I have many testimonies.  I was miraculously healed of a tumor... and that's a great story that brings glory to the Lord...  I went through a tough divorce and came through it incredibly well and that too would give great glory to the Lord...  But the real testimony I want to give is the one of who I was and who I now am...  I was one of the wildest people to come out of Louisiana and if you know anything about Louisiana, that's saying something.  I had a very emotional upbringing, suffice it to say.  I went to a church called Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas in 1981 and the Pastor told everyone there to pray for "Dodie."  I turned to the person next to me and asked, "What's a Dodie?"  Dodie, I later found out, was the Pastor's wife.  This place was amazing.  It was in the middle of nowhere in Houston, Texas, where I had just moved to earlier that year.  You had to drive past some of the worst neighborhoods in Houston to get to the church and then, out of nowhere, in the middle of this vast desert of urban blight, was this yellowish tin covered building.  Walking in, I had never felt anything like that before.  It was something I could not possibly describe.  All I knew is that it felt good.  I was 23 years old at the time.  The people sang with enthusiasm.  Then when the Pastor got to the point of asking for an offering the whole place came to an even greater level of enthusiasm.  Amazing.  They were quoting scriptures and shouting and smiling.  Smiling.  They were happy to give their money to this little man with the scratchy voice.  And so they gave.  Then this man, who could not have possibly weighed more than 145 lbs., began to speak.  This was unlike anything I ever heard.  He spoke with power and authority but there wasn't a hint of arrogance or ego.  How could anyone speak with so much power and yet come across so humble?  Think about powerful speakers.  They are usually anything but humble or at least appear to be so.  At the end of his sermon, which took almost 45 minutes itself, I sat in my chair, completely detached from the thoughts that brought me into the building in the first place.  Time had stood still.  Forty five minutes of preaching went by with the snap of a finger.  He then invited people to give their lives to the Lord.  And he did so in a way that made me feel foolish to feel embarrassed for walking down to the front of this church with its theater-in-the-round setting.  I couldn't wait to go to the front.  I couldn't wait for this man to look me directly in the eyes.  All the hate and discord and violence and strife I had grown up with - all the stuff that went in me to make me a "wild man" - suddenly seemed to be at peace.  That night I slept so peacefully.  The next day I awoke to know that I would never be the same again.  It's now been 27 plus years since that night.  The Dodie we were asked to pray for, Dodie Osteen, had been diagnosed with cancer of the liver and given just a few weeks to live.  Today I count her as a friend and she can out run me even though she's something like 125 years old.  The only thing I have on her is looks!  And I can tell you that if I had not gone down front that day in 1981 I would not be alive today.  My life was going in a completely different direction.  And now, I know that I know that I know that Christ is leading me and guiding me every step of the way.  I feel so sorry for those who are beat down by life, especially the children of the world who are forced to endure so many hardships at incredibly young ages.  Life is not fair.  Taking Jesus into your hear will not create a force field around you.  What it will do is give you the fuel for peace.  But it's just fuel.  You have to put the key into the ignition and steer the car and use the gas and the brake pedal correctly and stay aware and diligent at all times.  I cannot encourage you enough to give in.