My Relationship With God: Past, Present and Future

Hebrews 13:8
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

I can personally testify to the fact that God is faithful: past, present and future. He has faithfully pursued me and finally won me in January 2012.  I was in an awful place in my life. It was comparable to the prodigal son in the pig pen eating the pig slop. I knew I needed to go back to church. I grew up in the church. I didn’t want to go back, but knew I needed to. I ate my pride and went back to church. I look back at that time in my life with wonder because of the ways God was reaching out to me through the most unlikely people, places and situations. It finally came to the moment where I was forever changed. I will never forget the moment. I don’t remember the exact date, but I know it was early January 2012. I was in the upstairs room of a house that I was staying at.  I remember the moment I was saved, reading a book called “Meditations from Conversations with God”. It wasn’t even a Christian book, (it was a new age book) but God spoke to me through it all the same. My ex- boyfriend packed me very little other than that book and the Message Bible which was given to me by a woman back in 2007 (which I had never even opened). I started reading Proverbs because I needed life wisdom more than anything. This is the place where God set me free and won my heart. I remember feeling so free. I knew at that moment I had nothing in terms of physical possessions, but I had a future and a new start. I had never felt so free in all of my life. I truly believe my soul was regenerated at that moment. I was standing up at a dresser looking at that little book (Meditations). At that moment I knew for sure that I would be okay.  I look back so fondly on this time in my life because I see God’s hand so beautifully and mysteriously weaving in and out of the fabric of my life. This was a time of new birth and new beginnings. I was like a cat who was blessed with a tenth life. I viewed myself as washed up and hung out to dry, but God saw something in me that could be saved and changed and gave me another chance and a new beginning. I thought my life was over, but then I realized what it really meant to have a new beginning at the age of 30.

Things didn’t automatically become perfect. Things were still really hard, but I had a faith that was stabilizing and revitalizing to me. It kept making me stronger, better and more courageous. I also struggled severely with spiritual warfare and demonic attacks for a very long time.

I have learned in my relationship with the Lord that I can trust Him: past, present and future. He has proven Himself to me over and over again. He has been faithful: every day, of every month. of every year, that I have blessedly walked with Him. He has been so ever-faithful. He has never failed me. Not once. I can’t even imagine a time where He would even have come close to failing me. Actually, it’s much the opposite. I have failed Him continually, yet He has remained faithful to me. He has been so much better to me than I deserve. It is in knowing this that I have discovered what fuels worship: relationship and love and thankfulness. We must know the truth about ourselves and about God to properly worship Him. This includes understanding His ever-faithful goodness and our ever-present fallen nature, in spite of our salvation. We are working out our salvation with prayer and trembling. We are looking forward to, as well experiencing now, our ever present redemption and our sanctification that is ongoing. I now realize the Holy Spirit is as committed to us as a man is to his wife. This is how close the Holy Spirit is with us. We become one unit. We become so intertwined that we begin to grow in ways we can never have done, or even imagined, for ourselves. I see qualities in myself that I know have not come from myself, but from the Holy Spirit and His work in me. This work is so mysterious to me. I do not understand it fully, and I am not sure if anyone does. 

Philippians 1:6

“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”

This verse is personally really significant to me. I was at a Bible study not too long ago lamenting that I am not a better witness for Christ, and one guy opened his Bible to this verse and said: “This is the verse I feel the Lord wants me to share with you.” It was like a breath of fresh air to my lungs and I breathed it in deeply, spiritually, relieved. I knew I was right where I belonged and that God wasn’t done with me yet. The Lord has also told me that my past failures at evangelism are not a preview of what I will accomplish in the future.  My hope is to win souls for Christ. I want nothing more than for people to know the new life and redemption found in Christ, that I have found.  

Proverbs 11:30 says: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.”

Jesus is just as willing to save and do miracles in people's lives today as He was when He walked the earth. He is stilling working today as He has always been working: yesterday, today and forever. I trust Him with my future because He has always been faithful to me so far, and I have no reason to doubt He will continue to be faithful to me for the rest of my life: both here on earth and eternally in heaven. I believe Jesus has a plan for each person's life and will draw them to Himself in His own time and in His own way. I have not given up hope on anyone. I believe Jesus can and will save whoever comes to Him with an open and willing heart.

John 5:17

But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”