For
we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony...
“I will praise the Lord for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made. My soul shall make her
boast in the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. For the Lord my God is a Sun and a
Shield. He will give grace and
glory. No good thing will He withhold
from those who walk uprightly before Him.
O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed will you be if you trust
in Him. Marvelous are His works, and
that my soul knows very well. ”
“Officially,”
I was saved as a child. But the truth is
I was not really saved until I recommitted my life to Jesus Christ on Easter
Sunday, 1998. There’s a danger in
believing that we are saved and believing we are under God’s protective
umbrella if we have not truly accepted Christ into our hearts and allow Him to
be Lord and Savior. Being saved and
living saved are two different things.
Our God is so good that He invites us all to accept Jesus Christ into
our hearts. This is accepting Jesus as “Savior.” But at the same time, He expects us to give
Him total reign of our lives. And when
we do this, we accept Him as “Lord.” Once
we accept Jesus in this way, the Holy Spirit dwells within us, and those things
that we used to do we desire to do no more. And if we do, He is able to keep us from
doing them.
When I finally came to know this, through the
goodness of the Lord, it was not of my own doing, (it is the Lord’s goodness
that brings us to repentance) I was 35 years old. I learned that I was not
saved and was going to hell just like so many other people. I believed that because
I was a good person, because I only had an occasional drink, because I did not
party all the time, because I did not steal, because I did not curse, and
basically because I treated people like I wanted to be treated, I would be
going to heaven. That is what I believed until I learned otherwise. I learned that even though I was good, I
could still go to hell. I learned that
good people sometimes go to hell. I
learned that whether or not we go to heaven or hell is a choice. Our choice. And we
must make that decision. But we must
choose Christ.
Like I said, I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and
Savior on Easter Sunday, 1998 and have been living my life with Him and abiding
in God, ever since. I have never been
happier nor more at rest in my soul than I am now. Sure I get sad, I get
depressed sometimes, I even go through some rough times. Sometimes I get angry
too. I experience all the emotions, like Jesus did. But my God is able to keep me. All I have to do is cast my cares upon Him,
because He cares about me. He knows my need whatever it may be and has already
met it. I am made whole because of Him.
God has truly been so good to me, even before I knew
who He was and is, He was good to me. He was at work
in my life, keeping me from dangers, seen and unseen. He delivered two of my
children from death at their births. Yes, I have three miracles, and two of
them would not have been here if it had not been for the grace of God.
He has delivered me from so many things. He healed me
from my cigarette addiction (I was completely freed from 20 years of addiction
with absolutely no side effects). He cured me of my illnesses. He conquered my fears. He renewed my marriage when we thought it was
over (23+years and going strong, Hallelujah!). Bless the Lord! I could
not even begin to count the many things God has done for me and continues to
do.
God is always doing great things. In the last few years I have been witness to
how God has grown us up in just a short period.
First financially. My husband and I newly saved, 3+ years and
recently moving from
When I stop to think about the goodness of the Lord,
my very soul cries out Hallelujah! In
Him I live and move and have my being! He is better to me than I am to myself
or anybody could ever be and I can't live without Him. Nor would I want to. Everyday that I wake up is a new testimony
for my God. And the truth is He doesn’t have to do what He does, but He does it
anyway, in spite of me. God is just that
good!
To be saved, we must accept Jesus as our Lord and
live like He is our Lord, every day that He gives us. Not just when we feel like it, not just in
some ways, not on some points. In
everything. In all things. The Bible says in all our ways we must
acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths.
He will be Lord and is Lord in my life.
I
count it both a privilege and an honor to be called a child of God. For it is He who has called me out of
darkness into His marvelous light! And
all glory goes to Him!
If
you want to know Him like I do, all you have to do is give Him your life. Let Him save you. He wants to.