When I was young

I grew up in a family that honored Christian ways. We didn’t always go to church but I knew that there was something important about all of these topics that I heard about. Why else would numerous adults know about these things and would openly talk about them? It wasn’t like talking about a movie or cars or something like that. My mom had never seen God but she would still want to get me ready and take me to church. She would read me stories from a book some times before bed. I remember there being pictures of how tall Goliath was and how David killed him with a sling shot.

Ideas regularly swirled in my mind about angels and demons. I wondered if that odd shadow in hall could hide a creature that was ready to emerge and drag me down into Hell. Other times, I thought about God. The idea of being all powerful was so cool.

I can remember my cousins and I talking about it some times. We would freshly be back from church where a sermon was preached about how Satan was cast from heaven. We imagined the stereotypical horned, demon falling from the light and was somewhere here on earth. We wondered if we would ever see an angel.

My mom gave me my first Holy Bible. I remember reveling in how thick it was and how the print was so small! I tried reading it from time to time but I couldn’t make out the words. “Thy” and “shalt”? I had never seen that before. Something that I really liked about the Holy Bible though was in the middle of it was pictures along with where in the book it was referring to. The pictures were of: Noah and his family herding the animals into an ark, Adam and Eve in the garden, Moses parting the Red Sea, Jesus bringing the girl back from the dead, Jesus rising from the tomb, and a few others. I can remember studying those pictures a lot.

Saved on a Wednesday Night

When I was in middle school, my mom would take me to church on Sundays and Wednesday nights. Mom had a long time friend there that she liked to catch up with. I liked the services. I would always go to the regular service instead of the youth room. My mom and dad were going through a divorce. It had been hard on me with the visitation schedule but, as a kid, you had to go with the flow the best that you could.

It wasn’t an extravagant church. We didn’t have a projector like some churches had. We did have people to sing which was really nice. My mom’s friend’s family would sing from time to time. I liked their songs–some were original, others were hymns. Most would consider our pastor to be a southern baptist with the way that he preached. The church wasn’t labeled a baptist church though. However, he had that style. He had a fiery and loud way of delivering God’s word. Honestly, it scared me a little but I knew that what he said was from the Holy Bible. He would back up what he said with verses. I liked him.

It was on one of those Wednesday nights after our pastor had talked about the topic for the evening that we had an invitational. An invitational is a time when people can come to pray or be saved while music is playing softly. I could remember times before when I felt like I needed to come to the altar and ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus as my savior but I couldn’t bring myself to come away from the pew. I am a quiet, private, highly introverted person by nature. The idea of being in front of everyone was mortifying. I knew that I could pray alone and confess to Jesus that he is my savior. There was just something inside me that compelled me to feel like I needed to go to the altar.

My feet felt like they had cement blocks tied around them that night. My mom was on my right and we were on the far left of the pew with no one on my left. With an incredible amount of effort, I made the first step into the aisle. Each step was lighter and lighter. Seeing the church from the new angles made me dizzy.

I came and knelt down at the altar. My pastor came to me and asked if I wanted to be saved. I said that I did. Then, he prayed with me openly. There were hands that started resting on my back. When we had finished praying, I felt light. I lifted my head and looked behind me. Almost all of the church was there kneeling and making a chain of hands to shoulders up to me. I was moved and I was saved.

First Steps

My mom got me a new Holy Bible after I was saved that was like our pastor’s. It had larger lettering and words that help to understand some of the more archaic use of old English. It was the first Holy Bible that I read from start to finish. Later, I was baptized on another Wednesday night. I thought that my mom was baptized with me but she feels like she was baptized when she was younger. I wish I was journaling back then to know for sure.

I hope that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior. There is no other way to have peace and fulfillment in your life. Time will erode and take away your things and your health. You may feel like you can not be saved but don’t listen to that voice. He wants you with Him.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9, KJV

God will be with you forever in this life and beyond.