I remember at an early age my Dad sitting us kids down many times and telling us about creation and how God had sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. So, early on there was a knowledge of and a relationship with the Lord developing in me, immature as it was.
For my thirteenth birthday one of my grandparents paid for me to go to a summer church camp. During one of the evening meetings there was an evangelist preaching the gospel, and he gave a call to come forward and receive God’s forgiveness in Jesus. Well, I answered and went forward that night and made my confessions and asked for His forgiveness, telling Him that I wanted to follow Him for the rest of my life. I can still remember leaving that meeting with my friends and talking about a change and the great feeling that had come upon me. I felt released.
The teen years followed, and they were not without struggles. But as I look back on those years with amazement, I can say that it was, and still is, only His saving grace that saw me through them.