You Are Invited…

This week’s story has highlighted the amazing salvation of God in the midst of loss and hardship.  If you missed out on part one, go to this link now:  Given the Time.  

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect….”  I Peter 3:15

As an evangelist my favorite thing to do in this world is to share the love of Christ with others. As I promised earlier, if you have never invited Jesus into your life, that you would have that opportunity. Please say this prayer and you too can become a part of God’s family just as I did when I was eleven. You can pray out loud, or silently, God will hear you either way.

Dear Lord Jesus,

I do believe You are the Son of God and that You died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. Please come into my life, forgive my sin and make me a member of Your family. I now turn from going my own way. I want You to be the center of my life. Thank You for Your gift of eternal life and for your Holy Spirit, who has now come to live in me. I ask this in Your name. Amen

If you have prayed this prayer with me, let me be the second one to welcome you to the family of God because He is the first, and may you experience God through His Son Jesus from this day forward. May I suggest that you tell someone that you invited Jesus into your life. This is critical because as a new member of God’s family you will benefit greatly from the love and support from other Christians. It is very important to find a church where Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, and they are teaching good sound biblical doctrine. Ask a family member or friend to help you out in this important matter.

Thank you for allowing me to share my story and my faith in Jesus Christ with you this past week.

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Spiritual Lessons

This week’s real life story has been a testimony of God’s faithfulness in the midst of hard trials.   If you missed part one, be sure to go to this link before reading any further:  Given the Time.

“…Teach [God’s law] to your children and to their children and to their children after them.”  Deuteronomy 4:9

It is important for parents to teach their children about Jesus, a lesson I was eager to teach my own son.  I wanted him also to have a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus. Praise God he accepted Jesus at around the age of ten. He was so very happy and needless to say we were to. By the time he accepted Jesus the church service had changed from when I was young. The importance of young people understanding God’s word received a greater focus. With updated methods and materials for presenting and teaching the gospel, our son was fortunate to attend Sunday school and worship services that were designed for the understanding of young people. It was so important that when we moved, and we moved often, that we found a church home where Christ was the Head of the Church and a sound biblical doctrine was being taught. God has truly blessed our family with always finding a good church home.

As we sent our son off to Michigan State, we told him, you have been raised with our morals and values. Remember to exercise Christian judgment in everything you do. We expect you to be a spiritual productive member of society. Our counsel included the importance of him continuing his personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus. We admonished him to remember the Christian foundation his life was built upon and to speak with Jesus everyday not just when he was in need. We encouraged him to remember that throughout life he will always need Him. 

The spiritual lessons we imparted to our son remind me of my grandparents. Going to church was a must in my household, even if my grandparents didn’t go the children did. My grandparents wanted us to have a foundation built on knowing Jesus Christ. I will be forever grateful to them both for that. 

See you tomorrow for the conclusion of this story.

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Physical and Spiritual Healing

 In this week’s story we watch a little girl go from the African-American church pew to her challenging teen years and on in to adulthood.  A journey of a real woman facing real life.  A journey of developing in to the woman God created her to be.  If you missed part one, be sure and visit this link first:  Given the Time.

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”  I Peter 2:24

The healing of my son was a real turning point in my life. Jesus was becoming more real to me. I was attending church regularly, not just when it was just convenient for me. I was now making time for prayer, Bible study and going to church more regularly. Prayer for me is just talking to Jesus, and Bible study is not a hard dull thing to do, it is an exciting time to get to know the One who loves you.

Through attending Bible studies I realized the true meaning of what a sinner is. A sinner is anyone who doesn’t live according to God’s standards in the bible. Up to this point, I didn’t think I was a great sinner, the mistakes and times of disobedience didn’t seem like a big thing to me. So many people think just as I did, that they are not sinners. It’s through studying the bible you learn how anything not according to God’s guidelines is sin. God said that we are all sinners! For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23.

I had definitely sinned against God because of the mistakes and my times of being disobedient. The only way we can receive God’s forgiveness of sin in our lives, is to believe his very Good News. God’s Only Son Jesus lived a life with No sin. He died on the cross for your sin and mine.  He was buried and God raised Him from the grave three days later.  Jesus is Alive in Heaven wanting and waiting for you to invite Him into your life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is Eternal Life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus took the punishment of death on the cross, which you and I owe and cannot pay. If you have never invited Jesus life into your life, you will have that opportunity to do so by the end of this week.

Join us tomorrow for more of our friend’s story.

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Remembering God’s Love

 In this week’s story we watch a little girl go from the African-American church pew to her challenging teen years and on in to adulthood.  A journey of a real woman facing real life.  A journey of developing in to the woman God created her to be.  If you missed part one, go to this link:  Given the Time.

“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”  Deuteronomy 31:8

My senior year in high school I met a wonderful young man and he asked me out on a date. After a few years we were married and the proud parents of a baby boy. God blessed me with my very own family. I had an adoring husband and a wonderful son. As Christian parents we knew are task was to raise our son to fear, love, obey, and respect God.

When our little one was only a year old he became extremely sick. We thought that he was going to die. The doctors tested and tried everything. They were unable to diagnosis his illness. I don’t believe they even knew the etiology of the illness threatening our baby boy’s life.

I have a confession. Now, that my son had become so seriously ill, I began to remember and think about God’s love. Recalling that, God promises to never leave or forsake us, if only we believe and obey him.

Up to this point, I only prayed when it was convenient for me. Because of my experience with the death of my grandmother and aunt, I thought surely our son would die. My husband and I prayed and we hoped that God would hear and answer our prayers. Within a few days our little one was on his way to a full recovery. We gave God the credit. We thanked Him for hearing and answering our prayers. The doctors never explained the etiology of his illness. They had no idea what was wrong or how he managed to recover. But we knew, it was the awesome healing power of our Almighty God.

The story continues tomorrow!

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Always With Me

 In this week’s story we watch a little girl go from the African-American church pew to her challenging teen years and on in to adulthood.  A journey of a real woman facing real life.  A journey of developing in to the woman God created her to be.  If you missed part one, go to this link:  Given the Time.

“…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:20

My life took on many different changes in the following years after trusting in Christ.  But I know that God was with me even when I was not aware of His Presence.

My grandfather died when I was fourteen, my two older brothers and younger sister were already living with my Mom and Stepfather in Texas. Our family now consisted of grandmother my older sister and me. My grandmother was a homemaker and she tried to hold our family of three together the best she could. However, for financial reasons grandmother moved to Virginia to be with my aunt.

I continued living with my older sister.  She was nineteen years old and I was fifteen years old. The following year my sister would marry and start her own family. It was rough for my sister having to care for her family and me.  I felt like I was in the way. So, I soon moved to Virginia to be with my grandmother who was like my mother. My aunt and uncle who had opened their home to my grandmother graciously agreed to take me in as well.

Unfortunately, six months after moving to Virginia grandmother died. My grandmother died on a Thursday. Can you believe the following Thursday my aunt died? I thought, what in the world was going to happen to me now.

I had the choice of moving to Texas with my mom and stepfather, but I wasn’t comfortable with him, he had a gold tooth in the front of his mouth. It was something about that gold tooth that told me Texas wasn’t an option for me.

So I stayed put. At sixteen I became the lady of the house. I lived with my uncle and two males cousins. I had a lot of responsibility and not enough time to get everything done. Therefore, I had to cut something out of my life, and I decided it was going to be church. After a year my uncle would remarry and my life returned back to normal.  I was able to revert back to being a seventeen-year-old teenage girl. I also resumed going back to church.

The story continues tomorrow.  See you then!

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