I’m thankful for our Father’s bountiful mercy and grace, for the Holy Spirit which has softened my heart and the love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ who has called me to take this step further in faith.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved” Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV
I was brought up with a knowledge of God. My mum taught me about God and Christianity, my dad taught me about science and evolution, I used to make up my own theories about how the world came to be, with a mixture of my parents beliefs. I attended Catholic school from a very young age, this is where I learnt how to pray. I thought that my salvation was dependant on how many times I prayed, how often I attended church and how many good things I did. I didn’t know anything about Jesus Christ or the Bible, I knew that they were important and thought that was enough.
I didn’t have any real guidance until I met my best friends and my husband. They were willing to risk wounding my ego in the moment for the long-term good of my soul.
My then boyfriend gathered up all the courage he could, to tell me everything I had believed was wrong. The gospel hit me like a tonne of bricks, it was a hard pill to swallow, but after witnessing Gods grace in his journey it wasn’t long until I realized I had been saved by this same grace.
The world and my flesh had deceived me so much that I believed I was righteous, I prayed all the time, whenever it suited me as if I were doing God a favour by coming to him.
Every time I come to prayer now, I see Jesus on the cross, being punished and ridiculed, and I see the HUGE blessing that it is that I’m able to come to my creator through his beloved son who paid for my sins and the sins of my brothers and sisters. It brings me to tears.
I’m so so grateful that I was elected to be saved. I’ve lived my life so wrong, avoiding the light which is God to the best of my ability and I was shown grace. This grace that I can see in everything. The grace that allows me another breath, another day on Earth and has allowed me the 25 years full of beautiful blessings I’ve had.
I’ve since become one with my husband for the glory of God, and will continue to pursue Christ Jesus and obey His word together in our marriage for His glory.
We’ve been baptised and become members of Shore Baptist, our spiritual growth continues and we feel blessed to be able to worship each Sunday with our newfound family of believers.
It’s my prayer that those close to us are given eyes to see and ears to hear the wonders of the Lord and surrender to the irresistible grace of God.