A Testimony from Genevieve
I grew up in Poland and enjoyed my family, friends, school and also church on Sundays. After graduating from the University of Rzeszow, with a degree in physics and chemistry and a master’s in physics, I taught math and chemistry in elementary school and physics and astronomy in high school. Shortly, I was married and came to the United States where I struggled a lot. Experiencing many disappointments and having no English skills, life here for me seemed to be very difficult. Raising three children, teaching at a Polish School on Saturdays, trying to learn English, while working but without purpose or any satisfaction and at the same time being terribly homesick, someone recommended that I attend a “career course”. Soon, I was offered a job at Abbott Laboratories in the research field (1991). Finally, I did enjoy what I was doing there very much, especially the continuous learning and the people I was working with but I needed lots of wisdom and strength to carry on all my responsibilities. In 1999/2000, the company was going through a difficult time and my position was affected. As I had more time, searching and also being interviewed, one person suggested that I read the Bible. Soon, I realized God Himself had planned the powerful and unforgettable appointment and interview with me personally.
The Living God of the Universe met me at a time and a place where He wanted me to need Him. The Word of God (1Cor.3:18-19) “...for the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God” stunned me and I asked God for clarity to understand His wisdom. He was faithful to His Word and revealed to me both His wisdom and His power but in the Cross (1Cor.1:18-24). It was as if I saw for the first time Christ and Him crucified for me, a sinner. The Book of Romans clearly convinced me that I was (am) a sinner and Jesus was (is) my Savior whom I needed (need) very much. Soon, my faith in Jesus Christ was tested when I acted like the foolish Galatians; as if the Blood of Christ, His Righteousness and His love (Christ alone, Grace alone, Faith alone) would not be enough to justify me before the Holy and Righteous God and give me Life. But my gracious Lord did not leave me there; He came to me as He came to one of His disciples, doubting Thomas, to confirm His work on my behalf. I knew that this act of ignorance surely disappointed my Lord and it brought tears to my eyes and grief to my heart but not for long. He came again to me with “a fragrance of the Lily of the Valleys ” which only my innermost being could detect, know and rejoice in. He gave Himself to me and I gave myself to Him. And it was pleasing to God to interrupt my life and save me, purely by His amazing grace and His love and to separate me for Himself. Later, the resurrected Lord Christ Jesus met me again, in the reading of Luke 24, and this was my first Bible Study with the greatest Teacher, the Lord Himself. He poured into my heart the love and hunger for Him and His Living Word. In the fall of 2000, my Lord led me to two studies: Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) and Precept upon Precept. In the second year of BSF, during the study of the Life of Moses, I felt as if God Himself was calling me to “lead Polish people out of bondage”. I knew a little about this but soon, in the Precepts study, I found a flyer about a mission to Poland.
Meanwhile, of course, it was all God; I heard Pastor Colin Smith on the radio and I had to go to this church because what I heard had grabbed my heart. When I attended the first service there, I knew that this was the place God wanted me to be. The presence of God and the powerful teaching of God’s Word by Pastor Colin and the powerful worship of our Lord Christ Jesus and only Him were overwhelming and also right with my heart.
In the summer of 2003, I was sent on a mission trip to Poland, clearly by God alone. There the Word of God came to me again, very clearly from Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” I knew then that this is true also about my Polish people. Later on, God’s Spirit moved me to ask Pastor Colin to allow me to translate his messages into Polish. I explained that my people do not hear and know what God says and ignorance brings their disobedience. For a long time, I did not understand why I did this, for I knew that I was not capable of this responsible assignment. But God was faithful from the beginning and He had His purpose for me in The Orchard Evangelical Free Church. First, He delayed because He needed to put me through His preparation, and He continues to do so. He called me to be a leader in BSF (fall of 2003) and by His grace and His power I have served Him faithfully as such, for six years there. He was equipping and encouraging me through two years of the Ambassadors Ministry and also being a part of the Billy Graham Ministry. God was developing in me the gift of evangelism, passion for encouraging and building up others in the truth, in His love and in the power of the Gospel. This was God’s way of preparing me for this ministry to the Polish people so that His purpose in the world will be accomplished, as we faithfully share the Gospel with all the nations. As God’s Holy and Living Word came to me and powerfully worked in me, it also came to His church, commissioning all of us to go with the Gospel to all the nations and languages. And this is how God and God alone, enabled me, Genevieve, to translate His Word preached by Pastor Colin and Pastor Scott for God’s glory and the good of His people wherever they are. I am privileged and honored and take very seriously the Lord’s calling on my life.