ITMI partner, Anna Gorski, shares here incredible testimony with us!

"I come from a broken family. My parents- father addicted to alcohol and handicapped mother struggling with depression- couldn’t give me the love, care and safety I needed as a child.

I wasn’t aware of the destruction that was going on in me- I was emotionally damaged, spiritually dead and physically suffering from epilepsy.

After my parents divorced (when I was 11) the situation started to be worse and worse for me and I ended up as a street child, full of anger, pain and very self-destructive.

After a few hard experiences (almost dead from alcohol, being caught by police after escaping from home and put into a child foster home) I came to a point in my life where I was suffering so much, not finding the love that I so desperately needed, that the only hope for me to end my pain was to give up my life.

I desired to die but hadn’t enough “courage” to kill myself. At the time I didn’t know God as a person, loving and caring father.

God for me was equal to the religion I grew up in- in order to get closer to Him you had to do a huge list of “holy” things (holy sacraments) and live a moral life (obey commandments). And I of course, didn’t fit this model so I didn’t exist for God, I thought.

But one day, when I was 13, I went to a mass with my mom (she started to look for a relief from her pain in religion) and I opened my heart to a God I didn’t know.

“God, I suffer so much, I hate my life, I don't want it anymore- please take it and do whatever you want to do with it. I give up.”

From that day many things happened.

God gave me hope and led me amazingly. He started to be someone real to me, a person who I desired to be closer to.

And for the next few years I was doing all these holy things and even more. I was leading my spiritual life through the means that were given to me.

In the religion I was brought up in, I was never allowed to have my own, true and intimate relation with God.

Everything depended on the priests, because only THEY could forgive my sins through confession, only THEY knew how to understand the Bible and only THEY had the power to do all the sacraments, which I needed in order to be close to God.

Because I truly desired God, my heart was never satisfied.

I’ve always been searching for more and through many years I’ve been attending many religious events, seminars, retreats and a few fellowships, many times as a singer in a choir.

And one time, while searching for God`s will in my life, I attended Poznan Gospel Joy Workshops.

During the workshop there was a man preaching. I liked it very much, so when the organizers invited people to a Bible group as a continuation of what we had heard, I was happy to come. 

I got involved very easily and after few months during the study on Galatians, God showed me that salvation was for free, I didn’t need to earn anything and could be sure of my salvation in Jesus Christ!

For me it was like the missing part which I’ve desired for so long! From that moment in my life God has taught me so much and has changed my heart in amazing ways.

I'm so thankful for everything God has done in my life and that He brought me to the point of surrendering all to Him. God had turned my painful and hopeless life into an amazing journey of being His child, friend and servant.

There is NOTHING more beautiful and exciting in this world!

His ways are amazing! I was able to receive the Gospel because of Gospel Joy ministry led by Andrew Gorski who is now my beloved husband 🙂

God had used Andrew to bring salvation to his future wife. Isn’t it great? 🙂

Now, we serve God as a team leading home and Bible groups and so often we are amazed by how God uses our marriage to bring glory to Him! What a joy to be free and have a new life in Jesus! What a privilege to serve the Almighty God and be His tool in bringing the Gospel to the nation of Poland! Glory be to Him forever!!!"

Before Gospel Joy, our partners in Poland long sought to bring Galatians’ message of free, unearned salvation to the largest segment of the Polish population: middle class church-goers who believe the only way to get close to God is through religious rituals.

Ironically, they are so hungry for joy and a real relationship with God, yet denied access to this message by a general distrust of anything outside the State Church.

So ITMI’s European Director, Dr. Piotr Zaremba and his team got creative. They used something that was sweeping though the country and the church to reach empty people with the message of freedom: Gospel Music.

God has used Piotr Zaremba, Andrew Gorski and Gospel Joy to write many, many stories like Anna’s; lives that were buried in despair and hopelessness are now restored, revived and re-energized by Jesus.