YOUR FOREVER FRIEND
DEVOTIONS
Dear Friends,
My journey towards the Lord began in earnest when I was in college. Through my high school years, I had been president of my Presbyterian Youth Group and had been confirmed in the church. In fact, the elders of the church were impressed with my "deep" answers to their questions. Yet, I didn't know the Lord at this time. I knew about Him but my heart was closed in terms of having a personal relationship with Him. Having dated a fellow of the Episcopalian faith for some years, I was greatly attracted to his church since the liturgy was so beautiful. So, I secretly set out to take instruction in the Episcopal Church. My parents reluctantly witnessed my confirmation into this communion, but I still did not know Jesus. I loved the ritual but not the one that the ritual celebrated.
Still searching to fill my empty heart, a group of friends and I started dabbling with the occult. We laughed as we played with the Ouija Board and held seances. We even procured a witchcraft incantation book from the church-related college library where we were students. Again, we took repeating the spells and incantations lightly.
Then, one night during one of our silly seances, we actually called up a demon in our midst. None of us were Christians at this time, but we knew something was terribly wrong in the room so we abruptly stopped our meeting.
From that night on, strange occurrences took place in my dorm room...things that could never have happened on their own. Even our dorm mentor reported hearing talking, typing and other activity while we were away, and when she opened the door with her pass key, everything stopped.
Things became so frightening, my roommate and I went to the Dean of Women and asked to be reassigned a room. We told her that strange things were happening in our room and I know she thought we had lost all common sense. However, she granted our request.
Fortunately, God protected us from our childish indulgences into the world of the supernatural. After what happened, I promised myself never to mess with this again. Even my friends remarked that they wanted no more part of these kinds of activities as some had experienced depression after that evening.
I knew the supernatural was real, but I didn't know God; so, I kept on seeking after Him. I was empty and hungry to understand the Bible. Yet, I could not make sense of it.
While in graduate school, my husband and I (we were engaged at the time) decided to go over to a friend's house. When we arrived, this couple was busy talking to someone who was telling them about Jesus and His Second coming. We both became interested in this whole discussion and decided to ask this fellow to meet with us.
John and Mary Romano were in full-time ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ at Ohio State University. However, it was John who shared the Four Spiritual Laws with us and told us how we could become believers. Two of the verses that he pointed out that evening really stuck in my mind. Read Romans 10:9-10: "...that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (NKJV)
I remember remarking, "Is that all there is to this?" He assured both Glenn and I that this was the Gospel message and it was not complicated.
We felt we had nothing to lose and everything to gain, so we prayed a prayer inviting Christ into our hearts three months before we were married.
Before leaving us, John encouraged us to hold fast to what we had just done. He gave us these verses from I John 5:11-13: "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." (NKJV)
Our growth in Christ was not earthshattering. We didn't change overnight, but gradually, we began to understand God's Word as we read it. We sought out fellowship in a Bible believing church, but the greatest miracle was that my heart and Glenn's were no longer empty.
Blaise Pascal, French philosopher, scientist, mathematician, stated that each of us has a "God-shaped vacuum" in our hearts that only God can fill. How true that statement was in my life! No matter what I tried, nothing satisfied until I met Jesus Christ in a personal way. Then, my heart was filled with His presence. Church fellowship became precious to me as did God's Word.
While I have not escaped trials and tribulations, I have never been alone through them for the Lord has been there with me. Each day is a new adventure for me because the Lord leads the way.
I am writing this today because maybe there is someone out there that needs to read this who has felt the same empty heart that I once had. My story is not a dramatic one in that I was not rescued from some terrible circumstances (i.e. drugs, alcoholism or the like); however, I was rescued from an eternity without God's presence. My destiny has been changed from hell to heaven by my confession and belief. I have a certainty of where I will go when I die, and my heart is no longer hard, cold, and empty.
If you have never made that commitment to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, open your heart right now and invite Him to come in. He will forgive your sins and give You a new heart. If you have already made that commitment, perhaps today would be a day of re-commitment to Him.
Jesus Christ is our soon coming King, and now is the time to get to know Him as Savior and Lord of your life! Selah!
Father, I pray for all who have read this testimony today. If they do not know You in a personal way, I pray that they may take a moment and ask You to come into their lives. If they already know You, then I pray that You will ignite a fire and passion in their hearts to share their story with others that many may come to know and love You. Thank You for loving us so much that You want a personal relationship with each one of us.
IN Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
Your forever friend,
Barbara
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SJM