When You Know What You Know...

I was going through some old e-mails in my "Precious Treasures" folder, and I landed on one I wrote to one of my dearest spiritual mentors. I felt led to share it on my blog.

December 20, 2004

I was thinking this morning about the day of my salvation.  I've tried many times to pinpoint the day I received Christ, and I've thought over and over of many different instances that it could've been, but none of those instances ever settled with my spirit.  There were so many circumstances and events that played together in leading me to a relationship with Christ that I've always just bundled them all together and settled by saying that I came to know Christ my freshman year in college. That's true, but it's not the definite, ya know?  Until today, I never really knew so I couldn't really say EXACTLY when I confessed Christ as Lord and Savior with my whole heart.

The Lord caused me to remember, this morning,  when you were holding bible study in Mitchell's lobby one night (1998-1999 school year), and there were only a few girls there.  I remember Catresa being there, but I don't remember anyone else.  We were going over some stuff that we'd talked about before, and you asked each of us if Jesus is Lord and how we know He's Lord.  You asked if we know He lives, and how we know He lives.  And you did it corporately, but then you looked each of us in the eye, one by one, and asked us, and when you came to me you said, "Do you know Jesus lives?"  I said, "Yes."  And then you said, "How do you know it?"  And I said, "Because I believe He lives in me!"  I confessed it with my whole heart with real understanding for the first time in bible study with you!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Now that I think about it, I can remember how my body felt all warm because I was nervous to be called on in front of everyone, but I was warm from excitement too because I knew what I was saying, and I knew that Christ had really become real to me.  I'd been singing about him in the gospel choir, and I had been talking about Him with my peers, and all of that was revealing the truth of His majesty to me, which in turn led me to confess and call out for myself! Also, now that I'm thinking about it, I remember how refreshed I felt when I left that bible study.  My growth, from that point, skyrocketed, and I just couldn't, and still can't get enough of God's word. I praise God for you!  I praise Him for calling you to lead us, and I thank you for your obedience in doing so.  I praise God for the boldness He placed in you, and I thank you for your obedience in moving in that boldness.  I've always loved you because of the part you've played, and still play in my life, and because you're so doggone AWESOME, but now, even from afar, I feel a deeper connection because of what God allowed me to see this morning.

I love you dearly!  Know that you've impacted and changed a life, and that this life is moving to do what I learned from you to do--impact and change others' lives.

In His Hands (Because I KNOW He lives),
Iantha

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.  

- Romans 10:9-10