Every Hour Since

You have never seen Him but you love Him. You cannot see Him now but you are putting your trust in Him. And you have joy so great that words cannot tell about it. (1 Peter 1:8)

Do you remember when you accepted Christ as the one and only Lord and Savior? Where were you in your life? What were the circumstances? Was it a small, still voice that spoke the truth to your heart? Or was it a significant event in your life - good or bad - that convinced you of the truth of Jesus? When you look back on that time, what feeling does it spark within you?

I love to hear the testimony of fellow Christians, don't you? I love hearing how the Holy Spirit infected the soul of an ordinary person and transformed him/her from the inside out. One need only encounter a committed Christian to be convinced of the presence and power of God in our world. We are all little miracles in God's kingdom, a direct reflection of His light. How amazing is that?

For me, Jesus became a part of my life on a June night as a young adult. A devastating event in my youth had sent me running from God, and I had all but collapsed under the weight of the godless life I had created for myself. I was tired of running, and so for the first time in over a decade, I spoke to God. I confessed, I screamed, I cried...Have you ever had a talk like that with God? I begged Him to take me back, to heal me and love me. I fell asleep in a pool of my own tears, soul-weary. I awoke to a violent thunderstorm in the night, followed by a morning so glorious, only a fellow Christian could understand without further explanation. Life has been, and always will be, a roller coaster ride, but that night, Jesus set up camp in me and He's never left. His tent was always ready to be pitched - I was just too afraid to open camp.

The disadvantage of finally accepting Jesus as a young adult is that I missed out on His abundance as a teenager. The advantage is that even now, I am finding riches within God's Word that I never knew before. As an adult who can perhaps appreciate it more than a youngster, I absolutely delight in discovering and pondering the unending supply of those riches. What a marvelous thing to hunger for God, and to be both filled by Him and made hungrier at the same time!

When I think back upon that June night, and when I hear the testimony of other believers, I am always reminded of the part of "Amazing Grace" that says, "How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed." How precious indeed! But my brother, a wonderful man and committed Christian, likes to add to that verse by saying, "And every hour since."

Indeed, accepting Jesus into your life is precious and indescribable. But for those who remain hungry for God, every hour since is just as precious. Praise God!