My Testimony: What Jesus Did for Me

If you had told me a few years ago that I would be sharing my testimony, writing about faith, and encouraging others to trust God, I probably would not have believed you.

My journey has not been perfect. Like many people, I have experienced seasons of pain, confusion, disappointment, anxiety, and searching. There were moments when I felt lost and wondered if things would ever change.

In 2021, what started as occasional drinks during a vacation slowly became part of my everyday life. What seemed harmless at first eventually became a dependency. Alcohol became something I looked to for comfort, relaxation, and escape.

Deep down, I knew I wasn’t truly free. I wanted to stop, but I couldn’t seem to break the cycle on my own. Over time, I gained weight, lost my peace, and found myself carrying burdens I didn’t know how to put down. By 2022, I knew something needed to change.

The Morning Everything Changed

On the morning of April 15, 2023, I woke up overwhelmed with anxiety. My mind was racing with questions. I felt lost, exhausted, and weighed down by everything I had been carrying for so long. Deep inside, I knew I had drifted far from God. I wanted to come back to Him, but I didn’t know how.

That morning, I found myself crying out to God in a way I never had before. I was sitting alone in my room, crying uncontrollably. There was no prepared prayer, and no perfect words. It was simply the most honest prayer I had ever prayed.

As I sat there crying, a story from the Bible came to my mind. I thought about the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She believed that if she could just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, she would be healed. That story suddenly became real to me. I felt a deep knowing in my spirit that if someone would simply pray for me, I would be free. I cannot explain it any other way. I just knew. The problem was, I didn’t know who to call. So I cried out to God.

“God, if You are here with me right now, if You hear me, please send someone to pray for me. I know if someone prays for me, I will be free.”

Four minutes later, my phone lit up. It was my sister-in-law. Her message said: “I don’t know what you’re going through, but the Holy Spirit prompted me to pray for you. Is everything okay?” I will never forget that moment. Everything inside me stopped. God had heard every word. Jesus heard my prayer and answered it within minutes. For the first time in a very long time, I knew He was near, and He had not abandoned me. He was with me in my room.

Encountering the Holy Spirit

After she prayed for me, something shifted. I felt the presence of God. I felt peace. I felt hope. I felt a desire to live again. The heaviness I had been carrying for years suddenly felt lighter. The burdens that weighed me down no longer felt impossible to carry. Most importantly, I knew Jesus was inviting me to surrender my life completely to Him. I didn’t fully understand what I was doing that morning. I simply knew I wanted freedom. So I surrendered.

What happened next, I didn’t have some emotional experience that lasted a few minutes and disappeared. Instead, I got up and walked into my kitchen and I started cleaning. As I cleaned, I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart. One thought after another began coming to me. “I will deliver you from the lies the enemy has spoken over your life.”

For years I had believed lies. Lies about my worth. Lies about my identity. Lies about my future. Lies about who God was. And the Lord began showing me that true freedom wasn’t only about alcohol. There were deeper chains He wanted to break. Alcohol was only one part of the story.

Freedom Was a Journey

Many people hear the word “deliverance” and think everything happens instantly. Some things did. The desire for alcohol was broken. My hunger for God’s presence became stronger than my desire to drink. But God was not finished. Over the months that followed, He began taking me through seasons of healing and deliverance. He didn’t do everything overnight. He worked layer by layer. Season by season. Sometimes He exposed confusion. Sometimes He revealed fear. Sometimes He showed me areas of people-pleasing. Sometimes He uncovered wounds I didn’t even know were there.

There were seasons of spiritual warfare. There were seasons where I felt intense mental pressure and confusion. There were seasons where God showed me strongholds that needed to be broken. It wasn’t always easy. But through every season, He was faithful. He never left me. He never gave up on me. He patiently walked me through one area at a time.

The Hidden Season

One of the most significant parts of my journey wasn’t just the day God set me free. It was what happened afterward. For months, I stepped away from many distractions and spent time in what I now call my hidden season. I coverd myself in worship, prayer, and God’s Word.

There were days when worship music and the Bible filled my home from morning until night. God was teaching me how to hear His voice, trust His leading, and build my life on a foundation that could not be shaken. During that season, He began removing things that no longer belonged in my life and healing areas of my heart I didn’t even realize needed healing.

What once felt like isolation became preparation. What once felt like loss became transformation. Looking back now, I can see that God wasn’t punishing me. He was pruning me. He was teaching me to depend on Him before entrusting me with more.

Through the Fire

Looking back now, I can see that those years were a season of refinement. God was not only delivering me from addiction. He was refining me. Just as gold is purified in the fire, God was removing things from my life that could not come with me into the next season.

There were battles I had to fight. There were strongholds that needed to be broken. There were old habits, old patterns, old mindsets, fears, insecurities, people-pleasing, and lies that had become deeply rooted over the years. Sometimes I wondered why God didn’t simply remove everything at once. But looking back now, I understand. He was teaching me how to walk with Him.

The beautiful part is that I never walked through the fire alone. Jesus was there the entire time. There were seasons where I honestly don’t think I could have taken another step without His presence. There were battles I could never have won in my own strength. There were strongholds I could never have broken through my own. It was His power working in me. It was His grace carrying me. It was His anointing strengthening me. When we surrender our lives to Jesus, He does not simply point us toward freedom and tell us to figure it out ourselves. He walks with us through the process. He equips us. He strengthens us. He anoints us for the journey.

Then, little by little, layer by layer, He helps us overcome what once held us captive. That is how transformation happens. That is how refinement happens. That is how we become more like Christ. The fire is not meant to destroy us. The fire is meant to purify us.

Why I Share My Story

Today, more than three years later, I can see countless ways God has changed me. I am still growing. I am still learning. I am still being refined. But I am not the same person I was before. The Bible says that anyone who belongs to Christ is a new creation. The old has passed away, and the new has come. I have experienced that truth firsthand.

The pruning seasons are not easy. Surrender is not easy. Spiritual warfare is not easy. But His presence is worth it. His peace is worth it.His guidance is worth it. His freedom is worth it. For a long time, I wondered why God allowed me to walk through certain seasons. Today, I believe part of the reason is so I can encourage others. Because I know what it feels like to need prayer. I know what it feels like to need encouragement. I know what it feels like to feel lost and wonder if God still hears you.

If my story reminds even one person that God still heals, restores, delivers, and answers prayer, then every step of the journey was worth it. No matter what you’re facing today, there is hope. God is still in the business of changing lives. He certainly changed mine. And if there is one thing I have learned through this journey, it is this: There is nothing God cannot deliver you from when you surrender your life completely to Him.

If He did it for me, He can do it for you.

With love,

Inessa Demyanenko