When anyone comes to accept Jesus as their savior, what they get in return is a fresh start in life. A new chapter truly begins… A journey, we could say, that can lead to wonderful things. This article is the beginning of my story. I sincerely hope the story of My Journey will be a help and an encouragement to you.
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was July 5th. I had completed a drive from Shreveport, LA to north central Mississippi. It was still hot at 10:00 that night, and I still had to drive back to Jackson, MS to be in position for a business meeting the next morning.
I was sitting in the car with my girlfriend, in front of her parents’ house. We had been dating for a month. In that month I had found her (and her family) to be different from anyone I had ever known. They were Christians, but with a different “brand” of Christianity than anything I had ever seen.
Seeing The Difference
I was 27 years old. I was no stranger to Christianity, or to Christians. I had spent the first 18 years of my life as the son of a Methodist pastor. But these people talked and acted differently. They told of miracles of healing that had taken place in their lives. They acted like God was real… that they could actually talk to God and He would talk back to them. They talked of answers to prayer like it was something that should happen every day… like it was the normal thing to expect.
Like I said, I had been around Christians most of my life. The ones I knew were “good” people… but I knew a lot of good people that weren’t Christians. In fact, I saw little enough difference between the Christianity I grew up with and the people on the outside of church that I had been away from church since I was 18. But by that night in July I had pretty much made a mess of my life.
And that night, after being around these people for just one month, I said to my girlfriend, “I want what you have.”
In short order she ran to get her Bible, shared some scriptures with me, then led me in a prayer to receive Jesus as my Savior.
The Change
When I drove away from her house that night I was a changed man. I found out later that the Bible says you become a new person when Jesus comes into your heart. At that point in time, though, I’d never heard of such a thing. But as I drove away I knew I was different on the inside. I was new. I was clean. I was… changed.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. – 2 Corinthians 5:17
It doesn’t matter whether we have [followed religion] or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. – Galatians 6:15
What About You?
A new start in life is available to anyone who wants it. I highly recommend that you open the door and walk through it.
