How I was saved, and how you were, too!

This post was inspired by this salvation story on natashametzler.com.  Reading Natasha's post and responding to it got me thinking about my own salvation story!

The story of my salvation doesn't start with me.  It starts with God.  God, who created heaven and earth and everything in them.  God, who from the beginning of the world had a plan to conquer sin and death (Genesis 3:15).  God, who sent His Son to earth to become a human baby, who would grow into a sinless human man, who would die for the sins of the whole world (John 3:16).

Image Credit:  bela_kiefer via www.freedigitalphotos.net

My salvation starts with the incredible love of God.  It's because God loves us--all people--so much that He has a plan for all of us to spend eternity with Him.

He gives us faith.  We become His children.  We believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and the fact that Jesus' death paid the price for all the wrong we ever do.  We live a brief life on earth, obeying God and loving Him according to His Word and in response for the gifts He constantly gives us (in addition to the gift of faith in Him!  Wow!).  Then, when our sinful, earthly bodies die, our sinless souls are united with God in heaven, and spend eternity joyfully with Him in paradise.

This is what God did for me.  He made me his child just four weeks after I was born into this world.  In my baptism, the Holy Spirit came into my heart by the power of God's Word, and gave me faith.  It wasn't necessary for me to understand what that meant, because my saving isn't about me.  It's not anything I do.  God saves us, God makes us His children.  It's kind of like how we become our parents' children.  We don't have any choice to become their children.  And they don't love us because of anything we do.  They love us simply because they are our parents.  God loves us because He is our Father.

So I became God's child through the miracle of baptism.  As I grew, my parents taught me, using God's Word, how much God loves me, and what Jesus did for me.  And I knew for sure that I was God's child.  I knew that whenever I died, I would be in heaven with Jesus.  I knew that I was sinful, and did bad things, but I also knew that God forgave those sins when I asked Him to, just as my parents told me they forgave me when I disobeyed them.

Now that I'm an adult, I'm still constantly learning what it means to be God's child.  How does that play out in my everyday life?  God reminds me daily to trust Him in everything.  He has to keep teaching me how to accept His forgiveness, because I struggle with remembering that.  Satan is constantly working to try to pull me away from God, but I know that because the Holy Spirit lives in my heart, Satan can't hurt me.  Jesus has already defeated him and his power, and I have nothing to fear.

So my salvation story doesn't end with me, either.  It ends with the ultimate gift from God--eternal life in heaven.  It will end when my sinful body dies, and my eternal, holy, sinless soul is taken to heaven by Jesus, where I will live with Him forever.  There no one will be sad or in pain.  There will be no death, no grief, no discomfort.  There will be joy, peace, love, and light, and it will be more wonderful than we can ever imagine, until we actually get there.

God wants everyone to be in heaven with Him.  He has created you just like He did me, and He loves you, too, more than you will ever understand.  I hope you know my Jesus, too, and know that He is your Lord and Savior--and how much He loves you.  You can spend eternity in heaven, too, because Jesus paid the price for your sins as well as mine.  Try saying this to God, your Father--you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain:

"Dear God, I know you love me.  I know you sent your Son, Jesus, to pay the price for my sins.  I acknowledge Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  Thank you for giving me faith in you and in what Jesus has done for me.  Now, as your child, I give my whole life to you."

Linking up today: A Holy Experience, Upward Not Inward, Deep Roots at Home, Raising Homemakers, We are THAT Family