Written
By: Kirk Peterson
Our
Story
I tell people that I have never seen the power
of God more in my life then when I reached my lowest point. My story of salvation begins with my wife who
LORD willing, I can experience growing old & gray with, surrounded by a
loving family of children and grandchildren to enrich our lives in our old age!
I was young and inexperienced in the world. I had not learned the hard life lessons of
living on my own and definitely had room to grow in realizing what life was
like out in the BIG BAD real world.
My Dad, who is someone I hold in very high regards, has
always been a person who I viewed as very wise in the ways of the world. On this day, he wanted to tell me something
about my life, so after realizing how important what he was going to tell me
was--I made extra sure to listen very closely to what he had to say and took
what he offered to heart!
He said, “Son, I have come across a lot of women in my
life and Heidi, she sure is something special.”
At first, I didn’t let the weight of those words sink
in--and that is when he said, “No really son, she is something special and you
need to make sure and hold on to her”.
Looking back, you could say that the course of my life
changed at that moment. After my Dad said
those words, I took a hard look at the women who was to be my future partner
for life, and realized that she was everything that I ever
wanted.
Heidi was a sweetheart.
One of those girls that when you meet, leaves you with a sense of
kindness and gentleness that stays with you for a while afterword’s. She was intelligent, compassionate, selfless
and beautiful. These were all things I had
seen in her before, but leave it to wise ol’ Papa Bear to make it simple enough
to put it all into perspective for me! J
I thought to myself, she really is everything I’m looking
for, so what am I waiting for?
My wife, who had been disowned from her family for dating
me a non-believer,
found herself with no place to live on limited resources. My Father has always been a very generous
soul, and he stepped in to provide shelter for my future wife in her time of
weakness, something to this day that we are grateful for. He offered his home to her for Christmas
vacation rent free, so she could save some money for the next semester of college. It was after this time, after getting to know
my future wife personally, that he offered me the advice of seeing that she is
indeed special, and someone that I need to hold onto. Heidi and I always felt that God made our
story and looking back now--I see that it was more than chance that he
cared for us in our weakness around the magical holiday season of His Son’s
birth.
After that day, I started to look differently at our
relationship. There was more weight to
the possibility that Heidi not only could be…but perhaps was The One.
Fast forward a couple of years…
The Bible teaches us that hope is always something
we should hold onto. I had just got done
telling Heidi, “I’ll never be the Christian you want me to be”. I could see that she was crushed by those
words as tears started welling up in her eyes.
The air in the room became heavy with silence as we both were left
speechless…I was blind to what happened in Heidi’s world after that, but those
words crushed the hope she had been holding onto throughout our entire
relationship that I would someday become the Christian man she always
wanted me to be.
Some more time passed, and I was completely blindsided
when Heidi told me that she wanted to break up with me. I couldn’t believe the words as they came out
of her mouth and I asked her again what she meant. She told me she was very confused and just
needed some time. I could see the women
of my dreams suddenly slipping through my grasp and my world started to close
down around me. I quickly ran up the
stairs and threw open the drawer that had been hiding the diamond I was going
to set in our engagement ring. I flung
down the box and raced back downstairs to Heidi’s crying eyes. I looked down at the chain necklace that held
the diamond that was given to me by my Mother that was from my parent’s
engagement ring—a diamond that I never got set into a ring because I let the
fear of being too young get in the way of what I really wanted—and bent down on
bended knee. I looked up to her tear
filled eyes and asked her to marry me.
I poured out my heart to her, “This is the diamond from
my parent’s engagement ring. I never had
the chance to set it in a ring for you, but want to give it to you now. You are everything I have ever wanted in a
woman and I want to be with you forever…will you marry me?”
Heidi refused me, crying her heart out she told me NO. I didn’t know it then, but God had given her
very specific
signs.
During our break up, I reached the lowest point I ever
have in my life. Darkness painted my
world and my hope was crushed. I slinked
through life, struggling at just getting by.
I leaned on all the people close to me, asking their advice and seeking
reprieve somewhere…anywhere—but nothing filled the hole in my heart. For you see, it took me getting to my
absolutely lowest point in my life to see UP.
Born
Again
I decided to join Bible Study for all the wrong reasons,
to try and win the girl back, but God in his mighty wisdom used it for good in
bringing me to Christ. When I arrived at
Bible Study, all the men were warm and friendly. They told me that we were studying the book
of John, and that this was a perfect book to be studying for a new Christian.
Prologue:
Christ, the Eternal Word
1In
the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2He existed in the beginning with God. 3God created everything through
him, and nothing was created except through him. 4The Word gave life to
everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (John 1:1-5,
NLT)
God’s
Power
By God’s unmerited favor (Grace), He filled the
empty hole in my heart with his spirit.
Immediately, the LORD miraculously transformed my life and
rescued me from my heartache. Though I
was lost, I found my way back home again by His hand. From the moment I was
born again into new life by accepting Jesus into my heart, I could feel the
power of His Spirit inside of me. God’s
spirit is stronger than any wisdom of this world, his spirit is stronger than
any drug man can give you, and God’s power is stronger than any hardship we can
face in this life! That is why I tell
people that I have never seen the power of God more physically in this world
then in our WEAKNESS. For in our
weakness, we are made strong by Him.
29He
gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30Even youths will
become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31But those who
trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like
eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. (Isaiah
40:29-31, NLT)
After I was saved, I realized that Heidi was the women of
my dreams and that she was someone who was worth fighting for. I decided that I was going to battle for our
future and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from giving it my all!
Jesus began his ministry and the least of us found their
way
to the savior of the world. The weak and
destitute, who were lost in the world found hope in something that was not from
this world. The Son of Man breathed new
life into their mortal bodies in healing them, but perhaps raising them to new
life spiritually was an even greater miracle.
For I believe the Love Story of God is never shown more beautifully then
in the least of us…and I pray that you can begin to follow Jesus to THE
WAY that leads to life.
Crowds
Follow Jesus
23Jesus
traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and
announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease
and illness. 24News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began
bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or
if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all.
25Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten
Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River.
(Matthew 4:23-25, NLT)
Peace be with you Brothers and Sisters.
No comments:
Post a Comment