Another testimony with lessons from Tiffaney's anointing

Notwithstanding the widespread declension of faith and piety, there are true followers of Christ in these churches The Great Controversy, p. 464.

Notwithstanding the spiritual darkness and alienation from God that exist in the churches which constitute Babylon, the great body of Christ’s true followers are still to be found in their communion. There are many of these who have never seen the special truths for this time. Not a few are dissatisfied with their present condition and are longing for clearer light The Great Controversy, p. 390.

There are now true Christians in every church, not excepting the Roman Catholic communion, who honestly believe that Sunday is the Sabbath of divine appointment. God accepts their sincerity of purpose and their integrity before Him Ibid., p. 449.

It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman Catholic communion. Thousands in that church are serving God according to the best light they have. They are not allowed access to His word, and therefore they do not discern the truth Ibid., p. 565.

“Hi guys, welcome back to my channel. OK so today I’m going to do something a little different. I’m going to share my testimony with you guys. If you don’t know I am a Christian and I’m also a pastor’s wife. That’s kind of scary to say out here on the interwebs because there are, unfortunately, some Christians that kind of give the rest of us a bad name. So I just wanted to go ahead and tell you guys my testimony and kind of, I don’t know, what I came from and where I’m at. And just all of that stuff. If you want to hear my testimony, just keep on watching.

So, I didn’t grow up in a Christian family. We went to church maybe a couple of times. My mom is…she was raised Catholic. And she kind of raised us what I call ‘Catholic light’. Like we observed a lot of the Catholic holidays and just some of the Catholic based things—I don’t really know how to explain that.

And we had Catholic Bibles and whatever. But we never read as a family. I’ve never really did any of that stuff. I’ve gone to Mass a few times, but I’ve never gone to confession and I’ve never done any of that stuff. My dad, he went to a Seventh-day Adventist church whenever he went to church, but he didn’t—like I said we never really went to church. We went to church probably, we started to go to church... I don’t know…I want to say I was like, seventeen maybe.

We went to church a couple times. I think it was a non-denominational church in a really small town away from the small town I graduated from. And I don’t know that I ever really paid attention. The music was cool. But I didn’t really care to like hear whatever the preacher was saying because I just didn’t care.

My family life was really, really hard growing up. A lot of abuse. And my dad worked a lot, so he wasn’t really there. We just moved around a lot. I’ve been homeless a few times. We’ve lived in motels. We’ve lived in other people’s houses. My life was just really kind of crazy.

I got kicked out (of my home) when I was seventeen years old. Me and my mom got into it, and she threw me through a table. And I told her that that was it, she wasn’t going to do that to me anymore. And she kicked me out, and wouldn’t let me take anything of mine. I eventually got to get some of my clothes, but she kept all of my other belongings, including stuff that my biological dad bought for me. And I moved in with my boyfriend because I had nowhere else to go.

So I was seventeen, a junior in high school, and I was living with my boyfriend. Now, I…this is really, really hard to talk about. Life was just weird. I was 17 years old, I wasn’t supposed to be out on my own yet, I was a junior in high school, I wasn’t supposed to be on my own yet, but I was. And I’m thankful for everything that was going on in that time, and who my boyfriend was—at that time, which our relationship was really, really weird, but I was safe. That’s all that really matters—I was safe. And I went to school, I made amazing grades, and I graduated, and I went to college. Then me and h… he was my fiancé, we broke up and I moved out and moved to a friend’s house.

And during this time I had done a lot of drinking, a whole lot of drinking, lots of drinking, lots of partying, lots of dancing, lots of drinking, lots of partying, lots of dancing. Lots of drinking, Oh my goodness. And even when I was younger, like I started cigarettes when I was eleven. I started smoking pot when I was fourteen. I started drinking when I was fourteen. I started having sex when in was fourteen. And it was all right. I mean, there was no [parent to advise me] really like, “I want better for you. You can have better”.

I didn’t know. So I just went around with my [strayings?], all my friends were doing it. So I was doing it. So I didn’t see what the big problem was. So all of this stuff kind of led me to…I moved back in with my mom for when I was in my second semester, my freshman year. And she ended up kicking me out again because I had a dog, and I was gone a lot with working and college. And I wanted to be out. I had already been out, not under rules and having to check in, and all of that stuff, that I was used to it. I was twenty, I wanted to be gone. So my mom kicked me out because my dog urinated on the floor and she had new carpet.

So I moved in with a friend. And me and another friend of mine we worked together. And we went and drank and danced all night at a club, at least 3 or 4 times a week. And through her I met Brad. Her friend was dating his friend, and that’s how we met. He come from a really, really good family, really good Christian based family, good values. But he was kind of a ‘hood [neighborhood] rat. He was drunk when I met him and we got drunk together and we started dating. And that’s what we did, we would drink and party. I’d go sing and he’d play pool and darts. And we just had a good ol’ time whatever.

Well, we started dating in March 2008 I believe it was. And I was pregnant by August with our oldest daughter. (So, you know we weren’t really doing the Christian things there.) And it was really, really, really rough. He had a really good job, but we were wanting to move closer to his family, he’s got a huge family, a huge amazing family, and he wanted to raise our kids out there where he was raised. And I thought that was a great idea.

So we moved in with his mom…his parents…my last month of pregnancy and we lived there for probably the first 6 months or more of our oldest daughter’s life. And that was really hard because I didn’t really know them [before moving in] and then I was living with them. And my husband was gone all the time, partying or working. And I was home with the baby. And we had a really, really hard relationship. It was very tough. I chalk it up to the grace of God why I stayed because it was really, really hard. He didn’t want to stay home and play dad, or husband, which we were just boyfriend-girlfriend then. But I was living with his parents, and he was just gone all the time.

So, yeah, we were together, blah, blah. April of 2010 we got married. By that August we were pregnant with our second daughter. And she was born June 2011. And the January before she was born I asked my husband, ‘Hey, let’s make a new year’s resolution that we start going to church,’ because his parents had invited us to church. And we had gone a couple of times, and I really liked it. The preacher was amazing. I believed everything he said. He didn’t talk at you. He didn’t talk down to you. He didn’t make you feel like what he was saying was personal. Everybody in the church knew that when we just started coming around I was unmarried and pregnant with our oldest daughter. And they all knew who we were and what we were doing. They knew that we were drinking the Saturday before we came to church, and just everything else like that. And nobody in the church made me feel like I was a terrible person. They wrapped their arms around me and hugged me and loved me and encouraged me to come. I wanted to be around those people. There was something different about those people. Why were they so happy all the time?

I struggled with depression; I have since fifth grade. It’s genetic, but I also count it up to my life circumstances, why it was brought on so early. So I have craved joy, true joy. I want to be happy too.

So, like I said I had asked Brad if we could start going to church more. And he was like, ‘Yeah, I was raised in church. I want to raise my kids in church. That’s great.’ Well, through all this it was still really, really hard. Because he was not a good man. He was faithful to me, but he wasn’t ever there (at home). He was always out drinking with his friends, and partying, and leaving me, and I was taking care of the kids and pregnant, or whatever. Like he would, if me and him were out on a date, and his best friend called and would say, ‘Hey, come to the bar’, he’d take me home and go to the bar. [She holds back tears.] Sorry, old wounds!

Anyway, so we started going to church. And through that we started, you know, talking and praying and doing all these things, and getting involved in church. And about four (actually a couple of) months after our middle daughter was born I was sleeping in the living room with her because I was not allowed to sleep in the bedroom because the baby kept him awake. And me getting up to feed her and change her and stuff kept her awake so I had to sleep in the living room. (I told you he was not a good man.) And I was praying, ‘God please, I can’t do this anymore. You have got to do something because I’m going to leave him. I’m going to divorce him.’ I didn’t believe in divorce because that’s just not something I wanted ever to do. I never wanted to be in that situation. I never wanted to enter marriage with the thought, ‘Oh I can just divorce him.’ But it was getting too much. I couldn’t do it anymore.

So he came in one night [from the bedroom]. I guess he had not fallen asleep or had woken up, or whatever. And he was like, ‘I want to talk to you.’ And he had gotten saved, and all of this stuff. And his testimony is amazing, by the way. But, we’ll leave that for another time if you guys want to hear his testimony. You let me know down in the comments.

But, from that moment I saw true change. Like he stopped drinking. He stopped cussing, he stopped going out and partying. He stopped a lot of the stuff and started praying more and reading the Bible more, and doing all this stuff and trying to be a godly man. We never missed church from that moment on.

And I was still struggling, and I didn’t understand why I was still struggling, because I thought I had gotten saved when I was seven at a VBS (Vacation Bible School, a summertime church event for the children). They would bring a bus to the apartment complex I lived in. And all of us kids would pile on the bus and go to VBS at this Baptist church. And I thought I had gotten saved there. I thought I was fine.

But I was really, really struggling with…now I wanted to kind of ‘sow my oats too’, I guess you can call it. Like, he had all his time partying, and getting all that out, and getting to go do and just be…, and whatever, and I had been stuck taking care of the kids most of the time while he was out doing whatever he wanted. I wanted to go out too. And he was like, ‘Something’s not right. Are you sure [you want to go back to the nightclubs]? Blah blah blah.’ But [to me] it [(going to church)] was like rules, rules. I don’t want to be under rules, blah, blah, blah.

So I had started leading worship in church and I was singing and all of that stuff. The following November, it was a year after, almost 2 years later ‘Master’s Voice’ [a singing group] was there and they were there singing, doing revival or whatever, or it was a special night or something, and he did this analogy [about what]…God is like…he was telling a story.

And his story was as if a person came up to me and said, ‘Hey. I’m going to die. I’m dying. And there’s no cure for me. Please can you help me?’ And he’s like, ‘Yes, I can help you.’ And he goes to his daughter, and he’s like, ‘Honey, this man is dying, and there is no way for him to be saved. But your blood is secure [correct type and disease-free], would you give your life to save this man?’ And she says, ‘Yes daddy. Of course I will.’ So he is sitting by her side, and holding her hand, and as her body drains of this blood, he’s telling her how much he loves her, and how thankful he is to have her. And she says, ‘Daddy I will do anything to save this man. For you I will do this. It’s OK.’ And [she dies.] Then he takes her blood, and he says, ‘This is my baby’s blood and it’s what’s going to save your life.’ And the man says, ‘Never mind. I don’t need it anymore. I found something else. I’m going to be fine.’ And he’s sitting there with this gift that cost his daughter’s life but the man who said he needed it rejected it.

And that opened my eyes. That was an analogy to what God did for us through Christ. And how so many people all the time just reject Him. And it was His only Son. And all that blood is what covers us and washes our sins. And he was like, ‘You need to know that you know that you are saved.’And I turned to my husband and I was shaking, and I couldn’t say any more. And I [said] like, ‘Honey, I don’t know that I know! I don’t know that I know! And he was like, ‘OK, well then come pray with me.’

So I prayed. And I truly, I truly asked God into my heart. And I stood up a completely different woman. Everything was just completely different. I no longer had the selfish desires that I had. I no longer thought of it as rules and regulations. And things and guidelines that I had to do by this dictator dude who was like making me do it, or else I was gonna…whatever. It wasn’t like that anymore. I stood up realizing what He had done for me, and how much it had cost.

And I am so unworthy of it because I screw up all the time. I am still unworthy of that gift because I screw up every day, every day I sin. I do something wrong. I screw up. But I desire to live for God. I desire to live for Him. My wants completely changed. My desires completely changed. My life is no longer my own; it is His. He will do whatever He wants through me. And that’s perfectly OK with me. He’s moved us out here to where we are because of my husband’s job, and my calling and his calling through this. And that’s why I’m here on YouTube. And so I know what joy is.

That’s another big thing. I truly know what joy is. And it lies in the salvation and the strength and the peace and the comfort of my God. and I’m so thankful for that because I can’t do it on my own, I couldn’t do it on my own. I tried to fill the hole and change the depression that was in me that I had been struggling with for years, with alcohol and pot and cigarettes and boys and men and partying and dancing, and you know all of this stuff. And it’s only through Christ and God’s love and strength that I know what joy is.

Now I’m not going to say that I don’t struggle with depression sometimes or anxiety sometimes, because I do. But its nothing, not at all anything like it used to be. I completely opened myself up and said, ‘God, you can all of me. Have all of it, have everything. Take it over, because I can’t do it. You have to do it.’

And I let Him in every part of me and let Him take control of absolutely everything. And through that He has done an amazing work in me, an amazing work in me. I no longer desire to go out and drink. And drown my sorrows and life and stuff because I don’t need to do that. Whenever I have issues that I cannot handle I turn to God and I give them to Him and He handles them for me. And I just go along with whatever it is. And I know that if there’s a storm that happens, like there was a storm where I lost a child. And this is after I had been a born again Christian. But I knew that through that something was going to be amazing and happen. And if one of the things it taught me is it taught me that I had more faith in God than I thought I had. And heaven just sounds sweeter all the time because I know that my child is up there and one day I’m going to get to find out if it’s a boy or a girl. And I’m excited for whenever that day happens, and I will get to be there with my Jesus and everyone that has passed on before me.

And I’m not going to say that my life has been perfect since I got up from the ground after I said my prayer. And it’s way more than just praying a prayer. It is way more than praying a prayer. It’s completely surrendering everything you are. And everything you have at the feet of Jesus, saying, ‘Just take it all. Just come into me and take it all. It’s all Yours.’ And I have not regretted it, not a moment since then. And it’s been about 4 years since I’ve become a Christian.

And I’ve never been so happy and had so much joy. And just had the peace and the comfort and the strength that I’ve needed for anything. My God has provided me a life that I could never have dreamed of. And never imagined. My God has provided me a husband who is an amazing husband. You heard earlier in this that he was not a good man. And he was not a good significant other. But he has become an amazing husband and a wonderful leader and partner and best fiend to me because of who he has become in God.

And I also want to like say this: I am a Christian. I am striving every day to become more like Jesus. And Jesus loves everybody. He had dinner with the tax collectors. He went to Zaccheus’ house who was the head honcho of tax collectors. And they were like really bad people way back in Old Testament times. Like they were just like, pretty much thieves. And He was with everybody, and He loved everybody. And His desire was to love them and show them His love. So I don’t want you to think that because I’m a Christian that I’m going to hate you or discriminate against you for whoever you are, whatever you believe in, because I fully believe that you can’t see Christ’s love if I am judging you or if I’m putting out any hate.

You won’t see who Christ is if I do that. And that’s not who my God is. My God is not hateful, my God is forgiving. My God judges those who are to be judged. And that’s not my place. I cannot judge you for anything that you do because I’m no better. The only reason I would go to heaven is because my God has saved me and forgiven me of my sins. But don’t think, please, please do not think that because I’m a Christian I would hate you or discriminate against you or judge you for anything. Please don’t because that’s not who my Christ is to me. And I want to show everybody around whom my Christ is. And show Him through me.

So if you guys have any questions or comments, and please be kind, please leave them down below and I will make sure to reply back to them as fast as I can. And I thank you guys so much for watching this if you are still here. I know this is becoming a very long video and I hope I did my testimony justice.

Just I want to leave you with this little bit… If you are sad inside and you are dark inside, find the nearest church. Or find the nearest Christian, a Christian that you know is a Christian, not a person who says they are a Christian and doesn’t act like one. Going to church on Sunday mornings, makes you no more a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car. So if you have questions and you want to know something, ask me. Or ask somebody in your life that you know is a real Christian. And let them tell you who God is and what God’s love can do for you. Because it can change your life for the better.

All right. I love you guys so, so much. And I can’t wait to see you guys again in my next video. Don’t forget you can follow me on instagram, twitter, and facebook, all at Tiffaney and co xo. Please hit the exscribe… blublublub. Tch tch tch (tongue and teeth noise) See my nerves are all jacked up! [(because she meant to say “subscribe”)] So don’t forget to hit that subscribe button if you aren’t subscribed already and give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. And we’ll see you next video. By guys! (Waving hands good-bye)”

You can watch this testimony at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf5I7f41GJ4