A testimony

Something to think about.

A Testimony

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

This verse has been an expression of hope. It is uplifting, promising and edifying to His people. I am grateful that it provides hope for those who love him. I am thankful that He has turned my sinful life into something of value and joy.

But why did I entitle this "A Testimony?" As I look back at my life, I can clearly see where God has open and closed doors for my benefit. I can see where he has turned situations around for my good dispute my bad decisions.

I've seen His hand in large and small places of my life and find evidence of his resolution. I can see a young man who use to be me who for no more reason than the Grace of God did not end up a drug addict or a criminal. I can look back at the lives of people I grew up with and see them mired in the same sin for forty-fifty years. I see lives that have ended after decades of fruitless living. Who's legacy is; why was I here?

I look back and can attest to the hand of God leading us away from poorly made decisions. I can see when I joined the Air Force God's hand in my decisions. He used a clerical error on my part to bring us, my newlywed wife and I to a place of salvation. I can see how he brought us through one bad decision after another. I now see the footprints in the sand where he walked with me and when he carried me.

I can see how He turned a near catastrophic heart attack to my benefit and for His glory. I can see where he patiently and consistently taught me, healed me and saved me. I can not understand the depth of love he has shown me throughout my life.  I would have quit on me if I had been him. Yet through all of my sin, disobedience and wicked insistence, he has never abandoned me. He's never reached the end of his rope with me. 

That is not to say that he has exempted me from reaping the rewards of my sin, it means despite my self defeating actions he has found a way to redeem my life. He has been my savior throughout my life. I may not see it at the moment but as I look back the evidence of His work is undeniable. He has turned a poor, abandoned, confused, isolated, lost child into a member of his beloved family. I can now say and could have said over thirty years ago I am a child of the most high God. I now know the privileged of having a father who never abandoned me and never will.

I am a testimony of Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 

I am a testimony of my life being worked out for good by God for his purposes. He called me according to his purposes before I loved Him. This is not an isolated testimony it is a common one. It is the testimony of every one who is called a child of God. The sin and rebellion might be different but it is the same God working things out for your good. It is the same God who saves you from yourself daily.