Sister in Christ

 

My Salvation Story

by Stella Harris

 

I’ll start with a little bit of background. I was raised in a Catholic home with my parents and 6 siblings. We were all baptized as infants, attended confession every Saturday, attended Mass every Sunday, and in our earlier years received instruction through Catechism Classes learning about the 7 Sacraments and how to be a faithful Catholic. Never exposed to what the Bible said, just accepting that it was a holy book that every Catholic displayed in their home, along with statues, candles, and rosaries. When I was entering 7^th grade I had the opportunity to attend a Catholic boarding school in Arizona run by the Benedictine nuns, with the dream of one day being a nun myself. I loved it and if my parents would have been able to afford it, I would have finished high school there. But my parents couldn’t send me back so I went back to public school and remained faithful to the Catholic Church until my high school graduation. I had lost interest in religion.  

 

Ron and I started dating in high school and 3 years later got married and soon God blessed us with 3 precious little children. I once heard that man’s heart is more tender towards the Lord when faced with life-changing events such as a marriage, a divorce, the birth of a child, or the loss of a loved one. Well, those 3 little innocent, dependent children who God entrusted to us to care for were the tools God used to call me to Himself.

 

Let me back up. When Ron and I were in high school, we started doing what most others in school were doing: drinking and smoking cigarettes and smoking marijuana. We were “responsible partyers” who kept our grades up, got involved in sports, held class offices, and never got in trouble. We were just having what we thought was fun. Even after we were married and started our family, we continued our “fun”. Of course we would only do this after we had put our kids to bed at night. But soon I was feeling so much guilt and shame of how we were living. I knew I didn’t want my kids to grow up doing what I was doing. I knew I had to make some changes… the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak.

 

Then God used my neighbors to give me an example of what I wanted our family life to look like. Jim and Ann had 3 little girls, close to the ages of our children, who every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, each with their bibles in hand, be off to church, which happened to be a Baptist Church. And as we started to get to know this family, it was obvious they were different. They had a peace, a gentleness, a joy about them that I wanted, but I didn’t know how to get it and didn’t know them well enough to ask.

 

Then one day, Ann invited us to attend a week of “revival meetings” they were having at their church. I wanted to go, but Ron didn’t, so I went alone, it was the first time I heard the gospel, how my sins separated me from God and how He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins so I could spend eternity with Him. How could this be possible? I remember struggling with so much conviction during the invitation, but was too afraid and ashamed to go forward. So, I went home that evening with a heavy heart and a lot to think about. The next day, another neighbor, who also went to the same church, brought her kids over to play with ours, and I just came right out and asked her, “Dorothy, what does it mean to be saved?” She lit up and asked if I had a bible. Ron had an old worn bible that had been his grandfathers, so I got it out and she led me through the Romans Road.

 

She explained to me that my sins separate me from God. And the penalty for those sins was death. But Jesus loved me so much that He paid that penalty for my sins by dying on the cross. And if I would repent of my sins and confess and trust Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I would not only be saved from my sins but I would spend eternity with Him. So on January 23, 1983, I knelt next to my friend by my sofa, and prayed, and asked God to save me.

 

And I remember that night, I really wanted to pray to God, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know what to say. All I knew were the repetitive prayers that I had learned as a child. So what I said was, “God, thank you for saving my life. And please save Ron and Adam, Amber, and Daniel.”

 

And from then on everything changed. I no longer had the desire to let my worldly addictions have a place in my life. I started taking my children to that little church, and I started reading the Bible, and I learned how to pray. It wasn’t long after that that Ron started coming to church with us, and soon he, too trusted Christ as his Savior and we were both baptized. We became members of our little church and started serving as God led. And a few years later, one by one our children trusted Christ as their Savior, were baptized and now are active members in their churches.

 

I’m thankful for God’s Word that tells us how we can have a personal relationship with Him. How it is only through Jesus Christ that we can be reconciled to Him.  John 14:6 says Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”. There is no other way.

 

I thank God for the life-changing event of having 3 little children that He used to draw me to Himself.