Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: PIECE / PEACE (02/16/23)
-
TITLE: Because of Jesus | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sylvia Hensel
02/21/23 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
I was so sure that my beliefs were right, that at the age of ten, I found myself debating with a couple my mother hired to hang wallpaper. They were pastors of another faith and later I realize they were hoping to lead me to Jesus. Neither of us won the debate, however, they suggested I read a certain book that would explain what they were trying to tell me. I was afraid to read it for fear of finding my beliefs were wrong.
As the years were lived, life took over. It became more and more difficult to live by what I had been taught. It became apparent that I was on my own trying to do all that was required of me to remain a good member of my church.
+ + + +
My husband, Tom, and I had only known each other for five months when we married. I was sixteen, much too young to understand what life was all about. It took only three months to realize what a huge mistake I had made. We had nothing in common. There would never be a divorce because my faith did not believe in it. I felt I had given my life away on a whim.
To give my life some interest, I became a party girl. I drug Tom along, but he did not take to the party scene very well. He was miserable while I was having the time of my life.
Tom was a Reservist. His unit was called away to France for a year as a show of arms during the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. While he was gone, all of our friends dropped me. I did not hear from any of them for the entire year. I was so looking forward to his return so the parties could begin again, which they did.
Six years later his unit was called away for a year again, this time to Korea because of the Pueblo incident. I knew what my friends would do, so I took up with all my unmarried and divorced friends. We partied on a higher level, and I wasn’t ready to give it up. Forgotten was my church and all I had been taught. I asked for a divorce. It broke my husband’s heart and he turned to drink. I was told he had a gun, and I was terrified he would use it on me. This lasted three years. The divorce was forgotten, I just wanted my husband back the way he was. My life was filled with torment and falling apart piece by piece. Something had to change.
Situations found us on a Sunday morning in my mother-in-law’s church which was not of my faith. It would appear God had been orchestrating circumstances all along to bring my husband and me to this place. When I entered the sanctuary, the power of the Holy Spirit went through my entire body. I ran to the front pew with my family running behind me. I cried through the entire service. Afterward, I was led to the altar where I said the sinner's prayer.
So much happened after that, it would not be possible to tell it all in just seven hundred and fifty words. What I will say is that everyone there knew that heaven had come down and kissed earth that day. I was a radically changed woman who had found peace at last in the one named Jesus. That was fifty-one years ago, and I still have that peace that passes all understanding.
Before I close, I must tell you that the following Wednesday, my dear husband accepted Jesus as his Savior. We learned to live together in love and peace by loving Jesus and respecting each other’s differences. We were married for seventy-one years. He passed away last March at the age of ninety-one. I cannot grieve because I know where he is and at eighty-nine, it won’t be long before we will be spending eternity together.
P.S. My husband and I were saved in a church whose pastors had hung wallpaper in their younger days. You don't suppose ...
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
