Before I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior, I was feeling lost and without purpose. I attended church until I graduated from high school just to please my parents. I thought I was a good person but seem to struggle with everything. I preferred my way and thought it was the best. I basically felt lost and hopeless.
At age 27 my life needed to change as I was desperate for answers. I passed by a church building one fall afternoon when suddenly I knew that I needed Jesus. My wife and I attended a local church and asked for help. Thankfully the pastor knew our need for salvation and led us in a prayer of accepting Jesus Christ into our hearts. Shortly thereafter, we were water baptized (full immersion) and attended one on one bible study covering the doctrines of the faith about our new life with Jesus.
Now life had purpose and my heart was filled with God’s love and appreciation for what He did at the cross. And the Holy Spirit helps us through our daily walk with all of its trials and troubles, but the blessings outnumber the more difficult times of life. I would hate to think what my life would have been without Jesus the past 30 years. My life as a husband, father to four children and now 5 grandchildren has been enriched beyond measure. It is because Jesus Christ is the lord of my life and He fills it with love, caring, and helps me to withstand all trials and troubles that come our way in life. Having Jesus find me after being lost for 27 years has been the highlight of my life. Jesus is real in my life and can be in yours if you just ask Him to be.
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When I was young, it was very important for me to please my teachers and parents. I thrived on people telling me they were proud of me. That was my motivation: to please those around me. One of the most devastating things to me was for my daddy to say he was disappointed in something I did wrong. Likewise, I found out at about nine years old that some things I did disappointed someone even greater to me-my Heavenly Father. At that tender age, I was aware that sin in my life was separating me from God. It did not please God for me to be on “the other side.” I sensed strongly the need to give my life to God.
I responded to the call to surrender control of my life to God at Roebuck Baptist Church in 1979. I recall that I was scared of the preacher and nervous about “going down” to the front to tell him I wanted to be saved. But I was determined to obey the urge I had within me. I asked my daddy to go with me. I was so relieved to make that decision and mend the separation I had between me and God.
From that moment, I knew that I was a precious child of God. Because Jesus paid the price for my sin, I could now draw closer to God, my Father. I started a sweet spiritual journey. I haven’t been a perfect Christian. I have slipped up as most of us do. But I have a real peace in my heart and mind because I know that as I let Christ control my life to enable me to live a holy life, I am pleasing God. Sometimes I imagine Him bragging about me to Moses or Paul. I enjoy him spoiling me with wonderful blessings on a daily basis. It gives me such tremendous joy to know I have a real relationship with a loving God who is pleased with me. Let me ask you…is your life pleasing to God?
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I was raised in a devout Catholic family that attended church every Sunday. My parents taught strong moral and ethical values that were reinforced at the Catholic grade school I attended. One day after school when I was 12 years old I slipped into the back of the church when no one else was around. I knelt in prayer and asked God to help me live for Him. From that point on I tried to be good but it always seemed like I was not good enough. I felt guilty because I kept slipping up. I struggled with this into my college years.
While I was dating my wife, I started attending the small Baptist church where she and her family worshipped. I heard the message of salvation preached each Sunday. I started reading books and studying the Bible to search and test if what I was hearing was true. Then one evening in the summer of my junior year, I came to the realization that I could never be good enough…That’s why Jesus died for me. Alone in my room, I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive me and to take over my life.
From that moment, I’ve felt mercy and peace that I find hard to express. I no longer feel anxious about whether I’m being good enough to earn my way into spending eternity with God. Now I have His love and seek His direction every day of my life.
God has given me a wonderful, loving wife and two great sons. He surrounds me with people who accept me for who I am. Each day He gives me optimism and fresh hope for the future. My favorite verses are Philippians 4:4-7 and Romans 8:28 because they remind me each day I can rejoice…I am His and He is in control!
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. –Philippians 4:4-7
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. –Romans 8:28
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I remember looking at Godly people and thinking, “I want to be like them”. I have two very loving chritain parents who took me to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday nights. I knew that I was a sinner and that I needed a Savior. I wasnt ”bad” or anything, its just that Christ wasnt there. And i knew that needed to change.
I was in church with one of my friends. I was sitting there listening to the pastor. I could feel God talking to me. So that night, at the age of 7, I talked with the pastor. Well as I got older I wasnt sure about my relationship with God. So at the Junior High Beach Retreat ‘06, I rededicated my life to Him.
When I rededicated my life it was like a new seed planted in my life. Since then I have felt complete. I have so much more joyfull and happy. I try to keep a daily devotional with God every day. He has changed me in soo many ways. I set my standards to please and glorify the Living Savior.
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I always believed I was a Christian because I was baptized as a baby, confirmed at age 12, and I was a good person. After a divorce when I was 30, I went back to school and got a job and work became my idol for survival to prove I could ‘make it on my own.’ I carried bitterness, hate, anger, and unforgiveness. After being single for 9 years, I fell in love, remarried and had everything I wanted, but my life was still empty.
In June 2001, I was devastated when I almost lost my son and found out my husband had advanced prostate cancer. Just weeks before this, Terry, one of my employees, had brought his Bible to work and read scripture to me. He told me that Jesus would come back and ‘rapture’ all believers and he thought it would happen in his lifetime. He told me that Jesus was God in the flesh. Because of my ignorance of the Bible, I could not understand. Terry encouraged me to get a Billy Graham book. I read ‘Peace With God’ and my eyes were opened to new truths about who God really was, my purpose in life, and how to know for sure I would go to heaven when I died. When I compared myself to a holy and righteous God, for the first time I saw myself as a filthy sinner. For the first time I believed and understood that Jesus came to earth and died on the cross to forgive MY sins. I believed that Jesus rose from the dead 3 days later and He defeated death — and He is alive today. I humbled myself and confessed I no longer wanted to be in control of my life. I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. This was July 20, 2001! I was 50 years old and had been out of church for 30 years!
My husband and I started going to church, and I made a public confession of my faith at Restoration church and was baptized AGAIN. I joined a women’s Bible study that my next door neighbor, Olive Fuller, taught. The Fullers invited us to Sunday school. We fell in love with the class and church and joined First North in January 2002. God made a complete turn-around in my life and I finally had ‘peace with God.’ I was filled with God’s love. I now have a burden to share my story with others. I love to go to church every week and I have a strong desire to seek God in His Word. I face life and circumstances with the help and power of the Almighty Creator by talking with Him through prayer. I still sin, but when the Holy Spirit convicts me of my sin, I ask for forgiveness so that my sin will not separate me from God. I thank God for Terry who had the courage to share his faith with me at work. A year ago I resigned my position at work, but I was able to share my story with MY manager on my exit interview. Mission completed. My God has other eternal plans for my life and I am so excited! To God be the glory. AMEN!
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