An Idea From Another Blogger ....

I was reading a discussion board on (in)courage and another blogger gave me this idea to post my testimony so here it is ...What a great way to share the gospel during this season in preparation for Easter!

In the book, How to Share your Faith, which I read before traveling to Peru in 2008 I found this quote by Greg Laurie, “When you get down to the bottom line, we all essentially have the same testimony. We were all separated from God by Sin. We all crossed that line deliberately and repeatedly and we all have a need for a Savior.”

My Story …. I grew up in a religious home, the youngest of 8 children and when I was about 18 years old I stopped attending church altogether. In 1974, when I was 21 years old my mother was killed suddenly in a car accident. At this time I began to wonder if there even was a God. When talking with my friend, Jan about my struggles she began to point me to the Bible. She asked me one day if I were to die quickly and suddenly like my mom did I know where I would spend eternity. I said, “I thought I would be in heaven, but I was not sure.” She told me I could be sure. And this, Pause was the beginning of my walk by faith.

First, going through some Bible verses with Jan I realized that the Lord was showing me that I was a sinner.
This was not hard for me to admit because I had totally given up on God. Romans 3:23 clearly says “All (and that definitely included me), have sinned and fall shore of the glory of God.” I realized that I must first accept full responsibility for my sins.

Secondly, I needed to recognize that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sin.
Because there was no other way to resolve this problem of MY sin, god sent his own Son to die in my place on the cross of Calvary. This hit me as quite a commitment on His part. His one and only son died for Me! Romans 5:8 says, ‘While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus said, “god so love the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) I came to know that the “whoever believes” in this verse could be me.

Third, I knew I must repent.
In Acts 17:30 “God … commands all people everywhere to repent.” What does this word repent mean? To me, it meant that I had been going the wrong way in my life, and I needed to hang a u-turn and start going a different way. Instead of giving up on Him I needed to count on Him.

Next, I knew that I must receive Jesus Christ into my life.
Jesus said, “behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.” (Revelation 3:20). You see, being a Christian is not merely believing in a creed or even going to church. Jan said to me, “Beth, you could do those things and not necessarily have your sins forgiven or Have Christ in your heart or life.” There must come a moment in everyone’s life where he or she says, “Lore, Come in.” Scripture tells us, “To all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12 NLT)

Finally I knew I must believe right away.
“The story is told of a great evangelist D.L. Moody who preached an evangelistic message one night in Chicago. He decided to give his listeners a night to think over the question “What will you do with Jesus?” then he asked them to consider coming back the next evening to hear him preach again. The nest morning Chicago lay in ashes. On October 8, 1871, the very night of his message, the Great Chicago fire started. Many who were in his audience died in that blaze.” How to Share Your Faith by Greg Laurie. When I heard this story I was reminded that I must not wait.

In closing this is the testimony part of my story … the fresh part is … that in 2003 after 12 years of living with Multiple Sclerosis I was totally and completely healed because of the power of prayer. As a direct result of this healing God has called me into the ministry of prayer through severing as one of the leaders of HopeWatchers, the children’s prayer team at NHC but this is yet another testimony for yet another time.