When I became a teenager
The most important thing that ever happened in my life was when I came to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord of my life. This testimony is a brief account of that experience. A Christian influence began early in my life. My mother was a committed Christian and an active church member. She made sure that all of her children grew up in church. I participated in all church activities that were available for children. As best I can recall, I enjoyed that.
Somewhere around ten I made a profession of faith in Jesus and was baptized.
When I became a teenager, I began to pull away from church. This was not because I rebelled against it or didn't like it. It was that other things and other influences began to interest me. As I had enjoyed church things, I now began to enjoy worldly things.
After Carolyn and I married at an early age, we moved to Houston, Texas at the invitation of my brother. In those days my involvement in the ways of the world increased even though I didn't turn against God, nor did I forget my early training. I was doing what I wanted to do and that was not living for God.
We met a couple who were active Christians. They tried very hard to become friends and influence us into church. I was not interested. I was often rude to them in their efforts.
In the summer of 1960 my use of alcohol, my selfish pursuits of pleasure, my neglect of marriage and family, all reached a critical point. In the days of following a bad scene in a night club, I began to reflect on what I had become and where I was going. At the same time, the Christian couple I had tried to ignore asked two men from their church to visit me.
My response to the men was "Thanks, but I'm not interested." The next Sunday, I shocked my wife by saying, "Let's go to church." During that meeting I came under great conviction about having walked away from God and joined forces with the world's system. I knew within myself that I could not continue to take that position. I knew within myself that what I had been looking for in the world could be found only in a right relationship with God. That day I heard His call to me to come home. I agreed that it was the truth I needed. I surrendered. I, in the quietness of my innermost being, committed my life to Jesus Christ as Lord.
There was no thunder or lightening. There was no dramatic, overpowering experience. But when I walked out of that church building that day, I knew it was settled. The restlessness of my soul had been met by the peace of God.
Dramatic changes began to take place in my life. I plunged into church life with great enthusiasm. Old things had passed away. All things had become new. Oh, I wasn't made perfect overnight. No, that is a life long process. But I was changed within by the coming into my life of the Spirit of God Who began a good work in me that continues to this day. That moment in time experience of coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ has affected every area of my life. It became a sure foundation upon which I could, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, build a life that God purposed for me. Because of that, I know that God now makes all things, good or bad, work together for my good. I know where God brought me from. I know who I am in Christ. I know where I am going.
It is well with my soul. To God be the glory!
~James
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