My story

Teacher of religion and a leader of New Jerusalem community www.nj.sk

I was born in Bratislava where I lived till I finished a high school. I have four younger sisters. I come from a traditional catholic environment – it means we all received Christian sacraments (baptism, confirmation&hellip, participated at holy masses, celebrated Christian feasts, prayed together in a family and I also assisted as a ministrant. Faith for me was something I considered right and about what I didn’t have doubts because I trusted my parents. I normally actively participated in the Church, as much as it was possible. I attended secret religious groups meetings already as a primary school student, even there was a threat of a sanction for it (because of a study at a high school or a university). Despite all these things I lived my practical life without a personal relation with God until about 16 years. But I did my best to live according Christian morals and to keep God’s and Church commandments. My grandfather from my mother’s side had a great influence on my life. Besides that he loved me very much and spent much time with me, he became my ideal and inspiration in a faith, but also in a male character.

A change came at a secondary grammar school, when during the first summer holidays after fall of a communist regime I took part at a youth spiritual event in Podolinec. A clear testimony of my mates about God’s love touched me very much there. I felt that their words that God loves me and personally is interested in me are sincere and true. Then I believed and found out for the first time that God loves me personally.

It was especially important for me to know that God is really interested in me – my feelings, desires, problems and not only my religious performance, whether I go to church, whether I keep commandments.

Few months later I took part at another Christian event in Bratislava where a preacher was talking about a man called Bartimej and about how Jesus changed his life. At the end he addressed present people with a bidding that this same Jesus also wants to enter into our lives. I felt that this call was addressed to me and so I answered it: I came forward, I prayed with some other people to Jesus and I invited him to enter into my life. I know that then he accepted my invitation and I started to live a new life. I made the first step of a faith, a decision to build my life on Jesus with all consequences. Looking back I can say that this was a moment of my rebirth and moth after moth I could also see some changes.

The first change was about knowing God. I really started to know what God is; his leading, his attitude towards me – not only theoretically, from books and sermons, but from his acting in my life. It happened at prayer, at reading Bible, in the midst of a community of other believing Christians. I was touched the most by knowing God as my almighty Father: an experience that he accepts me and loves me the way I am, that he forgives me, that he is my advisor and a support, that he leads me and gives me wisdom necessary for life and also a security that I really can rely on him and doesn’t have to be afraid of future, of my mistakes and sins too. His guidance showed up also at my selection of a university. To this day I rate the fact that I left Bratislava to study in Presov as one of my best decisions in my life.

The second change was about working of the Holy Spirit in my life. In a course of two years I was confronted with a reality that my Christianity was right indeed but as if it was missing the third dimension, colour or taste. Now I know I was missing a power of the Holy Spirit. I experienced filling up by the Holy Spirit for the first time after a prayer of brothers and sisters when I was 19. As there were several of us having this same experience in the time, the Christian community developed out of us very quickly and without any big human activity. And this was the third big change. All three last continuously till today.

The Holy Spirit brought into my Christianity a completely new dimension indeed. The Bible suddenly came to life for me! I started to understand it and suddenly those words were about my life. The Holy Spirit was also creating in me a desire to talk about Jesus to others and mediate to them an experience that I had gained. Particularly these things showed up by every day prayer, reading of the Scriptures and by organizing Christian happenings for school mates.

After finishing school I got married to one of my school mates and sisters from the Christian community. I also see our marriage with Martuska as a fruit of God’s guidance. Already before graduation exams and a wedding we prayed and asked the Lord to show us where we should serve him and he answered us – we received an offer to go to Zilina. Although we had also other more realistically looking offers, when praying for this thing we experienced peace and assurance that Zilina was the place where God wanted us. From a human point of view it looked very weird: we had no place to live at, I had only a verbal promise of a job and Martuska had no job. We came to Zilina with one backpack. God (I believe it was him) took care of our housing (very nice and cheap at the same time), we both got a job in a short time. And all this happened without big arrangements. Once when I was then going through ads for housing, a sudden peace entered into my heart and a thought:

“Don’t worry… Everybody is taking care of such things – but nobody is taking care of God’s Kingdom. So you take care of God’s Kingdom and I will take care of everything you need for life.”

I can testify that it really was a God’s word for us and God fulfilled and fulfils it. Today we have four children, a big house in a nice environment, two decent cars, we go for vacations. We live well – not in a luxury, rather modestly but we miss nothing and we really are satisfied in all aspects.

When somebody is asking me: “How did you make it?”, I answer him: In such way that it wasn’t me who did it! God did it.”

It doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t work, try, strive and only would wait with stuck out hand. But if somebody said to me right after finishing school and after a wedding that my task was to reach such results in 12 years, I would surely refuse it and consider it unreal and unproportional to my abilities. But God gave me a promise that he will lead me and thus it also happened. We never run after money and property but we always prayed with Martuska for what Lord wanted. I remember that also in moments of crisis when I couldn’t see light and I was frustrated and exhausted, I prayed at the end:

“God, I will do what you will say!”

I meant it not only in spiritual matters but also in earthly ones. We pray also with children for health, work, a school, vacations, a car and we ask Lord to show us what he has prepared for us and to guide us in these and other matters.

As is it in a life of every man, there are crisis, bad success and sufferings in our life too. However thanks to belief in almighty Dad we have never given way to despair. When looking at things around me and into the future I am not in a power of fear. Not that I wouldn’t realize how many bad things happen in the world but I believe that God, who led his Son through a death on a cross, will lead me through my life too. He will not let destroy me or my dear ones by something or somebody.

When I converted, God and his work charmed me so much that I wanted to serve him fully. It started already at a secondary grammar school. I automatically supposed that I will become a priest, later I added to it an idea about a religious life. It didn’t even occur to me to pray for such an “obvious” thing – God after all “wants for sure” for possibly every believing boy, who is serious about him, to become a priest or a religious. But few “confusions” in my life disturbed this idea and they led me to finally asking God about this thing too. And God, to my great surprise, even a shock, clearly spoke to my heart:

“Richie, your plan is nice but I have for you something better.”

A desire to serve God in full has stayed in my heart till today and I live it too. I am a teacher of religion at a Church grammar school (I got there not by my doing too), a leader of the Christian community, and I cooperate with others from a local Church. Any time I look back in my life, I clearly see, that it was God’s will and God’s plan for me. And I am very happy that my plan and idea wasn’t fulfilled, but his did. He after all knows my heart the best.

I also encourage you to look for God, not to be afraid to long for him and to have a heart always open for him. Jesus says:

“Who is searching, will find.”
And at another place a Bible says:
“You will be looking for me and you will find me; if you search for me with all your heart, I will let you find me.”

It is not that you have to find God. He will find you! If you have a heart longing for God, conceding that it needs him and can’t reach fulfilment without him, call him. He gives his promise to everybody:

“Call to me and I will hear you and announce you great, indescribable things about which you don’t know.”
And also:
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” (Ps 145,18)