David Shrock

February 22, 2009

I left the Amish in May of 2003 and moved in with one of my older brothers. I was 16 years old at the time and was out to explore and enjoy the world. I left with 16 dollars in my pocket, a few things such as hunting, fishing, and camping gear. My brother William gave me a home, a bed, and some clothes, and helped me find work. The reason for leaving at that age was because my time was drawing near to start joining the Amish church. I always knew deep inside as a kid that I would not join their religion, because too many things did not make sense to me. So when I left, I just wanted to get away from it all and live my life my way. I was a selfish person for not considering what God wanted for me but what I wanted for myself.

I rarely went to church and for a long time I didn't even have a Bible. I cursed a lot and used the Lords name in vain. There was a lot of hate and anger in my heart towards some young colored boys that showed me their rules of the streets. It took me a long time to forgive them. I hardly ever prayed unless I was in trouble.

I could have been in trouble with the law many times, and somehow I always got away. There were times that they wanted to take me in and the evidence stared them in the face and still they did not see it, and other times I had broken a few of their laws and I was honest about it and the officers just let me go because of my background and my honesty. Many times I thought I was extremely lucky, but it must have been God or his angels watching over me.

One day in March of 2006, two strangers named Phil and Art came to my house and wanted me to accept Jesus for my Savior. I had always believed in God and Jesus, but I had never prayed to Jesus personally to come into my heart and take over my sinful nature. After getting saved, I still did not realize just what I had. I did however have more hope to reach the Promised Land, unlike before, I often wondered if I was good enough to enter the gates of heaven and realize now that I didn't have the key!

In Romans 10 verses 9 through 13: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

I just want to thank my boss, Perry Keim, for being a great example and for helping me start my spiritual journey. I now see why God led me to work with him and my good friend Abraham Raber, who also has helped me a lot through tough and depressing times. I also thank God for bringing Joe Keim and all my good friends that I recently started studying the Bible with, into my life, for I have discovered a lot in the past few months.

From this day forward I want to live my life the way God has planned and let Jesus work through me however he wants. I praise God for my Salvation and thank my beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ, for suffering on the Cross for me. May God bless us all and be with us always.

-David Shrock

^{This Testimony has been published with permission from the owner.}