This is me with my mom in 1951 at age 1 1/2 at our home in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The picture to the right is May 2006, at age 56 living in Oklahoma.
I was born into a Christian family in 1950. My Dad was Catholic and my Mother was a Baptist. The Baptist faith won over in my early years as we went to a Baptist church every Sunday. At the age of nine I walked down the isle and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior not really knowing what I was doing. My Mom helped me put together my testimony for baptism.
After baptism I went on and lived my life for myself and not for the Lord. I believed in God and His Son as my Savior, but my life did not show it. I lived the kind of sinful life teenagers live and went into the Army at the age of 20 and continued to live my life as I pleased, not living for the Lord. Over the years the Lord kept nudging me along toward really committing my life to Him as Lord and Savior, (seen from hindsight), even though I was living in sin.
At the age of 25, while still in the Army, I was reassigned to duty in Hawaii. Upon arriving there, I found myself all alone and for some reason I could not make any friends ( this was the Lord at work). Through out my whole life I have always had a difficult time making friends. I have never had more than one or two at a time. Being a long way from home and having no friends started taking its toll on me. An attitude that had begun to develop back at my last duty station began to get worse. My attitude was having an impact on my duties and performance as a soldier. Life was miserable and all I wanted to do was get off that “rock” (Hawaii) and go back home.
After running from the Lord all those years, resisting Him time and time again, at the age of 26, I finally turned to Him and rededicated my life to Him, accepting His Son Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. My life has never been the same since. The Lord instantly extended His forgiveness, grace, and peace to me. I began a relationship with Him. He took away the loneliness, making me part of a very large family of believers in Hawaii and around the world. Since then I have stumbled and fell many times, but He has picked me up every time. Each time He has forgiven me and He continues to lead me into an ever deeper relationship with Him, His Son, and the family (Body of Christ) He has placed me in. It is still difficult for me to have close Friends. My rough edges tend to keep them away.
Even though I have many ups and downs in my life as a Christian, I have joy and peace in my life. I have absolutely no doubt who I am in Christ. My relationship with the Lord is becoming more intimate everyday. He is not just God and the Creator to me. He is my Daddy and Friend and Jesus is not just my Lord and Savior, but he is my Brother and Friend too.
Would you like to have the joy and peace that I have? Would you like to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
1 comments:
Interesting to know.
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