I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
There are so many people who need to know the Lord. As we tell them about our testimony, many scoff and mock us. Nevertheless, we are called to testify and then just trust God to help the seed to grow. We may only have a small part in someone’s hearing the Word of God and believing, but we need to play our part, no matter how small we think it is.
Here is an article from Dr. Denison today about Christianity being on trial. It truly is. I encourage you to watch the accompanying videos that elaborate on the subject, especially the one about the Equality Act, a direct attack on Christianity. Don’t be surprised when the world is turning against God and all that He stands for. Prophecy said that these days would come.
This verse was just what I needed to read this morning. It opened a door for me that I thought that I had closed long ago. You see, I don’t tell this to many people, but I grew up in an upper middle class home where everything physical that I needed and much that I wanted was provided, but I didn’t really feel loved. My mom told me frequently how ugly I was and even told me to plan to go to college and get a good job because no one would want to marry ugly me. I recall going to the bathroom where I could be alone and softly singing to myself the song that I had learned by going to church with my neighbor, “Jesus Loves Me.” I didn’t really know what that meant, but it soothed my aching young heart. Anyway, I studied my constantly. I didn’t date in high school at all because I was focused on studying. I had a high GPA in high school, got a scholarship and went to college where I studied to be a teacher. When I met my future husband the summer before my senior year, he kept telling me how beautiful I was and I knew, from experience with my mom, that he had to be lying. Thus, later, when he said that he loved me, I didn’t believe him. Not really. Then, in February of 1973, a neighbor told me about Jesus and His love for me. I read the book of John and discovered that love for myself. It was the forever kind of love that I had craved my entire life. I eagerly accepted Jesus into my heart and my life. For the first time in my life, I felt love and it was such a different feeling. I tried to explain it to my mom and dad, but they just dismissed my testimony. I explained it to my fiancé and he told me to get rid of this Jesus thing or he was walking away. Well, I told him that Jesus died for me and since he had not ever done anything so bold and loving for me, I chose Jesus. When Harry understood that I meant it, he started going to church with me and he, too, accepted Jesus into his heart. Two months later, we were married. I finally knew what love was because I had met the Man who is love. I knew God’s love for me, the kind that lasts forever. My new pastor soothed my old wounds and told me that God made me just the way He wanted me to be and God doesn’t make “junk.” Thus armed with new confidence, I have gone through over forty years of life and almost forty eight years of marriage, knowing in my heart, in the deepest part of me, that I am loved. When I was alone on base after base with the military, I knew that God loved me. Through all of the trials in my life, I have held on to that truth: Jesus loves me! He always has accepted me just as I am and He loves me, with all of my flaws and failings, He loves me. I am enjoying a life filled with God’s love. Does that mean that everything has been wonderful during my entire life? Of course not! God doesn’t promise that all will work out just as we want or expect. He does promise His forever love, and that is enough for me. I hope that is enough for you, too. If you don’t believe me and my testimony, I pray that you will believe God’s Word. It’s His gift of love to each of us, so that we can learn and hold on to His precious promises. God bless each of you with a special portion of God’s love today. No matter what happens today, you and God are going through it together, and His love will be there for you…always!
Everyone has a story to tell about his/her life. Christians have what is called a testimony. How has God changed your life? How is He still acting in your life daily? How are you then taking what God has done for you and using it to tell others about Him and His great love, grace, mercy and power?
I have shared my testimony about salvation several times here on WordPress. Today, I just want to share about how good and gracious God is. He saved my life when I had a stroke. That, in itself, was no small feat since I live in the middle of nowhere (about an hour from a full-service hospital), but I had my stroke at the school where I worked and the ambulance got me to the hospital in less than half an hour. I received the clot-busting shot and recovered completely. I fully believe that God was with me throughout the ordeal. I was losing my ability to speak because of the stroke but on the way to the hospital, I was praying in my prayer language. God heard me and touched me, giving me the medical care that I needed in time for my brain to be touched and healed.
God has saved me numerous times when I have fallen and gotten hurt. I broke my elbow twice by falling, I hurt my knee that I had replaced in another fall. So many bumps and bruises! But they were just to show me God’s care for me because it all could have been so much worse! Yesterday, I fell again, this time as I was leaving our bathroom. My foot twisted and down I went, flat on my back. My back aches, my leg aches and my foot is twice its normal size. But nothing seems to be broken, so it could have been so much worse. God is always gracious to me as I bumble around through life. He takes care of me when I am flat on the ground, looking up and having no idea how I’m going to be able to get up off that ground.
Now, make an analogy of that for the spiritual life. I have been knocked down more times than I can count, by life’s circumstances. As people say, life just happens. Disappointment comes along and the enemy whispers in my ear that God doesn’t really love me. Then, God comes along and comforts me and works things out better than I thought possible. God loves me and doesn’t want me to stay down. His desire is that I be lifted up, so that is what He does. Sometimes, it takes a lot of effort on my part because my faith is low. But, just as I did yesterday, I strain and I reach and then I am up again. In fact, while on I was on the floor yesterday, with my husband struggling to get me up again, I prayed that God would give me strength and the wisdom to know how to get up again. In my Christian life, I reach for God and He reaches for me, and together we get me up out of my despair and looking up again, to the author of my salvation. That is part of my testimony, too, and I bet that it’s part of yours, too. God is always there, waiting to pick me up, brush me off and tell me that He is in control and everything will be okay.
I hope that you will mediate on your testimony today. Think about all that God has done for you. First, He saved you. Now, He is saving you. And in the end, when this life is over, He will save you. Blessings, my friends, for establishing a good relationship with the God who is eternal love, life and grace. Go out and tell your testimony! Someone needs to hear it and be blessed by it. I am blessed to be a blessing. How about you?
What are we teaching the next generation? Are we teaching them love, acceptance of all and that God loves everyone equally? Are we telling them the testimony of how we came to know the Lord? That is our goal in life and it is a worthy one. Let’s all work on passing the baton, for one day, we shall not be here on earth. What legacy do you want to leave behind? Think about it and have a blessed day!
www.bible.com/1171/1jn.4.16.mev
www.bible.com/1171/psa.78.4.mev
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