Monday, June 1, 2009

One Person

In my last post, I shared my Dad's recent choice to model Real Jesus Love to the workers from Mexico. As you can see, my Dad's love for God profoundly shapes not just his "talk", but also his "walk".

This has not always been the case.

Growing up, my Dad professed to be an atheist or agnostic (it just depended on who was at our door with a pamphlet.) He wanted nothing to do with the Christian religion. Nothing.

As many of you know, I grew up living very far from God. Although my mom took me to church every Sunday, I did not embrace Christianity as my own. After many years of poor, self destructive choices ~ I finally gave my life to Jesus at the age of 26. Hallelujah! :)

Soon after I became a Christian, I started inviting my Dad to my new church. His answer was always a strong, "NO". One Sunday I was going to share my testimony at church, and I begged my Dad to come and support me. I assured him the walls would not fall down if he walked into a church building. :) Once again, my Dad refused. He continued to want nothing to do with the Christian religion.

Fast forward a few years, and I met a wonderful, Godly man named David Timmer. After two years of dating, we were engaged to be married. David loved the Lord, and often said he would give his life for just one person to know Jesus. David and I would pray for my Dad ~ praying that his heart would soften and that he would desire to know and walk with Jesus.

And then, two weeks before Christmas, and five months before our wedding...on December 10, 1998 ~ David Timmer, my fiance and best friend, was killed in a freak workplace accident.

How could God take David home??

Two days later, at David’s funeral, my Dad, the atheist/agnostic, accepted Jesus as His Savior!

Remember, David had said he would give his life for just one person to know Jesus. Little did he know.…. it would be MY DAD!!

If you were to meet my Dad today, you’d think he’d been serving God his whole life! Our God is such a God of miracles – I know …because I’m one of them, and so is my Dad!!

Let's pray...Thank You, Lord, for bringing new life out of our deepest pain. Thank You that there is no one too far from Your reach! Thank You for my Dad...and how he models and demonstrates his commitment to Your Kingdom. Lord, please use each one of us to bring hope and healing and love to this lost and hurting world. For Your Glory alone!! Amen! :)

2 comments:

Christy Danni's mom said...

Praise God! What an awesome testimony of the power of God to completely change ones life views! Thanks for the encouragement today Cindy

MOMSWEB said...

Thank you and God bless you for sharing this. My father believes in God, but does not believe in Jesus as our Risen Savior. This post gives me continued hope and encouragement as I want nothing more than for my father to know my Jesus.

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