Who is your greatest inspiration and why?
The Lord Jesus Christ
I grew up believing that God created the world and sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. But I had no idea Jesus could, and would, live inside my heart. My Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to me at a luncheon over forty years ago.
Way back then, while my husband was in the hospital following a Thanksgiving fall off our roof, I picked up a paperback New Testament in the waiting room and read God’s Word. I don’t remember anything specific but it’s the only thing that held my attention.
Several months later, I found myself wondering why I wasn’t happy. Bill walked and worked on the new house again. We had two wonderful children and were preparing to move to the country. I’d tried various craft classes and hobbies and alcohol. Nothing fulfilled, there was always something missing. I finally accepted an invitation to a Christian luncheon in April.
That day my eyes were opened to the fact that Jesus is what, rather Who, I missed in my life. I don’t remember the speaker’s name or her testimony. But she quoted Bible verses that hit my spirit. I admitted my sin, that I believed and needed Jesus. I was born again.
Life didn’t turn perfect, but I had a different outlook because I knew I wasn’t alone; that God had a plan for what touched my life. Hungry for the Word, we changed churches and participated in Bible studies. Soon, I was leading a study for women neighboring our acreage.
God’s Word is so rich. I’ve heard it referred to as living. How true that is. Many passages are familiar to me, yet my eyes and heart and senses are opened up to new ways of growing closer to Jesus.
I try to thank the Lord every day for my husband. He loves me, and I know it. I’m not an easy person to live with. I am a grump first thing in the morning, I’m set in my ways, I talk before I engage my brain, I interrupt, I snore. Thank the Lord my kids have never told me what they don’t like about me.
God saved us all. I love Psalm 139, and often point my characters to that chapter. No one knows me the way the Lord does, because He made me. And He knows and made you as well. Not one of us is perfect. The Lord Jesus Christ shows us all grace and we should pass that grace forward.
