StrokeSurvivorBlog

You can know God and have a relationship with Him that will fill the void in your life and give you peace during times of struggle. My relationship with God is what sustains, comforts and strengthens me as I go through the ordeal of Steve’s stroke. This article is not about  being more religious, but about receiving an amazing gift from a God who loves you. You CAN know God in personal way. To find out how much He loves you, read or watch a video of the Father’s Love Letter.

Below is my story of how I discovered this type of relationship.      ~Kathy

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I was in my early twenties, married with two young daughters. My husband was making a good income and I lived in a beautiful house. I had everything a woman could ask for, but yet there was an emptiness in my life.

This void in my heart led me to fill it with other things like material possessions, drinking, partying and the like. But nothing seemed to satisfy me for very long, so I looked for other ways to bring me fulfillment. One evening, as I was on my way to meet a few friends for a “girl’s night out” at a local bar, I thought to myself, “If there’s a heaven and a hell, I’m going to hell.”  I knew I was a sinner, but I blocked this thought out of my mind and went on my merry way.

Yes, I knew I was a sinner, but I didn’t know how to remedy it. Religion only brought guilt, so I had stopped going to church a few years before, and my heart was hardened to spiritual things. My mother and father were very good parents and church-going Catholics, but they never discussed God with me or my siblings. However, on Valentines Day in 1974 something happened to change their lives forever.

Dad talked to me about Jesus and how God had healed him of arthritis and delivered him from smoking.  I was 24 years old and I had never before heard my father talk about God like this.  I knew something happened to change him and I noticed that he didn’t have the same bad temper as he did before. When he told me it was Jesus who changed his life, I was very skeptical because I didn’t want anything to do with religion. I had gone to church my whole life and I hated it…there was so much hypocrisy and it was just too boring. But my parents kept asking me to go to this new church with them where they received Jesus as their Lord and Savior, so finally I relented just to get them off my back and agreed to go.

On April 11, 1974, I attended a Thursday night interdenominational service with them. Everyone there seemed so happy, and the singing was so upbeat that I even joined in. The pastor gave a message about how we could know Jesus as Lord and Savior.  This Jesus he described sounded so different from the one I was taught about as a little girl.  I remember thinking to myself how confused I was, and that I didn’t understand any of this. Then the pastor asked everyone to stand, and they started singing a song that went like this:

“Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion He understood. All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful out of my life.”

It was as if God had just read my mind and said, “I know you are confused, and I understand.”  At that moment  I realized God was someone real and not someone up in the sky so very far away. He truly cared about me and He knew my every thought.

At the end of the song, while everyone was still standing, the pastor said, “If there is anyone who wants to know this Jesus we’re talking about, remain standing while everyone else sits down.” I did want to know this God who could read my mind. I reasoned that I tried everything else to make me happy and nothing worked, so maybe this was the answer. I stood there trembling, afraid to move while everyone except 2 or 3 others were seated.

At that point of surrender, I felt an enormous weight of sin lift off my shoulders.  Every emotion seemed to surface as I wept uncontrollably in repentance. I felt like my tears were washing away my many sins. I cried for almost an hour, and I knew I was being completely cleansed and forgiven.

That was the beginning of my new life in Christ, the day Jesus came in to take up residence in my heart. I became a new person that day. My sinful ways and thinking were replaced with a desire to love and obey God. That didn’t mean I became perfect and sinless, but it meant I had a new heart and I wanted to love and obey God. He has filled me with peace, joy and contentment, and has satisfied me all these years. I became a new person because of what God did on the inside of me.

“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)

Since that time God has done wondrous things in my life, including baptizing me in His Holy Spirit, healing me from a prescription drug addiction, instantaneously delivering me from smoking, healing me from an eating disorder, and many, many other works of God. Today I’m more in love with Jesus than ever before. Receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ was the best and most important decision I have ever made, and I give Him praise and glory for making something beautiful out of my life.

You can know God in this way too. Continue reading the scriptures below, and ask God to open your heart to receive His truth.

The Way to Know God

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” 1 Timothy 1:15

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you…By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. … that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

“He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven.” Ephesians 1:7

God… “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men… ” 1 Timothy 2:5-6

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” Acts 3:19

“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”  James 4:8

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” Acts 16:31

“…if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him…” Hebrews 7:25

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…” 2 Corinthians 5:18

“I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” John 1:12

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:” Romans 1:16

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalms 139:23-24

God says, “…No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow….” Isaiah 1:18

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalms 51:10

“…as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalms 103:12

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18-19

Prayer of Acceptance

Dear Lord Jesus, Today I make up my mind to follow You. I believe that you are God’s Son, and that You gave your life for me so I could be forgiven and be made right with God. I confess that I am a sinner and in need of Your forgiveness. Jesus, please come in and wash away my sins. Take control of my life. I give myself to You. Thank you for your forgiveness and for your great gift of salvation and everlasting life. Thank you for loving me and seeing potential in me even while I was a sinner. Thank you for making me part of your family. I receive You, Jesus, and I give You my life right now. In Your Name I pray. Amen.

If you have sincerely prayed this prayer, Christ has taken up residence in your heart through His Holy Spirit. He has written your name down in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and all the angels in Heaven are rejoicing.

God will start changing you from the inside out. When a seed is planted, it takes time to see the fruit. But it’s growing under the soil, out of sight. It’s the same with you. God’s seed is in you and it needs some watering. So water it by reading His Word–the Bible, and ask Him to reveal His truth to you. Then obey it. The best place to start reading is in the New Testament in the Gospel of John.

Have more questions? Go to The Truth About God.

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