Hello, my friends. I thought I'd try something new today. I've been praying over the direction of this site and listening to those who have been praying to. One thing that I want to do more of, is share my everyday real life. So today, I'm linking up to "Show Us Your Life" where today's theme is sharing your testimony. :) / love to share how Jesus saved me, and why I love Him. So here is my story. If you've never been here before, welcome!
P.S. We are escaping to the woods this weekend as a family to have some rest and bonding time. I appreciate all of you that are praying for us. It means so much.
My salvation testimony is fairly basic. I was the young age of ten, had been raised in a pastor's family, and realized through a Children's Survival Kit course that I had been trusting in my family lineage to get me to heaven. I gave my heart to Jesus that day. I was young, innocent, and never really did anything all that off the path. I went through a "rebellious" period as a teenager and tried out a little swearing and Bon Jovi, but that was about as bad as it got. I was really in love with Jesus from as early as I can remember.
My "testimony" kind of takes an interesting turn from there. When I came out of my mini "rebellion" I decided that I really did want to be serious about Jesus - really serious. The problem was, I couldn't find many serious people around me. There were a couple of kids in youth group that were, and we were great friends. But sometimes that didn't seem like enough.
So I found a group of people that were serious about God. Real.ly. Serious.....and I went down a long path of deeds and legalism that would certainly grant me a life pleasing to my Master. I left home and went to work for an organization that helped enforce this "seriousness". I was there for about a year, and came home for a couple of visits. While I was away, a college student ministry had begun on the college campus of my home town. When I came home for visits I was meeting young people my age that were oozing the love of Jesus. They had something I didn't have. But I was confused. The girls wore jeans and they all listened to Christian rock, so how could they really know God. It may seem silly to some of you, but some of you know exactly what I'm talking about because you've been there.
After about a year away, I really felt that I could do it no longer. God was gently urging my heart into a love relationship with him that I had never fully experienced. I could no longer revolve my life around good actions, deeds and disciplines and expect to fully know God. I didn't just want hell insurance, and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life tiredly proving by my actions just how "covered" I was. I wanted to live the abundant life that came from letting Christ live through me - and I had a whole lot of getting out of the way to do before Christ could live through me.
It took a few years for me to really understand what God was doing in my life. But I accepted his invitation to have a love relationship with Him and begin to function out of that love, rather than out of disciplines and checklists. He not only showed me that I wasn't doing everything right all the time, but that it was impossible to do everything right all the time....and I didn't need to. I was "right" because He was "right" and living in me.
I'm still learning, because I'm naturally a task- oriented, Type A person, recovering from legalism and co-dependency. So ya, it is a continuous journey.
But I'm grateful that God saved me from sin - and then saved me from myself.
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