I was brought up in a Christian home and will never forget the stories that my Dad used to read to me when I was a child. We still have some of the picture books full of the stories of Jesus, and I used to love to sit on his knee, and hear about the miracles Jesus did, and how He loved people so much. I learned to love Him very much in return. I loved His kindness, His compassion and His concern for the people in the Bible who were ill or afraid, and I knew He was the tender Shepherd Who watched over me while I was asleep. I knew He was very special to my parents. We had a little plaque on our wall saying "Christ is the Head of our home."
I have been persuaded by a friend to write of how I came to know the Lord Jesus as my Saviour, so here is my testimony.
Written in 2003
Every week I used to love going to Sunday School, and hearing Bible stories, singing choruses and learning verses of the Bible. It was a large and happy Sunday School. I remember how every time we had a larger turn out of children a large black record was broken. And I shall never forget the prizegivings where we would stand in a line, proudly wearing a different coloured medal given for achievements and attendance throughout the year.
I must have been about 7 years old when my Dad came home with a tape recorder! This was a very exciting thing in 1960 and my school friends came round to see it with great fascination! Everyone who came to our house had to be recorded on our tape recorder. They all had to do something, whether it was to sing, or read or play an instrument! Everyone's voice was recorded. Perhaps like a visitor's book, only far more entertaining and much more fun! One of our friends, a girl in her early twenties, had the most beautiful voice I had ever heard. I would spend hours listening to the hymns she sang.
One of my favourites was "Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling; calling for you and for me." The last line of the chorus reads "Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling; calling oh sinner, come home." I was listening to it one Sunday evening, lying on our sofa, alone in our front room and I listened carefully to the words because it was one of my favourites. As I listened to the main words "Jesus is calling, come home" I remember wondering what it meant, because I was at home. But the realisation quickly followed that I should come home to Jesus. I thought what if He came that night and I was not ready. I turned off the tape at the end of the hymn and I knelt down against our sofa and prayed that He would come in to my heart. At that point I knew that I was one of His children and I remember that it was my waking thought for some long time afterwards. I would wake in the mornings and instantly remember how I was now saved and the happiness and warmth would steal over me. The hymn is still in the 'Golden Bells' hymnbook, and the verse below it is "Today if ye will hear His Voice, harden not your hearts." Hebrews 3: 7-8.
There is nothing to beat the privilege of growing up in a Christian home. At the time it is not appreciated, but it pays dividends that are far reaching. Bible verses learned as a child are not forgotten. I was 8 years old when I was saved, on 2nd July, 1961. Just recently I have been in contact with several people who are searching for Christ, and they say they cannot find Him. I cannot understand their situation as Jesus has always been in my life. There came the point when God showed me I had a personal decision to make and I did not need to think twice before I made it, and I made the right one. People tell me they have pleaded with God to show Himself to them in some way; that they are listening yet no one answers. To anyone who feels like that right now then do please email me if you feel I may be of some help. All I can really do is to pray for you because I do not have the answers, but God does, and He is the One Who saves. He knows each individual through and through, and cares for each one of us. If you have recently been saved then do tell people about it. Just after I left school one of my best friends was killed by lightning out in Finland. 18 years old, and I could never remember a time when I had sat down with her and told her of the Saviour Who loved her. That tragedy never left me. None of us know how many opportunities we have left to receive the Lord Jesus Who died for our sin so that we might go free. Perhaps for someone this may be your last one. Get right with God now by coming before Him in true repentance and accept His Son as your own, personal Saviour. You have everything to gain if you do, and everything to lose if you leave Him out of your life.