1-36pm
12054 days including 9 extra days for leap years = 33 years today!!!
That’s how long ago I came to faith in Christ! It was difficult for me today to remove the smile from my face and suppress the joyous song in my heart! Oh the grace of God! His hand upon my life. His loving mercy. His immense patience. All of this comes to mind when I think of Tuesday 17th July 1979. Even now I have to keep blinking away the tears that fill my eyes in gratitude to Mighty God who loves me and cares for me so.
It was an ordinary day, that Tuesday. I’m not sure what I did in it. I just know that my thoughts were taken up with a problem I had encountered the Friday before. I had been to a youth group and had been asked directly if I was ready to die. I thought it was a stupid question. Which 14 year old is ‘ready to die?’ But I was in an awkward situation because I was in a small group of 5 people. The guy who was asking, I had a bit of a crush on, so I didn’t want to give the wrong answer here! I decided to go with the ‘right’ answer and say ‘yes, I was ready to die.’ That was what they wanted to hear. Dave, the dishy leader, looked at me closely for a moment or two and then nodded and said, ‘that’s good.’ It was the right answer, but it wasn’t the right answer for me. It was a lie. I knew what they meant by asking if I was ready to die. I knew that by taking a step of faith and asking God to take over your life, you leap from uncertainty about your eternal future to a glorious knowledge that life will not end with your final breath.
That was my dilemma. I had lied. I knew I wasn’t ready to die. Now what was I to do? I had a couple of options. I could phone Dishy Dave and tell him I had lied. Being a chess player, I always looked at the next move. I imagined us chatting. I would have one on one time with him 😉 But then I would have to admit my dishonesty and that would be humiliating. No! I couldn’t phone Dave. I could just bury the whole thing ‘under the carpet.’ Forget about it. Push it to the back of my mind. No, I couldn’t do that either. It was going to come back. The only thing I could do was to make good on my lie. To make my lie, the truth. To give my heart to Jesus Christ. To ask Him to forgive me and take over my young life. To invite Him in. All the things I’d heard about to do. THAT was what I would do. So, in the quietness of my bedroom on the evening of 17th July 1979, I did just that!
What a relief!! My lie was now truth! I was ready to die! I didn’t want to die, but I knew I was ready! And I’ve been ready ever since… 12 054 days of readiness! Thank you Jesus! I owe it all to you!
Romans 10:9-10 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
It has been a glorious day…
Chilling on the CCFm balcony! (What the photo DOESN’T tell you is that the seat was wet and I walked around with a damp bottom for the next couple of hours!) 
Glad you think it’s funny!
On the way home, I followed this classic car…it really looked like it had arrived out of the 60s…an old Valiant, complete with 5 youngsters, including one skinhead, 2 beanies and a couple of girls and of course, 4 surfboards securely strapped to the roof…
Love it! So cool!
Ha ha! How times have changed!
Enjoy this beautiful sunny weather!
God bless you richly!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂