My Faith Journey (Part II)

This is the 2nd part in the sharing of my faith journey.  In the 1st part, I shared about my baptism as an infant and how God claimed me before I could be consciously aware of God's grace and love.  In the Wesleyan tradition, we call this "prevenient grace" the grace that "goes before" our awareness.

Prevenient grace is a beautiful thing because it reminds us that God's love is so incredible that it is always being extended to us in any given moment whether we are aware of it or not.  As we grow and mature, there are moments when we are invited to respond to this grace and claim this new life in Christ.  This is known as God's "justifying grace."

Since I was involved in the life of the church throughout my childhood, there were many moments when I felt the love of Jesus Christ reaching out to me.  One day in particular stands out for me.  When I was in elementary school, my best friend and I were outside for recess when he said to me out of the blue, "Do you know that God loves you and that he sent Jesus to die on the cross for you so that you can live with God forever?"

My friend had obviously taken to heart something that was said by his pastor or Sunday School teacher at the church he attended and now he was sharing this good news with me.  He then invited me to say a prayer and invite Jesus into my heart which I gladly did.  Who wouldn't want to live with God forever especially the way he described how wonderful heaven will be?  After I said that prayer, he said, "See, you're saved."

I always look back on that moment as the time when I consciously received the love of Jesus Christ in my life, but I can also point to several other moments that were meaningful as well.  When I was in my church youth group, we went to a summer retreat at the ocean.  Our youth leader had us think about God's love and what Jesus Christ has done for us.  For a youth who would often doubt himself and feel alone, this feeling of God being close to  me was a wonderful thing!  When I got home from that retreat, I would sing those retreat songs over and over again because they reminded me of that sense of being close to God.

In addition to those experiences, I can also point to people in the church like Sunday School teachers who helped me to know how much God loves me.  Wow, now that I think about it, that was a pretty special church since I can reflect on dozens and dozens of times when people through the church helped me to become aware of God's love in my life.

So, this is the 2nd part of my faith journey.  At an early age during elementary school and through my teen years, I was consciously receiving the love of Jesus Christ in my life.

God's prevenient grace claimed me at my baptism.  I responded to God's justifying grace on a playground.  Stay tuned for part III of my faith journey.
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