Clayton Franklin
This is Clayton D. Franklin Jr. and his story.
Hello, my name is Clayton D. Franklin, Jr. I was raised in Marksville, Louisiana. I
am 29 years old, married with three daughters. I want to give my testimony to you
to read so that you may know how God saved me from the pits of hell. These are only some of the great things that God has done for me.God had a message for me and if I truly had wanted to have a close walk with him,then I had needed to listen to the message. There were some things in my life that I had needed to change and/or get out of my life completely. I had stopped drinking alcohol, cursing, and getting angry, along with other things. This was a little tough to do but I knew that I had needed to do it for the betterment of my spiritual life. I
thought that I had done all that God had wanted me to do to have him in my life.
Little did I know that this was only the beginning of a lifestyle change.
One night I had seen a man, who at the time was a messenger of God, and had said to him, "God is fantastic. He blessed me with a $60.00 a pay check raise." He ask me if I thought that the raise was a blessing from God? The reason why he had asked me that was because I was working at the casino. After he had asked that question, he had gotten me wondering about what made it not a blessing. "If I only would have kept my mouth closed this would not have been bothering me", I had said to myself. I had gone by his house to find out more about this and little did I know that I was going to be hit with another major move in my life. He had called some of his friends to his house to pray with me and to deliver the career changing message. "You will need to leave the casino because God has different plans for you", one of the gentlemen there had said to me. He was the gentlemen who would later on be my pastor. After I was told about leaving, then I knew satan was going to try anything possible to stop me from leaving the casino. "Alright, if this is what God wants me to do, then I will do it because this may be my one and only chance that God will come to me to save me", I said. "I must step out by faith and not let my twenty-five thousand dollars of debt be the thing to keep me from doing the will of God." After I had told my supervisor and had left the casino, people who were very close to me came and had wanted to know why I had left that place. "It was for me to have a closer walk with God and to save other peoples from going to hell", I said to those that had wanted to know. I did not know where my next job would be or if I would work again. All I knew was that God had wanted me away from that place. I could
have found a job before leaving the casino but that would not have been faith.
This was to give glory to God and to Him alone. God brought to remembrance the story of Abraham. God told him to get away from his father and He would bless him with a nation of his own. I knew that I had to keep the faith no matter what happened to me.
The day I left the casino was the same day Mr. Abram O'Connor was having services. Satan made me feel badly about making a decision that was of God. Services for that day was brought to my remembrance and I had gone to the service. I felt peace because the message in the service was from God to me. Mr. Abram O'Connor and Mr. Guy Manuel helped me through my spiritual battle. Satan battled me just about every way he could come at me; there was a problem dealing with no income, no job, my daughters (previous relationship) were taken away from me on Christmas day and later on were taken to California, people saying things to tear me down spiritually, my wife and I were on two different spiritual levels in God, and I was about to lose my jeep. But through it all, God sent his faithful servants Abram and Guy to help build me up spiritually.
All this was to see if I was going to put the things of this world before God. After satan could no longer use one of these things to torment me, then God would bless me.
A person can never say that a job does not come knocking at your door because one did in deed come to my door. A lady had come to the house to give me my insurance policy. She asked me if I was working and I had told her that I was not working anywhere. She told me that her manager had wanted me to come interview for a position in insurance. I knew nothing about insurance. I had spoken to the manager and told her the reason why I had left the casino. She was quite interested in what I had told her. I had no money to pay for the classes or for my license but God in His magnificence supplied the means. This was of God because the job was totally opposite from when I was working at the casino.
Later on I was told to come get my daughters and see if I could put them in school. This had come from a woman that told me that I would not see my daughters again. My bills were paid. God has been there for me every step of the way because there were faithful servants who listened to God and came to assist me in my spiritual battle. Remember, when satan attacks, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. This is not a battle to be fought alone. So, if you are asking God why He is not moving for you, then what the holdup is that you have not moved for God. Some people talk about faith but do not live by faith.
James said, "I show you my faith by my works." God has been blessing me ever since that move and now I can truly say that, "God is fantastic". I hope that this testimony helps someone who is going through something similar to what I have gone through.
Clayton
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