My Dear Siestas,
There is simply no time on the annual calendar more precious and profound to us in Christendom than this. I was reflecting a moment ago how rarely we could land on a day or a weekend that most of us were having the same kinds of thoughts. Even Christmas has our attentions strewn among many things but Good Friday, for all of us who follow hard after Jesus Christ, only one.
I told the Lord a little while ago that I supposed, if we really fathomed the depth of Christ’s sufferings and the heights of our redemption because of it, we surely would not be able to lift our faces from the floor. The reality is, we can’t comprehend it. But we can well sit and reflect. We can well glance back over our pasts just long enough to realize afresh what God did for us on Good Friday so many years ago. We can well plead for Him to break through all of our distractions and self absorptions and make Jesus the dearer to us. We can well ask that we would allow our circumstances to make us the nearer to Him. We can well picture every challenge in our lives, every difficulty, every loss, every sickness, every sin, every defeat, and every heartbreak as the soil beneath Christ’s Cross, left beyond choice but to move that it might be planted in the depths with a victorious thud.
“And even though you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He nevertheless made you alive with Him, having forgiven ALL your transgressions. He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. Disarming the rulers and authorities, He has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:13-15 NET
The power of the Cross has taken our disgrace and publically heaped it on our enemy.
I told Amanda yesterday that I could not think of a sweeter and more powerful way for us to observe Good Friday on this blog than to invite you to share your own story (in short form please) of your salvation. We have learned so much about one another through various journeys here but this will be the first time we’ve actually given our testimonies of salvation. When did you receive Christ as your personal Savior? How old were you and what were the circumstances leading up to your decision?
I cannot convey how much these testimonies will increase my appreciation of the power of the Cross this day. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!
Blessed Good Friday, my dear sisters.
Tags: Easter
I was 7 when I first accepted him. But I didn’t get it. I always felt if I was good, feared God and kept my nose clean then I was good to go. But then just 5 short years ago when I was 28 God called to me. He drew me to HIM. No other way to describe it. He whisperd to my heart and I have been his ever since!! I was saved when I was 7, I lived when I was 28!
I was raised by my devout Catholic parents, but church ‘never did it for me’ (I’m not knocking that faith), I went to church every week and loved the Lord but didn’t involve Him in my day to day life. I knew there had to be more to Him so I prayed for Him to lead me to a new church. I felt led to a non-denominational church where I fell in love with Jesus!! ( Beth Moore Bible studies played a HUGE part in this!) I accepted Jesus as my Savior as soon as I realized my need for Him!!!! I haven’t looked back since!!! My relationship with Him continues to grow the more I learn about His love for me, especially today as I reflect on what that love cost Him!!!!!
Praying the Lord blesses you and your family this Easter!!!
I grew up knowing all about God and Jesus but never realized that I did not truly know him nor was I walking with him. I was a freshman in college, and my sorority had a Bible Study. One of my sorority sisters started inviting me to FCA and Bible Study. Every time I came back to my dorm after Bible Study I would wind up in tears and could not figure out what was going on. The Holy Spirit was working on me, and after several conversations with that friend, I began to understand what it meant to walk with the Lord and dedicated my life to him on April 4, 2003. I adore the way that he works in the places we may least expect.
I gave my life to Christ as a young girl…age 9…I think. I was raised by the best, Christ-following parents a girl could ask for. I was in church from the time I was two weeks old. One of my earliest memories is of me hiding under the table in nursery at church (I was shy).
I heard all about Jesus from Sunday School teachers (thank God for those angels who teach children about salvation). And thank God for Vacation Bible School teachers who took one or two weeks a year to really teach children and bring them to Jesus. I remember making a booklet about the ABC’s of salvation…so simple a child can even understand! I remembered in my mind visualizing Jesus on the cross, dying for me. My sister was saved a few weeks before me. I wanted to be saved, too! So I accepted Jesus as my Saviour, walked the aisle after talking with the preacher before I came down, joined the church and was baptized.
He has been the most precious gift I ever received in my whole life! He has kept me from so many pits and so many dangerous decisions. I have gone through some major things in my life…but He has never left me or forsaken me. Ever! I cling to Him through all the storms of life.
Today, I am 53 years old and I have no regrets about this decision. It was the smartest thing I ever did. Today always gets to me, Beth. The day of His death. He died for me and I cannot thank Him enough. I passionately love Him. And He loves me.
I was saved when I was 15yrs old. My parents did not go to church at the time so I went with my neighbors. I had been going to church for several months and was under conviction. One day I as on a farm with my dad. I was at the farm house with our friends and I wanted to go help my dad cut firewood. In order to walk to where my dad was, I would have to walk through a field of cattle. I had never been around cattle before and was a little afraid of them. Especially when our friend told me to beware of the bull. So, I walked very carefully past the bull and I thought that I was in the clear until a cow stood up and started stomping her hoof and snorting air out of her nose! Then she started to chase me. I ran for dear life! I started to cry out to the Lord. “Please help me Lord! I know if I die I will go to Hell! Please save me!” At that moment, for some reason, I just stopped running. I turned around and the cow was no where to be found! It took me several weeks to go up front of the church and confess that I had been saved but thank God for cows!
I had grew up in church and got saved probably at least 100 times. Every Sunday I was repenting and returning to the same old way of life. I never read the Bible and I felt like God was telling me I needed to read it. So I started reading it and even though this should be where the praise starts it doesn’t. I felt so condemned, the enemy had convinced me that I had blasphemed the Holy Spirit and for the next 4 years my life was revolved around my works for God. I had to pray a certain amt of time, fast, and I repented probably no less than 30 times a day. My mind was warped, but slowly I began to see His grace and His mercy toward me. I was purchased for a price and only Jesus could pay it. I believe I was saved at the beginning of my condemnation feelings, I just didn’t see clearly how the grace was applied to my life. I could catch glimpses of it, but couldn’t seem to retain it. Now I know I am loved by the King and that His Spirit dwells within me. I love Him so much and am so thankful that He did not give up on me during those times.
Age – 15
Circumstances – My mother had recently been diagnosed with stage 3 Ovarian Cancer; I was scared that, if I did not make certain that I was saved, if my mother died, I would never see her again (she went to be with the Lord about 4 years after the fact, but did get to see me baptized in a Baptist church)
Place – a junior-high school youth group Lock-In
I was 6 when I followed my friend forward in church and was baptized. At the age of 12, I struggled with knowing that I had never made a personal commitment to Christ as my Lord, yet worried that what if it didn’t “take” this time around either. My parents and pastor counseled me, prayed with me, and answered my questions as best they could. I grappled with it until God showed me that, if I called on His Son, and believed that He died on the cross because of my sins…as I made that conscious call now cognizant that I was a sinner…that He would become my Savior and nothing and no one could ever take that from me. On Mother’s Day when I was 12 years old, I prayed to ask Jesus to become a permanent part of my life. And now, at age 46, He grows more precious to me with each passing day. The knowledge that “He would rather go to hell for me, than be in heaven without me” (Max Lucado) never grows old, and always tenders my heart anew for Him.
I prayed and ask Jesus to come into my life at age 16. My parents were Christians, but we did not go to church much, because my dad was in the Air Force and we were stationed in Okinawa, which did not have a Christian church to go to at the time. What I learned about God mostly came from my mother. She taught me and my sister the ten commandments, the golden rule, and other things from the Bible. We did listen to Billy Graham on television alot_that is when God started dealing with me. I did not understand everything until after my dad retired from the Air Force and we return to my parent’s home to live in Mississippi.
My family and I went to Sharon Baptist Church. At youth night, I listen to the testimonies of the young people and decided I wanted to be saved. After talking to the preacher, I prayed and ask Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. It was in the month of March, so every Easter I think about my spiritual birthday. My sister was also saved and my parents re-dedicated their life.
Shortly, after I was saved a visiting preacher came to our church. He told us to make choices and decisions that honor God. Think about going to a Christian college, think about who God wants you to marry and think about what God wants you to do. God spoke to my heart and I prayed for God to lead in everything in my life. I did just what that preacher said, I am still letting God lead. Sometimes, I get off-track but I know who my Redeemer is…No regrets.
Thank you, Lord for all you do!
I asked Jesus to come into my heart, forgive my sins and save me on my 10th birthday, June 11, 1955, the greatest birthday of my life! I was in VBS that week and the invitation to accept Christ was on Friday, my birthday! I have always cherished the fact that my physical and spiritual birthdays share the same date. It is also a great testimony to the fact that the lives of children are being changed through VBS.
I would say that I was saved in 1988 at a VBS when I was seven years old, but looking back I didn’t have a very solid foundation. My mom and dad were “Sunday Christians” and that is pretty much where the left God. So that is what I grew up thinking God was.
In March 1995 my Grandma W. passed away and I began asking questions, because that is what I do. The questions went on for miles and they all started with “Why” or “Maybe if I had…then this wouldn’t have happened?”. I took all of my questions to my youth leaders because my mom and dad were in just as much pain if not more then I was, and how do you ask unbelieving parents about God and Jesus. My leaders gave me the best answer they could, “God has a plan and you don’t question his plan.”
At 14, without a solid foundation I did the only thing that I could was walk away. At 14, I put my Bible on the shelf and walked away from the church. I have sat down and have honestly given some thought to the questions I was asking and answers that I was getting and I really don’t know if there was an answer that would have made me feel better.
Fast Forward to March 2003-My Grandpa W. passed away, almost 8 years to the day that my Grandma passed. Family Joke-“She finally called loud of enough and he came running.” Before my Grandpa passed I had my life meticulously planned out that was my way of coping with everything. If you asked me what I was doing at 4:30 of a Friday afternoon I would have been able to pin point what I would have been doing and where I was going to be. Now, I have no idea. It was a very stressful life, I’m not going to lie.
What brought me back to God was my computer. With all of the stress of my Grandpa’s death I had waited until the last minute to write a paper for one of my undergrad classes. So I had to stay up all night writing a 10 page paper and my computer ate it. All ten pages gone. I went to bed and curled up and said a pray and this one to be exact. “You think you have a better plan, fine I’m done.” I went to sleep and the paper was still nowhere to be found so I had to rewrite the entire paper. And from then on it was one decision at a time that got me back on track.
It was still another year before I would come back to church and another year after that before Jesus became a lifestyle choice. I have always said it wasn’t one of my prouder decisions but if I had to do it over again, I would walk away every time. Here is why…
1. It brought me to a place where all I could do is surrender. I had to cry Uncle because that is all the energy I had left to do. I had tried everything else.
2. It took me to a church that I told many people that I would never attend and NOW they let me lead mission trips. The pastors know what happen and that I feel this way.
3. I’m now leading a mission trip for my church. Yes, I went the first year as a FREE vacation, I know how weird that sounds but when I left the first year I was thinking “Ok, I can clean a church, no big deal. I get to stay in a hotel and get to try something different.” I think I had just watched an episoide 20/20 and they had talked about people taking vacations where they did mission work and how awesome it was. So I was going to check it out. But I have learned so much about myself. We leave in July again this year, so if anyone want to pray it can use all the help it can get.
I was saved at the age of three. Now as I look back and realize just how tiny a three year old is, I marvel at the understanding God gave to me at such a young age. My sister had recently gotten saved and one night as my mom was praying with my sister and I and tucking us in, I asked her about what my sister had done. She explained it to me and I let her know that I wanted to be saved too. It was that simple. I believed everything thing she told me about Jesus; that He came as God and yet man, how He lived a perfect life, died as the perfect sacrifice, rose again, and how all I had to do was call out to Him, admit my sins, and accept Him as Lord. I did that. And so as a three year old child, I was rescued and admitted from death to life – praise the sweet name of Jesus, My Redeemer!!!
I came to know Jesus as my Savior after hearing a sermon preached on Hell and I KNEW that I didn’t want to go there! Later I learned that the Pastor’s wife didn’t want him to preach that sermon! How I praise God that he didn’t listen to her. That was in l976—when I learned the REAL meaning of Easter. What pure joy to understand GRACE.
I was saved on Easter Sunday of 1990. I was six years old at that time. My Sunday School teacher had those flannel graph displays and she was illustrating the Easter story. Something clicked in my head that day and when she asked if anyone wanted to stay after Sunday School and accept Christ as their Saviour, I did. She asked that every Sunday. I don’t know the date, I just know the day and the year. So, spiritually, I will be 20 years old this Sunday!
I was seven at a church revival in Fruit Hill, KY. I was sitting with some of my friends during the invitation and something came over me, a feeling so strong, that had never happened, before and I knew I had to go up to the front and talk to the pastor. I stopped by my parents pew on the way and touched my dad’s hand. Afterward he said he already knew, he had had the same feeling. I can still remember the power of the Spirit that day. I have peace that comes from only knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior, but I honestly can’t say I’ve had the same feeling again. I don’t know what that says about me, but I do long to feel Jesus flood me like that again.
In college I rejected the religion of my youth. A waitress friend at work became a Christian and told me about what happened in her life. After observing her for several years, the prayers of a girl’s youth group and the Spirit drawing me, I prayed one Saturday night alone in my room. The next day I walked the aisle and made my decision public at a country East Texas church, the kind with the 100 year old cemetary next door. There was a resounding “Amen” from the whole congregation, my new family. I was baptized the next Sunday on my 24th birthday. Praise You Jesus!
I gave my heart to Jesus when I was 9 years old. Our church had a revival in March in the small town that I grew up in. The entire revival Jesus was tugging on my heart. The last night, I couldn’t take it anymore. I knew during that invitation I had to go down and ask Jesus to come into my heart. I didn’t even tell my parents or ask. I bolted down the isle sobbing. It felt like it took forever to get there. I prayed with my preacher and felt joy and relief all at the same time. I was baptized Passover Sunday and oh what a JOYOUS occassion. Sure, I have strayed many times in my life and rededicated my life at various times. But during each season of my life, I have grown and gotten closer to my Savior. Funny…I never thought I had much of a testimony since I was so young when I made my decision…but it’s something I’m so glad that I did when I was a child.
I was 8 years old (1978) in First Baptist Church of Pinellas Park Sunday evening, watching a musical about a man who lived his whole life putting Christ off “till later” “not now”. Well, he did not live as long as he thought and he missed knowing Jesus and being saved. The pastor gave the invitation and I was the only one crying knowing I wanted Jesus and I was not going to put him off another day. I did not tell my parents I just walked down the isle all by myself (and literally heard giggling as I was walking..”oh how cute”etc.) but I knew I was saved. And I was in love. Jesus and I have been together ever since. What a walk with Him. He has NEVER given up on me and He never will.
I grew up in a non-Christian home. By the age of 12 my family had suffered a lot of loss within a few years….I lost a brother, my sisters husband, and two Grandmothers in the course of two years. I was in junior high and remember thinking there has to be more to life than this. I had a very strong Christian friend and her parents hosted a youth group for junior high and senior high kids that I started to attend. I then began to attend church with a few different friends on the weekends. I gave my life to the Lord at the age of 14 and have since spent time praying without ceasing for my family and their salvation. The Lord has changed and blessed my life in so many ways. The most significant thing for me has been the family the Lord blessed me with. I married my husband 3 years ago and was blessed with 3 beautiful children from his first marriage. I look back the way God was grooming and growing me before I met Jason and there has never been anything clearer to me in my life than the way he was setting my life up so that I was ready for this exact family and their needs. I now enjoy raising our kids in the way of the Lord and take great joy in the ways he is growing and stretching and teaching us individually and as a family.
Thank you Lord for giving up your son Jesus on that wonderful cross. Today I am moved to tears at all that you sacrificed for each and every one of us. I cried at the drama at church as we relived your brutal beatings and the way that spat in your face. Thank you for loving me this much!
In Him Siestas! In HIM!
Andrea
I was in 4th grade at Big Trout Bible Camp (Pine River, MN). I can still smell the pine trees and see the chair I sat in at the back of the chapel. I wrote in my Bible the date. It changed my life and I am so grateful.
My moment of salvation is hard to define. I attended Sunday School from a young age (my parents dropped me and my brother off) but in 5th grade I visited a church with my best friend and I have been there ever since. This was the start…in 6th grade I attended a Music Camp at Ridgecrest in NC and during one of the services there, I recall standing up to indicate I wanted Christ to be my savior. However, not knowing enough about what I was doing, nothing much happened after that. I remember many times raising my hand and acknowledging that I wanted and needed Christ in my life. So it is hard to define the actual moment. However, it happened during Middle School and I was baptized when I was 14. Not much of a thrilling story but mine nonetheless and a testament to what God can do in the heart of a child who seeks him. I did not have the Christian lifestyle lived out at home, but I know now that I was destined to be His. He has claimed my life and impacted it in so many ways. After many years of struggle and sliding back and forth, I am still at that same church and now deeply involved in the ministry and leadership of that church. My family is being raised with Christ at the center since through my church I found the Christian man of my dreams. A man only God could have picked out for me.
1974…I was 29 years old, divorced with one child, a son. Several months before my salvation, I began attending a church because my son was going to private first grade. After I stopped attending, I found out the pastor & several of his congregation left the denomenational church and started a non-denominational church. I began attending, seeking council from the pastor. A short time later, he led me to the Lord in his tiny, makeshift office while I knealt in front of a folding chair. Later that year, I was baptized in the river that runs through the town, while it was raining….”sprinkled & immersed”….I think I have all bases covered 🙂 God had all the details worked out long before my salvation. Today, I feel that I know a little of how God must have felt on that Black Friday….23 years ago today, I lost my only child. The anniversary of his death has never fallen on Good Friday until today. Thank you, Beth, for your commentment to teaching God’s Word. I have learned so much through you over the past several years. I am praying that you and your family have a blessed Resurrection Sunday. Love to all…
I was nine years old and Baptized on Easter Sunday. Being nine years old I don’t remember not being a Christian. I was raised in church.
Never have I doubted my Salvation or God’s love for me or my love for Him.
My testimony is very simple: He has always been there for me and proves Himself over and over and over again.
Easter is my favorite since I was Baptized on Easter and I have a niece born on Easter Sunday.
Prayer of Salvation with my mom, on my bed putting on my “lipstick” 1975 – age 4
Presbyterian Confirmation 1983 – age 12
MANY years of walking without Him, but knowing He was there…
Baptized in the ocean one overcast Sunday afternoon in June 2002 – age 29
Getting back my dignity, my purity, being restored in my relationships, becoming debt-free, becoming w.h.o.l.e….by The Blood…PRICELESS.
I agree, this time of year is more sentimental and emotional for me too. Christmas? Of course, but Easter?…’Thank you, God’ doesn’t seem to touch my gratitude.
I was saved when I was 7…at Easter time. I remember watching King Of Kings(way back when) & realized exactly what Jesus did for me on the cross. My mom took me in her bedroom,& explained why i needed to be saved & how to pray. We got down on our knees & I asked Jesus to come & live in my heart forever. I’m thankful for parents who taught me about Jesus.
I was 12 yrs. old when I received Christ as my Savior. My parents never went to Church so I did not know a whole lot about my Lord. I walked to Church and sometimes the Pastor would pass by and stop and pick me up if he saw me walking to Church. One morning durning an invitation call I went to the altar and ask Jesus to come into my heart…I so remeber that morning when I stood up I felt a clean fresh feeling…sorta like when you have a peppermint in your mouth and you suck in the air the feeling was like that a cool flowing breeze or air flowed through my body…never since have I felt that feeling. God is so good.
I was 14 almost 15. It was my first visit to Church after being angry at God for the death of my Uncle. That night I had a tug at my heart and said a prayer and ended up surrendering then. Since then God has been there for me throughout my fight with RSD.
I was 27. It was 2004, one year before I chose to leave graduate school. I was beginning (I think) to realize that I was out of my depth. It was late spring or early summer, and I was falling to pieces. I knew a lot about Christ, and I would have told you I was a Christian. I could intellectually accept the need for a Savior, because things had happened enough to convince me that God is real. But I wanted him on my terms, and I did that for years. This was the time I realized what a mess I make of my life when I’m trying to be in control. This was when I realized that Lord wasn’t an honorific — it’s a description. I stood next to a lake and admitted to myself, to God, and to my husband, that I can’t do this myself. And his peace came to me. And I started a journey of getting to know Christ, of building a relationship with him that I had never done before.
Stacy,45
Mims, FL
I was raised without any religion of any kind. At 24, I married, still without a spiritual connection, but I always knew that there was something missing. When I was about 35, a good friend advised me to attend a church service. It was an emotionally difficult time in my life. My dad had passed, and I had no understanding of what that meant. Also, there were other difficulties within my marriage. I stepped into IRCUMC and was met by a distinguished pastor in a white robe. He came over, grabbed my trembling hands and told me that he wanted to pray with me. At that moment, I felt the love and peace of God calm my spirit–through this minister’s words. I continued to attend worship there, and I scheduled an appointment to speak with this pastor. I remember him drawing a picture of the cross as a bridge between me and God. I gave my heart to Jesus and was saved that day in his office–and later Baptized by a friend in his church. It is hard to believe that I’ve only been a member of the family of God for the past 10 of my 45 years. I was lost, and I’m thankful to have been found!
I was a little girl the age of 8 or 9. As I talked with a friend on the playground at school I began to sense the Holy Spirit calling me. Of course at that age I didn’t realize it was the H.S. Anyway, that week my church had revival. At the time of invitation I truly experienced irrisitable grace. There was no doubt the Holy Spirit was calling me and no doubt that I would walk the aisle in obedience. I am so forever grateful that He drew that little girl to Him and came to reside in her heart. Thank Jesus…for I am nothing without You!
This is my first comment and it’s about my salvation how awesome!
I was saved when i was five! I told my mom i wanted to accept Jesus into my heart so i prayed and then she asked me some questions.(can i tell you that i thought God was the choir director, i believe it was his booming voice :))
but oh did i love Jesus! I wanted nothing more than to be a missionary all my childhood. Now I am 21 and still swept off my feet by God. Ican’t believe how priviledged i am to be able to sit in the presence of The Almighty God and pour out my heart to Him. I want to be obedient to Him these days no matter how hard it is, because Christ is the best thing to happen to me. As i study the word i find myself hungry for more…what a blessed girl i am! I love God down to my core and no matter where i’ve been in life the Holy Spirit calls me back. Right now I am a young navy wife, not a missionary but i LOVE where God led me. I enjoyed reading everyone elses stories! Have a nice Easter!
laura
I grew up not attending church, but was a good kid – good grades, followed the rules and didn’t party or sleep around. My parents divorced when I was 16 – I had caught my mom having an affair. My freshman year of college I found myself partying every weekend – became empty and depressed. I attempted suicide that summer at the lowest of lows thinking that no one needed me anymore, that my life really had no purpose and that I was a complete loser. My sophomore year I started attending a weekly meeting on campus where the gospel was presented – I prayed each time and each time I “felt” nothing. However, at home I was at a Christmas Eve service where the pastor gave a very clear gospel presentation and in my heart I knew that night I was saved. It wasn’t until I started getting actively involved with Campus Crusade for Christ my junior year that I truly began to see growth in my life. I am SO AMAZED at what God has done in my life- what he has protected me from – and how he continues to be with me through all the ups and downs.
I was 9 when I accepted Jesus as my Saviour. It was after a Sunday night praise service at my small church back in the 1970’s. People voluntarily took turns standing where they were in the pews and gave praise or testimony. There was singing and praise. When we got home that night I told my Mom that I wanted that too and she led me praying to invite Jesus into my life as my Lord and Saviour. I had years of living for myself in my early 20’s and boy it wasn’t worth it. God’s way is best. My testimony is God is faithful! Thank you Jesus.
I believe I accepted Christ when I was young, but didn’t really make it MY decision until I went to Passion in college. During one of the large group sessions, God just completely overwhelmed me and I vividly remember dedicating my life to Christ and my relationship with Him really becoming a choice of mine. That one moment changed my life!
I came to accept the Lord as my savior, when I was in the middle of my worst nightmare. My husband at the time had announced to me that if I went back to school he would divorce me. I thought it was a bluff. I did not know what was going on behind my back or really in front of my eyes. He went on to marry a family member and I went on to a wonderful new life as a teacher. God wanted my life to have purpose and he led me into teaching and he never left my side during the divorce and the recovery. Praise his wonderful arms that held me in my worst times. When I look back, he works all things for good. He knew what I needed and he delivered on his promise to be with me. He also sent a wonderful christian man who I have been married to 24 years. Praise God for your writing skills Beth and your faith. They have enriched my life. Now, I have to go-Sunday we board the train to Houston to see the grandkids and kids that live in Pearland,Tx. Thanks again for your Bible Studies, they have helped my walk with the Lord and kept me in the word. I enjoyed the family sharing in your new book. It is fun to see your blogs with your grandchildren. Mine are 5 and 3 and I can’t wait to see them.
Well -when I gave my testimony to my CR group -it was 16 pages long -but I will work hard to condense it.
When I was 12, I was kicked out of my confirmation class for having too many questions. I walked from the church then, saying I refused to be a hypocrate in God’s house. I spent the next 19 years aimlessly agnostic, sometimes athiestic, living life the world’s way -with a whole lot of sin, pain and hurt thrown in. Then, the rug was pulled out from under me -and a major depressive episode brought on by stress caused me to suffer insomnia for 40 nights, lose 26 pounds in 6 weeks, and forget how to read. While working on healing, my therapist said that I needed friends and suggested that I go to church. I said, “I can’t go to church, I am not a Christian.” and she leaned over and said, “honey, you do not need to be a Christian to go to church.” Well, that thought stuck with me, and I eventually wandered in to my local mega-church, on a Wednesday night (figuring that was safer than a Sunday -Ha!) and found 1,200 people singing the song “Beautiful One” and when they got to the part, “My soul my soul must sing,” I knew then what was wrong with me. This lead to a time of seeking, a time in a class called Alpha, and eventually, a time where I began to read the bible for myself for the first time… and in the process, I met Jesus… and on Feb 27, 2003, at the age of 31, I was baptized -and my whole world changed. And, to quote Sanctus Real -And I don’t have to carry The weight of who I’ve been Cause I’m forgiven….I’m a treasure in the arms of Christ.”
I always knew Jesus thanks to my sweet Grandmother. But JEsus became personal to me at 11. I was seriously ill and we weren’t sure if I would make it. I was scared. When I was left alone, I began to pray and tell God my heart and I began to feel peace and somewhere I heard a gentle whisper I am here. YOu don’t have to be scared. It was then I prayed to accept Him into my heart and asked Him to be personal to me. It has been personal ever since. I have my seasons and God walks with me even when I walk away. He waits. There are times He is silent, but HE is with me. When I walk through the fire, I know He is refining me and making me beautiful. I have come to understand especially in the last year, I am a work in progress. Thank goodness my sweet Jesus loves me so much. He sacrificed HIs life for me. Thank you seems so little to say and yet I know my journey with Him would not be complete if He didn’t sacrifice his life. This past year my journey was very personal and I felt the need to recommit and let me tell you God has been taking me on a ride ever since. What an adventure. My sweet mama beth and your sweet girls and sweet siestas, I love you all. You are like the sisters i never had and on this day may we pray for each other and get personal with our sweet JEsus.
love,
Tammy S
It was spring time. I don’t remember my exact age. I was somewhere between 10-12. I still remember hearing God speak to my heart, in the church service through our pastor’s Sunday morning message, asking Him in, and the afternoon that followed. My heart felt physically different. I still feel a physical difference when I learn a lesson or He heals a hurt spot. :).
We had a very active youth group that did great teaching and social outreach. This probably helped preparemy heart. Faith comes by hearing. 🙂
Praise Him for his goodness and mercy and LOVE! 🙂
Paula
Brownwood, Tx
Beth, I had the honor of being led to the Lord by my dear sweet mama at the age of 5. My dad is a pastor, and had preached a message that morning that I actually sat and listened to, even at such a young age. He talked about hell, and how one could come to a saving knowledge of Christ. I went home, and asked my mom to show me how to be saved, and there on our living room floor we knelt, and I received Him as my personal Saviour.
I was 11 years old when I asked Jesus into my heart. My grandmother had taken me to church for years…from the time I was probably 4 or 5 because my Mom was out of church and my Dad was unsaved. Every Sunday I felt a conviction during the invitation at church. After church when I would go home to my grandmother’s, I kept thinking that I needed to “do something” but I felt I needed to act better first. Finally, one Sunday night at home I was watching a church service on TV and I asked Jesus to save me. I remember being so excited and walked the aisle the next Sunday and was baptized soon after that. I was active in church but I really did not grow much until a few years ago. God never gave up drawing me closer and giving me a stronger desire to seek after Him.
I think I was four or five. It was bedtime and mom came in to pray with us. I don’t remember much except that it was dark and she prayed with me and I received Christ. It’s a very warm, comforting memory, even if it is vague. I was baptized at fourteen by my dad…another great memory. Sometimes I wish I had a more distinct memory of salvation, or a more desperate life to be rescued from, but God chose this for me, and I praise him that I have nothing to regret about my life before Him
Rebekah
Yuma, AZ 29
married
It was just about this time of year, 25 years ago, that a work colleague came pounding on my door at 5 a.m. Easter morning and hauled me out of bed to go a huge Easter sunrise service at Arlington Cemetery outside of Washington, DC. At the time, I was an atheist, so this was a cultural experience. I worked for Congress and lived something of a double life, with a pretty robust set of addictions occupying the time I was not writing speeches for a congressman: alcohol, drugs, bulimia, strange men in strange places, any credit card I could get my hands on…I was a rather polished mess, if you can imagine.
That spring and into the summer, God was after me like the Hound of Heaven. He ran me into an old high school friend at a midnight movie who had actually committed her life to Christ a year earlier. (I thought she was completely brainwashed, but we stayed in touch.) Once, when I was at a movie and thoroughly high on something, He brought to my mind the totality of John 3:16. Understand that I did not know this Bible verse, had never learned it, maybe never consciously heard it (having grown up where no one referenced the Bible, I promise you!) It troubled me greatly that the drugs would do this to me! But those words were now in my mind…and they haunted me.
He covered me as I got involved with a very controlling “white collar” cult group that utterly took over my life. And somehow, well, God’s How, in that crazed jumble of bourbon and arguing with Christian friends (all 3 of them), and “Self Mastery” meetings with the cult and lines of cocaine in the midst of a meeting of this cult group on the night of August 3, 1985, it suddenly hit me that God might actually be REAL and that I may actually have been very arrogant to have doubted that.
I called one of these Christians I knew to tell him about this revelation, and he helped me to understand that, indeed, I was right!! God did exist and I was arrogant–thoroughly deceived by sin and self. And so it was, that steamy hot night, on the phone at 1:00 in the morning, that I committed my heart and my life to Jesus, Himself.
At the risk of writing too much, but to the GLORY of the LORD, He delivered me from each of those addictions, those Pits, as Sister Beth would say; and I will have walked and stumbled and danced with him for 25 years this coming August. Praise Be to God!!!
My parents did not attend church when I was a child. My parents were loving, but my dad was not a believer. The times that I did attend church, I rode to church in a local church’s van that picked up children in my neighborhood. As a teenager, I made several poor decisions and ended up in a very abusive relationship. After two years, I escaped from that relationship, but I left with emotional scars and a very poor self-image. At the lowest point in my life, I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ on May 22, 1995. I was 24 years old and a complete mess! My dad had accepted Christ as his Savior several months earlier, my mom rededicated her life, my sister and I accepted Christ as our Savior one day apart, and sixteen months later, my husband accepted Christ. For many years after becoming a believer, I allowed Satan to keep me in bondage over my past sins, but I am finally “breaking free” thanks to one awesome lady that has allowed God to use her in a mighty way – a self-proclaimed “former pit dweller” and my favorite “Siesta Mama”. What an awesome God we serve! Thank you, Jesus!
I received Christ as my Savior during my freshman year of college. A staff woman with Campus Crusade for Christ explained grace in a way that it finally clicked. I had always wanted to be a Christian, but never really knew how. What a relief it was to know I was saved!!
For so long I have searched for a peace in my life, wanting happiness and joy and comfort in the good days and the bad, but I never chose to pick the one piece of the puzzle that was missing from my life until November 25, 2009! Since that day, I have found all of those things in more ways than I could ever imagine! Before I chose the missing piece, I was scared that it would mess up the puzzle that I had planned! I lived a very selfish life only looking out for myself. I tried many different pieces to fit into my puzzle, but none of them fit and caused my puzzle to fall apart! My life revolved around protecting myself and trying to figure out how I was going to make myself happy, never looking at the whole situation and how I was actually hurting myself and everyone around me! I would like to say that I regret the things I have done in my life and the places I have gone and the paths i have taken but in reality, I don’t! I would like to say i wish I hadn’t lived the life I have lived and all the things I have gone through, but that’s not true! I can now rejoice in the pain and obstacles I have faced and just continue to pray that god would one day use my life to testify to someone who might be in the same place I was on that wed night searching for the piece of puzzle that is missing in their life! When i cried out on that wed night and told him to take my life anyway he wanted and I would follow him in every way, my life was changed dramatically! I find joy in the smallest things; things I had never seen before! It goes back to the puzzle! I had this puzzle figured out so these other little pieces didn’t have a place, but in the big picture, they all fit in with the big piece that was missing!! I have always hated reading the bible, and now I find it amazing to read how god is willing to forgive and wipe my body clean as snow and anyone who is willing to take ALL of him and not just a little bitty piece! I know I will still have questions as i go through the rest of my journey, but I am so grateful to have the opportunity to do it with a man whom I am so in love with! The piece of puzzle that was missing in my life completed my puzzle and it is a beautiful piece of work made from many broken puzzles!! I can’t wait to meet the artist!! And the confidence i have knowing I will one day get to meet him, is priceless!!
It was in my living room, during the late 60s, watching a Billy Graham crusade. Billy extended the invitation, I went to my knees and asked Jesus into my heart as my Savior.
I was 8 or 9…but I can still picture everything as it was. I love thinking of that moment!
Hi Beth,
Thanks for your post today. Makes me happy you’re thinking of us today, especially today. Funny I was just reflecting a little earlier tonight about when life really changed for me; when my old life passed away and my life new life in Christ began. Can’t quite remember if it was ’86 or ’87. I was 12 or 13 and was baptized on Easter. Oh Beth how I thank God that he softened my heart at such an early age to believe and accept Christ as my Saviour. He has held me fast in His arms. He has kept me strengthened within through all these years, amidst life changes He has been a center. I often ask “why? why Lord am I so blessed to have known you so early?” and I say to Him “thank you!”.
God bless you and your family this Easter.
Love, Lisa V., Washington, NJ
It was June 1971. I was standing on a boat in the middle of the Mississippi River. My friend wanted to go to a seminar on spiritual growth at Wheaton College in Oakbrook, IL. The seminar was a week long and was over 400 miles away from home. Sandi had to get somene to come along or her mother would not allow her to make the trip. I remember looking out across the water as the sun was setting when Sandi said, “I have asked all of my friends at work and no one wants to go. No one has time for God.” I remember saying, “God I’ve got time for You if you can use me. Will You forgive me and come into my heart?” Guess what? He did! I silently prayed the prayer and right afterwards my friend said, “Why don’t you come with me? I’ll go with you and ask your parents. It worked out and we headed to Wheaton College for the week. That was nearly 40 years ago. Christ came into my heart and my life was forever changed. It seems like yesterday. Praise You Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer!
I gave my life to Jesus when I was at camp in jr. high. I attended that camp from 5th grade through college attending summer camp and winter conferences. After high school I spent 6 years on staff. My husband grew up going to the same camp (though we were never there at the same time) and gave his life to the Lord there. We met when I was on staff and he was working at his church with youth – bringing them up during the summer for camp. My last 2 years on staff he worked there as well (in there lies the dating/engagement story). He is now a pastor and we continue to do ministry together. This summer we are returning to our childhood camp as family camp speakers. We cannot wait to bring our 3 kids there. Needless to say, we love and support camping ministries!
My salvation story is one of a commitment as a child in a Christian family and then ownership of my own faith as a young adult. I have had major leaps of trust and surrender in my 30s following hitting the wall in life and in my marriage. He has been faithful every step of the way.
I wanted to share that we were reading in John today. It was just my kids and I, we read from the time with Mary annointing His feet to the crucifixion. We were all overwhelmed by grief. We worshipped and wept and then my oldest son said, “I really feel like Jesus doesn’t want us to focus on the pain Jesus suffered. He wants us to focus on the love Jesus felt.” It was amazing how the tenor changed in the room. Profound God. You astound me over and over!
Bless your Easter weekend ladies!
Love,
Jina