My testimony really begins with my family. I was blessed enough to have my family start coming along to the Revival Fellowship when I was two years old.

So I have had the privilege of being raised in the fellowship. Throughout my years of growing up as a child, I remember my family always taking part of things in the church, and just being surrounded by the fellowship and our wonderful family. We even lived as caretakers at the Belconnen Revival Fellowship hall at one point. I learnt the ways of God, what it means to walk a Godly life, and how to enter into the kingdom of God. But I never really understood why I’d want to personally. At that point in my life I was still coming along because it’s what my parents and family were doing.

During my primary school years I had been asking for the Holy Spirit on and off. It was at a Kids’ Camp that, for some reason, I had a real desire to receive it. I heard a great, inspiring talk the day before, which set my eyes on God and made me truly want to seek him and know him personally. I received the Holy Spirit that day, during a prayer time with some friends around me. But I still didn’t appreciate or understand how powerful or essential this spirit would be in my future days.

A massive turning point in my walk with God, was when I was 15 years old. My family decided to make interesting choices with their walks. All 50 family members were leaving or had already left the fellowship over the years and I had to decide why I wanted to stay and what kept me coming. I didn’t understand why I wanted to stay but it felt important to me. And the Holy Spirit inside me was begging me to make the right decision. So, I decided to stay and I have zero regrets.

I know God’s blessed every part of my walk. Coming to church on my own at that age was really confronting. At first, I was scared but God made everything easy for me and it never felt like a struggle or pain. I do miss my family. They still love God and they love that I’m still coming along, but I’m praying that they come back one day. So many people still ask me about them and share anecdotes and stories from the ‘good ol’ days’ when they were still around. It’s a blessing hearing how the Lord used my family to do great things in the work of the Lord, and the impacts they made around the place. For example my Uncle Errol was called by God to start the fellowship in Vanuatu. He was telling me recently how God really spoke to him and pricked his heart to go there and start His work. It touched my heart to go to Vanuatu recently, and see with my own eyes, the seeds he planted and how God’s watered them into this massive congregation and family of God. It showed me what we can do as individuals and as a family of God when we work together to do God’s calling. I want to continue that kind of work and to be able to continue planting seeds in other people’s lives as well.

For me this walk is one that I’d never change. I feel so blessed living the way I do and that’s not because of worldly possessions but simply because God has given me air to breathe and food to eat. He gives me peace, comfort and love every day and that’s all I need when I strip away all the complicated parts of my worldly life. Just bringing it back to the simple and basic walk of God is what I want most for my life now and forever.

by Axel Heineback (Canberra)