A Book

For a long time, I insisted on doing things my way. Until the day I heard about a book named Better than a New Pair of Shoes by Cristiane Cardoso.

From about the age of 8, I attended a traditional evangelical church. Before coming to this church, my family and I had already knocked on various other doors, but our lives never changed. On the contrary, things kept getting worse year after year. There was always some type of misfortune happening in one of our lives, and when we started attending this traditional church, we were taught to consider our problems as trials sent by God to test our faith.

My mother became very sick, my sister grew up to become a lost rebellious youth, and I closed myself off from the world and led a life of deception (in church I was one thing, outside was another). Our home was filled with arguments and misunderstandings, our father turned his back on us, but then again he already had another family. I suffered with insomnia, I saw shadows, I had many fears, nightmares and low self-esteem. I was constantly feeling lonely (not even my boyfriend could fill my void). I spent various nights crying, which caused me to turn to internet games. I didn’t sleep, so during the day, I would attack my friends and teachers at school. I also developed the habit of wearing men's clothes. A few years later, I started smoking cigarettes, drinking and stealing. However, on Sundays, there I was in church, teaching Sunday school.

Around that time, my cousin moved back to Portugal. She had been living in Spain and had become a member of the UCKG. She stayed at my house for a few days and she wouldn’t stop talking about a book she had read. Some time later, my mother past away and that is when I hit rock bottom.
 

There was a UCKG right in front of my house, but I had always heard people badmouth the church, so I never thought to go and see the kind of work they were doing there. I didn’t care to hear anything about them, so when my cousin spoke about the book, I just ignored her. I hardened my heart, but the messages it contained were so strong that I ended up listening. This young woman named Cristiane Cardoso, had gone through similar situations I did. She had problems with being too shy like me, and she seemed to know everything that was on my mind and in my heart.

A few months later, I accepted my cousin’s invitation to attend a special meeting they were going to have for the turn of the New Year. That’s when I realized that what I was seeing was totally different from what I heard about this Church. The pastor's words touched my heart deeply and I began yearning to find out more about this Living and True God who, until that day, I had only heard about!

It hurt to hear the truth, to acknowledge that my religion and my biblical knowledge didn’t make me better than anyone else and that it didn’t change anything in my life. It broke my pride, and I didn’t go back for a whole month. During that time, I just kept thinking about the book Better than a New Pair of Shoes, so I decided to attend an afternoon meeting.

I smile whenever I think about how God had everything already planned out so well. During the meeting, the assistants handed out the book to whoever went up to give their offerings (there were only a few books). My heart started beating fast because I was so anxious to get my hands on one of those books! As soon as the pastor called up the offering givers, I rushed to the front to make sure I would get mine. I read it in two days!

Since then, my life has completely changed from the inside out!
Today, I serve a Living and True God in the Universal Church, a God that can heal any heart!

Julia Teca, Portugal