FEC - a member's testimony
If a place in heaven
could be earned by family connections then I would have had one
reserved for me
a long time ago! Grandfather - a pioneer
missionary in India in the early 1900’s; father and brother - Methodist
preachers; sister
- a Christian worker in the Middle East.
Surely
I must be a Christian too, or so I thought.
<>I was 18 years old
before I realised it isn't who you know on earth, but Who you are known
by in
Heaven that counts. My regular Church
attendance gave me a good knowledge of Bible stories, but it was not
until I
joined a small Bible study group that I realised that I was not
actually a
Christian. These young people had a
personal relationship with God and it showed when they prayed and read
the Bible. Their prayers were
conversations with a Holy,
loving heavenly Father, and they read the Bible accepting it as God’s
word and
expecting Him to speak to them through it.
<> This was
something I had not met before in all
my years of Churchgoing. I knew the facts about the life, death and
resurrection
of Jesus Christ, but had not seen that He had died for MY sins. I deserved to die, but Jesus took my
punishment. Once my eyes were opened I asked God to forgive me – and He
did! How different the Bible stories now
looked.
Good Friday was no longer a day to feel miserable because Jesus was
dead, and
Easter Sunday a celebration with chocolate eggs! Easter
was a time to remember with
thankfulness that Jesus died in my place and I did not need to fear the
wrath
of God for my sin.
That was over thirty
years ago and the Lord has become more precious over the years. In times of great sadness as well as in my
joys I have known His tenderness and forgiveness, and I look forward to
spending eternity with Him too.
Sue Richards
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Sue Richards
