As a child I can remember having a misty, distant understanding of God. However, I continued on through my teens and early adulthood oblivious to the fact that I was without Christ and without hope.
I can recall occasions when I would wake up in the middle of the night with a feeling of impending doom, not certain where I would end up when I finally passed out of this life.
Sinful condition
In God’s goodness and providence, during my mid-twenties, my uncle who had been a Christian for many years began to witness to me. He helped me to see that I was a sinner who needed the saving grace of Almighty God.
What had God to do with me? I was doing just fine and enjoying the pleasures of this world. However, as time went on I became increasingly aware of my sinful condition. Alarmed, I dug out the Bible that had been presented to me when I attended Sunday school as a child.
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I began earnestly to seek God. As I read his Word, God’s Spirit slowly but surely began to speak to me. When I realised how much I had offended a holy God, the thought was too much for me.
I was so desperate and distressed that I would cry out, pleading that the Lord Jesus would be my Saviour and that God would forgive me all my sins. But for a time nothing seemed to happen.
He heard my cry
Thankfully, at that stage I was regularly attending a local Baptist church, where I was encouraged to wait on the Lord. It was clear to me that there was nothing else I could do.
As I attended church services and sat under the teaching of God’s Word, tears would sometimes fill my eyes.
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My heart felt as though it would burst with the thought of all that Christ had done for sinners – his sinless life; awful death; the pain endured on that dreadful cross; the sins that he bore for his people; all this for them!
Finally the Lord heard my cry. One wonderful night when I least expected it, he quietly made his presence known and saved my lost and hopeless soul. I knew then that Christ had died for me.
Joy filled my heart. I was swamped by the Lord’s wonderful love and forgiveness. That night, I came to realise that I was no longer a lost sinner, but one saved by God’s free and wonderful grace.