Bible Thumper? A Jesus Freak? A Disciple? A Religious Fanatic? I am very proud to say that I am all of the above.

Domains in which she writes fanfiction:
Dark Angel
X Files
Touched by an Angel
First Wave
Musicals
Originals
Poetry