My internet and phone service have been out for four days. The Husband cut the outside wire with a large green machine. I am back up and running now. It was amazing to me how much I depended on the internet. Technology dependent, that seems to be me after all.
I do a lot of thinking in the middle of the night when I don't sleep well, which is nightly now it seems. The night before the internet left, I was thinking really strong that I needed to do a blog post on my salvation experience or "experience of grace" as it's often called. Well, I thought with the internet being down so long, I might not think of it again, but alas, I have so I am going for it.
I am a member of the Baptist church. Denominations are varied and believe a lot of things differently and a lot of things alike. Baptist is just how I was raised and what I do believe. Does that make other denominations wrong? Absolutely not. I have learned as I have aged that it's not the denomination you serve but God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three in one. Confusing? Maybe sometimes. The main thing to remember is that it's all about what the Bible says. And the Bible has not changed. Many translations have skewed it a bit and granted I grew up with the King James Version, I learned scriptures in the KJV, and that's what I hide in MY heart so that's what I go with. The bottom line is it's all about a belief in Jesus and what he did on the cross for you and me.
You normal blog readers who know me have heard my personal testimony...time and time again and it hasn't changed. As a preacher's kid child who went to church all the time church was open, I didn't pay a lot of attention all the time to preaching. I can't tell you when I felt in my heart that something was not right. I just knew something was not right and I knew that when the altar call would be given for those who were "lost" and needed salvation, I was very much uncomfortable. So when I was nine years old, spring revival began at the little church where my daddy pastored. It was a three nighter, Wednesday night until Friday night. It's so odd to me that some days I can't remember what I did yesterday but that particular night 55 years ago is still clear to me. I remember sitting about 2/3 of the way back on the end by the aisle and I felt my heart was going to burst. All I could think was that I was not going to heaven if I died right then...I knew that without a doubt. I don't know what the sermon was, I just knew I was in trouble. When the altar call was given that night, I stepped out and walked that aisle to the little white vinyl covered bench in front of the pulpit and bowed down, crying. I wasn't sure how to pray, still don't do a very good job of it, but all I did was cry and pray for the Lord to save me. Before I knew it, all the fear was gone and I KNEW I was going to heaven when I died. The burden to be saved that had been so heavy was gone. Later on that spring I was baptized in a lake by my daddy. Being baptized didn't save me, believing on Jesus and what HE did is what provided my salvation. I never have felt that burden for salvation again. We Baptists believe that "once saved, always saved".
I remember, and often say in my testimony, that after that my teacher told my parents that she thought I couldn't see well. My parents took me to the local eye doctor and I did need glasses. I remember on the day I got those glasses, my daddy had to go to the local patrol office to renew his drivers' license or something like that. It sat on a tall hill. I can remember as we came out of that building and looked out over the trees and the landscape that I could see every single leaf outlined on those trees. I couldn't see those before--they were blurred together. I still, 55 years later, can see those clearly outlined leaves in my mind's eye. I liken that, from a human perspective, to my spiritual perspective. It kind of explains the phrase in the song, Amazing Grace, that says "was blind, but now I see".
I wish I could tell you that I have lived a wonderful obedient life glorifying my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but I can't. I fail every day. I can say that I have grown as I have aged. I can tell you for a fact that the Lord has been with me through physical pain, through emotional pain, through losses I couldn't understand and still don't, through times of wonderful happiness, through times of answered prayers, and so very much more. Have answered prayers always been the answer I want? Certainly not, but they have been answered for God's best for me and in accordance to HIS will. That's what trusting really is, I have learned. If I'm going to talk the talk, then I have to walk the walk and doing that means trusting the Lord's answers and giving HIM glory for all.
As I have aged, it's more important to me to know what the Bible that I believe says. It's important that I trust the Lord for all areas in my life, spiritually and physically. I have learned that I don't always get answers to the "whys" in my life, but I can accept that. I don't have to know all the answers, I just have to trust my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I hear the salvation experience often called an "experience of grace" and I really got to thinking about that. Grace is one of the most treasured things one can get. It's defined as unmerited favor. Yes, my salvation is an experience of the unmerited favor of God. I deserved nor do I deserve now any of His goodness. To get it, I had to believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. He arose three days later and awaits in heaven for all his children which I'm so glad includes me. One of the simple, most known scriptures in the Bible is John 3:16 and says:
"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".
The Bible doesn't say that one has to be old or young, rich or poor. It says "whosoever". I'm so glad that I'm a whosoever! I think of the Apostle Paul, one of my favorites in the Bible, and how he was an adult on the road to Damascus and one who was against the Christians when he found salvation in Jesus. (Acts 9:1-19) Paul became one of the greatest children of Jesus that ever lived and breathed. On a more personal note, I can remember an uncle of mine who was an alcoholic for years upon years. He and his wife had been "saved" and had salvation but totally did not live for the Lord. In their later lives, they turned all that sin aside and became two of the greatest witnesses for their Lord. I can remember my aunt singing a song that said, "I found a treasure when I found Jesus....He gives me pleasure that the world cannot give....I'm rich beyond measure." Her face as she sang that song looked like the face of an angel. I can almost still hear her sing that today and that example was an example of coming back to the Lord after knowing what the sinful world had to offer. My aunt and uncle are rejoicing in heaven today.
I can also remember as a young VBS teacher, having the kids make colors of salvation bracelets. They would have beads of black, red, white, green, and yellow. These would signify the following:
black--a heart full of sin -- Romans 3:23: "For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God".
red--Jesus blood that covers our sin --Romans 5:8: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
white--a heart washed white as snow after belief in Jesus --Psalm 51:7: "...wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow".
green--growing in HIS grace --2 Peter 3:18: "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."
yellow -- Revelation 2:10: "...be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
As for me, I can only testify to what I know and I know that my life would be so empty without Jesus in it all the time. I love HIM more than anything and pray that I can always glorify HIM and trust HIM. My "experience of grace" might sound foreign to some readers and I've learned that is all right. It's still mine and I was called to share it with you. I just pray that you have one of your own, too. It's worth everything.
If you've made it this far in the reading of this post, I'm going to end with what the Bible says one has to do to have an "experience of grace". Romans 10:9, 10, 13 says:
"That if thou shalt confess with they mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
That book of Romans has a lot of good stuff!
Consider....
