Happy Spiritual Birthday

Today is my 25th spiritual birthday. July 1st, 1983, depressed and desperate, I asked Jesus to save me. I knew I needed Him in my life. I wanted Him to help me get through the day. I didn't realize how very much I needed Him beyond that. I had no idea, that hot summer day, that I had become "born-again". I understood I was now saved and heaven secure but I didn't know I was born-again.

It was about 3 months later, when my fiancé, John, and I were at a Christian conference in Ocean City that we dined with a group of other attendees. The conversation, of course, focused on God and the born-again relationship. After dinner, as John and I were gathering our things from our rooms, I quietly said to him, "John, those people are born-again; I don't want to eat any more meals with them." He laughed, "And just what do you think you are? You're born-again, too!" Oh my gosh! Horror of horrors, it can't be! Although I believed my dead spirit was regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit that day back in July, I had no idea it was called something~ No less, born-again! You may be chuckling but growing up in a denomination that saw born-again people as weirdoes, fanatics, cultic, and certainly not bound for heaven, I had to overcome my misconceptions and fear associated with that term.

The first time I went to an evangelical church for a cantata, the very nice church members told me to meet them in the narthex. They had a lingo very unfamiliar to me. I was apprehensive about what they might say or do, so I sat as close to the door as I could in case I had to make a run for it. On the contrary, I was delighted by the participation of the attendees. When there was singing, the sanctuary was filled with heart-felt praise and worship, something I had never experienced. The people were friendly and kind, eager to help me and get to know me. Wow! It was the beginning of an amazing time in my life in which I fell head-over-heels in love with God and His people, and never looked back.

God saved me out of a life of anxiety and depression in which I tried various things, sinful things, to abate. None helped forlong. I turned my back on religious things literally, because even seeing a Bible triggered an anxiety attack. I avoided church and poured myself into my studies and other things to distract me. For much of my life, I had been driven by fear.

I remember vividly one morning, months after I was saved, sitting at my kitchen table with my Bible in hand. Before I opened it I prayed, "Lord, be gentle with me." And He has been. Twenty-five years later, I have grown in many, many ways because of God's gracious care, loving prompting and characteristic long-suffering. It has not been without pain or trials, trials that God has brought into my life to move me away from fear (trusting in self) to faith (trusting in God). It has been an unforgettable journey.

Thank You Lord for the cross, for the gospel, and for saving me. I love You more now that when we first began. -- Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries at America's KESWICK