Dana G Robitille

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