The Hope We Have
What we Believe
PAT LOWREY - January 9, 2007
My story begins at my natural birth because my parents took me to church from the time that I was born, and since that time there has never been a time that I was not attending a church on a regular basis. Of course, this does not mean that I never missed any services, but going to church was generally a part of my weekly schedule.
I remember hearing the message of Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins and studying about this in Sunday School and church services. I do not remember ever being under conviction that I needed to accept Jesus as my personal Savior until the night that I actually
placed my trust in Him. I was told later by my parents that we had been attending revival services at our local church for several days and that I had been restless; but that particular night, after I had gone to bed, I became very upset realizing that if I died that night I would go to hell and not heaven because I was a sinner. I called out to my parents and they came into my bedroom and prayed with me and read scriptures to me about how Jesus had paid the price for my sins on the cross and that I needed to ask Him to save me believing that He would--that I needed to place my faith in His sacrifice and His promise to save
those that believe in Him. I prayed--several times--until I finally really believed. A great sense of relief came to me and I knew that He had saved me. A peace replaced the burden that I had felt. I can truly say that I have never been convicted again nor
have I doubted my salvation. I was almost 12 years old at the time that I was saved. I know that when I die I will go to heaven to live with Jesus as He promised those that believe in Him.
From the point of my salvation, I have desired to be pleasing to my Savior. I followed Him in baptism and joined a church that
taught the truths of the Bible. I became involved in the services playing the piano or organ, teaching classes occasionally as I
grew older and had studied more. But I still was not satisfied that there was not more about the Christian life than just attending and participating in church services. As the churches
became more and more involved in programs that are more world oriented than spiritual, I became more dissatisfied. I wanted to find out more about what the Christian life should really be like in order to be closer to God and pleasing to Him. At this point
after more than 50 years, I joined a small group of believers whose vision is to just lift up Jesus to the people where we are that are not being reached and ultimately to reach the whole world as commanded by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20.
During my lifetime Jesus has guided me, many many times without my realizing it until after events had taken place. He has protected me on many occasions and helped me avoid bad choices and helped me get out of bad situations. I have not always studied or prayed as
much as I should, but He never gave up on me. God directed me to Ole Miss where I found the right person to be my husband. I had
started to look for a place to get my master's degree and had three schools in mind. One was too far away, one was very unfriendly when we visited, but Ole Miss was very inviting and offered the curriculum that I needed and so I went, never expecting to meet the one that I would spend the rest of my life with the first week that I was there.
God took us to Hawaii as the first duty station that Bill was assigned to in the Navy when we had not even listed Hawaii as one of our choices. Another couple had unofficially been told that Hawaii was to be their duty station (they had requested Hawaii as
their first choice) and we were going to New Orleans. When the assignments were read out officially, Bill was assigned to Hawaii and the other couple went to New Orleans. While we were in Hawaii Bill was saved. He realized that he had only joined the church at an early age because he thought that he needed to. When I asked him to tell me about his salvation experience, he had nothing to tell. God convicted him and he accepted Jesus into his heart and life. We have always said that God put us in Hawaii for this purpose. Also, we had a preacher that challenged us to study and helped us to grow in the knowledge of the Bible.
God has continued to work in our lives providing jobs (within a week after one had been terminated), during illnesses (both with parents and Bill's), during the deaths of parents. I have always known that no matter what comes, God is always there. I don't always let go of my efforts to control situations, and that is when things don't go very well. I am not free from family problems, health problems, financial problems, or spiritual problems. But as I learn to let God take control of my life, and I still have trouble with this, even when things don't work out the way I think that they should I have to acknowledge that God
knows best. I continually need to pray and have others praying for me. As you read this story, I hope that, if you are a believer in Jesus, you will add me to your prayer list. If you are not a believer, I hope that you will seriously consider where you will spend eternity. Jesus provided the way to be reconciled to God by His sacrifice on the cross. Realize that you cannot get
to God except through Jesus. Repent of your sins and ask Jesus to forgive you and save you believing that He will. Trust Him. He loves you.
Find out more about Jesus and how He can change your life HERE.
Read other stories of people whose lives He has changed HERE.
Crosspurposes note: As in all stories on this website, Crosspurposes has striven to permit the writer to express his personal perspective on his relationship with Christ. Because many of us come to Christ from very different religious backgrounds, we often have different perspectives on the working of God in our lives. But we believe that the basic message of salvation through faith in Christ, and the resulting work of grace in our lives transcends religion. Where you grew up in church, and how you talk about it, is irrelevant to the issue of whether you have a real relationship with Jesus. The only thing that determines whether you have a true relationhip with God is whether you have a place you can point to in your life at which God called you to repentance and to acceptance of Jesus, and whether you responded "I believe" in spirit and in truth.
A noted follower of Jesus, Paul, wrote:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 2:8-10