M.J. sang about it, although it was about a girl and not God... which is strange based on the media stories about him, anyways; many people remember the date or the day they fell in love with God, and called themselves a "believer!" I don't. I can't remember the day or the date, I've just always known that I was His, and Jesus did it all for me, so now I must do likewise. I do "remember the time" when I knew, and this picture is from that time.
I used to be envious (I know, I know, shame on me,) of the folks who knew the exact date and what they were doing or whom they were with when they chose to believe in what Jesus says, and does. Maybe I wanted that experience of conversion. I don't know. In prayer this morning, I was thanking God for all He's given me that I get to share, and I remembered the time.
It was early April and everything was coming to life again; as much as can come to life in April in Buffalo. I was in second grade and going through the process of "first communion" in the church and school I attended. To receive this you had to understand who Jesus was, why He died for us, and you must have made a choice to believe before you could partake in this sacrament.
After teaching elementary school for some time, I think around second grade you begin to understand more about the world around you as you begin a years-long learning maturation. At that time, in the church our family attended I remember being taught all the terribly wonderful stories and lessons from the Bible. Thanks Dad and Mom, and Sister Eileen. I understood them, and I believed. Thanks Holy Spirit. I must have also grasped the overjoyed seriousness that a true-believer in Jesus must have throughout their life, hence the look in the photo.
We are most often overjoyed and thankful at what God has done for us. Yet we seriously must continue in our prayers (and actions) to thank and ask that He also do it for others too. (side thought: Evangelizing in someone's face isn't necessarily effective, but it might make you feel good.) Because of what I now know to be true, I am no longer envious of another story of a day someone remembers being saved because of Jesus. I lean toward thankfulness. And, although I haven't always remembered, deserved, earned, or lived accordingly, I have thankfully had a glorious life with Him. I now pray daily for others, and I thank God because He helps me remember the time. Do you remember?
