Testimony of Sarah Rouhana


Greetings my dear family in Christ,

First of all, I want to thank the Lord for His grace which He has bestowed upon my life. A grace that has started a work of redemption in my heart, and its work will be fulfilled at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a grace that gave me utterance in the tongue of the spirit of God, instead of my own old tongue that only knows how to utter words of falsehood; a grace to be a witness of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, through his Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:10:
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Before the Lord brought me to the knowledge of His Truth, I was lost in this world. I aimed to fill or to rather waste my time in worldly distractions. However, every time I came back to reality and away from all those distractions, I would always feel emptiness from inside. Nothing and no amount of friends, or worldly pleasures was able to fulfill me.

Truly all the waters of this world can never quench our true thirst for God. I was actually ignorant to the fact that my soul is thirsting after God. It is after I heard his voice speaking to my heart through His Word that my soul began to be quenched.

John 4:13-15:
[13] Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
[14] But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
[15] The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

All the waters that this world provides, quenches our lustful thirsts in this flesh and gives us outward satisfaction in our feelings. A fake and temporal peace it was, that is built upon sand and is easily moved by every wind that blows it. It is all a distraction from the reality of our soul thirsting for God. And when I was faced with reality, it all left me empty in my soul and gave me no true joy or peace.

I was born a Christian Orthodox, but I never really was religious, as I was never touched nor intrigued by any of those religious traditions of man. All those traditions were actually also a distraction from the Truth of God, and they leave you empty from inside.

My soul was searching for a place of rest as I was open minded to all manly words and opinions. Little did I know that behind every word uttered by man, there is a spirit behind it. It’s either a spirit from the source of death or from the source of life. It’s a spoken word that quickens your soul, or destroys it.

And it all truly started in the beginning. It was when Eve opened the door of her mind for another source and received the subtile words of the serpent, that she was deceived. She received the spirit behind the words also, and reaped death unlike the words spoken by the Spirit of God which gives life. John 6:63(b): “…the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

And so I used to work at a place where the owner used to daily call for a staff meeting. But this meeting was never regarding our actual jobs, it was like a “preaching” meeting. He used to share with us his opinions and beliefs about life and all that. I was intrigued actually and opened my mind and ears to his speech. After some while I started getting so many burdens from this workplace whenever I go and I didn’t know the reason of it.

Truly when you are lost and empty in your soul, you begin to open your mind and heart more to the world's speech. No wonder Jesus told his disciples to be careful and not open their minds and hearts to anything, but He taught them to discern the spirits.

Mark 4:24:
And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear…

Words are seeds thrown into your mind to get into your heart and occupy it. The way the Spirit of God uses men as vessels to walk and talk through, the evil spirits do the same. And so this spirit of death that I received from man's words increased the burden that I felt in my heart.

Little did I know that the Lord was preparing the ground of my soul to hear the voice of the deep calling unto it to receive His Word. But Satan, as a thief, tried to plant his seed that has a source of death and unbelief in it; through those words of his, spoken unto me, he tried to steal this ground that the Lord had prepared. It’s just as it was when the serpent beguiled Eve through deception, and sowed his seed before the seed of Adam was to be sown in her womb.

And so I started having attacks at nights, and hear voices speaking to me, calling my name, and seeing black shadows in my room. I didn’t understand then what was happening to me. My mother took me to a “priest” hoping that he would pray over me but no “priest” was available that day; so I just went to a Catholic Church and trusted in some idols that they might protect me. But the attacks increased and kept on coming for 3 days. On the third day, my childhood friend noticed that there was something wrong with me.

It was hard for me to share such a thing with her knowing that she cannot do anything for me, or help me. But I did end up sharing with her what was happening with me, and this is when she was led to witness to me the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the truth that she had. Before then she never felt led to do so. Nevertheless, I thank God, because in his perfect timing He led her to share His Truth with me. Had she shared it before this timing, it wouldn’t have had this effect on me, and my ground wasn’t yet ready to receive the seed of God through her pastor.

God's Word never returns to Him empty or void; It actually fills the empty cup. But if this ground was already rich in this world and not emptied from it, then it wouldn’t have been ready to receive the richness of God's Word in it. It would have burst; the thorns and cares of this life would have choked it. Truly the Lord came to the poor and blind in spirit. He didn’t come to fill the rich and those who already found themselves and their belonging in this world.

John 17:8:
For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

John 17:9:
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

Soon this friend of mine introduced me to her pastor over the phone upon my request. He shared with me some scriptures in the Word of God for me to read and meditate upon, and then prayed for me over the phone.

During this same night, I finally slept peaceful with no attacks. The following day I wanted to meet him and when I did, he first enlightened me through the Word of God about the vanities of all those idols:

Psalms 115:4-8:
[4] Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
[5] They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
[6] They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
[7] They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
[8] They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

The Holy Spirit through him pointed and guided me back to the word of God, and not to some church building of man made tradition, nor man's words.

Hebrews 9:11:
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

1 Corinthians 6:19:
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

The light of God immediately touched me deep within my heart. It gave me joy and understanding that I never knew existed. I thank God for his provided way, through our Lord Jesus Christ, to be able to seek him and approach him. Truly He transforms all curses into blessings.

Nehemiah 13:2(b):
...howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.

I simply knew then, that this is the truth. I felt a strong deep pulling me to that truth, and a true light that I couldn’t resist. And so I wanted to hear more of it. I immediately took off all of those idols that I was wearing as a protection, and gladly received God's Word.

After this, my close friend, who I later discovered that she was in fact my sister in Christ, would take me every while and then to meet with the pastor and to hear the Word of God, as I was still new to the whole matter and was shy to go alone despite my strong desire to do so.

After a year or so, Brother Nice from Nigeria visited us in Lebanon, and a sermon which he preached on baptism really touched my heart. I asked to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. A date was then set for my baptism which was to take place the following week. But during this week of waiting, I felt like all the gates of hell had opened against me for this decision that I made and for the action of faith that I was led to take. I encountered many problems and my mind got clouded. Something was attacking me real strong all of that week. And on the day of my baptism, something happened. It was night time. We drove to the area for the baptism. After parking the car, we walked to place for the baptism. It was then that I realized that I have left my bag of clothes I brought to change after my baptism in the car. As I went back to the car to pick my bag, I did not see a big hole in the ground. This hole was very deep, and at the bottom of the hole, there were sharp long iron sticking out from the ground. Something blinded me and I fell into the hole. I wasn't conscious of what happened to me inside of it but in a miraculous way, my feet didn't hit any of those sharp spikes in the hole, and my wounds were only mild. Then my pastor saw me and took a hold of my hand and pulled me out of it. I was so shaken then, as my whole body and mind shook.

Every time that God has prepared a blessing for me, Satan tries to steal it by creating fear in my heart. I then started to have doubtful thoughts regarding this decision that I made to get baptized. But then the Lord spoke to my heart through brother Nice, and exposed those thoughts that had been attacking me. My faith got touched again by God's love, and it gave me boldness through His Word, to not fear whatever manifestations of evil that are trying to hinder His work in me. I then got baptized in the water. I was transferred from the hole of the ground of thorns, to the waters of his saving grace.

But little did I know that there was a baptism of fire that I needed to go through. My trials and persecutions were just starting then. Truly whenever we obey God's commandments, darkness begins to shake and resist this light, because it doesn’t want to flee. It wants us to put back our light under the bed and not allow it to shine and grow in our life. The devil tried to shake this light out of me by trying to take me back to the world and its cares. Despite that my flesh being weak, I did go back to the world for a little season, the seed that had been sown in me was stronger and was always pulling me back to the Word of God.

Truly those trials only proved the strength of the seed of God, and not my own strength. Those fires proved that the seed of God will remain and nothing can separate us from the love of God.

This time whenever I would go back to the world, I would vomit up all the world's pleasures. God allowed me to go back for a while, because I had to vomit it all and know that I can no longer digest this world's bread and wine. I did not belong there anymore but belonged with the Lord. He is my true resting place, and I needed to start growing in the understanding of his Word. I needed to eat and drink his bread and wine. When I made this decision, Satan did try again to attack me at night and scare me so I wouldn't act upon this decision. But brother Nice was also visiting us again then, and he did pray for me and supported me spiritually.

I then started reading some of brother Richard Gan's books and began to hear his sermons. At first I couldn't understand one word in his sermons, as his English was a bit hard for me and I was already weak in this language. I really desired to be able to understand everything that he was saying and preaching. And so I prayed about it and asked the Lord for more understanding, and the Lord did grant me the desire of my heart. The Lord touched my ear and gave me the ability to understand everything I was hearing. The way the Lord would lead brother Gan to preach and put things together in order and in understanding, really touched me. Because in my character, I couldn’t accept something or receive it, if I didn't understand it well. I thank the Lord for his ministry, as it truly helped lay the foundation of the Word of God in my heart.

And so I grew in God's Word until He birthed me with His Holy Spirit; and that is when I began to experience Him personally in a new and more intimate way. This is when my real experiences with the Lord began. Not only did He touch my ear, but also gave me a new tongue to be able to express this same understanding that I was receiving. He later blessed me with an earthly husband who is also my brother in Christ and a minister of God; a natural and spiritual support, who grew to understand me and love me unconditionally, with the love of Christ. I thank God for His pattern on Earth that He uses to bring us to a higher understanding of His Heavenly pattern.

There are not enough words for me to be able to express and testify of the many wonderful works that the Lord has done in my life. But I believe that I can summarize them with two words: Amazing Grace.

Lastly, I want to thank my brother Richard Gan for the opportunity to be able to witness and testify of the Lord's work in my life; as we tend to forget the Lord's hand that took us out of Egypt and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. I am blessed to be reminded by His Spirit, of His grace and mercies in my life.

Deut. 4:9:
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life…

Dated: 29 June, 2022