On Sunday, May 28, 2023, I officially became a member at The Church at West Creek. They asked that I share with them my testimony of how God saved me, which I wrote out as the Pastor suggested, and I'd like to share it with my blog readers as well. Three of us joined the same day. We were asked to step out of the members' meeting and the Pastor shared some about us. When we came back in everyone applauded and I never felt so welcome in my life! Below is the testimony I shared that day:
I
grew up attending the Brooklyn Christian & Missionary Alliance church
regularly since I was about 2 years old until March of 2000 when my husband and
I switched to Parma Heights Baptist.
When I was about 7 years old, on an Easter Sunday in Sunday School, the
lesson was on “Who Killed Jesus?”. I
realized I killed Jesus; because of my sin (Romans
3:10, Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:8-9), he died and rose from the dead (Romans 5:8, Romans 10:9 & 10; I Corinthians 15:3-4), taking the punishment I deserved
so I could be in heaven with God someday (John
3:16, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Romans 6:23, I Peter 3:18).
That day, I experienced God’s amazing love for me, a shy little girl,
and that all he wanted from me was my love and to live my life for Him. So, I prayed silently during that class and
asked Jesus to forgive me and come into my heart and save me. I trusted Jesus Christ to be my personal Savior
that day and became a follower of Jesus (John
1:12, Romans 10:13, I John 1:9, I John 5:11-13, Revelation 3:20).
I did it again before I went to bed that night just to make sure. Right away I had a purpose in life--to please
Jesus and live for Him (Matthew 7:21; II Corinthians 5:15, 17, 18;
Galatians 2:20)!
Even though I was little, I knew believers were supposed to take communion to
remember Christ’s death till he comes (Luke 22:17-20), so when the communion came by I
was looking forward to taking it for the first time! Unfortunately,
I never told my parents that I was a Christian so my dad wasn’t going to let me
take it. I got angry and started to cry because I wanted to obey God and he
wasn’t going to let me. Then I told him
I believed in Jesus as my Savior so got to take it. My mom observed all this from the choir. I should have told them before, but I just
felt it was my personal business. It was
between God and me.
In Jr. High, a desire grew for my
friends to know the Lord and I started studying the Bible for myself, even
reading it in study halls. My attitude
was that since the Bible was God’s word, it would be my guidebook for living. Yet, one thing I was holding back on
was baptism because I was terrified of being dunked under water. Eventually, with some encouragement from mom,
in 11th grade, I decided to follow the Lord in baptism out of
obedience, trusting that Jesus would not let me drown (Acts
2:38)!
I was baptized and felt a great peace come over me and knew God was
pleased.
I
am now 69 and over the years have received much joy from serving the Lord in
many different ministries, primarily children and youth ministry. Two of my favorite verses are II Cor. 15:57
& 58 which say:
But
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through Our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch
as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
The decision I made early in life, to trust Jesus as my personal Savior, changed my life forever and I have never once regretted becoming a follower of Jesus. What about you? Have you turned your life over to Christ and accepted him as your personal Savior?
The scripture references were added later just you in case you want to find out for yourself how you can be saved. My hope is that if you are not sure you will go to heaven when you die, you will check out these scriptures and let God speak to your heart and be born again into the family of God (John 3:3).
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2 comments:
That was quiet the journey for you, but you did arrive safely.
Karen, I don't know that I have ever heard your testimony yet it was so integral to mine. Thanks for following Jesus in obedience and sharing with me.
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