Hi, my name is Krista and I want to share how One Person truly changed me life. You may be surprised how long it took Him to find me.
Our world tells us to seize the day, live life to the fullest, find ourselves in what we love to do, look for the person who will complete us and give us the love we deserve. These messages are plastered everywhere from books, TV, social media, etc. I should know, I used to be a copywriter at an advertising agency. I quickly learned that to make more money at my job, I needed to write the best advertisement that would convince you, that you are truly not enough. And your life would not be complete without the item I am trying to sell you.
We all work so hard to find the purpose of our lives trying to create happiness. How do we do that? I will try to show you.
We run searching for things that we think will bring happiness day after day. Yet, we get frustrated by our efforts. We still feel something is missing, when we are alone, we feel brokenness. We think it must be me and that tomorrow will be better.
We then try to cover our sin with good deeds and positive thinking which are really just band aides, to appear to others we are good. All we are doing foolishly is attempting to cover our sin which does not escape God’s knowledge.
Yet, in the long run I began to see that this does not work very well, and the band aides eventually fall off. For me, I began to lose hope in life. This is a picture of my life without Jesus Christ.
Until one day, I ditched all my self-help books, my Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer’s messages that only gave me a false hope in a false gospel. I finally opened my Bible and read it. The band aids I wore God began to rip off me gradually reminding me again that these coverings were not working.
In the book of John, Chapter 11, I read about a man who died, his name was Lazarus. He was loved by a man named Jesus. Jesus was no ordinary man. He is the Son of God. I encourage you to read John 11: 1-27, 38-44 to see the power, mercy and love of Jesus Christ.
I was amazed, God showed me in the Bible because of sin I was spiritually dead. And because of sin, death came into the world. Yet, Jesus, fully God and fully man, sinless had the power to bring people back to life. People doubted and some mocked Jesus for His miracles, which sadly has not changed much today.
The more I read the Bible, God gave me the ability to understand. In the first book, Genesis, many of my questions about life were answered. Like, why is the world the way it is and why do all men feel so unsatisfied?
God has always spoken to us by His Holy Word but for some that still has not prompted them to want to read what God has to say and many others dare to reject Him.
I saw the answer—God created the world in 6 days, it was perfect. He created man and woman in His image whom He loved. Yet, Satan deceived Adam and Eve by telling them they can be like God. They took the bait and disobeyed God. Immediately, their sin brought shame, death, fear, broken relationships, and they were expelled from the garden.
Yet, in the same book, early on, God revealed His plan to send a Savior who will defeat Satan, our enemy, and death by sending His only Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of those who trust and believe in Him for forgiveness of sin and salvation. Jesus came to Earth to serve the Father by proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel and warning men to “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Only Jesus could take God’s full wrath for sin upon Himself. He was buried but after 3 days he rose from the dead and He is alive.
God is not quiet. He is still speaking today through the Bible.
He spoke to me on April 19, 2007. I was 30 years old when I finally surrendered to Him. And Jesus has raised me from the dead to life in Him. I was walking on a wide path towards death and hell. God’s grace was when He changed the direction I was blindly walking on and He put me on the narrow path that leads to eternal life.
Did I do this? NO!
But the first step for me was that I recognized I am a sinner and only by God’s grace through faith in Jesus can I be forgiven for my sin. By reading the Bible, I saw my heart was wicked. God also used a stranger on the street who gave me a gospel tract which awakened me to what sin was and that there is a real place called Hell.
We are all born as enemies to God who love sin. Only believing and trusting in Jesus Christ can you become His friend, His Son or Daughter. By His blood, you can be cleansed, forgiven from sin. How long will you wait?
If I had to pick one song that captures how Christ changed my heart and life, I would choose Jeremy Camp’s song “Dead Man Walking.” Listen below: