Given a New Heart and Sweet Peace

I'd like to share with you the testimony of my daughter Hope, who is now twenty-three years old (in 2024). This is her own personal account of how she came to know the Lord, and how He gave her a new heart with sweet peace.  

Hope's Testimony

I grew up as the second oldest of five children in a strong Christian household, where we studied the Bible and prayed together and were brought up in the ways of the Lord from a very young age. We were also encouraged to pray and to have a personal relationship with the Lord. From a very young age it was evident that I had already come to know the Lord. When I was just barely two, I liked to pray for people. I also went around our house saying, "We don't worship idols.  We worship Jesus." When I was a tender three years of age, I said, "I love Jesus" and He put "a new heart inside my heart.” At this same age, my dad saw a lot of good things growing out of my heart. During the day, I talked about Jesus, expressing my love for him, and had a joyful spirit about me. One time when I was four, I said, "The blood of Jesus is on the door of our hearts." 

Not only did I have a personal knowledge of the Lord, but when I was almost five, I suddenly asked my mom without any prompting, "Mommy? Can we go tell the neighbors about God?  I'll tell the neighbors, 'You don't want to love the devil, because he wears black and there's fire in hell.'" I don’t think we actually went to talk to them, but there was that desire in me to evangelize to our neighbors. There were several times as a little girl when my father prayed with me to receive Jesus into my heart. One of those times was on August 3, 2006, when I was five years old. In addition to praying to receive Jesus, my dad laid his hands on me and prayed that I would be baptized in the Holy Spirit. When he did so, I told him that I felt happy. 

Almost a year later, on July 15, 2007, my family and I visited a church were my dad preached. During the message, he asked if there was anyone there who had not yet given his life to Jesus. Although I raised my hand, my dad I didn't see it. When my mom brought it up after we had returned home, I acknowledged that I had raised my hand.  My answer when my parents asked me the reason why was, "Because I wanted to give my life to Jesus." My parents then prayed with me to invite Jesus into my heart and give my life to Him. A week later, I was baptized in Jesus’ name in the presence of friends and family. That moment marked the most significant change that had happened up until that point in my life.

Faith (L) and Hope (R)

A couple months later, my sister already noticed a difference in me after our dad had taught us on praise, and I lifted my hands in worship. She related to my dad later, “I saw right through her hands and her arms that the Holy Spirit was all over her.  For the first time I saw that Hope had freedom to lift her hands and praise God that I had never seen before she knew the Lord.  But now she has that freedom.” The following year, my family and I watched a program which highlighted a revival in which young people were being set on fire for God. My sisters and I were inspired by this to hold our own revival meeting in our living room, which I led. As we played on drums we sang, “Baptize us in the Holy Spirit, baptize us in fire!" During this session, we also were praying for each other. 

Three and a half years later, when I was eleven, my family and I watched a video about two young ladies, one who had gone to hell and another who had seen Jesus.  This video brought conviction to us, and we all repented and asked the Lord for forgiveness for our sins. We also asked the Lord to fill us with His Holy Spirit, and He did so. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues. This experience was the beginning of the Lord burning away the dross in my life. A week later, on New Year’s Eve, my family and I listened to a book by a South Korean pastor called “Baptized by Blazing Fire.”  Through this book we all were encouraged to seek the Lord in prayer. My dad then prayed for me and both of my sisters. I repented of the darkness I had allowed in my heart and was set free. I also received the baptism with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. My family and I knelt down and prayed earnestly for quite some time. During this time that we spent seeking the Lord, I felt that God had set me free!  

After this time we spent in prayer, my family could all see the evidence of this new freedom on my face and in my eyes.  They could see a peace in my countenance, and there was a gentleness they could see on me that they had not seen before. My face was aglow with a light upon it.  It looked as though scales had been taken from my eyes, and they were now clear and glowing with light. In the period of my life leading up to that point, I had allowed a lot of demons into my life. I had a lot of self-hatred and even entertained suicidal thoughts. But the Lord had begun a work in my life to bring me out of that darkness into the Light. I was still far from perfect, but the Lord was working to purify me from the things in my life that were not of Him. One morning, six months later, my older sister heard me awaken speaking in tongues. I had no idea that just a while before, my younger sister had also awoken speaking in tongues.

In the years that followed, I still had sins in my life that I needed to deal with, and there were times when I wondered if I was even saved. During this time, one of my sisters went through a process of thinking for herself about God, and recommitting her life to Him. When she was going through that experience, my dad had told us that sometimes it is a good idea for young people, even if they have already given their lives to Jesus when they were little children, to renew that commitment to Him when they are older and have gone through a process where they have really thought for themselves about God, and independently made that decision to serve Him. Sometime after that, when I was almost fifteen years old, I decided that now was the time for me to recommit my life to the Lord. On October 10, 2015, I surrendered my life anew to Christ during my personal prayer time. 

Just a few weeks later, on November first, my mother had a word of prophecy for me during our family church meeting, which she spoke over me with tears. The word was, “This coming year of your life, the Lord wants to open your mind to greater understanding, greater revelation, greater knowledge of God, greater love for God, and for others. He wants to unfold your spirit like a flower bud opening up to the light of God.” She then prayed for these words to be fulfilled in my life. 

In the weeks that followed, I forgot about this word for me that the Lord had given through my mother. However, just months later, early the following year, the Lord began to bring these words to pass. I believe it started with the Lord bringing to my remembrance past sins in my life that I had not repented for. As I repented of those sins, the Lord kept bringing more to the surface. I also began to take even the small sins I committed in my everyday life seriously, crying and repenting for them. I was so aware of my sin that, there were times that I spent basically my entire personal prayer time repenting, sometimes crying from the depths of my heart over my sin. However, I needed to learn to accept God’s forgiveness and grace and not keep on beating myself up even after I had repented. During this time of refining, my dad told me that he had been noticing a change in me, which He believed the Lord was bringing me through so that I could have a breakthrough in the end. 

However, even though the Lord was bringing about this work in my life, the devil was also working to bring doubts into my mind. I started to wonder if God really existed and if Jesus had really come to earth and died for me on the Cross and risen again. There also were times when I didn’t feel that God heard me when I prayed. I went through days where I felt down, and didn’t feel like praying at times because of these doubts in my heart. I wanted to believe, and I kept on repenting of my unbelief. There were moments when I was alone when I cried my heart out in total despair because of these thoughts.

During this time, my parents encouraged and counseled me. I remember one particular night where I had been praying alone, and I started to enter into this despair and to cry uncontrollably because of these doubts. My mom heard me, and came into the room where I was. Among other things she told me something like, as the hymn “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” says, darkness sometimes hides the Lord’s face, but we just need to trust that He is still there, even when we don’t feel His nearness. My dad came in at some point, and they told me to go lie down and rest, and just “be still and know that He is God.” As I was lying there and resting in the fact that He is God, I felt the Lord’s peace, and I believe it felt as if there was literally a supernatural peace in my chest.

During this period of struggling with doubt, there was one time when I was listening to a replay of a Christian radio program, which had been from the previous Resurrection Sunday weekend. The focus of the program was about Thomas doubting when Jesus rose again from the dead. One of the passages quoted during the program was John 20:27 where Jesus said “Stop doubting and believe.” I felt that God was speaking to me through this to stop doubting. 

A little over a week later, during my personal prayer time I asked God to strengthen me and my family’s feeble hands and to strengthen our feeble knees that give way. After I had finished my regular Bible reading, I felt led to read an extra chapter in the Bible. I ended up reading Isaiah 35. Unbeknownst to me before I started reading, verse three of that passage says, “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way.” I had “coincidentally” stumbled upon the very verse I had just prayed! I don’t believe I had ever prayed this verse before so it was definitely the Lord’s doing that I chose to read this passage. I felt that through this divine coincidence that God may have been trying to show me that He hears my prayers, since I had been having doubts that He did. 

During this time of struggling with unbelief, my dad also gave me articles of his to read to help strengthen my faith, such as one about Muslims who had been saved after Jesus appeared to them. Those were indeed faith-building. God eventually gave me victory and helped me to overcome these doubts. I give God all the glory for what He has brought about in me. Even though I am still far from perfect, I’m not the same person I used to be, and I believe that He Who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 

Each and every one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, no matter how good we may consider ourselves, even if we were raised in a Christian family and never went the way of the world. We all deserve eternal hellfire and torment. However, God loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ into this dark world to die on the cross and take the punishment we deserve. Jesus rose again from the grave, victorious over death, and now reigns at God’s right hand. Jesus is longing for you to forsake your sins, and come follow Him for the rest of your days. If you have never made this decision, I invite you to do so today. Now is the time of God’s favor; now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). No matter how young you may be, none of us is promised tomorrow, so this may be your last chance. 

Repent of every sin you’ve ever committed, and ask Jesus to forgive you and cleanse your heart as white as snow with His blood. Believe in your heart that Jesus took the penalty for your sins on the cross, and that He rose again. Surrender your whole life to Him, and make Him your Lord and Savior. If you are having doubts about God, I challenge you to cry out sincerely to Him and ask Him to reveal himself to you and help you overcome your unbelief, and He will surely do just that. He will bring you from darkness in his glorious light. I pray I will one day meet you at the throne of God when we reach heaven someday. 

Author's Note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read The Truth Set Me Free, My Overflowing Joy in Knowing Jesus, and Lifted Out of a Slimy Pit, which are the testimonies of myself and two of my other children. Also see the Home page of this blog for more testimonies. You are invited to view my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org. 

Seeing Dad Alive for the Last Time

Dad and I during one of our last visits

My father, Roger Lacroix, fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, was a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany, was awarded the Purple Heart Medal for his injuries, and was blessed with a long and fruitful life. But around age 80, the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease became very pronounced.

In June 2008, he was admitted to the Veterans' Hospital because of his disease. And after that, he never went home. He had to be kept in either a hospital or nursing home for the remainder of his life. He didn't like that at all. He felt it was worse than his prisoner of war experience.

I knew that I would soon be leaving the United States with my family to serve as missionaries in Eastern Europe. We planned to remain overseas for at least a couple years before our first trip back to the US, so I knew I would most likely never see my father again. That was difficult, but we spent as much quality time with him as we could while we were there

Our children would sing songs about Jesus to him and he loved that. Whenever we would talk about my upcoming departure, he would need to be reminded that were going overseas as missionaries. He would always respond by saying something like, "I'll be dead before you come back." That was very difficult
But one of the most difficult things I ever had to do was to say goodbye to him there in the hospital for the last time. The picture above was one of those last visits I ever had with him. Visitors were only allowed to stay with him for a very limited amount of time. So I took each of my children in to see him and my wife went in to see him. I asked the nurse for special permission to stay with him longer, since this would likely be the last time I ever saw him alive. She graciously allowed me. And we had a good visit, but it was somber. Finally I had to say goodbye. I embraced him and walked away for the last time

As I left the hospital with my family, our eyes had tears in them and our hearts were sad. It was final.

Dad's Reaction to My Departure 
I got news later from my sister Claudette how Dad responded after I left that night in mid-October 2008. It surprised me to learn from her just how much he understood what was going on. Claudette wrote to me saying:

“I still remember after you left. Dad called Mom that night and told her he needed her to come visit him so they could talk about your leaving. He was very upset and told her he was going to miss you and probably never see you again.”

Needless to say, I was touched by his love for me. Dad's health continued to decline and he ended up in the Emergency Room with breathing difficulty on New Years Day. I had the chance to talk to him on the phone later on New Years Day, once he was stabilized. He downplayed his condition. I asked for his blessing, which was our family custom. And after he gave me his blessing, he said, "Pray for me, because of what I'm about to go through." Four days later on January 5, 2009, he breathed his last and went to be with the Lord very peacefully.

I know he is with the Lord, because he confessed with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in his heart that God raised Him from the dead. The apostle Paul wrote: "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Rom 10:9). He made it clear that he was trusting in nothing but the blood of Jesus for his salvation. He and I had many discussions about the Lord and he had prayed together with me a few years earlier to invite Jesus Christ into his heart. During his final hospital stay before I left, we confirmed in prayer together that he was ready to meet his Maker.

In the final two days before he died, my father was seeing things in the invisible realm that nobody else could see. They had wrapped some white blankets around him as he was sitting there in his room, in order to keep him warm (see video). He commented to them that he thought he had already been given his heavenly robe (photo below).

My son preaches the Bible

Dad and Mom share a kiss in December 2008

Around Christmas time, approximately twelve days before my father died, my friend Dan Prescott went to visit him at the Epsom Manner nursing home, along with his fiancé, Valerie. He introduced himself as a friend of mine, then he played a couple worship tunes.

Dad made a comment like, “Let’s clear out the room and let people know you’re coming.” He was serious and he meant that if Dan was going to be playing his guitar, Dad wanted everyone else there to be able to enjoy it, too. Val read from the Psalms, maybe Psalm 91. Dad was blessed. He seemed content and reposed throughout the visit, just taking it all in. Dad talked proudly about me, saying, “My son preaches the Bible. I’m very proud of him.” This reminds me of what my sister Teresa told me about Dad. She said he would talk about me during her visits with him at the Epsom Manner.  One time he spoke about the fact that I had taken my family to Budapest, saying, “I’ve got to give him a lot of credit to go over there with his family.He must have had a good calling.”

Dad robed in white two days before he died

Blessed are those who wash their robes 
After I left the States, I asked a friend of mine named Don Bartlett if he would visit my father on my behalf and encourage him. Don called me shortly after Dad died to tell me he did visit my father as I had asked him to do, while Dad was still at the Epsom Manner. This was right after Christmas, so it was within a week and a half before Dad died. Don said he had a good visit with Dad and read some Scriptures to him.  He prayed for Dad and had a good conversation with him.

Apparently when Don turned to visit with the man next to Dad in his room, he set off the man’s security alarm next to his bed. Don turned to Dad, who had closed his eyes to rest, and said, “Wake-up call, Roger. Wake-up, call.”  He said that Dad chuckled at that.  But Don felt like it was significant that he read these Scriptures to Dad, which are for a person getting ready to go home to be with the Lord, and he had no idea Dad was so close to his time.

These are the passages Don read to Dad: Rev 21:1-4 and 22:1-5, 14.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." (Rev 21:1-4).

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. (Rev 22:1-5)

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. (Rev 22:14)

Isn't it amazing! Just a week and a half after my friend Don read those Bible verses to my father, he went to be with Jesus and was walking the streets of gold in heaven. There is no pain, no crying, no death there! During his lifetime on earth, my father had washed his robe in Christ's blood. And when his earthly life had ended, he entered the gates into the Holy city. And I thank God that he is in glory now. I know I will see him again one day.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. 

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.