Seeing God

Every year around this time I like to write out my testimony. It helps me reflect on how I came to know Jesus Christ and to think about the journey thus far. I always seem to learn more and more about myself and God reveals things each year that I didn’t see before. As I have matured in my faith, I have begun to see things that were there all along but never realized.
This year I came to understand just how much God has guided me through my life. Up until recently, I have thought about my life AFTER I became a Christian. All the ways God re-created me, the ways he taught me, the convictions and the love. I never really thought about the BEFORE part. That was my life before Christ, I have been so overwhelmed by the love I received through the cross that I didn’t look back until this year.
Maybe it was seeing my kids grow and reflecting back to my childhood, I don’t know. All I know is that I started seeing God more and more in my “before Christ” At first it was a little surprising. I would think about a memory and stop for a minute and have to re-think about it. I would think “hey wait a second, I didn’t see God there before?” It was as if my memories were a picture and I finally drew God into them, only he was there the whole time.
If you were to ask me at any point in my life, I would have to answer “yes, God is always with me”. I knew the answer since I was a child, but did I really believe it? I love the saying “Do you believe, what you believe, is really real.?”
I started to realize that God has had his hands on me from the moment he created me. All through the hard times, the alone times, the great times and the times I pushed him away. It wasn’t like one day I decided I needed him and he came walking into my life. He was there all the time just waiting for me to truly see him. He had a plan for me from the beginning, I just didn’t see it, or want it.
I remember the week I became a Christian. It is like the story in the Bible about Saul. It was as if the scales were being removed from my eyes and I saw my life, my God and the world for what it really was. I had never felt such peace and clarity. The universe aligned and I knew I had finally found what I was searching for. The truth.
For those that have accepted Jesus into your lives, you can understand this with such a grateful heart. You might have even taken the past few seconds to remember your personal walk with Christ. Whoever is reading this, if I could tell you one thing, it would be that Christ has a plan for your life. You were created for a purpose, an amazing purpose. There is a truth out there, and there is meaning to life. Christ was born into this world to testify to that truth and to die so that we may walk in it. It should have been me and you on that cross, not Jesus. As sinners, our hearts are corrupt, but we can be made new. Take this time to remember what your savior did for you. If you feel that you want to know Jesus, start praying. Ask for his forgivness and and for his guidance. You can also read the book of John in the Bible to help you understand fully your saviors love. May you all be filled with Christ’s spirit, light, life and love this Easter. More importantly, may we all go out and shine that light. The harvest is ripe.