When the Spirit of Christ takes up residence inside of you, the Gospel message becomes personal. If you don’t yet know Jesus, welcome him into your heart today!
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and this day means a lot to me.
It was back in 1964. I was a lowly sophomore at Woodlawn Senior High School and trying to find my way and where I fit. I was pretty athletic, and so I joined the field hockey team and I made friends fast. A couple of my teammates invited me to go on a Young Life weekend retreat; they said it would be fun and pretty meaningful, too. I didn’t know what the meaningful part meant, but I signed up. And so, on November 14, 1964, I found myself in Natural Bridge, Virginia, for that Young Life retreat. That evening, I sat on the hardwood floor of the camp meeting hall with kids from my school, and lots of other schools in the Baltimore area. Everyone was smiling, I felt so welcomed. I can’t quite describe it, but I had this sense of anticipation, as though something really big were about to happen. I felt my heart open to the soul-stirring hymns they were singing – I mean, these were the songs I learned as a kid with my family and at church. But this time – for some reason – this night, the words hit their mark.
The speaker stood up in front with an opened Bible. I recall him listing through the Ten Commandments and challenging us kids to measure our lives up against each one. As he went through them, I felt my heart sink. Man, it was clear; I was really missing the mark. I was anything but a shoe-in for heaven. That’s when he turned the page and started talking about Christ and why he had come. ’Cause Jesus kept the law, even when we did not, even when we couldn’t. And suddenly, a light bulb just lit up in my heart! And I thought, “So this is why Jesus came, to give his life so that I would have life!” After a few minutes, the speaker closed his Bible and asked if any of us wanted to embrace Christ as Savior. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my Levi jeans and I stood up. My heart would not allow anything less.
During the rest of that weekend, everything felt different. Even the hymns. Especially the hymns. Now they meant something. And no hymn was more striking that weekend than “And Can It Be?” Especially the third verse: “Long my imprisoned soul lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night. Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray: I woke – the dungeon flamed with light! My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.”
Twenty-four hours earlier, I would have given you a weird look had you told me that my soul lay imprisoned. Bound in sin and in nature’s night? No way! After all, I’d been raised in a Christian home. But on this weekend, everything was personal, especially now with the Spirit of Christ residing in me. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I had left behind “nature’s night.” I felt spiritually awake. It truly felt as though chains had fallen away from my heart. And it was the Lord Jesus who had made me alive – absolutely nothing that I had done. All this that I’ve described today happened 58 years ago on this date. And I don’t know where you are at spiritually, but you could be listening and you feel the stir of the Spirit in your heart. You don’t know Jesus. Now is the time to say, “Father God, thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place on that cross. He died so that I could live. Thank you, Jesus,” tell him, “Thank you for paying for the penalty of my sin.” And now, friend listening, stand up, go forth, follow him! Get on the phone, tell a friend, and go to church this Sunday morning. God bless you, and thanks for listening.
© Joni and Friends