The simple truth

Well, I know that no one reads my blog except for my dear hubby. Thankee honey! But I am writing this in case someone stumbles onto my website. I titled this the simple truth because I just wanted to share what's in my heart right now. I'm not an eloquent writer or speaker. I just speak plainly and simply.

I've been a Christian for most of my life, was raised in a Christian home where my mom laid a foundation down for me. I grew up, got married and had 3 children. Both my husband and I were Christians, but (and I'm only speaking for myself here), I was a complacent Christian. Sure, I went to church, was baptized as a child, prayed at times and was even involved with our church doing various things like working with the youth group, being in choir, etc. As time went on and we realized that we could no longer go to church together due to there being no one to watch our son Marcus who is autistic, we just stopped going pretty much. Sure, we'd go occasionally and later on down the road, we did go to a little church on a fairly regular basis.
I became (wrongfully so) a little bitter. Not towards God, but with people in the church because it seemed that no one could help us. I let that be my excuse not to regularly attend church like I should have and here we had a young teenage daughter who, until then had been to church regularly with us but then she saw us not going. (now it's biting us in the rear, but we are praying and working on our daughter).

One night about 8 days before Christmas in 2007, I got a call from my dad. My mom had just died. I was heartbroken because she had always been my mentor, and teacher, especially when I had a biblical question (and some cooking questions too). I really think she must have memorized the entire bible. :-) So now I had lost something irreplaceable, but I also knew where my mother was. She was in heaven with Jesus. And that belief gives me such comfort and hope because I believe one day I'll see her again.

I will definitely thank her for bringing me up in a Godly way, even though I wasn't all that Godly at times. I know she was always praying for me though, to get my act together.

It was actually shortly before she passed away that my relationship with Christ started changing. I belong to a forum called Rapture Ready because I really like learning about prophecy. And so my journey began. I learned a whole bunch of things that I hadn't known before. So many people on there have such a wealth of Godly wisdom. They were a comfort to me, and I've been taught alot of things by going there and then checking it against the bible. I learned about apostasy taking place and even told my husband some disturbing trends, but he didn't want to believe what I was telling him at first. Eventually his eyes were opened as well.

Anyway, several months after my mom died, something weird happened in the church we'd been attending and I'd rather not get too into it right now because there are some precious people in that church, just not what this Southern Baptist gal believes. We left that church and decided to try a Baptist one just down the road. This church was a fairly large church and I am fairly afraid of people, ie I'm terribly shy and don't do well in social settings. I find it extremely difficult to talk to people. It took only a few Sundays for me to truly believe the Lord had led us there. We joined about 2 months after starting and it's been such a tremendous blessing for us. This was the first time I was truly excited about being in a particular church. The pastor has challenged us in so many ways. I praise God for his ministry and for his love of the people in his church. God is using him greatly for His glory. Since then I've started a quiet time of prayer every day, as well as praying throughout the day and my husband and I are doing bible studies and/or reading the bible more. I even bought some Chick Tracts to use for witnessing. I actually gave one out yesterday and I snuck one in my neighbor's door. I will probably be leaving them here or there where I think people would pick them up. I have been praying for boldness and for the first time in my life, for God to use me as He will (and actually mean what I pray). God has opened my eyes and my heart to what He's done for me. I praise Him for the Holy Spirit and I praise Him for my salvation and for His precious Son Jesus who paid the penalty for my sins by dying on the cross. I just can't emphasize that enough.

Every day I long for Jesus to come and take His church to heaven, but He will come in His appointed time. I long to be free of a sinful body and of course having no pain or sickness is a big bonus too. :-) Lately there's been a joy that fills me, even when I hear and see what's going on in the world today. Am I a bit nervous about what we are going through, sure. But God's will is perfect and no matter what happens, I know that I am his child and that He loves me! That's sometimes so overwhelming for me to think about. Little ol' me. He loves me! He loved all of us enough to send Jesus to die for us on a cross and for all who call upon His name they shall be saved! Wow!

Anyway, that's the simple truth. Believing that you are a sinner, and that without Christ, you will die in your sins. Only by believing that Christ died for you and shed His blood, and repenting from your sins can you be saved. It's as simple as that. The only hard thing to swallow is that those who do not accept Christ as their Lord and Savior are doomed to hell for eternity. And that my friend, is a horrible thought. Who wants to spend eternity in hell? Most don't and most think they won't because they're 'good' people. Unfortunately, that's not 'good' enough.

I am praying for this post to reach someone, even just one person, but if not, well at least I've written down my thoughts. May God bless you.