We were given a Sabbath Day full of sunshine outside and spiritual sunshine inside the church building as the family of God gathered to worship him this morning. Inside the church, we had the opportunity to watch one of our youth get baptized and a young couple dedicate the life of their new daughter to God's family.
My mother did her best to raise me to follow her faith. I loved Jesus and was very religious as a preteen and teen. Then, I left home at seventeen to go into the military.
My mom prayed hard for me after I left home and went into the military.
In Navy boot camp, I continued to go to church on Sunday morning. However, that changed after I reported to my first duty station. I became a member of the world, rather than a church-going child of God. Like many young adults from a strict family, once I was out from under parental supervision I chose to dedicate myself to worldly activities. My momma never quit praying for me.
I didn't forget about Jesus and God.
Guilty feelings accompanied some of my activities, but not enough to stop me until I was thirty-three years old. At this point in my life, I returned to Jesus and the way in which I had been trained because I had proven to myself that I was an alcoholic. My life choices hadn't worked and were not working. Each day brought some joy, but the shame, guilt, and remorse that I felt outweighed the joy.
Today, I am filled with gratitude that my mother dedicated me to Jesus as a child.
I am thankful that she trained me up as a child of God. I never felt hopeless, no matter how bad the life situation I was in felt. Trouble always caused me to turn to Jesus and God, and not hopelessness.
Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Matthew 18:2-3
And calling to him (Jesus) a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
1 Peter 2:2
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
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Thank-you for stopping by and visiting today. SalleeB