Devotional – My Epiphany

For my first devotional, I wanted to start with when my faith really caught fire and became ‘real’ to me.

The Early Years

I grew up on a farm. Went to a tiny parochial school. Tiny. Thirty kids in 1st-8th grade. The school was built by the church ‘back in the day’ (1917). This 3 room school house educated many a local farm kid.

I grew up understanding and viewing God as an Old Testament kind of God. He hated sin and anything associated with it…but he sent His Son to die so that I could go to heaven. Only requirement was that I believed this truth. In what I heard at church I understood God to be ‘Up there’ and us to be ‘Down here’. Separated.

Higher Education

I attended a Lutheran high school. God was presented no differently. Still more of a concept and ideal than a living being.

Once in college, my faith took a backseat to socializing, making new friends, partying, along with class and homework. It was a public college. No ‘Bible classes’ here. Just math and science. Occasional a ‘Bible-banger’ would show up in the school courtyard and just begin preaching…only to be avoided and ridiculed.

Light Bulb (click!)

But God had a plan to reveal himself to me. A simple plan that started with waking up early on a Sunday morning. The only time I’d been attending church was when I made it home on the weekends (more to socialize than to hear God’s Word), but this Sunday I thought I should take my Aunt up on an invitation to her church in the town I went to college in. I ended up getting there in the middle of one service, so I just hung around and attended the next. I had been involved in some musical performances before at this church. I had met some of the people in the band and choir.

I won’t claim to remember the sermon that day. It wasn’t the sermon that grabbed me. It was the youth director, Darren. As I walked toward an exit he politely said,” Hey…You’re Pam’s nephew aren’t you.” I said that I was. He new that I sang from seeing me at the other events and invited me to come to ROCK worship (Rejoice as One in Christ the King). I accepted and showed up the following Tuesday for practice. In hind sight…that was one of those defining moments. The type that changes the course of history.

Being involved in ROCK worship was a lot of fun. It was a youth worship service on Sunday nights. It added joy and friends that I had been lacking for so long.

The Lord was continually working on me throughout this time. After a few months, I was invited to chaperon a youth event called Acquire the Fire (ATF). This was my first exposure to the concept of having a relationship with Christ. I came away from that event with a burning desire to express this love, as well as my appreciation and thankfulness for it. I was no longer separated from this God that had always been ‘up there’.

Romans 8:38-39: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These verses came to life to me that weekend. Somewhere in the music, motivational speakers, and worship…Christ revealed Himself in my heart. Since then, I’ve had up’s and down’s, but I’m always aware that my Savior is here with me to pick me when I fall, to rejoice with me in my triumphs, and to simply love me through all of it.

Prayer

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for the revelations and the journey that has brought me into Your arms. I rejoice that nothing in this life can separate me from You. Each day is a new day with new opportunities to journey with You in Your love. Strengthen me in the battles waged against the sins and struggles that try to separate me from You.

Blessed is Your holy name

Amen.