Testimony 07- Kenneth Tarver

My message to the world: Have the faith of a mustard seed. God says, “Believe in Me,” and you should trust Him. Love Jesus, love your neighbor, turn the other cheek, and one day you will see Him when He takes you home.

I was the oldest in my family and I took on the responsibility of caring for my siblings for my mother. My mom worked a lot of hours as a maid and was one of the hardest workers I’ve ever known. She took us to church every Sunday, New Year’s, Christmas, and holidays, but I left God behind when I joined the military, going back to my selfish ways. I did 15 years in the Army including Vietnam, all over the world, three tours in Korea, Germany, and Panama. For once in my life, I had money and I thought I had everything else too. I thought I held the world, but the demons from hell were actually having a ball with me.

I started losing everything I had, starting with my money and I even went through a divorce. I experienced PTSD and trauma from the military, but God kept calling to me. It felt like I had the devil on one side and Jesus on the other convicting me to do better. However, six months after getting out of the military, I was arrested in Dallas. While in prison I started working for the chaplain in the penitentiary (he had the best oatmeal raisin cookies that kept me coming back in the beginning). For thirty years I was in prison, going to classes, singing in the choir, and I learned how to study the Bible and pray to Jesus. As my faith grew, so did my submission to God, but that was just the beginning of what God was about to do in my life.

One day, I got very sick and for months the doctors could not understand what was wrong. The day I was finally diagnosed with hepatitis A and C in 1995, I returned from the hospital and was placed in an isolated cell without my Bible, and no one was sure I would survive my illness. Someone had drawn a cross on the wall of the cell, and I desperately knelt before it and I felt the presence of God, as well as a dark presence behind me. I had a vision that this presence was dressed in black, with a hood and staff, and was the spirit of death, walking back and forth behind me.

Then I heard the Lord say, “You can have everything, but you cannot have him.” The spirit left and a week later the doctors included me in an experimental trial for a new medicine, and I was fully healed from my illness. From then on, every day I walked with Jesus, I talked with Jesus, I read His word, I fasted and prayed, and I brought others to chapel- God always answered back: “Stay with me, I got you.” I have lost so much family- siblings, parents, grandparents, but God gave me the word of perseverance in my heart. Godly men cry, and when I cry, I am filled with joy.

After prison, God led me to a halfway house, I worked, and I read the word every single

morning. He has provided for me and called me to Waco and Church Under the Bridge. God

rewards faith and provides for those who love Him. I wanted to share my testimony because it is a gift from God. He wants us to share it. Money means nothing- God should use our money for His benefit, not ours. The devil used me but now I sleep freely and ask the Lord to cover me. I used to struggle with substances, but God never gave up on me despite the promises I’ve made to Him and never kept. When you trust in God, He will take these things out of your way.

God will humble you in your pride until you learn to lean on Him and ask forgiveness. Find a secret place with God to talk with Him, share the good news of Jesus’ salvation and the Holy Spirit will come over you and take you through your struggles. God is better than any drug on earth.