We Pray Wednesday: Prayer Testimony - Craig Foote

I was raised in a religion that does not teach that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus, but by religion or good works.

I heard the gospel for the first time when I was 21 years old, and got saved. I was the first one in my immediate family to get saved.  Six months later, I was able to lead my sister, Janine to the Lord.  This was the first person I had ever led to the Lord.  It also took me about this long to accept the fact that my parents were not going to heaven.

It was probably 3-4 years after I was saved, that I really began to pray every day as a Christian should.

I witnessed to both of my parents several times, but they did not receive Christ as their Savior. Praise the Lord, in 1989, I was able to lead my mother to the Lord, but still needed to pray for my dad.  I prayed daily, and asked others to pray daily for my dad also.  For a total of 31 to 32 years, I prayed and begged God every day to convict my dad that he was lost and must be saved.

I witnessed to him several times, but he would not accept the fact that he needed to be saved.

In 1997, Janine married David Stroderd and he accepted Christ as his Savior in 2001.

My family and I continued to pray daily and diligently for my dad to be saved. In all honesty, there were times I just thought: "He's never going to be saved.  He's going to go to hell". I knew that's not what the dear Lord wanted. He wanted to save my dad more than I wanted him to be saved.  So, I continued to pray and trust God for His power, love, and miracles in answering my prayer.

In February of 2016, my dad had a stroke and was hospitalized a few weeks later with a bleeding ulcer. David went to visit him in the hospital with the prayer and intent to win my dad to Jesus.

David began to witness to him with the attitude and avenue of love and humility. He presented my dad with the gospel again, and praise the dear Lord, my dad bowed his head and invited Jesus to be His Savior, and was born again!!!

Although, I was not the one to win my dad to the Lord, he used me to win Janine to the Lord, and then used David to win my father to the Lord.  This is why we must pray without ceasing.  After my dad got saved, those words rang again and again in my mind and heart.

God is always faithful, and God answers prayers!