I went to Sunday School & Bible School when
I was younger, but I don’t remember going to church
much at the high school and teenage years.
I wasn’t a bad person – the worst things I could
think of at that time were smoking and drinking
and I didn’t do those things. I never questioned
God’s existence or Jesus being His Son and I have
always believed the Bible was true. To me
those were facts, but they weren’t a part of my
life and I never thought much about them.
I graduated from high school, got a job, got married
and moved to Huntington, West Virginia.
Four years later I had the first of my two children.
I think God began working in my life about that
same time. I had recently been through a
very traumatic time with almost losing my father
in an emergency situation, then my husband’s grandfather
died and we began asking each other a lot of questions
about God and even bought new Bibles. But
neither of us knew the answers to the questions
we had.
My neighbor kept asking me to go to church with
her and I kept putting her off with any excuse
I could think of. But I finally gave in
and attended a revival service with her and my
life took a big change. A counselor with
the revival talked with me and she made me realize
that I needed Jesus in my life. She shared
with me that the Bible says that “All have sinned
and fall short of the Glory of God.” And
that included me. Just being a good person
and doing good things wasn’t good enough and it
wasn’t what God wanted. It also wasn’t what
it takes to get to heaven. After she showed
me more scriptures I admitted that I was a sinner,
I believed that Jesus died for my sins, I asked
Him to forgive me of all my sins and I trusted
Him as my personal Savior. He forgave me
and came into my heart that very minute.
That was in 1974 and I don’t know what my life
would be like today without Jesus. He gave
me a new life. I rely on Him everyday to
get me through the normal daily stuff and through
the hard times that come along. My mother
passed away in 1992 due to cancer, my daughter
had a miscarriage in 2002 and I couldn’t have
made it through those times without my faith and
trust in Christ. I had comfort and peace
that I find amazing in such a terrible circumstance.
I’m not perfect and I sin every day, but I know
He’ll forgive me each and every time I do sin.
Everything hasn’t gone perfectly in my life because
I am not perfect but He’s been with me every step
of the way. He has blessed me over &
over again and I’m very thankful that He’s in
my heart and my life.
Jeanne Carter
