Saved into Christ's Life, L.T.

I am the daughter of disillusioned Protestants--themselves the children of nominal Christians. I was raised by my parents in the Unitarian Church, which they chose for its liberalism and lack of dogma. My upbinging was steeped in secular humanism, materialism, and deep-rooted unbelief.

As a young adult in my twenties, I began to seek desperately to satisfy my inner yearning for what I could only describe at that time as “enlightenment”. This hunger led me down many paths, all of them “broken cisterns”(Jeremiah 2:13). I was open to many things, but not at all to Christians who, in my view, were superficial, simple-minded, and superstitious. Even despite a dramatic incident in which some dear Christians met my need when I was stranded cold and alone on the highway in the middle of a blizzard, I remained cold to the gospel.

Finally, after I married and had my first child, the Lord led me to meet some of the brothers and sisters in the local churches. This encounter sovereignly coincided with a set of events in which I was blindsided by my sinful nature, and began a deep turn to the Lord from within.

The brothers and sisters I met were not like any other people (even other Christians) I had ever encountered. They didn't speak much to me concerning their practices, or even the gospel, but extended a kind of genuine, unfeigned hospitality I had never before experienced. I had developed a deep suspicion of Christians, ingrained from my background, but that seemed to melt away in the homes of these dear ones. Furthermore, when I left my visits with them, I had the experience of light reaching into my being - softening me and warming me up. Soon, in private, I began to read the gospel of Matthew, and the day broke. I knew I believed, yet I could not even admit it to myself-still the notion of my ever becoming a “crazy Christian” seemed impossible. Eventually, I attended my first real church meeting, and that day I was baptized. My salvation was confirmed! Today, fourteen years later, the local church is still my home, and will always be. The light is shining, the life of Christ is prevailing, and love flows in His Body. Christ is my life!