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Linda Kelly--
Linda was baptized at Hope on October 3rd!
My story is simple. Due to unbelief and ignorance, I've lived most of my life without God. Last year, I changed my mind. This year, I changed my heart. Today, I come before you to invite change in the character and destination of my soul as I accept God's astonishing gift of salvation.
My journey has not been simple. The twists and turns of my life's path forged a hardcore rejection of all things religious. My brief introduction to faith during childhood was all about religion not relationships. It didn't appeal, it didn't provide, and it didn't stick. The threads that wove my atheism were spun on many wheels, and over time, I developed a perfect pattern for a Godless life. I avoided faith with pride, ignorance, mistrust, anger, and most of all, a failure of imagination.
The threads began to unravel four years ago. I was happily heading to the "time to coast" phase of my life when a combination of unexpected job and medical issues disrupted my plans. Simultaneously, my doctor casually remarked one day, "God has more work for you to do!" It was a courageous remark requiring trust. That got my attention. The comment haunted me, played over and over in my mind, stirred my imagination, then my curiosity, then my desire. Through His Messenger, God was calling, and I was listening. After two more years of internal wrangling I concluded, God does indeed exist. Eventually I told my family, then my doctor who immediately brought up Jesus. Geez!. So I started the process again, this time adding to the mix Hope Church with its amazing Blake and his humble sidekick.
I searched, I studied, I read, I asked, I thought, I felt, I examined, and I prayed. Slowly I chipped away at my ignorance and discovered the most beautiful world! It was like a Texas evening turquoise sky and the sudden light in an infant's face when hearing his mother's voice, and the way snow makes everything it touches equal. In other words, beauty, love, and all those other experiences that use to disturb me with the nagging feeling that there must be more began to make sense. And as I grew closer to knowing Jesus, I realized that something else had been preparing me for this day - my marriage. For years my husband gave me hints of God's immeasurable gifts of grace and mercy when I received repeated undeserved forgiveness, when I was repeatedly loved in spite of how unlovable I could make myself.
I have much more to learn and much more to change, but I need go no further to know that today I am ready to say YES!
YES to God who wanted me back after decades of rejection.
YES to God's offer of freedom from the ugly and hurtful consequences of my sins.
YES to God who paid a heart wrenching price for the future pleasure of my company.
YES to God's promise of eternal faithfulness, eternal love and eternal life.
YES to the Lord Jesus' invitation to walk with him into the presence of God.
YES to Christ Jesus' offer to dwell in me, comforting, inspiring, healing, and sustaining me when I reach my limits.
YES to Christ's insistence that I bless those who will laugh at me, lie to me, cheat, and hurt me.
Now I live with hope and purpose. Hope that I can become the person I always wanted to be. Hope that through an increasingly intimate relationship with Christ, I will in turn be comforting, inspiring, healing, and sustaining when others reach their limits. Hope that someday through me the Lord's light will shine and I can add my measure to the honor and glory of God.
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