Julie's Salvation
I was raised in a Christian home, and thought I was saved at the age of seven, after making a profession in AWANA. Through my life I struggled with doubting my salvation. This past summer, July 20, 2004 I was saved after the Lord showed me I had lacked repentance.
Growing up I had this nagging doubt in my mind, was I really saved? I knew the facts of salvation, believed them, but had I really prayed for salvation when I was a kid? Did I really understand what that was all about?
I knew right from wrong, and wanted to do right, but my motivation was selfish. I wanted people to think I was a good person, that I was doing the right things. As I got older, it became harder to admit I was having doubts. My pride really had a hold on me. I was embarrassed that I even felt that way. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was thinking because they might think I was nuts. Satan wanted me to believe I was the only one experiencing this.
This summer, the Lord had really been working in my heart through preaching under Dr. Martin and Rev. Wood, and I kept asking myself, ‘When I sin, do I really have conviction to get right with God? Am I even really sorry for my sin?’ Then it all came back to my struggle, was I really saved?
Then when we were preparing to go to Deaf family camp, Reggie Rempel preached so hard about repentance. Then I really started examining myself, and had doubts that scared me. I was up late Sunday night and up early Monday morning thinking about it. Then I asked my husband: ‘Honey, you know in your life, many times, when you doubt your salvation?’ I will never forget the look on his face, or how carefully he chose his words. He said ‘I think the devil could make you feel that way…’ Then I knew he had never doubted, and that something was wrong with me.
Tuesday night Pastor John Olsen was preaching. When he shared his wife’s testimony, I couldn’t believe it. It was my story exactly. His wife thought she was saved as a young girl, and when they were on deputation to go to Germany, his wife got saved after hearing Bob Gray’s wife’s testimony. I thought, ‘Ok, now I know I need to be
saved. This was just for me.’ That night, July 20, 2004, I repented of my sins and asked Jesus to be my Savior. What a change in my life!! What joy and peace in my heart!
I will never forget that experience. I am so thankful for a faithful God who is patient, and full of goodness. I know that His goodness led me to repentance. (Rom. 2:4) I am also thankful to John Olsen for heeding the Holy Spirit to share his wife’s testimony. He later told me that it wasn’t part of his original outline for the night. It wasn’t something he had planned to say, but because he obeyed the Holy Spirit’s leading, I was saved. I am so thankful that God would put the pieces together so perfectly for me to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus!
If you have any questions, or comments, or praises, please e-mail me at our address listed in our prayer letter. Thank you for your faithful prayers for our family. Your prayers resulted in my salvation.
“Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Psalm 16:9, 10
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