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Real Life Story of Annette Elliott When I was a young girl, I received eternal life. I was raised in a religious home where I learned about the Bible my entire life. I grew up going to church services and Sunday School every week. I remember sitting in my desk at school and analyzing my fellow classmates. I would look at the girl sitting next to me and think, Wow, I sure feel sorry for that girl. I bet she really needs to be saved. Just the other day I heard her tell a lie to the teacher! Of course I paid no attention to the fact that just that morning I had lied to my mom! This pattern continued all throughout elementary school: I would pick apart my friends to look for their faults while ignoring my own. I was always proud of myself and could not admit that I was just as bad off as those around me. Although I wouldn’t face up to the fact that I was a sinner, I was always very worried after hearing about the Bible-predicted event called the rapture. I remember hearing about how one day, Jesus would return. On that day, all of those who trusted in Him would be caught up in the sky and would be taken home to heaven. I remember speakers in church reading verses like Matthew 24:44, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” It scared me that the Lord could come any day now. I remember sitting in those meetings and thinking to myself, Annette, if the Lord comes tonight, Mom and Dad will be in heaven. They’ll be in heaven and you’ll be left behind. Then the meeting would close and we’d get in the car and drive home. When we got home, I’d crawl into bed and think about what I had heard. Then fear would begin to creep into my thoughts. I would wonder if the Lord had come and taken my parents. So I would crawl silently out of bed and creep into my parent’s bedroom. When I heard my parent’s steady breathing, I would rush back to my room with a feeling of relief and climb back into bed. As I grew older, I began to realize that I needed to be saved right now. The only problem was, instead of turning towards God, I decided to try my own methods. Sitting in my bedroom one night, I reasoned that if I could work up some tears, God would take pity on me and save me. So I sat there on my bed praying and crying my eyes out. However, that didn’t do the trick. My next plan was to reason with God. Surely if He saw what a good girl I had been, He would forgive me of the “few” sins I had committed. When that didn’t seem to work either, I simply gave up on ever getting to heaven. However, God had different plans for me. When I was nine years old, I began to worry about my soul once again. I would have terrible nightmares about hell. They were so horrible that when I woke up and saw the darkness of my room, I thought that I really was in Hell. But when morning came, I pushed these thoughts out of my head and went about my day. Soon after I began having nightmares, my parents started taking me to a series of church meetings. I attended the meetings every week for quite a while. The series was soon ending and I was starting to lose hope of getting salvation. I knew now that I was a sinner with no hope of getting to heaven through my own works. That night, the first speaker got up and I found myself listening very carefully. I don’t remember much about what he spoke on, except for the very end of his message. He was telling about the night he had received salvation. He looked up and said, “ I always knew that jesus died for sinners, but the night I was saved I found out that Jesus died for me.” Right when I heard those simple words, I discovered the same thing. It’s true, I thought, Jesus died for me! I had heard those words my entire life, but it was not until then that I was ready to accept them. I realized that I had been fighting God with my pride. He will never force salvation upon you—you must make the decision for yourself. I am now fourteen and I have never regretted my decision to trust Jesus christ. He helps and guides me through my day, comforts me when I mourn, and rejoices with me when I’m glad. Now I have a Friend who will not forsake me or turn his back on me. I know for sure that when this life is over, I will be in heaven with Him forever. 1 John 5:13 says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of god that you may know that you have eternal life.” I am still amazed that God could love someone like me so much that He would send His son to die for me. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done. Nothing will change the fact that Jesus died for you. If you simply put your trust in him, you will be saved for all eternity.
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