I recently received an order from a new customer. It turned out that we had some things in common. He is nearly the same age as my mother, and attended the same university that she did. More importantly, he is another person rescued by Jesus! Here is the story (names have been changed). -- Daniel
Daniel,
I got the bulbs and everything was in good order -- thanks again.
It is truly a small world
I've attached a close up shot from the 1966 Cactus of the Alpha Phi
Tau, Professional Medical Technology Fraternity. Would your mom be pictured in the middle of this crop?
In regard to my conversion, I'm sorry to say that I have not written it down, but you have reminded me that I need to so that others could be blessed by it. It a pretty long story, so I'll give you the short version.
I was raised Catholic in San Antonio , TX , and while I was schooled in the Catholic School System I never had a relationship with Jesus -- I don't know many Catholics that I believe did. I grew up fairly rebellious, and it is only by God's grace that I did not end up dead or in prison. I married very young (20) and had two daughters from that marriage, which was a difficult one that lasted 13 Yrs. I then began a life of broken relationships and two more failed marriages. Meanwhile God was working in the heart of my oldest daughter, Hope, who also had a pretty wild teenage period -- ultimately, she came to know Christ as her Lord. She tried lovingly to witness to me over the years, but I just didn't get it, nor saw my need for salvation. Later, my other daughter, Gwen, also came to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
I met my wife, Ruth, in the late '80's and we were married in '93 -- both of us were living very worldly lives. Ruth has two sons from her first marriage, Dallas and Frederick. Ultimately, our marriage became very difficult and my relationship with the boys was very contentious. In June of 1998 our marriage had reached a very low point, and I made the decision to file for divorce after a very angry argument one morning. Then that 'little voice' told me to call my daughter Hope to tell her what was going on. Hope told me again of my need for Christ, and assured me that if I continued on the same path I would continue to return to the same painful point in my life. She asked if she could pray for me over the phone and I agreed. I don't remember what she said, but I know that it was a sincere plea to the Lord, and I remember telling Jesus, "If you are really there, take control of my life, because I don't want control of it any longer!"
After our phone conversation, I headed in to work, but as I was going to the office and after I arrived, the Holy Spirit was at work convicting me of my selfishness -- I realized that I had lived my entire life centered on myself. I had a burning need to get back home to apologize to our youngest son, Frederick, for being such a selfish jerk! I told my boss I needed the day off, and returned home. On the way home, I stopped behind an old pickup truck with a camper shell on it with this message painted across the back, "Jesus is coming!" For the first time in my life, I saw that message as the greatest news I had ever heard -- and it was at that moment that I knew, without any doubt, that my eternal salvation was a finished work.
Since then, God has healed my marriage to Ruth -- which was at a very fragile point. All of her defenses were up, and she did not know what to make of my conversion -- I think at first she thought I was just making it up. I told her that I was not going anywhere, and that I know that God intended for us to be married -- otherwise He would not have intervened when He did Ruth had been baptized and had professed faith in Christ some years before I met
her, but she had fallen away from her faith. My conversion was what she needed
to restore her desire to follow Christ.
Today we have nine godly grandchildren from my two daughters ( Dallas is married, but no children yet, and Frederick is engaged), and my relationship with both Dallas and Frederick has been healed and continues to grow.
That's about it, although there are many truly miraculous details I've had to leave out -- maybe I'll get a chance to share those some day.
God Bless,
Mr. G
 |
| Yep, that's her! |
I got the bulbs and everything was in good order -- thanks again.
It is truly a small world
I've attached a close up shot from the 1966 Cactus of the Alpha Phi
Tau, Professional Medical Technology Fraternity. Would your mom be pictured in the middle of this crop?In regard to my conversion, I'm sorry to say that I have not written it down, but you have reminded me that I need to so that others could be blessed by it. It a pretty long story, so I'll give you the short version.
I was raised Catholic in San Antonio , TX , and while I was schooled in the Catholic School System I never had a relationship with Jesus -- I don't know many Catholics that I believe did. I grew up fairly rebellious, and it is only by God's grace that I did not end up dead or in prison. I married very young (20) and had two daughters from that marriage, which was a difficult one that lasted 13 Yrs. I then began a life of broken relationships and two more failed marriages. Meanwhile God was working in the heart of my oldest daughter, Hope, who also had a pretty wild teenage period -- ultimately, she came to know Christ as her Lord. She tried lovingly to witness to me over the years, but I just didn't get it, nor saw my need for salvation. Later, my other daughter, Gwen, also came to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
I met my wife, Ruth, in the late '80's and we were married in '93 -- both of us were living very worldly lives. Ruth has two sons from her first marriage, Dallas and Frederick. Ultimately, our marriage became very difficult and my relationship with the boys was very contentious. In June of 1998 our marriage had reached a very low point, and I made the decision to file for divorce after a very angry argument one morning. Then that 'little voice' told me to call my daughter Hope to tell her what was going on. Hope told me again of my need for Christ, and assured me that if I continued on the same path I would continue to return to the same painful point in my life. She asked if she could pray for me over the phone and I agreed. I don't remember what she said, but I know that it was a sincere plea to the Lord, and I remember telling Jesus, "If you are really there, take control of my life, because I don't want control of it any longer!"
After our phone conversation, I headed in to work, but as I was going to the office and after I arrived, the Holy Spirit was at work convicting me of my selfishness -- I realized that I had lived my entire life centered on myself. I had a burning need to get back home to apologize to our youngest son, Frederick, for being such a selfish jerk! I told my boss I needed the day off, and returned home. On the way home, I stopped behind an old pickup truck with a camper shell on it with this message painted across the back, "Jesus is coming!" For the first time in my life, I saw that message as the greatest news I had ever heard -- and it was at that moment that I knew, without any doubt, that my eternal salvation was a finished work.
Since then, God has healed my marriage to Ruth -- which was at a very fragile point. All of her defenses were up, and she did not know what to make of my conversion -- I think at first she thought I was just making it up. I told her that I was not going anywhere, and that I know that God intended for us to be married -- otherwise He would not have intervened when He did
Ruth had been baptized and had professed faith in Christ some years before I met
her, but she had fallen away from her faith. My conversion was what she needed
to restore her desire to follow Christ.Today we have nine godly grandchildren from my two daughters ( Dallas is married, but no children yet, and Frederick is engaged), and my relationship with both Dallas and Frederick has been healed and continues to grow.
That's about it, although there are many truly miraculous details I've had to leave out -- maybe I'll get a chance to share those some day.
God Bless,
Mr. G
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