I want to tell you what happened to me when we moved to Arkansas.
When I was twenty-eight, we lived in Oklahoma where I had Cindy and Teresa. Cindy was three years old and Teresa was three months old. Jim's job moved us to Arkansas. I had my hands full with two little ones. I was suffering from baby blues and could barely take care of my girls. My neighbor from up the hill came down to get water, because they were building their new house and didn't have water yet. When she came down every day, I would go outside and talk to her. One day we were talking about housekeeping and I made the comment that I hadn't vacuumed since we moved and that was six weeks ago. When I said that, the floodgates opened and I told her I still had boxes I hadn't unpacked from the move. The next morning, when she came, she was dressed differently. She had a scarf on her head and her sleeves were rolled up. I asked her if she was going somewhere. She said yes, I'm going to vacuum your house. I said, “You can't get to it, there's boxes everywhere.” She said, "That's OK, I'll just vacuum around them.” She not only vacuumed, but she cooked supper for us too. Before she left, she invited me to go to Bible Study Fellowship with her on Tuesdays. I said, “Oh, I would, but I have a tole painting class on Tuesdays, but I sure would go if it wasn't for that.” As I was watching her walk back to her house, the phone rang. It was my tole painting teacher and she told me that they were going to change the painting class to Fridays. Mom had always stressed to my brothers and me that, if you told someone you would do something, that you needed to do it. I could see when my neighbor got back to her house from my patio door. As soon as she went into her house, I called her and told her they had changed my painting class to Fridays, so I could go with her after all. I started going with her to Bible Study Fellowship. I packed up the girls and off we went. The children had their own classes while the Moms were having theirs. We studied the Bible each week and had homework. This was the first time I had ever read the Bible. I was so excited about the things I was reading! It took thirty minutes to drive there and thirty minutes to drive back. On the way, I asked a million questions like “What did she mean when she said he was convicted?” I didn't even have the vocabulary for what I was hearing. Finally, after about three months, the instructor asked us if we had ever asked Jesus into our hearts. I had no idea what she was talking about. On the way home, I asked what she meant and how do you do that? When I got home, I went into my bedroom and asked Jesus to come into my heart and it is the best thing I have ever done! It changed my whole life for the better. Not only did I no longer have to wonder if I would go to Heaven, but I no longer had to sin. For the first time in my life I had the power to choose not to sin. I had been struggling for so many years to try to be ‘good’ without much success. I would always fall back into whatever I was trying to get freedom from. Suddenly, I was free to make good choices. At last, I had peace in my heart. I no longer had a fear of the future.
I don't want anyone I love to ever have to struggle like I did. I want you to be able to be sure you will get to go to Heaven and be with Jesus. I don't want you to have to say to me “Why didn't you ever tell me?” What you do with this is totally up to you. God has given everyone free will to make their own choice. I will still love you no matter what you decide.
In case you are as clueless as I was about how to ask Jesus into your heart, I will give you an example of a prayer you can say to ask Jesus into your life. “Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”
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