Sunday's thoughts

Let me walk with You, dear Savior,

Side by side and hand in hand;

Keep me clean and pure and faithful

Till I reach the heavenly land - Hess

Sunday, what better day to share two life changing events. Both these events are somewhat related and have to do with my Faith and my walk with Jesus. Yes, I am a Christian and have been all my life. I am not sure at what age I accepted Jesus as my Savior, probably during one of my Sunday School Classes that I attended as a child. Like most Christians, I went to church off and on, cried out to God in prayer when things went wrong and out of my control, and occasionally read the Bible. I tried to raise my kids with Christian values and when convenient took them to church. This practice would all change after we moved to "the farm".

The first event really began with Jim. He was asked by a long time male friend to attend a bible study class. I too was asked by this friend's wife, but I was dragging my feet. After the first session, Jim came home and told me he was going to begin this Bible Study Program, a seven year commitment. I thought, heck, if he was going to make that kind of commitment, perhaps I should too.

Let me digress a minute, Jim was not the spiritual leader in our home and even though he believed in Jesus and was a Christian, he rarely went to church and even more rarely read his bible. So this was huge for him.

Four years later, we both are committed, active members of Bible Study Fellowship International. This was one of the best decisions we have made in our lives. Through this Bible Study, we both have grown in our spiritual walk and for the first time in my life, I am realizing just what it means to say, "I am a Christian". My day does not begin without asking God to direct my path for that day. In addition, a portion of my day is now spent in prayer and reading the scriptures for guidance. Jesus is my Rock. One of my favorite verses is: The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him. Nahum 1:7 He truly does care and has blessed us over and over.

It was through this daily reading of the scriptures that Jim and I realized the importance of attending a church on a regularly bases. It was our desire to find one locally so we could take an active role and meet some new Christian friends in our small little community.

We knew we wanted to find a Church that taught word for word from the bible, so the search began. Our little town has over eight churches, so the decision as to which one to try first was a hard one. Many Sundays when I drove into town, I kept seeing this yellow sign along the side of the road. I told Jim how about trying the church with the yellow sign.

The second life changing event was the Sunday we went to the church with the yellow sign. From the first time we stepped foot in the doors, we felt so welcome and knew we had found the perfect church for us. It has been over two years now and we feel so blessed that the Lord directed our path to that church with the yellow sign. We now attend church on a weekly bases, both are active in the women's and men's fellowships and Jim was recently asked to be an Elder. Neither one of us can imagine our lives without Christ in the center.