WHAT IS SALVATION? THIS IS MY TESTIMONY...

        What is salvation? First let me tell you what salvation is not. Salvation is not a public acceptance speech for people to make false claims about believing their eternity is secured based on their life's work. Salvation is not a statement written in the bible that can be altered to fit what you want it to mean. Salvation is a precursor for eternal life. This means that in order to be accepted in the Kingdom of God, one would have to live out salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

    The first mention of the word salvation is not from the New Testament. It is first mentioned in Genesis 49:18 NIV when Israel(Jacob) states that he waited for God's salvation. Another is from Matthew 1:21 and it explains the angel of the Lord speaking to Joseph, who was contemplating on not marrying Mary due to her being pregnant. The angel tells Joseph that the child she is carrying is a male and that he is to name Him Jesus because He will save people from their sin. What does the word save mean? According to Oxford Languages, the word save means to rescue or keep safe something that is danger. 

Why would a man need to be born to keep humans from being in danger? 

Testimony time. 

When I was 7 years old, I was groomed by a 28 year old man named Greg to have sex. I lived in Atlanta at this time with no family around. I lost my virginity to a stranger. I told who I needed too and they said that it never happened. At 7 years old, I looked in the sky and saw the stars and told myself since they didn't believe me, I didn't care about my life. I started messing with a girl at my daycare center. The center had an elementary student section for children grades 3-5th. She and I would sneak in the bathroom and do things. 

    I was always mature since before I lost my virginity because I was always with older people. No children were around me yet and I never told anyone anything about what was happening in my life. I watched those around me and did what they did. I moved back to Atlanta and finished elementary school and my 6th grade year. I beat up a bully on my bus for picking on a girl I was introduced to by my step-father. I've always disliked bullies. I learned then that they loudest one in the room is the softest one in the room so they never intimidated me.

    When I moved back to Columbia, South Carolina, my life changed. I gained friends. I was always a loner and never trusted people because of what I went through as a child, however, people liked me. I started talking to boys on the phone. I had a boyfriend every year. I tried to forget what happened until my freshman year of high school. There was a senior that I like who I invited over to my house. I had never done that before, but for him, I did. I thought that I was still a virgin until he was finished. I was still waiting for him to insert. I didn't feel anything. 

    I am smart, so most of my classes were with juniors and seniors. Girls that I was around would ask me if it hurt the "first time" I did it with the boy. I told them no. I explained to them what to do. I was grooming them the way that Greg groomed me. When they came back and reported to me their experience, they said there was drops of blood and that it was painful. 

    I asked myself why didn't I feel what they felt. I remember that after Greg was finished with intercource with me, I went into the bathroom and had blood coming from my vagina and now the next person I had sex with, I didn't feel anything. That boy moved on and went to college. I moved again and went to live with my family on their land. I knew everyone in the city because I spent at least two months out of the year every year at the local schools. I met another boy who was popular. I'm 15 at this time. He introduced me to Marijuana. He took me to his house and we had sex. I didn't know that wasn't the proper way to have relationships with men. I'm just feeding my flesh. 

    My great-grandfather, James McCoy, Sr. was a Bishop. He owned a church in the rural part of the city. I grew up in that church. My great-grandmother was the Sunday School teacher. (I go more into detail in my book, He Told Me So) They had been teaching me about God since a little girl and it never clicked. Church had become fun though. We had a youth choir and got to sing almost every Sunday before the preaching. The entire church would go on vacations together. I was all into church. I began to fall in love with God.

    While sitting in church, the holy spirit came on me like fire was underneath me. I stood up and began to speak what God told me to say. No premeditated words. Just messaging. I told the church that they will all fall away and that my aunt would be there preaching the gospel. Back then my aunt was wild. I was always with her. She smoked weed, sold drugs, was promiscuous and she was married with 3 kids. She wasn't into the church at that time. She was building a desire. (Her and her husband now oversee the church and preach). The leaders asked me if I had accepted Jesus Christ as my lord and savior. I said yes.

My great-grandfather set up my baptism and baptized me in the river.

    He paired me with my mentor, who is still my mentor today, and she tested me. Read me book for more details. He ordained me and I began to preach, but the prophecy had to be fulfilled. My mentor left the church due to rumors of her sleeping with another pastor at another church and took 1/2 the congregation with her. The members began to call me a liar and spread rumors about me. I was left out in the open to defend myself. I wasn't spiritually mature yet so I ran away again. 

    I stopped going to church after I met a boy during the summer who asked me to be his girlfriend. He was my first love lust. That lasted 9 months before he broke up with me. I found out that he slept with my homegirl who I talked to everyday on the phone. A girl I knew from another church that I didn't talk to came to me in the bathroom and told me that she didn't want to see me go out like that. She spilled the tea and said he was sleeping with a 30 something year old lady.

    I lost it. I lost myself. I told myself that I would never love again until my husband. I spent the next 13 years running even further from God until one day while I was smoking a blunt on my carport, I started crying. I had been feeling like something was missing. I felt nasty. I had given myself to different men. I thought I was chasing love, when really I was running from one thing: no one believed me. No one ever did. Not when I told them an older man had sex with me at 7 or when I would prophecy. I began to shake again like I did when the holy spirit first came on me right at that moment.

    That was the first time that I saw Jesus in spirit. He hugged me and said that everything will be okay and that he loved me. People have called me crazy. People have told me that I am a liar. One thing that I do know is that God is not a man who should lie. When God said that He sent His son to deliver us from the evil one, He did that for me and I know that He will do it for you. I've since repented for my sins. I live a repented life. I seek righteousness. I seek justice. I seek the truth. I will not stop until I bring as many people who were like me to deliverance. 

    This is the beginning of salvation. It starts with a testimony.

I am Ashley Sylvestre and this is Boxed Closet Talk.