The Other End of the Rope

Jeremiah 15:20 "...for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord."

Today, my time in the Word was spent in Acts 27.  Paul was travelling to Rome by sea when a storm hit.  When everyone else on the ship had completely given up hope, Paul shared a message that an angel had brought to him.  The message was this: "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar.  And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you."  God wanted Paul to make it to Rome and He was going to make sure it happened.  Paul's hope was in God.  He was the one holding on to the other end of Paul's security rope.

Who have I placed my hope in?  Who is at the other end of my security rope?  Is it God or someone else who will not be able to deliver?  What a huge wakeup call!  While I like to think that I rely completely on the Lord, if I am totally honest with myself, I know that's not always true.  I have a tendency to rely on others when I am in tough situations.  It's okay to take encouragement from others, but when we are relying on others instead of God, that's when we run into problems.  What if God were to take everyone I loved?  Would that destroy my hope? 

Relying completely on others will only lead to disappointment.  God is the only one who can and will deliver us.  Psalm 18:2 "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer..."  I love and am very thankful for each and every person God has placed in my life, but at the end of the day, the only one I want holding on to the other end of my rope is God. 

Guitly Conscience?

As followers of Christ, we are able to confess our sins to God and He will forgive them.  Hebrews 8:12 says: "For I will be merciful toward their iniquitites, I will remember their sins no more."  Once we confess our sins to God, he forgets them and doesn't hold them against us.  So why do I still feel guilty?  Sometimes even after I confess and make things right with God I still feel guitly about my past sins.



In my own life, I have found that when I feel this way it is often because I am not taking God at His word.  I have the head knowledge that I am forgiven, but until it reaches my heart, it doesn't allow me to live with a clear conscience.  In times like these I need to ask Him to help me to believe that I am forgiven and He loves and accepts me despite the sins I have committed.  Psalm 103:12 states "as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us."


If we have surrendered our life to Christ and His finished work on the cross, we don't have to feel guilty.  The price is paid!  Because He shed His precious blood, we are made new!  Romans 6:6 says "We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin."  I am so thankful for this wonderful truth.  I am no longer a slave to my sin because of what Christ did for me! 

My Personal Testimony of God's Grace

          I was raised in a loving home.  My mother was a believer, so we went to church regularly and my sister and I were involved in Awana’s as kids.  I had thought all along that my dad was a believer too.  It wasn’t until I was in high school that I realized that wasn’t actually the case.  My dad finally made the decision to follow Christ and it has been such a blessing to me and my entire family.

            I was saved when I was six or seven years old.  We had been talking about Salvation in Awana’s and I knew that was something I wanted and needed.  One of the leaders took me out into the hallway and I prayed and asked Christ to forgive me of my sins and I put my trust in Him and His finished work on the cross.

            I would say my faith has been a very gradual process.  Because I was saved so young, there wasn’t a whole lot of change immediately after making the decision to follow Christ.  I tried to be a good kid and obey like the Bible says to, but I don’t think I really truly understood the weight of my sin until I was in high school.

            When I was in 8^th grade we began attending the Efree church in Polk City.  We also attended Sunday school and youth group.  I can still remember when the youth pastor, Eric Simpson, introduced himself.  He was so excited to see new kids at church, but I was terrified.  I was and still am pretty shy around new people and Eric was so outgoing and upbeat!  I had no idea at that moment how much of an impact that man would have on my life.  During my time in youth group and Sunday school with Eric, I grew so much.  Eric was a prime example of what it means to live for the Lord and he inspired me to become more like Christ by setting such a godly example.

            In 2007, I decided that I wanted to be baptized.  I had been baptized as a baby, but I now understood that I needed to be baptized again now that I truly understood what Christ did for me when He died on the cross.  On August 26 I was baptized by Eric at Big Creek.  It was such an awesome experience to publicly show that I wanted to live my life with the sole purpose of glorifying God.

            Eric passed away my senior year of high school.  It was the hardest thing I had ever faced.  I had family members who passed away, but none of them were as much a part of my life as Eric had been.  I honestly think the only thing that helped me through that time was the knowledge that God had called Eric home and that he was with Him in heaven.  I know that I will see Eric again someday.  I still keep a letter in my nightstand that Eric had written to me before he moved to Wisconsin.  I read it every once in a while to remind me of the man who showed me what it truly means to live for the glory of God and what he taught me.

            I hope I haven’t given the impression that my walk with God has been easy.  I have definitely struggled with sin.  Toward the end of high school and the first few years of college, I was not living for the Lord.  I was in a relationship that was anything but pleasing to God.  I knew I should end things because the relationship was causing me to distance myself from God.  I knew I was sinning, but I wasn’t ready to stop, so I pretended to be the “good Christian girl” everyone expected me to be, but inside I felt like such a hypocrite.

            Finally, during my junior year of college God got a hold of me and made it clear that it was time to end the relationship for good.  I obeyed, but I was terrified.  What if no one else ever wants to be with me?  What if I am single for the rest of my life?  These were the questions that were constantly replaying in my mind.  God drew me closer to him despite my doubt.  Through time in His word and lots of prayer, I finally realized that God had bigger and better plans for me and that I need to rely on Him completely to take care of me.  I finally confessed my sins and I know that He has forgiven me and I am no longer tied down by what I have done.  When I finally grew to be content where God had me, he brought someone new into my life.  By God’s grace, we started a relationship with Christ as our foundation.  It has been such a blessing to be a part of a relationship that’s centered around Christ.  However, I know that if things don’t work out, it’s because God has something better planned.

            I have no idea what my future holds, but I know that I don’t have to be afraid.  The God of the universe has my life all planned out.  He is in total control.  It’s up to me to trust Him and let Him use me for His glory wherever and however that may be.  I still have a lot to learn and I am definitely a work in progress, but I am so thankful that my sins are paid for by Christ’s blood and I am no longer bound to sin.