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I ACCEPTED JESUS AS SAVIOR … at my home when I was 18. This was after my mom and I had been attending church for a short while. My mom had recently gone through a divorce and decided to find a pastor whose church we attended on and off while I was growing up. We met a wonderful lady named Sylvia there who was instrumental in my mom becoming a Christian. An “adopted” daughter of Sylvia started talking to me about becoming a Christian too. At that time I didn’t understand or really care what she had to say, but in order to “get her off my back”, I “said the prayer”. Some time later Sylvia was at our home visiting and she questioned whether I really understood what it meant to be a Christian. I told her that I really didn’t think so and she proceeded to take out her Bible and have me read John 3:16 and 17 out loud. She said to substitute “the world” and “whosoever” with my name. I read it again and again and it finally hit me. He DID die for ME. She said that if I were the only person on earth, he would have come and died for me. Well, I knew I needed to talk to God about this and I prayed. I told God that I KNEW I was a sinner (boy was I ever). I said that I believed that Jesus was His son and that He died on the cross for me. The best part was that Jesus rose from the dead. He didn’t stay in the tomb but he became alive again and lives still. He sits at the right hand of the throne of God and waits for the day when we can be with him forever. Growing up, I was very naïve and was “taken advantage of”. The older I got and the more I was “taken advantage of”, I began to have a very distorted and perverted view of life. I felt guilt and shame for things I had done as well as for those things that had been done to me. Somehow I felt that I had brought it on myself or encouraged it. I never told anyone about it because I just knew that they wouldn't think very highly of me. Since trusting Jesus as Savior, I have gradually given Him that shame and guilt. It took time for me to accept that I was also forgiven of the pain that I caused others. Totally and unconditionally forgiven! Praise God!!! I continue to pray for those I’ve hurt and those who have hurt me. Shortly after trusting God with my life and letting Him lead, another woman and I started a singing duo. We weren’t really that good but as we traveled around to different churches singing to background tapes, we gradually got better. As the years have gone by, there have been voice lessons and singing has become a wonderful way for me to express love, give hope, send a message; music can be a catalyst for so many things. Crying out to God for mercy through music can bring you to your knees. Songs can also draw your attention to things that are in your life that need tending to. God is the wonderful creator of all things and we can express praise to him through music and singing. The Bible tells us to sing to Him a new song and to make a joyful noise and to give thanks to him with hymns and spiritual songs.
May God bless all who enter here and read what God has put in my heart. |
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