I first visited WKBC in Feb of last year. Pastor Keith can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe I own the distinction of being the 1st person to come to WKBC after discovering the church on the social networking site Twitter. I figured any church cool enough to have a twitter account was worth checking out.
That first visit to WKBC marked the 1st time I had attended a church service in 10 years, maybe even longer. I had grown up in the church, but after enduring what I can only describe as a “negative church experience”, one which left me heartbroken and without a church home, I decided that the hurt was too great and I turned away from God. I was young, maybe 13 at the time, and thus spent my high school, college, and early adult years fully immersed in the world, dead in my transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1), filling the space in my heart once occupied by God with alcohol, drugs, and unhealthy relationships. The life I was leading was anything but Christian.
But God, forever loving and faithful, kept calling. (1 Thessalonians 5:24). I attempted to run and hide but as I would later learn there is no running or hiding from God. And on June 12, 2010, God grabbed my heart. While traveling to a vacation destination, a 1 hr layover at the Atlanta International Airport turned into a 12 hr marathon layover. Normally a delay of that significance would have infuriated me but this time I didn’t mind. I had been reading a book recommended to me by a Christian friend on the subject of forgiveness and was happy to finally have the opportunity to delve in and do some reading. As I sat there reading I could feel God overwhelming my heart, revealing his purpose to me – as if these words had been written specifically for me read. Forgiveness was what was missing, what I truly needed. I had held on so tightly to the hurt that I experienced as a child in the church and to the shame I had for my actions since turning my back on God that I had allowed those things to be a barrier preventing me from submitting my life to God. So at 1 o’clock in the morning, sitting alone on concourse A of the Atlanta International Airport, tears running down my face, I prayed. First, a prayer of forgiveness asking God to help me to forgive to those had hurt me and to forgive me for the all the things I had done, to take away the things that had darkened my heart for so long. Secondly, I said a prayer of salvation, inviting Jesus to become Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from that day forward. I was saved.
That was exactly 1 year and 7 days ago and I am proud to stand before you today a new creation – the old has gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17) In the past year God has blessed me in enormous ways – from helping me find a solid church home and a place to grow here at WKBC, to getting me involved in a ministry close to my heart – the Nurses Christian Fellowship on the URI campus, to introducing me to the awesome people in my Tuesday night small group who provide me with continual support and encouragement. I am truly blessed. But best of all, I know that I am redeemed, restored, forever a member of God’s family. And I can say to anyone out there in a similar situation, I am living proof that God is forever faithful and forgiving, ready to welcome you into his family at this very moment. You just have to stop running and let him. Thank you.
