Out of the Pit of Hell

How many of you can relate to the title of this post?! Oh, my! Some days when I think about where I've been in this life and where I am today, I am kind of shocked. I, like a lot of you grew up in a church-going home, but not much of what people were trying to teach me was learned. As I went through the years as a teenager, my strong-will caught up with me and I became somewhat self-destructive. I sought out to do whatever it was that I desired in the moment and had myself fooled that none of what I did or said would have much of an effect on me, but it was all slowly destroying me as I spent a period of about 23 years living for absolutely no one but myself.

Let me backtrack for a moment. When I was 12, I went to a 3 day revival that we had at our church and all the cool kids were there, so of course, I was there (HA!). I remember the messages actually making sense and remember that I "felt God knocking on the door of my heart" and I went forward and was baptized later that week with several others. After that, I just thought I was a Christian and that was it. I mean, sure, I knew you were supposed to begin making better decisions, like ones that please the Lord, but what the heck, once saved, always saved, right? Wow. Maybe I had fire insurance, but I'm not even sure of that.

At age 23, I was newly married and living in the Dallas area. I was working full time, was a full time student, and had a sweet little 4 year old. Before we got married, my husband and I had decided that we would attend church as a family because we believed it was important. So, we were once again church-goers. One day after I dropped the munchkin off and was driving to school listening to a little Sheryl Crow, I had a life-altering event that occurred. I was driving along as it was raining lightly and my car began sliding as if I were on ice (keep in mind it was April, not cold, and there was definitely not ice). I could not get control of my car and was whipping back and forth and sliding in to oncoming traffic on a bridge over Lake Lewisville. As this was going on, practically every single event that had occurred in my life where I had made seriously poor choices, the Lord revealed to me and basically said, "I was there, and it was I who protected you from the harm that could have occurred" and he gave me visions of what could have occurred in a lot of different situations. Finally, I got control of my car and ended up in front of a convenience store where I was able to pull into the parking lot and pull myself back together. I made a phone call to my husband, cried from all of the excitement, and pulled it together enough to get back on the road and commute to class. As I was driving, the Lord spoke to me (this had NEVER happened to me before...I didn't even know what I believed about God speaking to people!) and this is what he said to me, "You call yourself a Christian. When are you going to start following me?" He was very gentle, but also very straightforward. At that moment I cried out, "NOW! I will start NOW!"

So, I'd like to ask all of you who call yourselves Christians: When are you going to start following Christ? When is your life going to start reflecting and re-presenting who Christ is and the characteristics of a Christian that our bibles talk about?

From that moment forward, my life was radically changed. The music, the movies, my words, my thoughts, my whole life was different. I was viewing life through a different lens-the lens of God. Now that I've been a Christ-follower for about a decade, my past life seems nearly unbelievable, but I am careful not to forget from where I have come. I was a girl who was sick. I had an illness that seemed to wax and wane. Some days the illness was just worse than others. And some days, I had myself fooled that I was well, that it was just my current circumstances that were affecting me. The truth is, all of my choices and all of the things I had allowed in my life had made me sick. I had a cloud of darkness hovering over me. If others couldn't see the cloud, I was stuffing it down in my heart. It was there. I was living in such darkness that I seriously thought I was alone. I was the only one who was like that and that no one could ever understand and certainly no one could really help me. But, Jesus changed my life.

This Jesus, I talk about made me well. He took all of my sickness and started healing it. In some areas of my life the process was quick and in other areas it was a slower process and even now He continues to work on me and bring healing to my life. Jesus is my Hope. And he is the only hope for ALL of us. He tells us in John 14 that he is preparing a room for each of us in his Father, God's, house. When asked by one of his disciples how one could get to God's house, Jesus replied "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well."-John 14:6-7. The awesome thing about going to Jesus and surrendering your thoughts, actions, words, etc. to Him is that we will be made a new creation. Totally. And completely. NEW! The old self will be gone as we are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-19). He is our Hope and our Healer. He will take those wounds, those mistakes, those poor choices and heal them. He will bring joy and peace that doesn't make sense in light of your circumstances. He will bring you out of the pit of hell that you once called life and He will make you new! Isn't that so exciting?! If you are interested in surrendering (to allow someone to control you) to Jesus or just want more information, please contact me. As I reflect on who I once was I do not ever want to go back to my old way of life and you won't either! If you would like to share about how Jesus has transformed your life, please magnify God and leave a comment below.

With love in Christ,
Brooke

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