Testimony of Dana G. Robitille

I would have to say that I have possessed an awareness that God had

plans for me from my youth even though at that time I did not know who

"God" was and had even less of a clue as to how he wanted to use me.

I was brought up in a moral Episcopal atmosphere at my mother's

urging and received confirmation and baptism into "the Church" at about

the age of 13. I was baptized [read sprinkled] at that time when it was

discovered that I had not been previously.

My teen years had their share of stress and I had my bent toward

rebellion. I remember when I was about 15 years of age looking upon a

girl and saying in my mind ... I'm going to get her <the implication is

sexual>. And I remember just as vividly these words coming through my

mind; "If you do you will get her pregnant, get married and be

divorced". It was GOD speaking <by implication HE did not want me to do

it> I told him: "Buzz off ... it's my life and I'm going to live it MY

way."

Sure enough all that he had communicated to me came about with my

digging in my heels and fighting it all the way. Did HE will that

marriage to fail? <NO> but he knew it didn't have a chance and warned

me ahead of time ... my motives for getting involved were all wrong.

It's unnecessary to bore you with all the messy details of that

marriage coming apart at the seams ... just enough to note that at the

end of it I took refuge for a time in the booze bottle.

At that time I was 19 - 20 years old ... in the midst of a divorce

<divorce is always hell no matter how you cut it> the drinking age here

in VT was 21 and over in NY it was 18 so often Friday and Saturday

evening involved a pilgrimage to the Saxony Lounge and Pavilion in

Rouses Point NY to start an evening of drowning my sorrows. I usually

would get a two quart pitcher of Vodka Collins and start in. I remember

one evening as I touched the glass to my lips I again heard in my mind

some words: "I don't want you to do this." <God speaking again> and my

response was "So What!" and I just kept on drinking.

My world was totally destroyed and I could see no way out ... my

wife <who was the center of my life> left taking my son with her <along

with 1/2 of the income> and leaving me with ALL the bills. My "Gross

wages" wouldn't meet the bills and what I really wanted to do was DIE.

I just couldn't quite bring myself to kill myself though ... so I'd

take the car out and play chicken with big trees on sharp corners at

high speeds. <It's nothing short of a miracle that I made it past this

part of my life>

Finally I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to "die" and so

I put a proposition to "God". I estimated what I would need to get out

of the mess I had made of my life and prayed: "God if there is a god,

if you get me out of this mess in one year I am yours. In order to get

out of this mess I'm going to need to live within walking distance of

work, make about $160 a week, and have rent of about $100 a month."

<prayed this December of 1970)

With that I left it in "god's" hands. I was looking forward to being

laid off from work as soon as I graduated from the apprentice program

<making Mini-Guns and Viet Nam was winding down quickly>. January of

1971 a job offer came to me from GE in Fitchburg Mass ... on accepting

the job after testing I went to Fitchburg and a room came up for rent

the day I got there within walking distance of the plant for $100 a

month (util inc) My pay came out to $159 + change a week. I remembered

the prayer that I had prayed in December and decided that I had better

find out who God was ... it seemed he was taking me up on my offer.

I was sure that God wasn't in "Christianity" since I had never seen

any example of anyone answering prayer in the Episcopal religion in

which I grew up. My impression of Episcopalianism was a bunch of old

ladies comparing hats on Sundays. Gossip abounded along with hypocrisy

and I wasn't favorably impressed. So I looked into Yoga, Occultism,

White Witchcraft, etc.

At work one of the men wanted me to talk to his daughter she had

been getting involved in a strange cult and he was worried. He figured

my head was on straight and maybe I could talk some sense into her. <If

he had only known how screwed up I was at that time> So I went to talk

to the girl, she invited me to a rally to which I was inclined to go.

It was a Jesus People rally ... a bunch of hippie type people

professing Jesus Christ. The rally way open air and got rained out

royally but that did not prevent me from arguing with the drummer of

the band over reincarnation until I was so angry that I couldn't see

straight.

I was also miffed that by the time I got done arguing their

literature was all gone and I didn't get any to check out <read pick

apart>. On the way home I did manage to pick one of those papers up out

of the gutter ... it was a copy of The Catacomb Press , put out by

Clinton White in N.H.; on reading it I saw an offer for a "free" New

Testament and figuring that he was just another religious hypocrite I

wrote for it just to prove he wouldn't send it.

A couple of weeks later I received a little package containing a

copy of Good News for Modern Man, White's testimony "Out of The Belly

of the Whale" and a tract explaining how to become born again.

The tract showed me that all I had to do was to personally receive

forgiveness for MY sins that I couldn't do anything to merit

forgiveness just accept the free gift of eternal life from God via

Jesus Christ. I argued with God for another two weeks over the

simplicity of receiving forgiveness ... I wanted to do something.

Finally I agreed to do it HIS way. Then I picked up the new testament

in my hand and confessed to God that I had never read it, committed

myself to reading it through and asked HIM to open my eyes to see what

he wanted me to see in it.

The New-Testament became alive ... it seemed like it was written for

ME and I was reading it every spare moment I could muster. I would read

about the apostles receiving the Holy Spirit and find myself saying

"God I want that" ... "Me Too". as I was going through the testament.

I was also praying and fasting ... I knew that God wanted me to go

to college and I was praying for a sign to know when, recognition of

that sign, direction on where to go, and that it be a sign I could not

back down from. I dreamed of a White clapboard structure ... with three

doors in the side ... in my dream I entered the middle door, went up

the stairs, turned left and entered a room with chairs around, an alter

rail, a podium, and an open bible on the alter rail.

One morning I went into work and the boss called me into his office

.. he said "You are going to be fired". I got recognition that this was

to me the sign I had been praying about! When he said those words I was

filled with the joy of the LORD and grinning from ear to ear grabbed

his hand, shook it and thanked him. He didn't know what had happened

but Jesus baptized me in the Holy Ghost on the spot. My boss asked me

what I was going to do and I told him I was going to school for the

Lord ... he said where? and I said I don't know the Lord will show me

tonight.

I went immediately to tell the man who wanted me to speak to his

daughter ... he also turned to the Lord ... told me later that I

literally glowed as I walked across the floor of the shop toward him ..

that is one of the things that influenced him to make a commitment to

the Lord ... he knew it was real!

After checking up a couple of blind alleys to see where the Lord

wanted me to go I took a moment to ask GOD ... and got the impression I

should go to this girl's house (it was about a 10 mile bicycle ride)

and off I went. When I got there she was not there but the door was

open and she had several college catalogues out on the coffee table so

I went in, sat down and started to thumb through them. When I placed my

hand on the one for Asbury College I KNEW that was where the Lord

wanted me to go so I opened it up and started to see what was involved.

Then I saw the social restrictions ... for freshmen double dating

only and it had to be cleared through the dean! I said "God you know

me! You are going to have to help me on that one."<gulp> The next day I

called the college to tell them that I was coming. They said that I

needed a High School transcript, a physical report, and a ministerial

reference from a church where I had been attending the last two years.

I called the High School I had graduated from ... the principle had

just quit in a feud and there was no one to authorize a transcript. I

couldn't get a Dr to see me until after the date that I needed to be in

school, and I called the school to tell them that I had not been in a

church building in over two years. I went back to the place where I had

just been fired from and asked personell to do me a little favor and

have the company Dr. do the physical ... they agreed. A local minister

who was involved with the Jesus People did the ministerial form

regarding two of the ten questions relative to my conversion, and the

college accepted the non-authorized transcript on a probationary basis.

The Lord provided a ride and I was off to college.

At college I went through the registration line and they handed me

the bill for the first quarter $757 of which I had nothing up front. I

promptly got sent to the business manager and he said: "Kid you know it

costs alot of money to come to a college like this one, why did you

come without any? I told him the truth ... "Jesus told me to come and

I'm going to do what he says." After clearing his throat he said: "Well

when can you have it paid off by?" to which I responded, "I haven't got

the faintest idea." He said I need to put something down here, so I

asked the Lord in my heart and gave him the answer, "Put down pay by

the end of the quarter". Which he did, then he told me that there were

no jobs on campus for freshmen so I asked the Lord in my mind again and

got the answer. I told him not to worry about it I would have as much

work as I could handle within three weeks on campus. Within 3 weeks I

was working on campus 35 hours a week and that business manager's name

was appearing in the lower right corner of the check.

On looking out of the back window of the dorm I finally got assigned

to ... there was this white clapboard building with three doors in the

side. I of course had a flashback of that dream I had had before I knew

Asbury existed and just had to check out this building. I entered the

middle door, went up the stairs, turned left and there was that room,

chairs, rail, podium, and open Bible that I had dreamed of so many

months before. That room was the favorite meeting place of a handful of

us charismatical people to have prayer meetings for the next year at

the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The basic purpose of this year at college was to get me founded in

the Bible ... then the Lord moved me out so that I wouldn't become a

legalistic fundamentalist ... fundamentalist yes but not bound up by

the do this and don't do that stuff.

That tells you how I got saved, received the Holy Spirit, and

founded in the scriptures, enough reading for now. Yes!

In Christ

Dana G. Robitille


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