Testimony of Davis Zachary

I was born Jan. 7, 1947 in New Castle Indiana, the oldest of six children. Both of my grandmothers were strong Christians and their prayers are one of the main reasons that I am serving the Lord today. I was staying with my grandmother in Tennessee for the summer when I was seven years old. We would read the Bible and devotions every night. One night after I had went to bed, I began to think about what my grandmother had said about Jesus. I started crying and went back downstairs. My grandmother said the Holy Spirit was dealing with me and she took me through the sinners prayer. Praise the Lord! That was June 11, 1954 and she had me tell everyone, that day was my second birthday, the day I was Born Again.

I came back to Indiana to go to church with my other grandmother. Eventually, when I was in high school, I became a Sunday school teacher and a deacon. As I became involved in the workings of the church, I began to see unfaithfulness in church members (smoking, drinking, bad language, etc.). Not being very mature in the things of God I became dissatisfied with the whole Christian experience and fell away for 22 years. The devil saw this disillusionment and gradually took me to the brink of death through alcohol, drugs and adultery.

At 40 years of age the wages of sin were taking their toll and I began having some health problems. I called a clinic and told them I needed and oil change and tune up. They set up a full day of testing. On March 13, 1987 I had tests from 7 a.m. till 4:30 p.m.. There were X-rays, tubes down my throat, dye to drink, tubes up my intestines, lots of pictures, several doctors and more procedures than many people have in a week.

While I was on the toilet having my third water enema (the Lord has a sense of humor) I felt like buckets of love were being. dumped on-me. At the time I thought of my second daughter, Licia, who loves me no matter what. I did not know at this time that it was the Lord touching me. Later, I found out that two neighbor women were praying on the phone in agreement for me, at exactly the same time that this was taking place.

I believe that the prayers of my grandmother, mother, aunts and the prayer of agreement of my neighbors hit a chord in heaven and the Lord touched and healed me. The doctors could not find anything wrong with me except a hiatal hernia.

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Still not knowing that God had touched me, the next morning I drove to a farm sale. As I was driving, I was thinking about where to get some cocaine to get high on that night. An audible voice said (Speaking “Boy what happened yesterday, you did not do on your own.” of the touch of God in the clinic). Immediately after this I saw a vision of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for me. The nails were in His hands and blood was running down his face. It was there that the scales of blindness fell off my eyes and I saw the way, the truth, and the light. I said three words, “Forgive me Lord”,

and I was back at the bleeding side of Calvary. Glory! There was a waterfall of tears running off my beard. Then the Holy Spirit said in my spirit three things: 1) Man’s ego is his own worst enemy, 2) The whole history of mankind is but a blink of an eye to Me, and 3) If you don’t stay in My word and prayer everyday, the devil will stomp on your head.

Needless to say I have never been the same since. For the next two weeks the Holy Spirit continued to drive a stake of agape love into my heart. I don’t glory in this supernatural testimony, because I was so hard headed and hard hearted that God had to move in this manner. The best testimony to me is someone who has served God all their life. The Bible says much”. “…who is forgiven much, loveth much”. Brother, sister, I was forgiven much and I told the Lord I would do anything He wanted me to do and go anywhere He wanted me to go. That prayer has brought me to where I am now writing an application to go before the Board of Global Outreach for approval to full time missionary work in Haiti.

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Soon after this encounter I had with the Lord Ben Yantis asked me to go to Haiti on a work team. I fell in love with the people and the work in Haiti. I was ready to go right then (Jan. 1988), but it was not the Lord’s timing. I have been patient even though my heart has been in Haiti since that first trip there. I have been on a work team six times to Haiti. In these last six years my wife and I have matured in the Lord and have been faithful at our local church (Center of Faith). We have been involved in the food pantry 4 years, children’s ministry 5 years, and nursing home ministry 3 years. To God be all the glory!

In March of this year, my Pastor called and said that the Lord had instructed him to go to Haiti that he needed to receive a heart for the work and the people there. My wife and I went with our Pastor in April to visit with Dave and Judy Heady. We started praying for God to open the doors that He wanted open and close the doors that He wanted closed. One night as I sat on the wall of the conference center overlooking Port-au-Prince. I asked the Lord to write across the sky that the Zachary’s were supposed to go to Haiti. He did not do that, but He said in my spirit, “Haven’t I opened all the doors you have asked me to?” I could not argue, He had truely opened every door and had shown us tremendous favor. The next step was our and that was to make the commitment to go to Haiti as full time missionaries. At the conclusion of our trip we did just that. After making that commitment, we feel in our hearts that we know that we know that we know this is the will of God for our lives. I have had such peace since making that commitment. All the Lord wants is a willing vessel. I am a willing vessel and I have said yes. I therefore, humbly send, in the name of Jesus, this application and testimony to the Board of Global Outreach for their approval. May the Lords will be done.

To Him be the Glory!