To All Whom God puts in my path:
When we as humans find a good restaurant, watch a good movie, or find a product that we love, our inclination is to want to share it with our friends and family. We want to tell them all about it... and how they should try it, or how well it has worked for us! Well...I was thinking about this the other day, and I feel it’s time that I don’t keep what I’ve experienced to myself anymore! Over the last 12 years I’ve experienced Jesus and God in a way that I never knew him growing up, and I have to share with you the Jesus that has found me and share with you my story!
I’ve been told by many people, “No one can argue about what has happened in your life and what you’ve experienced”. So, here is the story of what has happened in my life...
When I was younger, and into the beginning of my marriage, the Jesus that I knew was a Savior that had come to die on the cross for our sins and rose again, so that I could go to heaven. I didn’t really know much more than that. I believed that Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit were separated from me. They were up in heaven... and I was here on Earth, and when I died I would go to heaven. So, I intellectually believed, but I did not KNOW Him and trust Him with my whole life. I knew that I could pray to Him, and I did, but mostly only when I needed something or when something bad had happened. He was not a part of my everyday life.
After my husband and I got married(I was 21) the Lord began to draw me towards a deeper understanding of who He is, and how much He loves me. He began to show me that He wanted to have an intimate relationship with me and be involved in my everyday life. He wanted me to see that I would find in Him, a Savior, that would love me in a perfect way that no human is capable of.
Part of this process became noticeable to me when I was pregnant with my first child within the first year of our marriage. Through a series of circumstances God began to show me that He was in control. I didn’t understand all that He was doing at the time, but looking back I have seen that God was getting my attention, and in his love for me, He was helping me to release my control over to Him.
Towards the end of my pregnancy I found myself in a whirlwind with absolutely no control over my circumstances. I began hemorrhaging at 32wks of pregnancy, and put in a hospital bed for 2 weeks not sure of what was going to happen. At the same time our lease was up and my husband and I had to move out of our apartment all while I was in the hospital. At this point in my life I had subconsciously developed a self-defense mechanism to believe that I had to be in control in order to protect myself. As I was confined to a hospital bed I was forced to let a group of men(my husband’s friends) go into my apt. and pack up all my personal belongings and move them. This was extremely hard for me. I wanted to have control and God was not letting me. From there I went into an emergency C-section, and had to be put to sleep(with my husband not even being allowed to be in the room) I woke up from the surgery and found out that as a result of the premature birth, my first baby(who was a son, 3lbs 14oz) wasn’t breathing properly and had to be put into the IICU. My husband and I couldn’t hold him for 2 weeks. After the birth, I also experienced a lot of physical pain from the C-section and some other complications once I was at home.
As I was back at home without my baby, I didn’t think any of this was ever going to end. There were days I didn’t want to get out of bed and wished that God would just take me so I didn’t have to feel the pain (physical and emotional) anymore. The only thing at that time that kept me going was that I now had a child that needed me. I would pray a lot, asking God to please heal my physical pain and heal my baby so he could come home and be with us. It seemed all to be to no avail. I continued to suffer and go to the hospital(an hour away from our home) day after day for 6 weeks to be with our new son. I eventually got to hold him, but had to watch his little lips turn purple when trying to feed him and his body go limp when he would stop breathing. This was very scary for me. Again, I had no control, and didn’t know what the outcome would be. Would my son not make it? Would something tragic happen and he die? I found myself getting really angry with God because I didn’t see Him fixing my problems.
Then, God spoke to me one day through a radio message on my way to the hospital to see Jack. The man on the radio was preaching about how God is the Creator and we are His creation. He said “Who are we to question the Creator and ask why?” During his message I was convicted about my anger toward God, and about yelling at Him and saying “Why! Why are you doing this to me! Why aren’t you helping me!!!” I asked God to forgive me right there in the car and that I was sorry for not trusting Him and His plan and His timing. Eventually, after that, things did get better. Our baby came home a month and a half after his birth, and I began to heal both emotionally and physically.
Through the years God has continued to show me more and more of who He is. As God used the Holy Spirit to give me understanding... I began to learn more and more through church, our pastors, radio messages, and the bible. The Spirit led me to seek after Him more and more. I began to get glimpses of how huge his love for me really is! God also opened my eyes to understanding on a deeper level what Jesus did on the cross. How Jesus brought reconciliation between us and God so that we had a way to commune with the Everlasting God! We needed a bridge. God is a God of relationship. He loves relationship with his children.
I had to really understand the “bad news” before I could understand the “Good News”. The “bad news” is- that I am a sinner, I was born a sinner.
Psalm 51:1 says... “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”. The Bible also says that “the wages of sin is death”, so without Christ to save me I would surely perish in hell for all eternity. That is what I deserve.
The “Good News” is- that God loves us so much... and so He sent Jesus to save us from the punishment our sins deserve. I learned that Jesus left His holy and divine place seated next to God to come to earth... and give up His rights...to suffer the punishment we deserve. Jesus never sinned... I came to realize that He basically said, “I’ll take the punishment for her sins, even though I’ve never sinned, so that she doesn’t have to suffer for her sins. I’ll bear the wrath she deserves for her sins.”
Jesus bore God’s wrath for the sins of the human race when he died on the cross and suffered complete separation from His Father for a time.
God gave me the faith to believe this “Bad News” and “Good News” and all that He was teaching me. I then came to a point where I told Jesus that I surrender my life to Him and give it back to Him. ( The bible says in the New Living Translation :
“If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Matthew 16:25)
I want Jesus to be in control of my life...after all, it never belonged to me. I was born again!
The bible explains more about this...Here are several scriptures:
( John 1:13
“They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”)
(John 3:3...Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”)
(I Peter 1... All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.
They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.)
When you are reborn the Bible also says “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17”
This has happened to me! There is something different about me...I’m not the same person I used to be. The Holy Spirit works in me continuing to transform me into the image of Christ and cleanse me as He does for all those who are His children.
I remember a day several years ago when I was sitting at the dinner table at my parents house and my Dad said to me from across the table, “ You look different...you don’t look like the same person.” My Dad didn’t know anything about what the Spirit was doing in my life, and at that time, I wasn’t sure what he meant either. Now, I understand that I looked like a different person to my Dad because I was becoming a different person! Christ was making me into a new person! That is the power of Christ living inside of someone!!!!!!
With all that said...I love my new life and my new adventure with Christ! I now have a relationship with a Jesus that is ALIVE and active! I am not without trials in my life, but I now know that He is always with me to help me through them and that He is working all things together for my good as His child. His Spirit lives inside of me! He has created an intimacy with me and He leads my way.
It has brought me great comfort to know and experience that even in my worst sinful moments, Jesus loves me unconditionally in a way that no one ever will, and He will never reject me! My name is written in the Book of Life and if I were to die after writing this, I know the Jesus that I will meet... and where I will stay for eternity.
I share this with you all because I am filled with the love of Christ for you, and I want you to know that what matters the most is what you cannot see in the spiritual realm. This is real. Jesus is real. I have experienced this for myself! And the truth will always be the truth. When we die our bodies will go into the ground and return to the dust from which we were created and our soul will go to heaven or hell for all eternity. There will be no more chances. I don’t know where you are at, but I have to tell you about this and let God do the rest. There is no greater high or fulfillment than to KNOW Jesus and have an intimate relationship with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is what the bible tells us:
Matthew 7:13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
Matthew 7:21-23
New Living Translation (NLT)
True Disciples
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
This does not mean that we get to heaven by doing good works. No one receives salvation by doing works...when we see our sin, repent, and believe and accept the gift of salvation, our true response will be to follow God’s ways. The only way to eternal life is through Jesus Christ.
God’s Word also says:
John 1:12
New Living Translation (NLT)
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
John 14:6
New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
John 3:16
New International Version (NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
If we believe that we are a sinner, and cannot earn eternal life...agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God... That He died on the cross for us... repent and ask Him to forgive us for our sins, we can ask Him to come live in our hearts through the Holy Spirit and receive eternal salvation. You will be adopted into the kingdom of God. Your new life will begin. No one can take your salvation from you.
Now at age 34, over a 12 year period of my life, Christ has brought me to a place where I am now able to live in a freedom that I thought I’d never have. He took a Lily that was closed up, unable to open her pedals and blossom, and brought life to her so that today she is able to let her pedals down and allow the world to see the beauty the Lord created.
He took a baby bird that had grown into adulthood, never having learned how to fly,...with wounded wings, a crushed spirit, emotional captivity, many fears, and an identity problem...and brought healing, value, and freedom. That bird has been taking attempts at flying along the way and is finally able to take flight... just beginning to feel what it’s like to soar on wings like eagles, while the LORD holds up her wings.
There is so much more to my journey this far with Christ, but I would have to write a book to share it all.
Please know that I write and share this out of Christ’s love for you and my hope that you will experience and know what God has graciously shared with me! I hope and pray that I will spend eternity with you when we shed our bodies!
God has prepared a place for us...we are only on this earth for a short time. I hope to see you there too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the Tender Love of Christ...
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