Jesus Saves

JESUS SAVES was one of four choices of subjects to blog about in the Proverbs 31 Made To Crave online Bible study. I chose this one to begin with because it's the real beginning, in my opinion.

To give you a little background: I grew up without my father, my mother having left him when I was 3 years old because he was a mean alcoholic who beat her. I don't remember all of the chaos from before we left him, my siblings do. The chaos afterwards, I remember. Kids who are raised in painful situations tend to carry some scars. So, we have some stories to tell, but not right now. :)

My siblings and I would catch the Salvation Army bus on Sunday mornings and attend, Mama had to work. But, we didn't go to hear about God!! We went because everyone was given a key when we entered the church. Later, we would go by rows up to the treasure chest and see if our key was the one that unlocked it. One day mine did! The treasure box was full of men's shaving supplies. LOL Just what an 8 year old girl wants. Anyway, it was fun, but I didn't learn a thing about salvation.

In our 'village' a sweet older woman had a Bible study every Saturday. We'd go to her little apartment, listen to her tell a story, get a piece of candy and try to memorize verses. I memorized the whole 23rd Psalm and received a beautiful white zipper Bible. I was so thrilled with that Bible! But, I still never heard about salvation.

Later in the same complex, a little church opened up in one of the apartments. I went every single Sunday, I could walk to it and was happy as I could be to go. I'd encourage my little friends to come along. The folks running the little church called me 'Old Faithful'. A smile still slides up my face when I think about that. :) But, I still didn't learn about salvation.

When I was 17 years old, Mama and I lived in a little house she'd bought while working at Jack's Cookie Company and then for Southern Bell. My siblings had all grown up and moved out. My oldest sister, Judy, called one day and told me that she and her husband, William, had been saved.

"Saved", I said, "What happened?!" My mind had a picture of the two of them standing in a road with a semi truck barreling toward them when someone pushed them out of the way and 'saved' them!! :) LOL She tried to explain to me and told me their pastor would come see us. So, within the week, Mama and I had a visit from Judy's pastor. He explained to us that Jesus was the Son of God, perfect in every way. That Jesus had come to Earth and lived among us and had been crucified on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He had died and been buried and rose again and was now in Heaven with His Father, God. To be 'saved' we only had to repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Savior. When we were asked if we wanted to do that, Mama and I both said, 'yes' and so right there in that tiny living room, we kneeled and asked God to save us. He did. My life did change after that. I did better in school, my attitude improved, and I really wanted to become a missionary.

Well, life didn't turn out that way for me, I made some dumb choices later...and I learned over time...that part of salvation is really following Jesus. It's not just a prayer, it's turning your life over to Jesus. I'm 62 years old now and have been married for 40 years. We have 4 children, 12 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild who is now 2 months old. We are very blessed! Though I didn't become a full time missionary, I go on short term mission trips and work on the Mission Committee and in the Deaf Ministry in our church. Even at this age, I'm learning more and more about the greatness of God and I desire to be closer to Him. There's so much to learn.

I look forward to this journey of weight loss and closer fellowship with God together with you!
Blessings!!