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Did you know that you can know God?
To Ken's TestimonyI was fortunate enough to be raised in a Christian home. My parents were both Christians and took me to church the whole time I was growing up. As a child I learned a lot about church and about the Bible. I was a fairly typical first child and tended to be obedient and had a strong desire to please my parents.
When I was 8 years old, Billy Graham came to Tallahassee where we lived to do a one day evangelistic crusade. My parents wanted to hear him, so we went. When Billy Graham preaches, he always gives an opportunity for people to invite Christ into their lives at the end of the sermon. He invites people to come forward and speak to a counselor who shares how to know Christ. That day, when the invitation was given, my parents leaned over and asked me if I would like to go down and speak to one of the counselors. Since I always wanted to please my parents, I said yes and went to the front.
When I talked to the counselor, since I had been raised in church, I knew how to answer his questions correctly. Later, as I talked with the pastor of our church, I was able to satisfy him also with all the right answers. Soon thereafter I was baptized and became a member of the church. There was one big problem, however. I knew a great deal about Jesus, but at that particular time I did not know Jesus personally. I continued to go to church and was active in all of its various activities.
But, when I was 16 years old, something happened that really changed my life. I had a date one night with a girl that lived a little ways out of town. On my way home, I realized that I was running late and didn't want to get in trouble with my parents, so I drove well over the speed limit. Unfortunately for me, a policeman saw me and pulled me over. He talked quite mean to me and scared me to death. This was the first time I had ever had any problems with the law and it was quite a serious thing to me.
When I finally got home I explained what had happened to my parents. The were very understanding toward me. I guess it was rather obvious how upset I already was and they realized there was nothing more they could do to make me feel worse.
At that point I went straight to bed. I could not sleep, however, and just laid there in my misery crying. I was not thinking at all about God at that point, but out of my deep feeling of desperation I called out, "God help me."
In that very instant I felt the most incredible peace in my heart that I had ever experienced. God used that moment of my true openness to personally reveal himself to me.
To Ken's TestimonyWhat I am today is largely because of the upbringing that I had as a child. My dad was a pastor and, as you can imagine, my family spent a lot of time at church. I always loved going to church. My closest friends were there and I considered it a place where people cared about me.
Even though I knew a lot about the Bible and about Jesus, at the age of nine I realized that something was missing in my life. I knew that I needed a personal relationship with Christ. Of course, at the age of nine, I had not committed any horrible sins. My parents had raised a good child. However, I realized that the sin in my life kept me from having that relationship.
It happened that one day while I was washing the dishes, I was listening to a program on the radio where Billy Graham was preaching. As he was talking about asking Jesus to come into our hearts, I realized that I had never made that decision. Later I talked to my father about it. He wanted to make sure that I understood the meaning of it all, so he asked me a lot of questions. He wanted me to understand that Jesus had died on the cross for me, that he rose again, and that he wanted to have a personal relationship with me. At that point I asked Jesus into my life. The change in me wasn't dramatic. I was still the same nine year old girl, basically. But, in my heart I was different.
My journey with the Lord has not always been easy. It has caused much ridicule from others trying to pull me down, caused me to lose a job, and cost me some "friends." On the other hand, I have received peace when persecuted, joy in my relationship with Him, and a love that words just can't describe. My desire is to share this with others in hopes that they too may have the same peace in their heart from having a living relationship with Jesus.
From the time I was very young my Mom and Dad told me about Jesus. So from a very early age I knew a lot about Jesus and the Bible. As I grew older, I went to church all the time. But I did not know Jesus personally. And I didn't feel peace in my heart because I knew that I had not invited Jesus to come in.
One night last August I was having bad dreams. My Mom heard me and came to calm me down. After a while we started talking about Jesus. It made me want to invite Jesus into my heart. That night I prayed and invited Jesus into my heart.
After that I felt much better. I haven't been so scared since then. This has made me want to be a better person. And also I have played better with my friends and I don't get upset as much. I now feel peace in my heart.
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