His Forever

Stories of Real People Finding Jesus

James Stuart Bell, Jeanette Gardner Littleton

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN: 9781598690507
• eBook ISBN: 9781440517549
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Religión

For evangelical Christians, the experiences that bring them to accept Jesus as their personal Savior are amongst the most significant of their spiritual lives. In sharing these stories with one another they have become the touchstone of the Christian social experience. Here, ordinary men and women describe their coming to Christ.

A Different Destiny

“OKAY, LET ME see your hands.” I ordered the next teen in line to turn up her palms for my inspection. Peering closely, I delivered my verdict. “You’ve got an interesting lifeline; looks like you’re going to have a couple kids, too. What day did you say you were born?”

“Read mine next!” Classmates crowded in, begging me to chart their horoscopes. I had no time for that, though. I was already booked. Some teachers down the hall wanted me to predict their futures, too, and I didn’t want to miss my whole lunch. Pushing past my friends, I tapped on the faculty-lounge door and stepped inside.

At the moment, I was the most popular person in school. Just fifteen, I already had an uncanny knack for supernatural insight, and my reputation was growing.

For as long as I could remember, I had been drawn to the occult. Eerie books and movies thrilled me with their unexplained, spooky tales. Tarot cards, ESP, Ouija boards, horoscopes— anything strange fueled my hunger to learn more.

As I contemplated my own future, astrology seemed to clear the murky phases of life ahead: meeting my perfect mate, choosing a career path to maneuver, planning a family yet unborn.

I believed astrology was my guide. Born in mid-May, I fell under the sign of Taurus, the Bull, which along with my being redheaded guaranteed a strong will and stubborn streak, I figured. My horoscope directed me in using my natural personality strengths to control my own destiny and influence those around me. When I started following my horoscope religiously, I found it remarkably accurate. Armed with this revelation, I quickly became the poster girl for astrology and fortune telling.

Welcoming my newfound popularity, I impressed my peers by charting their horoscopes and reading their palms. I was a good kid—no drugs, no drinking, no sleeping around. I viewed my astrological ability as a gift and tried to help people. I believed there was a god and that I was going to heaven when I died.

I was an enlightened individual.

A simple invitation changed my life forever. A girlfriend asked if I would like to spend Saturday night at her house, and in the morning, she invited me to church.

“Sure,” I agreed. Why not? I attended services every Easter and Christmas and had seldom missed vacation Bible school when I was a kid.

I had never visited this church, but the town was small enough that as I walked in, I immediately recognized several people in the congregation. Settling into a pew, I turned my attention to the pulpit.

The message that morning was on astrology and the occult. The pastor began to talk, and the longer he spoke, the more I squirmed. Some of the teens were glancing my way and whispering. “That’s the girl who reads palms at school!”

First, I was humiliated. Then I was furious.

The pastor preached on.

When the service ended, my Taurus-stubborn pride refused to let me leave without speaking my mind. Stepping through some side doors, I saw the pastor striding down the hall in front of me. I reached out and grabbed his sleeve. He whirled around.

“Preacher, is anything really wrong with astrology?” I demanded.

He surprised me by grinning and saying, “Come with me.”

Leading the way to his office, the pastor had me sit down beside him at his desk. Then he began to show me all the verses he could find in God’s Word that spoke against my recent activities. He read a lot of verses including Isaiah 47:13–14, which promised dire consequences for astrologers and stargazers, and pointed out that such people can’t even save themselves.

I flinched. Some of the scriptures said that God’s anger burned against people like me. Never had I considered that God might be angry with me. I was trying to help people!

Verse after verse condemned me: “Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD” (Deuteronomy 18:12).

It was like a curtain raised. I sat ashen-faced, struck with an enormous truth. I was in major trouble. And I knew it to the very core of my being.

As the pastor prayed, I asked Jesus to forgive my sins— especially my dabbling in the occult. Relief flooded through my body as I felt God’s smile and an indescribable peace settled on me.

It doesn’t take a fortuneteller to see what came next. Out went the horoscopes; in came the Bible. The Bright Morning Star, not a counterfeit, now charted my future.

A couple of months later, the kids in our youth group were talking about how we each got saved. My pastor looked at me and said, “Hey, you know why I grinned so big when you yanked on my sleeve that Sunday?” Turns out, he had a different sermon prepared, but he had woken up Saturday night with an unshakable impression that someone in the congregation the next morning would need to hear the truth about astrology.

“For God so loved . . .” a teenager, that He changed a sermon and saved the course of her life, and beyond.

Cheryl Gochnauer

Contributors

CANDY ARRINGTON (“A Whisper in the Silence”) is the coauthor of Aftershock: Help, Hope, and Healing in the Wake of Suicide, and is a contributor to numerous anthologies. Her other publishing credits include Today’s Christian, Focus on the Family, and Writer’s Digest.

JEANETTE M. BAKKE (“God’s Reality Show”) is married and is the mother of three grown children and the grandmother of two boys. Her passion is to mentor women in the faith by teaching one-on-one classes in speaking and writing.

ALMA BARKMAN (“Looking for My Father”) is a freelance writer and author from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She is a contributing writer for Daily Guideposts, and her latest book is Peeking Through the Knothole: Scenes for the Soul from the 1940s.

DEBBIE BENTLEY (“What My Students Taught Me”) is a retired teacher and a freelance writer.

JUDY BURFORD (“Never Good Enough”) and her husband raise beef cattle in Louisiana. They have two daughters, one son-in-law, and two fabulous grandchildren. Judy enjoys teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, arranging flowers, writing, reading, and traveling.

BARBARA CURTIS (“Freedom Found”) is a prolific mother and writer, with twelve children, seven books, and hundreds of published articles and columns. She has received three Amy Writing Awards as well as the 2004 Congressional Angel in Adoption Award. Visit her at her blog, www.mommylife.net.

CYNTHIA L. D’AGOSTINO (“Dirty Laundry”) is a mother of five and grandmother of two. She and her husband, Paul, are raising their children in Independence, Missouri. Cynthia enjoys her family, her friends, and all of their stories.

KIMBERLY DAVIDSON (“The F.A.T. Girl in the Mirror”) is an inspirational speaker, teacher, writer, and the founder of Olive Branch Outreach, which ministers to help people with eating disorders to glorify Jesus Christ. She is a women’s ministry leader and seminary student.

ELSI DODGE (“Safely in His Hands”), a child of God, is a single retired teacher and has completed the Christian Writers Guild’s apprentice and journeyman courses. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, and travels with her dog and cat in a thirty-foot RV.

ANITA ESTES (“Pilgrimage Home”) is an art teacher, freelance writer, and book-club leader. She is honored in Who’s Who of American Teachers for 2000 and 2005. Her writing appears in several publications, and she is the author of When God Speaks.

MELISSA FIELDS (“The God Who Knocks with Kindness”) is originally a Southern girl from Walton, West Virginia, who has worked in magazine publishing and now lives in central Massachusetts with her husband and two young children. Melissa is writing children’s books focusing on family values, morals, and building confidence in children.

SUE FOSTER (“The High That Lasts”) is a published author of short stories and articles. She serves as a ministering elder at Capistrano Community Church. Sue and her husband, Steve, reside in Laguna Niguel, California. They are the parents of two grown daughters.

JO FRANZ (“Convicted at a Concert”) is a speaker for retreats, conferences, and banquets, incorporating songs, some of which are original, into her presentations. Her stories appear in books, magazines, and her memoir. Contact her at [email protected] or visit her online at www.jofranz.com.

GEORGE ELIAS GALIEH (“An Instrument God Uses”) was granted an honorary doctorate from Cambridge College (U.S.A.) for his many years in Christian radio. His first love is preaching the Word to live audiences, using the arts in evangelism.

RITA STELLA GALIEH (“Fighting the Good Fight”) is a gospel singer, graphic artist, and author of historical novels. She also cohosts a weekly radio program broadcast throughout Australia. Each year, Rita and her husband, George, visit Thailand to minister in Buddhist priso...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• Like Son, Like Father
• Dirty Laundry
• Fighting the Good Fight
• Born Again? Oh No!
• A Worthwhile Life
• The School Board Meeting That Changed My Life
• The Collision
• Freedom Found
• Those Who Believe
• Daddy’s Girl
• Back from the Wild Side
• Seeking Security
• What My Students Taught Me
• How I Found True Love
• Return to My Father
• He Knew Me
• Convicted at a Concert
• The God Who Knocks with Kindness
• A Night up in Smoke
• Forever Safe
• On the Trail to Truth
• No Longer Adrift
• Change of Heart
• Drawn by Love
• The Voice of the Future
• Clean at Last: Inside and Out
• God and the Marriage Mess
• Finding My Own Faith
• Finding Christ at the Carnival
• Missing Person—Found by God
• The Silent Sentinel
• Learning to Give Up
• Faith in My Sleeve
• The F.A.T. Girl in the Mirror
• The Measure of a Man
• When Excelling Isn’t Enough
• From the Good Life to a Better Life
• Set Free
• Hopeless to Hopeful
• Belonging to the Lord
• A Whisper in the Silence
• The High That Lasts
• Never Good Enough
• Looking for My Father
• Righteousness for the Right Reasons
• God’s Reality Show
• New Life
• Safely in His Hands
• An Instrument God Uses
• Pilgrimage Home
• Losing Control to Find It
• When God Enters the Stepfamily
• A Different Destiny