This God Thing

My life didn't amount to much until I put God in the center of it. I misbehaved for much of my life, always hoping I was fooling people with a nice-girl front. And I did fool some people. The truth is, I did want to be a nice girl, but kept doing stuff. I suppose my bad behavior was a freckle compared with the melanoma of today's celebrity brats. And not quite as public. Still, bad is bad. And who did I hurt? Mostly me. And I know I was a big disappointment to God. He had given me so much to work with. I frittered it away time and again. But I don't want to dwell on that. First of all it hurts. But besides that, it's way behind me. I've been forgiven for it and in return for this undeserved favor, I owe it to God to forgive myself and look always to the light. How do I know I'm forgiven? People who are not familiar with Jesus and the things he said often ask this question. How do you know you're forgiven? But when you begin to read the Bible, read about this Son of God, history's greatest gift to man, you learn that you're forgiven when you ask to be. And when, for whatever reason and under whatever circumstance, you finally get it that Jesus was the real deal and Life begins when you ask Him to enter in, then you know by what means you're forgiven. And what a relief!

So here I am, with a clean slate. I was actually about 38 when I gave up trying to figure out how to straighten up my messed-up self and finally just got down on my knees (yeah, I actually did that. Felt a little foolish, but it seemed like the thing to do) and not knowing how this was going to work, did what I'd read you can do and just plain old asked Jesus to come. Take over. I give up. And it worked. What da ya know? No big flash, no big vision, no fainting, no noticeable change at that moment, but soon, and very soon indeed, things did begin to change. Like a big giant knot being magically untied, one thing after another got better. Mostly I got better. But circumstances around me literally began to improve as well. As time went on, one miracle after another not only kept me afloat, they taught me to walk on water. So to speak.


So here I am at 55 so deeply grateful for this undeserved favor that is called "grace". One thing I know. God will never leave me. And neither will Christ. He said, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the age." Well, I'm not sure exactly what "the age" is, or how long it lasts, but it sure sounds comforting to me.