My Story / Your Story

 
Text Box: Gail’s Journey—Another good friend’s story I was 28 years old, a Captain in the United States Air Force stationed in Germany and my life was better than anything I could have ever imagined. As a young woman college graduate in the ‘70’s I was obsessed with proving who I was and making my life count for something BIG! In the deep recesses of my heart, my life was about ME and achieving MY goals. I thought being a woman in the armed forces defending my country, was a great way to make my mark in society. Further, I had adventure, notoriety, prestige, and lots of male attention. What more could I want? Then something I could not explain started to happen. I started to question what life was really all about. While visiting the Berlin Wall at Check Point Charlie, for the first time as a military person, I came face to face with the enemy. A young East German guard was looking down at me and I realized if the need arose I was being paid to kill this man and he was being paid to kill me. Why was I so willing to do this? Where did our national heritage come from? Was it really right, so right that I was not only willing to give my life but take a life in defense of it? I knew that our whole system of government was based on a Judeo-Christian tradition and that tradition was based on the Bible. But wasn’t the Bible – just a collections of outdated legends and stories? I had to find out for myself. Along with this event, came another event, which further motivated me in my desire to study the Bible. I had attended church during my childhood. As an adult I attended sporadically and consequently I was in church on Easter Sunday. The priest said, “Today is the day that all the 300 Old Testament prophecies about a messiah were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.” Wow! I said to myself, I wonder if there is anything else prophesized in the Bible about the future. Now, I was really motivated to read the Bible and find out for myself. These two events coupled with the fact that while I had a life enviable on all accounts by most over achieving women, there was still something missing. As life would have it, I began to find myself surrounded with people who believed in the Bible and based their life on its teaching and principles. These people had a purpose and genuine concern for others that was attractive to me. One of them challenged me, if I really was serious about discovering the Bible, to attend a conference in Switzerland. How could I refuse, it sure fit my new desire and what a wonderful venue. So off I went. When I got there, I was in culture shock. Everyone talked about Jesus as if they knew him personally. At first I thought they were weird and tried to figure a way I could tactfully leave. However, there was this re-occurring thought that kept me there. “Listen to understand and not refute.” I went to the first meeting and there I was presented with what the Biblical concept that the God of the universe had created me loved me and desired to have a personal relationship with me. However, He could not because I was not perfect. I had done things wrong, as the Bible puts it; I was a sinner and thus permanently separated from God. Yet, God loved me so much that He sent Jesus, His perfect son to die on the cross in my place for my sins. If I would ask Jesus into my life to pay for my sins I could have a personal relationship with Him and Eternal life. These familiar statements finally made sense to me. I heard them with new ears and new significance and meaning. Three verses stood out to me: John 5:20 where Jesus said, “He who does not honor the Father who sent Me.” John 16:4 “Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Romans 10:9-10 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved eternally. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

MY STORY:

We are all on a spiritual journey and have a life story. Mine began when a family down the street showed me some "heavenly hospitality". I was attending a children's party and the speaker said that we could know for sure that we were going to heaven. This caught my interest and so I stayed afterwards and she explained how I could begin a real and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I decided to invite Christ to join me on my spiritual journey and to be the new author of my life's story.

 

From that moment on my life was changed. A new kind of peace filled my life and my story and journey took on new meaning, excitement and depth.

 

How your story turns out depends on you and the choices you make. It can either be filled with adventure and fulfillment or random activities that are bounced around at the will of your circumstances. As a young woman I figured that I had my whole life in front of me and it could either be like most women growing up in America and pretty predictable or it could be an adventure -fulfilling and exciting. I thought, "When I'm a little old lady sitting in my rocker and looking back at my life, what do I want to see?" I want to be all I can be and maximize my gifts and strengths. I thought, "How can I know the best career or man to marry? If God made me then He knows me better than I know myself. If He truly is a loving God then He will want the best for me and He will be the best guide on my journey.

 

Someone once said that our life is "the dash on our tomb stone between our birthday and our death". None of us know how long that dash will be or when the end date is.

 

God is interested in our life stories! He loves each one of us and has a wonderful personal plan for each of our lives IF we will just invite Him to join us and be the master of our story.

Jesus said, "I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly, life to the fullest until it overflows." The Bible tells us that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in and trusts in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life." (John 3:16) That's heaven guaranteed when we die!

 

We can't have this when we try to write our own life story. The Scriptures say that "We have all sinned and fallen short of God's plan." (Romans 3:23) The wages of sin is Death, spiritual separation from God." (Romans 6:23) The middle letter in the word sin is the letter "I". That sums the situation up because it's when "I" try to rule my own life that I miss God's wonderful perfect plan for my life.

 

The good news is that we can do something about our situation by inviting the author of life to be the author of our story. Not only did He die in our place to take care of our sin problem that was separating us for a relationship with a holy God. Jesus also said, "I am THE way, THE truth and THE Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."  (John 14:6) This is what I did as a young girl. By applying Christ's death and resurrection to my sin problem, and putting Him in charge of my life I was set free; free to be who God intended me to be. He knows all my talents and interests and what's best for me. He's writing my life story now and I know how the story is going to turn out

 

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

We must each individually receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and the Lord of our life and story. Then and only then can we experience His plan for our lives. We do this quite simply by prayer. Pray in your own words and tell Him this is what you want to do with your life and get ready to watch your new exciting story unfold. Pick up life's greatest "How To Manual", the Bible, and start reading to find the practical applications for your life. Start with the book of John and then check out the letters to the young church. They are full of road signs for your new God led life's journey