Believer Or Not - Revisiting My Words

A statement I made in my last blog has been bothering me. 

Transparency-here it goes.

 I said I was a new believer in the seventies which is interesting.  Sometimes terminology is lost in translation. I had a friend look at me with a blank look. "Glad you found what you were looking for." There was a pause. "But, we went to church together -I thought..."

Saying I was a new believer gave the implication I hadn’t believed prior to the seventies. I pondered my choice of words….
New believer? Hmmm…Ever since I can remember, I’ve believed in God – the God of the universe, the Almighty God. I’ve always believed in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who was crucified, died, and rose again on the third day. I’ve always prayed, and believed He answered.  He was there and loved me.

So, what happened in the seventies?

I believed. But, somehow something was missing... I wanted to be closer to God, wanted a closer relationship, somehow.  I was longing for something, I just didn’t know what or how to get it.
I went to church more, prayed more, even thought I’d become a nun (that didn’t work out.)

Then, one evening I went for a walk.

It was a dark and lonely night. I was troubled, was searching, and was wondering about the purpose of it all.
I walked through the church yard, and a priest happened to be on his way to the rectory. He stopped and talked to me, and as we visited I talked to him about my troubled heart, “So, I go to school, get a degree, get married, have a family, have a career…then what? What does it all mean? Where does God fit in all this?” I wondered.

He said, “Have you ever given your life to God?”

No. I’d never been asked that question. How do I do that?
He said, “It’s simple. When you go home just pray and give your life to God.”

So I did. I answered the altar call in my heart. I lay on my bed, and cried out to God with all my heart. I told Him to take my life and do with it what He would. At that moment, I had peace like I’d never had.  God’s presence filled the room, filled my heart, and has never left.

Believer, and Christian…a Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ as Savior, Messiah. In Christian circles “believer” and Christian are used interchangeably. What was new wasn’t that I believed something different, but that I was new with His love and life in my heart. My understanding was new. My life with Jesus Christ as Lord of every part of my life, was new. Crying out to Him with my whole heart, giving Him full reign of my life, released Him to fill my life with His love.

When I went to the Jesus Rocky Mountain Music Festival, I was introduced to others who had the same desire. Keith Green touched on that spot in my heart.

Yes, I wanted to be more like Jesus. Yes, I wanted to be sold out to him.
Keith Green challenged my commitment to let God work in my life.
That night deepened my commitment.

In the Bible, Jeremish 29:13, it says, "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."

That, my friends, is the rest of the story.


Keith Green explains in his song, "Your Love Broke Through."