Happy Halloween!

 

October 31 is a special day for me!  Especially, October 31, 1973…

I was seven years old and wanted to go trick-or-treating.  The only problem was that the Baptist church our family attended was in the midst of a week-long revival service.  We had services every night where an evangelist would speak from the Bible and revive the members’ walk with God.   My parents, who were new to their walk with God, took all of our family to the services and had planned to take us on Halloween also.  The only problem was – their little girls, especially the 7-year-old, wanted to go trick-or-treating. 

So, they made a compromise – take us trick-or-treating early in the evening and still make it to the 7 p.m. service at church.  Everything went as planned until the 7-year-old whined that she didn’t have enough candy and wanted to go back out to get more.  In the end, my father explained to me that I certainly had enough candy and that we were going to church as planned.

I wasn’t too happy but I changed my clothes and went.

Back in those days, children sat in church with their parents and listened to the speakers.  I remember sitting there and hearing the evangelist talk about being separated from God for eternity.  I didn’t understand what he was talking about.  I just couldn’t imagine not being with Jesus or God.  I didn’t want to be separated from Him! He said that in order to be with God for eternity, people had to ask Jesus into their heart. 

For as long as I can remember, I had been taught by my Sunday School teachers and parents about how much Jesus and God loved me.  When I was about 4 years old, my teacher showed me a picture of Jesus is knocking at a door.  She explained that the door was the door to my heart.  She pointed out that there was no door handle on the side that Jesus was knocking on.  I had to open the door to my heart and ask Him to come in.  I wanted Jesus in my heart because He loved me and I loved Him!  I never wanted to be separated from Him!

Per my sister’s memory, somewhere between the beginning of the evangelist’s message and the end of his message, I dozed off.  (I blame it on a sugar crash from all the candy I ate!)  Anyway, when I finally woke up, the evangelist was asking people to stand if they had invited Jesus into their hearts and had the assurance that they were going to heaven.  I couldn’t stand!  I had not invited Jesus into my heart yet!  It was then that I looked for my pastor’s wife.  She was waiting to help me invite Jesus into my heart which I did that evening.

The decision I made that night was the beginning of my personal relationship with God.  It’s been the rock that I have drawn strength to move from that little seven year old girl to the women who is writing this blog.  I can’t even imagine where my life would be if I hadn’t made that decision so early in my life.

On the other hand, Mr. Small Town’s journey to God is a different story.  He didn’t grow up hearing about God.  In fact, he didn’t even believe God existed until someone challenged him to read the Bible to disprove there was a God when he was 27 years old.  Half way through reading the Bible, he couldn’t deny it.  It was during that time of seeking, he came to know Jesus.  He doesn’t have a particular day, time, or place when he asked Jesus into his heart like I do.  That’s okay, because God makes Himself known to everyone differently according to how He made them.

Mr. Small Town sees how much God played an important part of my life as I grew up.  He wishes that he would have known Jesus as child which makes him fervent in making sure the Kid understands how much God loves Him, who is Jesus, and how to have a personal relationship with Him.

If you’d like to know more about how to have a relationship God and how Jesus made it possible, I’ve added a great video below to explain it.

 Blessings to you my friends! 

  

Click to see the video How to start a relationship with God.