Have you received Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour? What is your story? 

Continuing thoughts about answered prayer and ministry:

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When we were expecting our second child, we were required to move out of our adults-only apartment building. That year Ron dropped out of graduate school for a time, so we purchased our first house - one that we could afford - in a lower income neighborhood. The house was one of the early mass-produced variety. It was totally without character and located in a neighborhood that had a little too much "character." I was completely out of my comfort zone.

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The thing that distressed me most was feeling that I was a "high class" person in a "lower class" place. I had never experienced those kind of thoughts before and I hated it. I asked the Lord to forgive me, thinking about the words in Romans 12:16 "Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited." I prayed that if I had to live in this place, God would give me a love for the people in the neighborhood.

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The Lord answered my prayer by having someone invite me to a Child Evangelism training class. There, I listened to a master teacher give Bible stories with flash cards and flannel graph - complete with visualised songs. Then I began a Good News Club in my home where I taught the neighborhood children about Jesus. There is nothing that will cause you to love someone more than to lead them to Jesus. How could I not love the adults who were their parents as well?

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So God helped me to love the people and gave me a ministry as well. But He did not give me contentment about the house and neighborhood - and now I know why. He wanted me to be ready to pick up and move when my husband was offered a graduate assistantship in a midwestern town I had never heard of - leaving our extended family behind in sunny California. Sometimes I think God really has a sense of humor!

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Have you ever been surprised by an attitude you never expected to have? What did you do about it?

To introduce my new blog, I have been journaling about the ways in which God has worked in my life to bring me closer to Him. Most of us who are believers can look back to milestones that led to our salvation, even before we knew we needed Him. Certainly we can see the influences that brought us to Him, both positive and negative.

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The realization that we are sinners is the first real shocker that we have to deal with. Then we find that sinners are exactly who Jesus came to earth to save. He actually gave His life for us - but He didn't stay dead! Someone has told us these truths either in a Sunday School class, Good News Club or just in conversations about God. I first responded to the message of the gospel in a revival meeting when I was nine years old. I was old enough to know that I had a decision to make - and I wanted to receive Jesus as my personal Savior.

I think I already loved all that I had heard about Him. I was like one of those little children in the picture book who came to Jesus and then experienced having Him put His arms around them, saying, "Let the little children come unto me and forbid them not - because of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."

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Have you received Jesus as your personal Savior? If so, how old were you and where did it take place?