I am 55 years old and farm in the Free State. I grew up in a happy home - my parents are Christians and they did all they could to help us spiritually as well as providing the means to study and enter our careers.
When I was in grade 6 at school in 1977, I met with the Lord Jesus Christ one night. There was a change in my life and I suppose most people would have regarded me as a good person.
The years went by and in 1990, having completed my studies and military service, I started farming. One thing that often upset me, apart from all sins common to man, was anger. I would get upset when for instance my workers would come to work being drunk. Such things cannot be justified, but very often, in the way in which I handled matters, I couldn't but admit that those around me were not experiencing me exactly as the Bible describes a true Christian, namely bearing the following fruit constantly: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I was lacking in all these and yet I called myself a Christian. There was a deep longing for the REAL thing, namely that my life would be under the control of God's Holy Spirit.
God, who knows all hearts, saw my need and through a series of events in 1994 I heard of KwaSizabantu and could go there for a visit.
Here I heard for the first time in my life of Christian counselling, i.e. confessing your sins in the presence of a man/ woman of God and being prayed for (James 5:16). Right from the outset I realized that my life needed to be thoroughly cleansed by Jesus' Blood - and kept clean! This brought change and relief and I started to grow spiritually, more and more getting victory over my sins.
I would like to emphasize that no-one forced me to confess my sins. However I never would have found what I was longing for unless I had been prepared to do this! I experienced God's promise in Matthew 6:33 "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the other things will be added to you" coming true in more than one way.
Overall I have great appreciation for KwaSizabantu having personally experienced God's working, but also for what He is doing to this day in many people's lives.
To God be the glory!
Jan van Hasselt