Monday, January 7, 2013

My Life With Christ

My life before Christ is not a shocking one. I don't have a wild story to tell because I came to know Christ at the age of 10 1/2, as a child with simple faith and knew He would save me from my sins. My family and I were at a revival service at church on Friday, 18 August. At the end of the service, along with my younger sister I went to the alter. We both prayed to receive Christ into our hearts. Afterwards our parents took us to the small Dairy Queen in town for ice cream to celebrate. My salvation experience is fairly simple, no huge sins, although, sin is sin, and I knew I was a sinner. However, my life after Christ has been filled with many amazing moments! Many of those moments are what I call every day moments. Just moments. Walking on a beach squishing the sand between my toes, climbing the highest rock possible on the side of a hill, traveling to some beautiful and breathtaking places. Holding my husband's hand in mine and feeling so loved I think my heart will surely burst with joy! Celebrating birthdays and holidays, laughing and blowing bubbles...yes, I still do that! Looking up and staring at the stars in astonishment that God created all of those twinkle lights in the sky for me. ;) Music, the sounds and the emotions it brings. Words on paper that fill my mind with wonder. Accomplishing goals I was uncertain I would obtain but did with God's help; it was all Him! Seeing Queen Anne's Lace along the roadside blowing in the breeze and butterflies floating by. There can never be too much of it or them for me. These people and things that are so much a part of my life are gifts from God! God has been with me in the darkest of dark nights and days. For me, the worst of times have also proven to be the times I grew the most in my faith. We all have them; those times when you feel as if you will surely die because your heart is breaking. Yet, there is God. He was with me through an emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix when I was 12; depression, a serious car accident at 23 that left me with a head injury and memory problems for quite a while, accompanied by terrible migraines that would last for days. He was there when I was being sexually assaulted and felt I couldn't breathe because of the hand around my neck. He was there when I was being mentally, verbally, physically, emotionally and every other way abused by my first husband. He was there when my heart would be breaking because of another's mean and hateful words about me; those times when I felt as though I had my heart trampled on and crushed beyond repair. Through all the dark times He was there. He is with me as I sometimes battle my health, through lupus flares, or times such as now when I am dealing with a staph infection in my knee...HE IS HERE! He never has left me, never forsaken me, never given up on me. HE has blessed me with an amazing and godly husband who is my best friend. He has given me a wonderful biological family, church family; extended family; and more friends than I deserve. Waking up each day is a gift from Him. Many days are difficult. The good outweighs the bad. This is life in Christ for me. As I have fought this staph infection and had my knee now lanced around 8 times I've thought a lot about pain. Each time my knee was being cut (and it was numbed) I told myself I could take the pain because Jesus took so much more for me. My grandmother once told me that when we hurt just remember how much more Jesus hurt for us when he died on the cross. I still remind myself of that when facing pain. Sometimes I tear up not from my pain but at the thoughts of Him hanging on a cross just for me. As the lines from one of my favorite songs say... "In the morning, when I rise In the morning, when I rise In the morning, when I rise Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus You can have all this world But give me Jesus When I am alone When I am alone When I am alone Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus You can have all this world But give me Jesus And when I come to die When I come to die When I come to die Give me Jesus Give me Jesus Give me Jesus You can have all this world But give me Jesus