A 3-Minute Life Story

Can I have a few minutes of your time?

"I grew up in a Christian home, and so from very young I knew who Jesus was and why it is important to have a relationship with Him. That's not to say that I had a picture-perfect life. Like everyone else who is born onto this planet, I have faults and issues that I struggle with. But knowing Jesus has made the difference between living a life of constant conflict and suffering, and living a life of hope and security.

One of the strongest driving forces in my life was the need to be in control of things. My ideas were always better, I was always right, and if things didn't go the way I thought they should, the results would be less than perfect, maybe even disastrous. Looking back, I can see several instances where God tried to teach me some life lessons about learning to let things go, although I didn't see it then and therefore missed opportunities to learn from my mistakes.

But...about 10 years ago, my hubby and I filed for bankruptcy. A few years earlier, we had purchased a hog farm. At first, the farm was doing well and the future looked very promising for us. Then we hit some hard financial times, as hog market prices fell and feed prices soared, and a devastating disease hit our herd. To top it all off, in desperation some business decisions were made that made things worse. It was a point in my life were things were definitely out of my control. The fact that my hubby and I were not in agreement in how to solve these problems only made our already difficult marriage more miserable. As I prayed and prayed about this desperate situation, God told me the same thing over and over: 'This is not going to work out the way you want it to, but you need to trust Me to see you through it.' It was about a year that I struggled to "let go", as our debt grew and our marriage continued to fall apart. I was not about to break my marriage vows and divorce my husband, but I was sure I was doomed to life of misery in staying. Still, I tried to believe God, that He would somehow see us through. Eventually, our financial advisors confirmed to us that we would need to file for bankruptcy. Let go. Hubby and I were in agreement that this was the next step to take. And while there were many hardships in that decision and the months and years to follow, the healing in our marriage began. When I think of how ugly our marriage had been, and how God has turned things around, I am in awe--and it gives me hope for any hurting marriage out there. And while I have faith that God is completely in control of everything and can deliver me from any desperate, hopeless situation with one word from His holy lips, I also know that He is still in control when He simply says He'll see me through to the other side. I am learning to 'let go and let God', and He is proving Himself faithful over and over again."

We were given an assignment in our adult Sunday School class to prepare a 3-minute testimony that we could easily share with someone who didn't know Jesus. I have shared my testimony, or life story, before in Christian circles, but I could never keep it to just a few minutes! Jesus has been a big part of my life for many years now, and there's a lot to say about our relationship. It was a definite challenge for me to whittle it down to a few minutes that still held the important message - that having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ makes all the difference. My life story (and everybody has one) is a great introduction to the message of Salvation provided by a loving God through His Son Jesus Christ.

If you are a Christian, I challenge you to prepare your own 3-minute life story, keeping a few points in mind:
1) What has been a driving force in your life? Some general factors - fear, anger, a need to please others, materialism, guilt, etc.(mine was a need to be in contol)
2) What was the crisis or event that caused you to seek out God?
3) How has knowing Jesus made the difference in your life?
4) Prepare and practice telling your story, so that you are ready when someone is looking for answers that only Jesus can give.
"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have..." - I Peter 3:15

If you are not a Christian, but would like to know more about having a relationship with Jesus, I'd be glad to tell you the whole story. You can comment here or e-mail me at rsmarten (at) mts (dot) net.

Pot Party, Anyone?

I get a kick out of one of our local greenhouses advertising 'pot party' Tuesdays and Thursdays! I wonder if they ever get people showing up who thought it might be something entirely different than planting flowers and greeneries into beautiful ceramic pots. Does sound like fun though...the planting flowers, I mean.

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to buy some new pots this year to adorn my yard & (future) deck with, and that I was finding them to be ridiculously expensive. Well, yesterday I paid $19 for a ceramic pot - which is not too bad - unless of course you bought it because you broke it, then it's a little more painful. I had just dropped my kids off at school and thought I would just check out the nursery nearby. I wanted to see if they'd gotten more shrubs & trees in so I walked around outside a bit, but the cold wind took the joy out of it for me and I decided to head home. As I left the parking lot, I was sure I had enough room to clear the display of ceramic pots in front of my van, but apparently not. I guess I should be glad I only broke one. To add insult to injury, I was not really dressed for this occasion. I had thrown on some dirty mismatched clothes, pulled my bed-head mop into a ponytail, and wiped the smudged mascara from under my eyes as I ran out the door to deliver my kids to school on time. My decision to stop at the nursery was under the assumption that I would just be looking around, outside, where I likely would not run into anyone, and not be purchasing anything so no human interaction was required. Well, after my little mishap, I had to go in to make restitution, but nobody was at the counter for a while. So, while I waited for a clerk, people started trickling in, and I was getting more and more fearful that I would soon be discovered by someone I knew. Low and behold, a school bus full of Kindergartners from my son's school shows up, and I knew the teacher and several of the moms who were chaperoning the field trip! At least this entourage brought out the staff and I finally was able to pay for the smashed pot and beat a path out of there. This time, I went straight home.