This Is What Happened 56 Years Ago Today!

“Exciting” just didn’t express fully how I felt dating Larry as we graduated from high school and began attending college. We’d been enjoying each other’s company for about ten months and when the subject of our different churches came up, it seemed simple enough: “let’s visit each other’s church so that we can get to know each other better.” Sounded great to me. 

Larry came to my church that Sunday and I was thrilled to show him off to my church friends. I looked forward to visiting his church the next Sunday and when we walked into his church, everyone seemed friendly. But during the service, I felt stirred by the obvious close relationship these people seemed to have with God.

They somehow referred to Him with more familiarity than the people at my church. I was intrigued, especially when someone mentioned being “born again.” I’d never heard that phrase before. Fascinating! 

Fascinating, yes, but I also felt disturbed. “I’m already a Christian,” I comforted myself. “After all, I go to church every Sunday and I was born in America, a Christian nation. That makes me a Christian, doesn’t it?” It seemed like a war was being waged in my mind and I didn’t know who I was fighting. Looking back now, I should have realized that if being born in a Christian nation made you a Christian, then if I’d been born in a garage, that would make me a car. It didn’t make sense and for the next seven days, all I could think about was, “I wonder whether I really am a Christian?”

“Of course, I am,” I argued but I knew I didn’t have a close relationship with Jesus Christ. 

The next Saturday evening, Larry and I went with his church’s youth group to a Billy Graham film called “For Pete’s Sake.” Watching that movie made me reflect even more on how I really wanted a personal relationship with Christ—the theme of the movie. At the end of the film, the audience was invited to go forward to hear more about asking Jesus into their lives. 

“I’ve never done that,” I mused. But I looked over at Larry and he wasn’t going forward. What would he think if I did? I couldn’t risk losing him as my boyfriend. But all I could think was, “I wonder whether I really am a Christian after all.”

That thought continued to haunt me as I returned to Larry’s church the next morning and sat through the service. At the end of the sermon, the pastor said, “Please bow your heads and close your eyes.”

I obediently did and then heard him say, “Is there anyone here who’s wondering whether they really are a Christian?”

My heart started pounding hard. “Oh my!” I almost gasped. “That’s what I’ve been thinking all week. How did he know?”

I gulped down my nervousness. “Oh, I know! Larry must have told him.” But I realized with a start that I hadn’t told Larry my thoughts.

In the quiet of the moment, I suddenly thought, “God is trying to get my attention. I need to ask Jesus into my heart—but I don’t know how.”

Since the pastor was talking about me, I raised my hand suddenly without really thinking. Then I looked up at my hand. “Wait a minute, I don’t do crazy things like this!” I quickly pulled down my hand and tried to disappear into the seat.

The pastor didn’t say anything else, but within seconds of closing the service, he was standing at the end of my row as Larry and I moved out of the pew and said, “Hi there! I’m Pastor Folden. You’re new here, right?”

I smiled but felt my face burn in embarrassment.

Pastor Folden replied, “I’d like to introduce you to our youth pastor, Wes Anderson. He can answer the questions you have about what I asked.”

I wanted to slide right under the pew. I wanted to murmur, “Oh, you saw my hand? Well, it was nothing” and slip away. But the man he introduced as Wes, shook my hand and motioned for Larry and I to follow him. I was caught! And Larry was going to be in on it. How embarrassing!

But it didn’t turn out to be embarrassing at all. Wes explained how Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that I could know for sure I was a Christian by asking Jesus to come into my heart. And incredibly, Larry said that he had already done that years earlier. 

Within fifteen minutes, Wes had answered my questions and I took a deep breath. “Yes, I do want to receive Christ as my Lord and Savior,” I said softly. As Wes prayed, I repeated his words out loud telling God I was a sinner and that I needed His forgiveness. And I asked Jesus who died on the cross for me to come into my heart and life and be my Savior and Master.

As I finished, I had to brush away tears from my cheeks and I shyly looked up, wondering if Larry would be laughing at me. But he wasn’t. He was grinning so broadly that I thought his cheeks would break and he gave me a big hug. 

I didn’t feel any different in my heart—other than crying—and I wondered if anything had really happened, but over the next days and weeks, I knew something very significant had happened. I looked at everything different and I no longer had that void-kind-of feeling in my heart, as if I was missing something. I’d found it! God was in my life for real and I never had to wonder again, “Am I really a Christian?”

Today as I post this, October 1st, 2023, I rejoice in reflecting on what God did 56 years ago–October 1st, 1967. I never could have imagined what the journey would be over these many years. I praise God for saving me, loving me, sanctifying me, and faithfully teaching me. I’m grateful for sustaining Larry and I in our 53 years of marriage.

What about you? Have you made that commitment to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Lord, and God as your Savior and Lord? He loves you and sent Jesus to die on the cross for your sins. Talk to Him in prayer, confessing your need for forgiveness and cleansing. Ask Him to be your Lord–the Master of your life.

Please let me know if you have any questions about salvation or you prayed to receive Christ. I will rejoice with you!