Oct 8, 2010
Posted on Oct 8, 2010 in This Is My Story | 0 comments
When I was three years old, my father died of a heart attack. This left my mother with five children between the ages of three and thirteen.
It was very hard on all of us, especially my mother because she had to work full time as well as be our only parent. I was especially concerned about losing my mother; sometimes I would stare at her as she slept to make sure that she was breathing.
I hated growing up without my father and often wondered why God would allow that to happen. Because I lost my father, other relationships became very important to me. I was longing to have significant, lasting relationships but was often disappointed because of the unrealistic expectations I would place on people. I really felt a void in my life, but did not understand why I felt it.
As a child I found myself often thinking about God and longing to know Him.
I did not understand the importance of asking for forgiveness of my sin in order to have a close, personal relationship with Him. I didn’t know that the Bible says in Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that he will not hear,” so I tried to get close to Him in other ways. I attended religious retreats and seminars hoping to earn His favor. At one point, I seriously considered giving my life to Him in religious service. I had a desire for God, but no knowledge of the true way to find Him.
High School
When I was in high school, I had two friends who began to tell me about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and my need to humble myself before Him by confessing my sins to Him. They told me that I could not earn His favor. God had to judge my sin, for the Bible says that “the wages of sin is death.”(Romans 6:23) This created a problem for me because in my mind I was a “good little girl” and did not see myself as a sinner on my way to hell. I had not heard the fact that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”(Romans 3:23). When I heard this truth, my pride kept me from accepting true salvation because I did not like the idea of being 
a sinner. I viewed myself as a very well behaved person who tried to be a good daughter, sister, student, and friend.
My friends kept talking to me about salvation and often confronted me about my need to confess my sin to the Lord. I would get very angry at them because I did not want to hear the truth about who God really was and how my sin affected my relationship with Him. I also did not understand that this was the significant relationship that I had always longed for but had never understood. My friends were very faithful to talk to me about Christ because they really loved me and wanted me to know the truth even though it was hindering our friendship.
My first service did go well…
They also began inviting me to church. I always made up excuses about why I could not go. I finally agreed to go so that they would stop “bugging” me. My first service did not go well because I was very convicted about my sin. Since I had felt so uneasy, I decided I would not go back again. The Lord continued to use my friends to reveal truth to me. I knew that God was drawing me to Himself, but I did not want to come to Him His way. Jeremiah 31:3 says “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.” I could sense that drawing and His great love for me.
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Finally, one day, I surrendered to the truth and decided to believe what God had revealed to me. I knew, even though I didn’t like it, that I was a sinner and needed to confess my sin to my Creator who knew all about me. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Now I know that I have been forgiven. The reason that God can forgive sinners is that His Son Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again. I had to personally trust Jesus’ work as my only way to heaven.
Now I understand the words of the song “Satisified” which say
“Hallelujah! I have found Him Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings, through His blood I now am saved!”
I am saved from hell, and I have eternal life.
Now that I truly know Him as my personal Savior, I believe I have found not only what I was seeking but also the greatest treasure that exists! Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life: in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” I have Someone to guide me through life, Someone who gives me complete joy, and Someone who gives me unending pleasure. And guess what else I have! A Heavenly Father who loves me with an everlasting love. I have found the One whom I was craving. My longings are satisfied! I have found the greatest treasure!
Are you searching for truth and significance? Do you truly want to know God? Is He drawing you to Himself? God longs for you to find Him so that you can have the greatest treasure!
Aug 6, 2010
Posted on Aug 6, 2010 in This Is My Story | 0 comments
It’s strange how God could use a jungle gym and a tomato allergy to bring me to the 
assurance that I would go to heaven when I died. But He did just that. When my family entered a Bible church for the first time, I was eight years old and unaware that I needed God.
During Sunday school in that Bible church, I learned for the first time that my soul, as a sinner, would go to hell when I died, for the “wages of sin is death.” I knew in my eight-year-old heart that it was the truth. I remember thinking how odd that I had never heard this before. I thought about this news that because I was a sinner and God is holy, I needed to personally ask Him to be my Savior. I also learned that Jesus had died for me, was buried, and rose from the dead so that I could have a personal relationship with Him. All I had to do was accept His “gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.” Admitting that I could not get to heaven on my own, I just needed to humble myself, ask Him to save me from hell.
The part that I found difficult
Soon after that Sunday school lesson, I told God that I believed all that was true. The part that I found difficult was admitting to others that I wanted this salvation. Since I was a fearful child, I did not want to tell anybody that. I really should have talked to somebody so that I could get some biblical instruction and assurance that I was truly saved. Instead I just let everybody think that I was already a born again believer.
But God knows our weaknesses, and He helped me. Two years later my mom sent me to our church’s camp. I enjoyed every minute of that week; in fact, I wanted to take my camp counselor home with me. The speaker of the week focused on the events of the last days. Once again I knew that I needed to talk to somebody about salvation so that I could have assurance that I was going to heaven, and once again I was too scared.
“I want to know”
This is where the tomato allergy and jungle gym come in. I was allergic to tomatoes, but I ate the spaghetti dinner that night anyway. That night in bed I became rather sick, but I was still too much of a little chicken. I was too scared to wake my counselor. She heard me groaning though and took me to the nurse. 
Afterwards we sat on the jungle gym, and she asked me if I knew for sure that I was on my way to heaven. I said “No, but I want to know.” I told God that I knew that I was a sinner and could do nothing to get to heaven on my own. I asked Him to forgive me. I wanted His free gift of salvation. He gave me eternal life and saved my soul from hell.
Perhaps you are as I was at the age of eight, knowing that this is the truth, yet resisting it. Will you accept it so that you do not have to go to hell to pay for your sins? God has to punish sins just as an earthy judge punishes criminals. People may think that since God is love, he will not send people to hell; He is love, but He is also holy. He must judge sin. Can you imagine an earthly judge saying to a murderer, “Since I love you, I will let you go”? No, the judge punishes the crime. The amazing thing about God is that He sent His perfect Son to take the punishment of our crimes, our sins. Jesus died for us and then rose from the dead. All we need to do is believe. It’s not too good to be true; it’s good and it’s true because God is good and God is true!
“For if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-10, 13)
Jul 24, 2010
Posted on Jul 24, 2010 in Audio Messages, This Is My Story | 0 comments
Overcoming the Darkness:
Choosing God’s Wonderful Fulfillment and Peace
I was a busy General Manager of a large hotel when one day I completely lost control of my whole left side. While working that morning, I suddenly could not walk very well nor could I use my left hand properly.
At the hospital, the doctors performed a series of tests. It became apparent to me that things were serious when the E.R. doctor came to my room the next day to make certain that I was alive. According to him, if I had arrived at the hospital ten minutes later, I would have been dead. After a few tests, a doctor concluded that I had three cancerous brain tumors. This is my story of how I found the strength to face this devastating situation. (more…)
Jun 29, 2010
Posted on Jun 29, 2010 in Audio Messages, This Is My Story | 0 comments
The neighbor had seen him run the same stop sign many times. One even
ing as usual the farmer was drunk and as usual he ran the stop sign, but this time there was a car approaching with a mother, a father, and two young children inside. I am that mother, and this is my story of how God led me to Himself.
I thank the Lord for the many blessings in my life. I was born on April 1, 1926 along with my twin brother John. I also have two sisters still living and another brother that has already passed. We had a good life growing up in Ohio, but we also had some hard times during the Depression.
When I was young, my father moved us around a lot, farming different areas. I had five unmarried aunts; the three that had jobs saw that my siblings and I all had clothes to wear. They would also see that we got to Sunday school and church every week. This is when I first read John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Later when I was a teenager, my mother played the piano and organ at the Blanchard church; we would walk there each week. I was young when I married. My husband and I went to a little church over by Forest once in awhile. We had two boys; Johnny was my first born, and Donnie came along a year and a half later.
Then the accident happened. We were taking a ride one Wednesday evening near Riley Creek Church and a farmer was driving down the road and ran a stop sign. He had been drinking and ran into us. My husband, Bob, went through the window and was killed instantly. Two-year-old Johnny was standing between us and hit the dash. His chest was crushed, and he died the next morning. I was holding Donnie who was six months old. He had broken his leg and was placed in traction at Bluffton Hospital. My head was cut, and I spent a few days in the hospital as well. I went to Bob and Johnny’s funeral in the ambulance.
We had never heard about salvation… (more…)
a sinner. I viewed myself as a very well behaved person who tried to be a good daughter, sister, student, and friend.
