God! don't let my life be wasted!

 My name is Rev. Emmanuel Agyenim Boateng, the minister -in-charge of Shalom Presbyterian church at Shalom estate near Oyarifa in Accra.

Beloved, I'm sharing what the God has done for me when I surrendered my life to him. when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and personal savoir. the purpose of this testimony is to encourage you to know that when you give your life to Christ, he has something special for you. Life offered to Christ is never wasted.

I completed middle school at age 15 in 1982, very brilliant and surprisingly I have two older siblings, both my elder brother and sister decided that due to my academic excellence, they will not pursue further studies but they will look for job and together with my parents they will help me to pursue higher education. my mum and dad have left our hometown near nkawkaw to buy land in western region and cultivated 3 large cocoa farms. in 1983,those of us who are a little older in Ghana, there was a sever drought which was caused by a nationwide fire and so my father lot all his three farms to the bushfire.

The hope of getting money to continue or have secondary education was dashed. It took only the Grace of God for my father to survive. Life became very difficult for the entire family. the only thing my father could suggest to me is to go and learn tailoring, in fact, I hard no interest in that so I told him even if I should stay in apprenticeship for five years, I will not learn anything. my father got furious for disobeying him since I know his predicament. Honestly that is the end of my fathers role in my life at the age of 15.

My mother had to prepare kenkey(fante), and at age 15 I had to go and sell the kenkey because it was the only means by which the family could survive. At age 15,16 and 17, I was a kenkey seller. things got from bad to worst and friends advised me but my goal was to have a secondary education and move further and move higher on the academic ladder. 

To God be the Glory, my late father had a late nephew in the person of Pastor James Boakye Duah (C.A.C, Nsawam Adoakgyiri), may his soul rest in perfect peace. He led me to Christ at age 16 and immediately we started S.U town fellowship and we were on fire for the Lord. He kept encouraging me that once I have set a goal to further my education, the Lord will provide the opportunity at the right time. so, I go to sell my kenkey then in the evening we do house- to -house  and have our fellowship meetings.

Beloved, I am a member of the Presbyterian church of Ghana so we have by then we had started the Bible studies and Prayer group in my local congregation. At that time, every year,  we had National BSPG conference which starts from the 2nd of January. In 1985 the conference was held in Suyanin Sec. school, I will never forget that conference, I had to do all kinds of jobs to save money to attend that conference. We arrived on Thursday,  usually we declare the Friday as a fasting day but I started my fasting on the Thursday. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday I did dry fasting and it was my first, those times we thought drinking water wrong during fasting so no food, no water for 3days. I remember that some of the elderly women we went with to the conference came to me and said; Kofi, why are you starving yourself, stop crying, God will open doors for you so take something. I said; mom, I'm  not eating.

After I said one simple prayer and that is what I want to share with you, I said; 'God, if you don't have anything for me, I don't want to live a useless life, don't let me live to see my eighteenth birthday.' I was 17 then, this was my prayer through out the 3days fast. I did not ask God for anything with the notion that: If my life is going to be useless, If I am going to stay in the village and waste my life doing nothing then I should die before my 18th birthday.

Because God's words says; Before you were formed in your mother's womb I knew you and before you were born I had ordain you. indeed God is faithful to his word, just after the conference, the town fellowship invited a Pastor from kumasi to minister to us in a revival. When he completed the revival, He asked the work I was doing and I told him; I'm doing nothing, Then He said will you like to go with me to kumasi? and it was a big YES! 

It was there that He encouraged me to prepare to go to training college and His father who was a retired teacher really helped me. in those days you had to write the nationwide teacher training entrance exam, so I sat for that exams and Glory be to God I passed and entered teacher training college in the year 1986 without going to secondary school and completed in 1990.

Beloved, As I write to you, I have 3 Master Degrees and currently working as the assistant Registerer \, co Counsellor at the University of Professional Studies. God took me when I prayed to him and said; God! Don't  let my life be wasted.

Personal Advice

I may not know what you are going through, you may think all is lost, you think no one cares for you. the God I prayed to in 1985 is the same God. No matter what you  are going through today, I just want to encourage you to surrender your life, surrender your life, surrender your life to Jesus Christ. Go back to him on your knees and tell him; God! don't let my life be wasted! If you can pray this prayer and invite the Lord Jesus as your Lord and personal Savior. Today, the kenkey seller is a different person. God has taken me through thick and thin and not only that, He has called me into ministry. God has something in stock for you and that thing can only be manifested if you surrender your life. I gave my life to him at the age of 16 and today I can celebrate the Lords goodness and faithfulness. Age is nothing in the sight of God, He called Moses at age 80, He called others at 40, and Samuel when he was a just a boy, regardless of your age, surrender your life to Christ. What He did for me, He is still in the business of transforming lives! God Richly Bless you!

Testimony By Rev. Emmanuel Agyenim Boateng

Presbyterian Church of Ghana

Shalom Congregation