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My name is Karen. My parents took me to a Billy Graham revival when I was around eleven. I wasn’t even listening to the sermon, so I was quite surprised when I started feeling uneasy during the invitation. As the choir sung “Just As I Am,” I started thinking about what the words really meant; it seemed like the Holy Spirit was leading me to listen and understand key phrases during the song... “thy blood was shed for me...and because this promise I believe...Oh, Lamb of God... I come... I come.” I don’t think anything could have held me back. I knew I was going to go forward, but was so shy that it took me three verses to get up the nerve to walk in front of the people in my row. Once I made it out of that row, I felt free! I had already accepted Jesus as my Savior while in my seat; I just had to go make it public. From then on, I started feeling a peace that has never left me.
I was baptized in a creek during the winter, and even though the preacher was shivering, I felt a warmth like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
God has helped me in many ways throughout my life. Once when my brother and I were coming home on a rainy night, the car started hydroplaning. I pumped the brakes frantically and became even more frantic when turning the steering wheel had no effect on the direction we were headed, which was toward a ninety degree curve. As we accelerated downhill toward some huge rocks, it became apparent that even if we stopped hydroplaning, there was no way that we could slow down enough to make that turn. I covered my face and pulled my knees up in preparation for the crash. Instead, I felt the car slowing down. I opened my eyes just in time to see the steering wheel turning all by itself around the curve and then turning back the other way to straighten the wheels as we came out of the curve. I was so shocked that I stopped right in the middle of the road to consider the overwhelming feeling that we had just been in the presence of an angel. Back then, being a typical self-centered teenager, I figured that God must have an important reason to save me. The fact that the angel could have been sent to save the passenger didn’t occur to me until January of this year when my brother started preaching at a homeless mission. Combined with the fact that he is following God’s guidance in coordinating what could soon be the largest testimony collection project in the world, I no longer have any doubts.
Another remarkable event happened after I had tried in vain for a year to get pregnant. I was attending a bible study at a friend’s home and the leader of the group asked me if I had prayed about my problem. I was very embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t. He said, “Let’s pray about it now.” He started the prayer by saying, “Thank you God, for Karen’s baby.” I was so amazed at such a bold statement of faith. Guess what? My beautiful baby girl was born nine months later.
I’m also thankful to God for a something that happened several months after my son was born. During the birth process, he was without oxygen for an undetermined length of time. His doctor tried to reassure me that he was relatively sure that this would affect no more than 5% of his I.Q. Still, I couldn’t help but worry. It seemed like the longest six months of my life as I waited for him to learn to sit up and crawl. I was relieved that he was physically O.K., but knew that I could not stop worrying until he learned to talk. I think God knew that I couldn’t have taken the stress much longer because at the age of nine months, one week he had learned to say Ma-ma, Da-da, and din-o-saur!
I am also thankful that God sent me a loving husband all the way from Vermont (to TN). After both of us had been through years of stressful marriage resulting in divorce, the first time I sat down with him in church, it felt “right.” We soon got married and now one of the things we enjoy most is discussing topics from the bible, especially Revelation! I am certainly looking forward to Christ’s triumphant return when he comes to claim His children. I hope to see you in the air! The price has already been paid with His blood. All you have to do is accept the gift. |
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