Sue and Eddie Walden

My parents were very good at life, making ends meet, offering us many opportunities to be involved, and taking care of us.  They took us to church sporadically, probably because they were raised in church and knew they were supposed to. We always said a prayer before we ate and supper was always done as a family. They were very good people.  My dad always said I will get involved in church when I retire, he worked 7 days a week 12 hours or more a day most of the time.  Sunday was mom’s day to rest.  She took great care of us, being involved in every aspect of our lives; sports, scouts, at school,  and with our friends. Saturday we cleaned and Sunday we rested.  Sometimes we added church to Sundays.  All that being said when I started grown close to Jesus my desire for my parents to have Jesus in the way I was experiencing grew as well.  My first small group at Pleasant Hill was a Discipleship group at Alex and Willa Kay Godwin’s house.  My earnest prayer request was for my parents to be saved. 

Sue- Mom and dad had a car wreck around 2010.  Mom ended up staying in the Med in Memphis for several weeks all of which she spent in unit.  Her recovery was complicate by asthma and COPD.  She had a hard time getting her oxygen level to stay up and getting stable enough to come home, in fact they discharged her to home straight from the unit because she never met criteria to transfer out to the floor.  During her stay she needed to wear a BIPAP machine and have very painful blood work.  She always thought she was suffocating and she HATED needles. Her hope was going and she was losing the will to live.  During one of the visitation times in the unit we were talking to her and I told her to focus on Jesus in her heart.  Let Him help when your are scared.  Tears rolled down her face and she said I don’t have Him.  I asked her if she would like Jesus in her heart and she said YES!!! We prayed for Jesus to forgive her and be her savior…..From that moment she changed. Her anxiety level changed, in those days Jesus was all she had but boy did she grab a hold with both hands!  A year or so after that one of mom’s friends was visiting her at home and asked her if she was afraid or sad about her health.  Mom told her when I can’t breathe or get scared I just call on Jesus and I can feel His arms around me.

Eddie- My dad always said he had “an understanding with God”.  That always bothered me but his mind was set in that and he was not open for discussion.  He went on the Emmaus Walk and came back a new person.  He was open to talk about God and lean on him, he prayed for unsaved family members, he desired to be with the Body of Christ at Pleasant Hill, he sang the songs during 11 services not just stood there, and he talked about God with me. 

Action

*Marie Jones

Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

I was raised going to church every Sunday with my parents and siblings.  I enjoyed seeing friends, liked my Sunday School Classes and the entire church atmosphere.

About the age of 12 I began feeling an inner discomfort that made “preaching time” miserable to me.  I know I needed to ask Jesus into my heart, but did not want to publically admit I had sinned.

My mother and my Sunday school teacher Mrs. Rena McGill both talked to me about being saved.  It seemed the more that was said to me the more stubborn I become.

This went on for some time until one Wednesday morning the first week of August during our annual two day revival sermons I finally could not stand still any longer!  The congregation had just finished singing “I surrender All” and started singing “It is well with my Soul” when I found myself walking to the altar.  I can remember my pastor Bro. Walter Martin asking why I was smiling! I replied “It is well with my Soul”.

This was a very easy walk that I had dreaded.  That surrender was still something I must do very often as I still can be stubborn.

Through my ups and downs in my Christian walk, I find if I do as the Holy Spirit leads me I have less problems. When I obey those nudges I find the answers I need and things go much smoother.

Accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior is the best decision I have ever made!

*Danny Frederick

My name is Danny Frederick and I would like to share my story of how Jesus saved me.  The date of my salvation was March 29, 1972.  We had been building a house and the two men that were building our house were William McGee and John Butler.  These two men had a big part in my salvation.  While we were building the house they would witness to me about Jesus and living for Him.  At that time I was going to Pleasant Hill Church, but I had not given my life to Christ.  We had gone to a youth lead revival at Pleasant Hill Church on Easter Sunday March 29, 1970.  A young man by the name of Gene Fulmer was speaking.  I had known Gene for a long time and I could see the change that had come over him since he had accepted Jesus as his Savior.  As he spoke I could see that my life was not where it should be.  I was not a bad person, but I did not have Jesus in my heart.  I just had not made that commitment.  We went back that Sunday night to hear Gene speak again.  When he gave the altar call I could not wait to get there.  I don’t know if I walked or ran.  I just know that I was at the altar, asking Jesus to come into my heart and forgive me of my sins.  I know without a doubt that Jesus forgave me of my sins and that He lives in my heart.  I went home that night and picked up our new born son of 17 days and I told him that he had a new daddy.  When you give Jesus your heart you do become a new person.  I thank God for that day and him saving my soul.   I have tried to live for Christ every day since that day.  Am I where I need or where I want to be? No, but I am on a mission every day to try to be a better Christian and live for Him that when life’s journey is over for me; my reward will be to go home with my Savior Jesus Christ. AMEN.

*Price Rhodes

In 1976 I graduated high school.  After I got out of school, I started running with the wrong people.  I started drinking and doing drugs.  Then I started using heavy drugs.  I was living in an apartment with a girl.  One day I was drinking with a buddy and God told me I needed to straighten up or I was not going to make it.  There was no mistake who was doing the talking.  He really scared me but I was glad He did.  I started back to church with my family.  The devil never stopped trying to convince me that I was going to hell.  But he was wrong.  Some friends told me no way.  The next week I was at work still worried about what was going on.  I looked toward Heaven and asked God to help me, and at that very moment, The Glory of God came down to me and filled me with His Holy Spirit.  I started singing old hymns that I knew and could not stop.  I was so happy.  I have never felt nothing like that before.  He is the best friend I have ever had.  I now have a beautiful wife, Jane; I have a house and a job.

Not long ago I had a heart attack.  Five bypasses.  God seen us through that too.  God will never leave you or forsake you.  He can and will save you, if you ask Him and believe on Him.

There is no greater love than God’s love for you.  He never said that you will not have problems, but He will see you through those problems.

REFLECTION

What does your salvation story sound like?  Take time today and remember what Jesus did in your life.  How did Jesus get your attention? How is your life different today? What emotions do you feel when you think about your old life vs. your new life?  How thankful are you for Jesus going to the cross and suffering what you could not to pay for your sins and loving on you while you were still a sinner?  If you can’t say you have purposefully said YES to Jesus and asked Him to be your personal Lord and Savior ask Jesus to speak to you about that.

Everyone has a story. No two are alike but all are powerful and life giving to you and maybe even another person struggling to say YES to Jesus.  But most of all…..each story is precious to Jesus so much so He laid down His live to purchase it and in His mighty power rose again on the third day claiming victory once and for all over death, hell and the grave!!!!

*Rene’ House

Writing your salvation story down on paper is often hard.  The few words we choose to use are just a drop in the bucket compared to the whole story of how God draws us in and opens our understanding.  In fact the few words hardly ever tell the full scope of the struggles and mistakes that make up our lives on the path to accepting Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior or the continues struggles and mistakes after we say yes to Jesus. There is no way a lot of the time to even find words that try to convey the GRACE Jesus covers us with when we are saved.  It would be easy to just want to forget the past sin in your life and rejoice in your salvation. 

The details of your whole story may not be for every situation.  When God leads you to someone struggling in a sin God has set you free from, He may call you to share that part of your story.  In Romans 6:20-23 The Bible reminds us when were unsaved we acted in a way that we find shameful once we are saved.  We lacked the Power of God to overcome sin.   It also says we are no longer that person once we say yes to Jesus. We have His power to overcome sin and Grace for when we fail.  We have the fruit of holiness even though we mess up because we have the Holiness of Jesus blood covering us leading to eternal life!  Because we have been set free and remember the shame of being lost, compassion wells up inside of us for those that have not accepted Jesus and are lost in sin.  Sharing what Jesus did for us, the change in our heart and life, and the PEACE and JOY of SALVATION can play a part in another person saying YES to JESUS!  Don’t let satan keep you from sharing if you feel God calling you to do so.  It may be pride that keeps your mouth shut and the end result may be a longer time another struggles in sin and shame.

Bible Study

*Skip Hopson

My story of salvation is a long one but it seemed to happen so fast.  It was complicated and yet was simple.  I had made some “not so smart decisions” that had put me in a place in my life where I was downright unhappy.  Miserable is a better word to define my life situation.  Then one day a stranger came by my house while I was cutting grass.  We talked and before he left told me that on Sunday he would be praying for me but had rather pray with me.  That stayed with me after he left.  It touched me, a stranger would do that for me, and so Sunday morning I went to church.  I felt like a fish out of the water when I walked in but I was drawn to be there.  I kept going and taking my son Eric with me.

Next, I was invited to go to a Sunday School class.  I found out quickly that I knew very little about the Bible and what purpose it would serve in my life.  I wasn’t raised in church so all the stories  my Son would tell me they heard in his little class were new to me as well.  I was like a child myself but that would soon change.  My Sunday School teacher was a stranger to me as well but what he taught seemed to reach a part of me that I couldn’t explain at that time, but once again I was drawn to be there.

Then one Sunday that didn’t seem any different than the rest something happened.  My son Eric said he wanted to be Baptized.  What?  How?  Eric at 8 years old had the desire to be a follower of Christ and dad was still a fish out of water.  I did not understand but a talk with the children’s ministry leader said that Eric was serious about it and God had put it on Eric’s heart to do this so he could go to heaven some day.  Wow!  I didn’t see it coming but Eric even convinced me he was ready so I agreed to go ahead with it.  Eric was baptized.  He had a white robe on with his big brown eyes and perfect little smile.  I watched a little angel become one of God’s own.  This changed my life.  At last, one Sunday morning I was uneasy, I could not explain it.  I went to Sunday School and the lesson changed my life.  The lesson was about David.  He had a child with a woman named Bathsheba.  The child became sick and evidently died.  2 Samuel 12:23 David says, “But now he (the child) has died; why should I fast?  Can I bring him back again?  I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”  Eric my son was going to heaven if he was to die.  Where would I be?  Man, that was tough to face.  My heart fell like it was being stepped on.  Then I went to worship.  The pastor’s message was about …what would it take for you to want/desire to go to heaven.  I was actually having a hard time breathing.  I was drawn to a place I did not understand.  Then the invitation was given.  The choir started singing, a friend of mine named Jan Thomas came back where I was and just stood beside me with her head bowed and her fist down by her side.  She was praying, praying for me.  Then I felt my hands let go of the pew in front of me.  I looked at Jan and her hands were now reaching to the heavens.  I don’t remember walking up to the altar but I was there. I was led by the pastor in the sinner’s prayer.  I had received Christ as my Savior.  When I stood up with tears running down my face there stood the stranger in my yard (Pete Sewell), the stranger that taught Sunday School (Jimmy Sandlin) and Jan Thomas.  They were strangers no more.  They were now my brothers and sister in Christ.  I was now a fish that had found the waters in which I belonged, The Living Water of Jesus Christ!

Pray for Our Children

Autumn Elkins

I was baptized when I was thirteen by my Dad, Andy Elkins. Through this I announced my belief in Jesus Christ. I was raised in church and always believed in the stories I was told on Sunday School and closed my little eyes when it was time to pray. I tried my best to be kind and to do what I was told. But I struggled with feeling his presence and being confident in my faith. I knew Jesus died for me but how could he do that if I’m nothing but awkward Autumn that doesn’t know how to talk to anyone? I didn’t understand how a man so perfect could love a much less than perfect girl like me. But that all changed when I went with my youth group to The Passion Play. I had been once before with my grandmother but honestly it scared me. I was confused and very sad that an innocent man was beaten just because a couple of guys didn’t like him. I didn’t understand it. But the night I went with the youth group it was like my eyes were uncovered. As I thought of Jesus hanging on that cross for my sin I couldn’t help of cry with tears of joy and despair. He loved me enough to die for me. At the end of the play the pastor of the church asked for anyone who had felt God knocking on their heart that night to stand up. I struggled to stand to my feet as if I was had someone pulling me to sit back down. But I stood. As soon as I stood I felt a weight come off of my shoulders. After that night I longed to grow closer to God and to live each day for him. I’ve had rough days where I fall short but I know that Jesus didn’t die so I could be perfect he died so I could be saved by a perfect man who knows all my failures but still wants me to be beside him in heaven. I’ve overcome so many so many of my fears sense that night and give God all the glory!! Thank you Jesus! 

Take heart I have overcome the world. John16:33

*Laura Darby

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”. This is a very powerful verse, one that I have come to know very well. Through Christ, we can bear all things, trust in him. Through the years of my life I have faced challenges, struggles and carried a burden for over 24 years that I painfully, didn’t have to bear alone. Trust in him. Our heavenly Father, loves us so much, he wants a personal relationship with each one of us.  Why do we make things so hard? I have had health issues such as kidney and seizures disorders. There have been several times in my life that I have been abandoned, by friends and an ex-husband. I often wonder how our Lord and Savior felt that day that he was crucified.  At the age of sixteen I developed hypertension, at the age of nineteen I developed a seizure disorder. I thought my life was over, because of that, it was only the beginning. God has a plan for each and every one of us.  Friends I am here to encourage you, do not let anyone discourage you, and tell you that you can’t do something. You can do anything or be anything that you set your heart and mind too.   I graduated from Licensed Practical Nursing School in May of 2009, and Registered Nursing School in May of 2010. Being a nurse is God’s plan for me, helping those in need, those that have no voice. Trust in him. I have not had a single seizure in over 2 years.  Matthew 19:26 “with God all things are Possible”.  Trust in him. Why is it so hard to trust in our Heavenly father? He hears and answers my prayers. He has strengthened me when I have been at my weakest, he has replaced my fear with courage, replaced my tears with joy, and has blessed me with a family.  I know that the Lord is still working on me, still shaping my imperfections. I know I have told several people. I am an imperfect person living in an imperfect world, but as long as I am here I will continue to help and do the Lord’s will for his Glory.  Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to (his) purpose.