As an extension of today’s scripture (Ephesians 2:1-10), I decided to release this blog. I’m still here is a testimony of faith and trust in the Lord. It’s been 20 years since I gave my life to Christ and there has been no better decision I have ever made for myself. Over the past 20 years I have grown in Christ to a place where I can now administered this blog and be a proud musician for the Lord. Three instances in my life form the foundation of my faith and trust in God. One was a brush with death and two were instances of healing.
Dictionary.com defines faith as, “confidence or trust in a person or thing”. The cornerstone of Christian faith is found in this scripture, “[N]ow faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (New International Version, Hebrews 11:1). Believing that Christ died for my sins and accepting Him as my Lord and Savior is based solely on what I cannot see. I didn’t see Him die on the cross but I have faith that He did and I have confidence that the scriptures are true. This is a concept that many cannot not accept. It takes a strong belief to believe something that you cannot see.
The first foundation of my faith came when I was stationed in California as a young airman in the military. Me and a friend of mine were driving from San Francisco back to Travis AFB. It was about two in the morning and my friend was driving. Admittedly, we both had to much to drink that night and we both fell asleep. I woke up first and he woke up just after me; in time to pull the car back on the road, just inches from striking the railing. When I say “just inches”, I do mean just that…inches. That night God was watching over us. I don’t know if it was because someone was praying for me or him; but someone was praying for one of us and our lives were spared.
This instance remains foremost in memory and when my faith is questioned by others this one instance provides the “why” in the “why I believe that Jesus died for my sins.” No one could have protected that car from hitting the railing and who knows how many other near brushes with death I survived and didn’t know about. Only God can and only God did.
Two other instances of God’s intervention in my life came later. In 2000, I was getting ready to retire from the Air Force. The ophthalmologist felt I needed to have surgery on both my eyes to help relieve the pressure in them. This is a medical condition referred to has Glaucoma. Of course I prayed and asked others close to me to pray. I underwent the first surgery in my left eye and everything went as the doctor expected. He told me to come back in two weeks for a check, then in two more weeks for another check up. The results of the story is that twelve years later I am still waiting for the second surgery!
The doctor was amazed that after surgery in only one of my eyes that neither eye has required surgery since. He may have been amazed but I knew that it was God’s healing hand that kept the need for the second surgery at bay. Doctors are workers in which God performs his miracles through. You should always go to the doctor when something ails you because God anoints their hands to do His will. A doctor played a role in the next instance of God power in my life.
After marrying my beautiful wife, the doctor told me that I could not have a child. My wife’s faith never wavered. It was so strong that it carried me. In December of 2004, our faith was rewarded as we found out that my wife was pregnant. Referring back to Hebrews 11:1, we both had confidence in what we hoped for and we constantly assured ourselves in what we could not see. My wife carried us after I was told the news. When I saw her and her faith, I wanted it too. Together our faith became strong.
Now at 50 I look back in my life and I know that there is no other place for me than with the Lord. I am reminded of a recent song that says it all for me. The lyrics go something like this: “I’ve been changed, Healed, Freed, Delivered. I’ve found joy, Peace, Grace, And favor…o we say, I won’t go back, can’t go back, to the way it used to be…”
William McDowell’s “I Won’t Go Back” is my new number one song because it speaks exactly what I feel. I can never see myself going back to the world. I can’t go back to the world! Thank you Lord for always being a part of my life, watching over me, protecting me, and loving me.
Have a blessed day!
