I was fortunate to grow up in a Christian home. My parents and I would attend church every Sunday. I attended Sunday school, sang in the Children’s Choir, participated in Vacation Bible School and went to Church Camp in the summers starting in 4th grade. I learned many Bible stories and lessons from my Sunday school teachers and perhaps gleaned some wisdom from sitting in church services. Mom purchased a huge Bible about 11×16 for “Younger Readers”. It had pictures throughout and maps in the back. Unfortunately, it was written in the King James Version. For me, it was difficult to understand. So most of the time, it sat on my bed stand gathering dust. It was like a beautiful book people give as a Christmas gift that decorates your coffee table. I often thought about reading it and felt some guilt for not having done so. On those occasions when I picked it up, it just didn’t grab my interest. Despite that, I gained a lot of head knowledge by listening to Sunday school teachers, my youth leaders and preachers. I memorized all that I heard about famous Biblical leaders like Noah, Moses, Elijah and David. I read about Jesus as the son of God performing miracles and dying on the cross for our sins. I went through high school and college without really reading the Bible in depth. As an adult, I would read daily devotionals with Bible verses and inspirational books by Christian authors. I went to church regularly. My prayer life was shallow, perhaps a quick prayer before rushing off to work.

Then my life changed drastically with my divorce and having an unexpected crisis pregnancy. When my daughter was a year old I learned about a church planting from a woman at a singles group event. There I learned about Jesus as if it were the first time I had heard of him. I was reading more religiously about Jesus when I turned around to look at a picture of Him on my living room wall, with the words, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Then it just hit me. God spoke to me. Jesus was the way to Salvation. I was of course familiar with the Trinity, which is God, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but didn’t truly understand Jesus purpose. He was here on this earth to show us the way to God and eternal life. By accepting the fact He died for my sins, I will have eternal life. Then I confessed my sins and gave my life to Him. Jesus was no longer just in my head, but in my heart.

The Bible started to make sense to me. Why? Because when I accepted Jesus as my Savior, Jesus gave me the Holy Spirit, which is like having God in our bodies. The Holy Spirit helps me to understand the Bible. This is talked about in the Bible in I Corinthians 2:10-12 NLT by the Apostle Paul, “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.”

If you would truly like to know God, accept Jesus as your Savior, confess your sins to God in prayer and give your life to Him. He will open your eyes, ears and heart to the word of God and you will begin to understand the Bible.

Published by barbaraziogasgmailcom

My quest is to be a free-lance writer. This has been my dream for many years, and now I believe it is the right time. God’s timing is perfect. I would like to write about social issues pertaining to poverty, domestic violence, the criminal justice system, religious education and other human interest topics. My past work experience included grant writing, writing issue papers, newsletters, creating flyers, brochures, news releases, and public service announcements. My business experience gave me skills in writing business plans, consignment contracts, newspaper articles, content for social media marketing and ads in a weekly paper. My purpose is to serve God and glorify Him through my work. View all posts by barbaraziogasgmailcom