Benjamin Beachy
December 19, 2014
My name is Benjamin Beachy, and I was born and raised in an Old Order Amish community. Growing up, I loved to train horses and play volleyball, and I appreciated that I was taught the value of working hard.
I knew about Christ at a very young age. I remember thinking that if He died on the cross for us, why did we have to do all this other stuff? Why did we have to follow all these lists of rules? If we still had to work our way into heaven, did He not die in vain? I had a Christian non-Amish family that pretty much adopted me since I was about twelve years old, and they would talk about Jesus. They will never know how much they impacted me.
One night, when I was staying with relatives in New York because of family problems, I felt miserable and I knew I could not do it by myself any longer; so right then and there, I accepted Christ. My life hasn’t been the same since. It has been a long and awesome journey! My favorite Bible verse is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” To me, that verse is so simple: accept Him in faith, and that is all you need.
Soon after I accepted Christ, I wanted to be baptized, so I started the process of joining the Amish church. The further I went with my membership and training, the less sense it all made. It had become clear to me that the Amish were more concerned about my hair being cut right and my hat being shaped properly than they cared about my relationship with Jesus Christ. Leaving the Amish was a process that God had to gradually walk me through, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I left two weeks before I would have become a member in the Amish church, and I still praise God for His good timing.
I left in the middle of the night. I knew that I could not talk to my parents about leaving. We almost never talked about anything at this stage in my life. Also, the preachers would have resisted me and tried to stop me if they knew that I was leaving. A friend picked me up at midnight when I was ready to leave, and I went to his place. He then took me out and bought me clothes and a bunch of other things that I needed. His whole family has been an awesome blessing in my life! After that, I stayed with another family for about three weeks, and to this day, those have been some of the most awesome days of my life. That family was very good to me and helped me in my walk with Christ; I still consider them family. I can't mention everybody, since there have been too many who have helped me, but God sure knew what He was doing when He put everybody in my path.
Probably one of the biggest difficulties I faced after leaving my Amish life behind was getting rid of condemnation in my life. Also, my first winter was tough and I struggled a lot financially. Thankfully, I had many friends come around me to help along the way.
The only regret I have to this day is that I couldn't talk to my parents about my decision to leave before making it; family is very important to me now. As for my family, they didn't respond exactly as I thought they would. I thought when I left that I would never see them again, but now every time I'm in the area, I stop by. I love and appreciate my family very much!
I currently attend Freedom Fellowship Church in Apple Creek, Ohio, and the people there are really helping me find out who I am in Christ. I'm not sure what my future holds, but I'm letting God take care of that. There are some options that I am considering—including joining the military. One thing I am sure of, though: I know I am a son of God, and so my future should be pretty awesome!
This testimony has been published with permission from the owner.
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