My Testimony

What do I mean when I say I am a Christian?

Scholars define a Christian as a follower or disciple of Jesus and His teachings; as someone who believes Jesus is the Christ or Messiah. Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary says this term was given by the Greeks or Romans, probably in reproach, to the followers of Jesus. It was first used at Antioch. The names by which the disciples were known among themselves were "brethren," "the faithful," "elect," "saints," or "believers." As a distinguishing term from the multitude without, the name "Christian" came into use a few years after Christ's death, and was universally accepted. This name occurs only three times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16).

My past church background could aptly be described as cafeteria style in nature, and my attendance as sporadic. I was raised in the Episcopal Church, but was not active; I was married in the Methodist Church, and I was saved (or had my divine appointment with God) in February 1978 while attending a Grace Brethren Church. My husband and I spent the next 7 years in a very small independent, fundamental, country church, where we were loved, discipled, and mentored. However, when our daughter turned 2 years old, we joined a local Presbyterian Church because of its comprehensive children's programs.

In February 1978 I had exploratory surgery for unexplained abdominal pain. My husband and I had just moved into an unfinished, newly constructed, almost barren house. We even had to remember what physical need we were satisfying to determine which bathroom to use. My extended family lived hundreds and thousands of miles away. I felt alone, deserted, and uncertain. I certainly did not feel deserving of being close to God on any level.

Being a Christian means I fully came to understand and know with my heart, mind, and soul that God loves me and created me to have a personal relationship with Him, and He provided the means for that reconciliation to occur. When God enlightened me in 1978, I realized I was a sinful human separated from a holy and righteous God by my inherited original sin. I was deserving of death for my sin (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23), but on a specific day, time, and place in February 1978, I yearned, actually I hungered in the depths of my being, to have a genuine and close relationship with the Lord.

God's word, the Bible, is referred to as a sharp, double-edged sword, and for me, it was. On that day of my divine appointment, I read a tract of the Gospel of John, given to me by friends while I was in the hospital. God literally removed blinders from my eyes as I read John 3. He specifically showed me that in His wonderful grace, or unmerited favor, He sent Jesus, (100% holy God), to become flesh, (100% man), to die a horrific death on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, so I could be forgiven, justified, and reconciled to Him (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 Peter 3:18). He was resurrected from the dead, and He ascended into heaven to sit exalted and crowned at the right hand of Almighty God, so I could be assured of eternal life in heaven (John 14:16; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6). Jesus called me through the Holy Spirit to repent of my sins, to confess them by aligning my thoughts with God's, and to totally trust Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord (Acts 3:19). He turned me away from my sin to Himself, and Christ came into my life with love and power. By His grace, through faith, (Ephesians 2:8-9), I trusted Him to completely forgive my sins (past, present, and future), allowing Him to be the Master of my life (John 5:24).

Being chosen by my Almighty, amazing God, flabbergasted me then, and awes me now. I am overwhelmingly thankful that in February 1978, I kneeled in an unfinished bedroom with tears flowing and a contrite spirit, and was literally flooded with God's grace. Jesus inundated my heart and my life with a complete awareness of who He is, and my lifelong relationship with Him began! I am compelled to be His ambassador of the Good News (John 17). I live with the promise He is preparing a room for me in heaven as my inheritance, and is coming back to take me there to be with Him (John 10:27-29). No one can snatch me out of the Father's hand!