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Testimonies
Mary Shattuck was raised Catholic and came to meet Jesus and be filled with the Spirit in the 70's. She and her husband were missionaries in Bethlehem, Israel back then and have been pastoring together as a team for the past 20 years. She is a member of Christians for Biblical Equality. Her heart's desire is "Him" and to see people all over the world come to love Him and know His freedom. You can write to Mary at kidessa1@home.com Testimony of Mary ShattuckI was raised in a traditional large Italian Catholic family in Philadelphia. When I was young, I was so eager to know God. One of my goals was to be a nun. I wanted so much to be close to the Lord. As I grew older and my eyes opened to the stagnation in the religious system I belonged to. My hunger sought other ways to be satisfied and I turned to drugs and promiscuity during my high school years. Deep in my heart I continued to search for God, but I was deceived by the immediate gratification I found in sedating my hunger with substance abuse. I left home and lived from house to house with friends and continued following darkness deeper and deeper. I was so empty and depressed. A high school girl friend wrote me a letter from a hippie commune in California where everyone was called "Jesus Freaks." She had become one herself. Her letter was filled with joy, little drawings of stick men with smiling faces saying "Hallelujah," and so much love. In that letter she described to me how to be saved and my heart responded immediately. I knelt down in my bedroom that day, March 16th 1975 and surrendered my life to Jesus. Within 2 weeks I left family, friends, job and Philadelphia to head to California to learn more about Jesus. My love for Jesus has continued to consume me ever since. I was filled with His Spirit and immersed in Bible study, witnessing on the streets and prayer meetings. After two years of training, I left to be a missionary in Israel with my new husband (3 days after our wedding we were on the plane). Since that time of ministry in Israel, God has led me to the heights of the Himalayas in Nepal, the Amazon in Brazil, Red Square in Moscow, villages in China, islands in the Philippines, streets of India and the avenues of America to tell others of the great love that God has for us in sending His only Son Jesus to bring us into relationship with Him. My husband and I pioneered a church on the west side of Portland, Oregon in 1983. Our heart was to teach others who they are in Christ, that He has given us the spirit of adoption by making us His children, and to help people find joy in their walk with the Lord. We are a team like Priscilla and Aquila in the book of Acts. It is wonderful to be in a church where men and women are equal and flow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit side by side. One of my passions is to ignite hunger in the heart of the Church to love Him unrestrained. I love to teach and preach and see the Lord use me to love His people by elevating them to the place He died to give them. What a lover of people He is. I joy in witnessing people coming alive with His love. What a humbling experience it is to pastor His Bride, His beloved. I, too, can say, I have come to serve not to be served. In our 24 years of marriage, God has blessed us with three awesome kids, a really cool son-in-law and a grand daughter. I have found that when you are in love, you don't burn out. It is fun to live for Jesus. Return to Testimonies |
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