Thank you for taking the time to read my personal testimony of how Jesus Christ changed my life.
My name is Emilie Rettig. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts as the middle child in a family of 5 girls. I attended church regularly with my sisters when I was young. As a teenager though, we all decided we didn’t want to attend church anymore.
I had a great job working in a restaurant. As head waitress and banquet manager, I was successful and enjoying life. I thought that this was all I needed. But something was about to happen that would change my thinking and my life!
My boss asked me to attend a Dale Carnegie speech class to help me in my work. I must say that I enjoyed it very much. We were assigned the topic: “The most important thing that ever happened to me.” One young man gave a very unusual speech on that theme. Standing before the class, he pulled a little Bible out of his pocket and announced confidently, “This Book changed my life!” He then went on to tell us how he had accepted Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as his Savior and that God had saved him. I thought to myself, “Saved? …from what?! I don’t need to be saved.” But he had gotten my curiosity with his statement. After class, I peppered him with questions about God and the Bible. When we finished, he literally dared me to come to church. I accepted!
And so, the next Sunday I found myself sitting in a small Baptist Church in Londonderry, NH. I had never heard preaching like that before! I realized how little of the Bible I actually knew. The pastor preached emphatically about being forgiven of sin, knowing Christ as a personal Savior and having eternal life. He said that Jesus Christ died for our sins on the cross. I was confused and very uncomfortable with all of this. But inside I knew I needed to hear it. “Did I have eternal life?” I had no idea.
I came back the next week and heard more about being saved. I realized now that there was something I needed to be saved from … my sin. I was full of pride and selfishness and I was just beginning to really see it. That night after the church services, I went home very disturbed. Feeling very guilty and wicked, I looked in the mirror and realized that without a doubt… I was lost. I knelt by my bed and called upon Jesus Christ to forgive me and to give me that eternal life that I had been hearing about.
Since receiving Christ as my Lord, I have never been the same! I have a peace that doesn’t go away, because my sins are washed away, forever. That Book had changed my life too!
That was over 25 years ago. Two years after being saved, I met my husband, Jon. In 1994, after 12 years in pastoral ministry in the United States, the Lord called my husband to Prague, Czech Republic. We have 2 grown boys in the USA and a daughter who lives here with us on the mission field. God has allowed us to pioneer a new work for Him in this former communist, atheistic country. The committed group of believers that we now minister to, continue to grow in the Lord. They are a joy to our hearts and faithful to God. God is “giving the increase” and we praise the Lord that he has given us the privilege of serving Him in this wonderful work.
