|
Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me!
by Sarah Thomas Sitting on my study table, with books all piled up haphazardly, I was trying hard to get some things across my mind. I struggled like it was the ultimate test of my lifetime and if I didn't do well I would be doomed forever. Sounds funny to me now because I was just 13 then and all I wanted to do was excel and even the smallest tests in class seemed like the biggest milestones I had to overcome. It was fear that tormented me. Fear of losing, fear of dejection and humiliation that tortured my little mind. On 7th of April, 2002, while I sit troubled, unable to recollect my silly answers, I felt a wave of something move within me. I had a deep longing urge to kneel down beside my table and pray. I did just that. All I remember is I wept and wept for a reason unknown. I knew it was not because I didn't finish my portions to study. But, it was different, it was amazing.! I felt peace flowing through me. Nothing of the world seemed important or essential to me. I loved the moment and wished I could just be there forever. I was in a world not my own.in a land of another time which I wouldn't want to let go. I just wanted to cling on and enjoy the beauty of the magnificent presence of the Master. I knew it was an unusual happening and I figured out something tremendous was happening within. I was quite and still the rest of the day and I waited impatiently for the time I could go to bed and be alone in my room away from everybody else at home. My mum put me to sleep and I very much pretended to be fast asleep so that she would leave me alone. I knew I couldn't dose off before I met Him and conversed with Him once again. I had a passion that I have for nothing else in life.. A craze to just be alone with Him once again and experience that awesome charisma. I sat up on my bed and whispered " What is happening to me Lord?" And there again I was surrounded by heavy presence and I all I could do is weep bitterly and my heart poured out praises to Him all night long. There wasn't a human mediator with me then, but the beautiful Holy Spirit was right there with me and He made me say the sinner's prayer and I confessed as the Lord brought to my understanding all the times I had fallen short. As the lines of the old song go "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now I see." Slept like a baby that night and from the next morning my life was never the same. He was with me every minute. I could sense Him in every move. I noticed a drastic transformation in me. All the things that I held dear in the past, seemed worthless and useless to me. I never had an inclination to go back ..never a desire to run back to those old days of slavery to the world and its pleasures. Nothing and absolutely nothing can compare to the joy I have received. He has given me the assurance of safety and an everlasting life, a life of joy and contentment. "The Lord has promised good to me. His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be, As long as life endures" We were traditional Christians and always made it a point to go to church every Sunday. But sadly we were not aware of the saving grace of the Master. We were ignorant of a born again experience and never valued it when other believers talked about it. We considered it as something trivial and ridiculed them. We soon realized our folly. That very evening as I stood in the kitchen with my mother, the Lord put words into my mouth and I told my mother that it was necessary for every Christian to accept Jesus as his Lord and savior. She wept with me and we knelt down and prayed. It was no doubt a miracle. He saved my family. We live for the Lord now and this is the most blessed gift we have been gifted with. Oh the joy of knowing Him! "T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear The hour I first believed Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now I see." John 3:16(NKJV) "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" Sarah Thomas([email protected]) Student Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |