"One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see!" John 9:25
Hope is found in a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. Every person who has this love relationship with Jesus, has a unique story of the power He has to change a life and the hope He alone can give. It is a story that only they can tell. As Jesus makes a difference in the life of a Christian, their story of hope is a living illustration that Jesus is alive and making a difference one life at a time.
A neighbor rescued me about 43 years ago when I was about 22 years old. I had only been married for 2 years and was working on my master's degree. I was always busy studying. My neighbor had a habit of coming over to my mobile home to chat. This one particular day she came over with her cup of coffee and her two little girls. I was irritated, since I was trying to study for an exam and was in no mood to visit.
“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 , King James Version
Before Christ
To “step into my world” means my sharing with you my life story and testimony of the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ in my life. I was born in New York City, but grew up mostly in the Washington, DC area. At the age of three, I started playing the piano. When I was eight and a student at a school for the blind, I began formal lessons, having driven my family crazy for the previous five years with my noise and banging. Music had been a significant part of my home life in those formative years, as we spent so much time listening to the radio or records. At school, I was active in chorus and much later, helped found a jazz combo.
January 16, 2007, will be forever imprinted in the minds of my family as the day that shook our foundation. I praise the Lord that our foundation was built on the Rock and although the rains came and the winds beat upon the house, we stood firmly planted on the principles of God's Word. On January 15th, my son and son-in-law had departed for South Alabama for our Annual Father-Son Deer Hunting Trip. It had long been my desire to have this hunting experience with my sons. My dad was not a hunter so I never had that experience as a boy. So, it was an arrangement made in heaven where father and sons could experience the ultimate hunting trip. It was our fourth such experience. We were excited. My oldest daughter and son-in-law traveled from their home in Charlottesville, Virginia with our 19-month-old grandson. My daughter and grandson were to spend the week with grandma in Tennessee while the boys went hunting.
I was 16 years old and on a two-year reading spree trying to discover meaning and direction for my life. I had studied the world's philosophers and explored every major religion. I read complete biographies of many great people. I also loved science but discovered that while science could give us a lot of the what, where, and how of things in our world, it offers no answers about the why of life's most treasured things—love, life, death, and the meaning of why I was even alive. Albert Einstein himself said that meaning or life's purpose was outside the realm of science, and so any discussion of meaning had to begin with a personal, intentional God—the God who as our Creator, is the only Author of our true purpose. But I wondered, "Is this Person who is the Creator God knowable?"
"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life" - Psalm 27:4 .
Aimless and Desperately Alone
Before living a life with Christ, I was aimless and desperately alone in spirit. I moved through life almost robotic and somewhat unfeeling. I moved around doing what I thought I should do to make the least amount of ripples (trouble) in my life. I averted conversations that would be somewhat tense, passed on going to affairs that I would have to face people who had "issues" with me. I never wanted to disappoint anyone, so I over compensated and jumped into action just in hopes of staying one step ahead of "anything and everything."
