 This is my friend, Ashley. She is super bold for coming up here and testifying and we just want to hear her story. Ashley, would you please begin on, you recently gave your life to Jesus Christ and how was your life like before you committed your life to Jesus? Yeah, so before I'm growing up, my family and I, we would go to church a couple times a week and then my parents got divorced when I was 10 and from that point on it kind of just went all down to like once or twice, maybe a year and then not at all. Since I was so young I didn't realize the impact of not having God in my life, what it was doing to me until just recently. I can look back and see all of the red flags, what my body was yearning for really is I needed God back in my life. And so what happened, you were at the lowest point in your life pretty much and what happened, how did you end up at Hungry Jen? So, you want to start from where? I ended up here thankfully to someone that I used to work with who I didn't know at the time but ended up being now one of my best friends, Lillia. So I owe it to her and God, God for telling her to invite me to church because I truly, at the time no one knew, I didn't tell my family, I didn't tell my friends but I was like my last wit's end. I basically said okay I'll go and if it doesn't work like I honestly don't care to live anymore. I didn't care to go on, honestly I was tired of fighting a battle that I felt like I was never going to win. What are some things that were going on in your life, the things that you went through if you want to share? I think it all really started to go downhill six years ago, someone took my dad's life and I spent 13 days with him in the ICU and I begged God like just trade places, take my life, let him live. I couldn't fathom the idea of him not being in my life anymore. And on the 13th day he lost the fight and I had to watch the man that watched me take my first breath, I had to watch take his last and that alone probably almost killed me. And so from then I turned to alcohol and I had myself convinced that it's not a problem like I'll just have a drink in the morning of all times in the morning. I'd wake up and I'm like I'll just have a shot and go to work and then be fine and then it turned from one to two to literally almost six to ten in the morning but I had myself convinced that it wasn't a problem because I would stop drinking by nine just so I could drive home at 6 p.m. And that's where I met Lilia and in that time though I was still hiding a lot of things. I was in a very abusive relationship with someone who I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with and it came down to either leaving or losing my life. And so by the grace of God, I don't know how, but I left and I never looked back. And I was lucky enough to come here with Lilia's persistence. And since I've been here I walked through the door. I wasn't sure what I was going to expect but I just felt like I was being welcomed with open arms and I knew I was home. Come on, let's give a round of applause to Jesus Christ. Our God is so amazing. Our God is so good. When He places people around us and just at the right time, you know, Lilia invites her to church and she comes and the Lord just touches her life and things started to change. And could you please share how is your life? Like, I know that even a couple of days ago you began to cleanse out your house, throwing away all the alcohol, expensive gifts that you had. And how is that process for you? Well, I look at it as kind of in anything in life I either go all in or not at all. I can't be lukewarm in anything and so I knew I was either going to walk the walk with God or I was going to walk the other way and, you know, have the uncertain life. So I decided to go all in and I got rid of anything that was not for God's purpose for me. And yeah, I just decided it's got to go and it's not for me anymore. Amen, amen. And we're going to have some photos on the back. Ashley throwing away her stuff, her tons of cleaning out the house. Come on. That's what you have to do. And here's the thing, guys. Here's the thing. Nobody had to tell her to throw away that stuff. I didn't tell her. Lilia didn't tell her. It's God. You know, when he's cleansing the person, when he's touching, it's like an automatic reflex to, you know, give away, give up, cleanse the house to forsaken things that don't please God. Amen. And Ashley is super, super happy for you. Before we're going to go into you sharing how your life is now. Like, you went through the prayer line last Sunday and something happened to you. Would you please describe that experience for you? Yeah. So I went through the prayer line to receive deliverance. I kind of went in with no expectations, not knowing what was going to happen. But I basically knew, I started coming here four months ago, and all of my anxiety and depression and all of that was probably at its highest that it's ever been. And the more I got involved in life group and everything, it was like the enemy was taking over, was really trying to make sure that I didn't continue. And so I knew I had to take the step to do something about it. So I prayed. And just the service before actually that Vlad was speaking at, all of a sudden in closing prayer, everyone else's voices were like muted. And all I could hear in my head was like, this is your time. This is your time. And so I just gave it all to God and said, okay, this is my time. I won't say that I didn't get threatened that I couldn't run out the door. But I sat down. My body was telling me, like, leave, you don't need this. But I knew at that point if I can hear that voice, I sure, I surely needed it. So I stood up there and Pastor Vlad and Ilya both prayed for me. And it was like the more they screamed fire, like my body was literally burning. And I, I was just like, okay, I get it. Like I get it. But I just, they wouldn't go away and it kept burning. And finally I just hit the ground and there was no more burning. And I woke up and or woke up, I kind of came to and I, when I got lifted up, I just felt like there was no more weight on my shoulders. There was no more, no more bad thoughts. Come on. You know, when you receive deliverance, people, a lot of people describe it as the weight lifts off of you and you feel light. Those demons that harassed, oppressed your life. When they leave your body, your life, you know, you experience those kind of things that are from God. And now, Ashley, how is your life like right now after you receive deliverance, you accepted Jesus Christ into your life. And we know that it's always a process. It's never just one time thing. And how has it been for you? And what is the difference that you see now? I think the biggest difference is just waking up and not, not feeling heavy anymore. I'm not going to say, you know, there's not good and bad days because there most certainly will be that takes work. I'll have to work on it every day. But those negative thoughts, the voice is so much lower than God's voice. God's voice overrides them all and it just keeps me keeps me going honestly. And I don't think I've ever looked forward to the next day. Each day coming forward till right now. So this is so good. Come on guys, we can do better than this. Let's give God the glory because he deserves the glory. Come on. Such a bright example of the goodness of God. Ashley, your life, you know, God has a purpose for your life. He's raising you up for something special. And I know that deep inside of my heart, every time you come to the life group, I see the call upon your life. And I just believe and declare that call to come to life and be accomplished in your life in Jesus, my name. And lastly, and we will let you go. Would you please share a word of advice to people who might not have taken that step, giving their life to Christ, or they think they maybe need deliverance in certain areas. What would you suggest them? My biggest piece of advice, honestly, if you're on the fence about giving it to God, just take that, you know, ounce of hope that you have left and do it. It'll be the best decision you've ever made. And drop the idea of having to have a perfect life before you come to God. He doesn't expect you to have it all together. When you come to Him, He expects you to come to Him so He can help you get it all together. Wow, so wonderful. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, girl.