Who Led You to the Lord?
Wednesday, April 21,2021
Who Led You to the Lo
rd?
Deborah Harris
Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;
We all have a story to tell. We are each born in need of a savior. It is what moves us to the place of knowing our need and meeting Jesus that makes our stories unique and powerful. My testimony is long, full of sadness, rejection, abandonment, and grief, I am going to highlight one slice of my life that the Lord used to reveal himself to me. My family moved a lot when I was young so I was accustomed to making new friends and finding my place in the new peer group. When I was 12 years old, my family moved from the east coast to California. Shortly after moving into our home I walked down the street to meet up with the new friends I was making at school. Normally kids would congregate in the yard between two houses. On this particular day, I found there were three teen age boys outside who told me the other kids were inside. I walked up to the front door with them and suddenly realized no one else was there. Those boys dragged me into the house and sexually assaulted me. I fought them off so they were not able to actually rape me, but I was very naive and had no idea what had happened to me. I was very traumatized and too afraid to tell anyone what had happened.
That incident marked me in the years that followed. Fast forward 10 years. I was married, expecting my first child and experiencing many life threatening complications with the pregnancy. I had prayed asking God if he was real to show me shortly before I ended up in ICU. My life and the life of my baby girl were both at risk of not surviving. The doctors were giving me grim reports. At one time I actually had an experience where I was looking down at my body from the ceiling of the room observing what was happening but I had a peace that I could not explain. I knew that everything would be ok. My daughter was tiny but perfect. My heart complications were normalized and after ten days we were released form the hospital. Once home, I was alone with my baby for the first time since she was born. I was not a believer, but I lifted her out of the bassinet and presented her to God, dedicating her life to him because I knew he was the only reason she was alive. At that same time, I met a woman who became my friend. She was not a believer either, but her neighbor was sharing the gospel with her every evening. My friend was a bitter, wounded woman who argued with her neighbor. She would then come to me and tell me what the neighbor was telling her. It sounded right to me. The Lord opened my friend’s heart to him and she became a passionate, on fire believer. I was a witness to her transformation and the freedom she received from her bitterness and unforgiveness. She was still sharing with me what she was learning. She began to attend a Bible study group. After one meeting she told me, “They speak in tongues.” I honestly did not know what that was but I knew it was something that I would have to see for myself. The next week I was off to Bible study with her. The study opened in the book of John. In the beginning was the Word… I sat and listened and I knew that I was hearing truth for the first time in my life. The Bible study group met all day every Tuesday. I was there at 9 when it started. I had sat through three different studies, worship and prayer times but I had not heard anyone speak in tongues. At 4:00 in the afternoon personal prayer time started. A woman asked for prayer. Everyone gathered around her and were praying. One person prayed in tongues and then gave the interpretation for what was prayed. I was stunned. It was so natural, peaceful and very life giving. I was processing when I heard the leader say that she they would pray for others but first she want ed pray for this young girl…me. It was so scared. It didn’t want anyone to touch me because I knew they would know everything wrong I had ever done. I was too scared to tell them not to pray though. The Bible study leader started to pray blessings over me when she changed languages and prayed then gave the interpretation. It was a detailed description of the day the three boys tried to rape me. I mean detailed, but there was no shame, no pain. Jesus put himself right there with me, healing my trauma, telling me he understood how that had affected me. I had never told anyone and here was this woman in Georgia telling me what Jesus had to say about it. Needless to say, God got my attention. The following week, I went back to the Bible study. I stayed all day again because now I wanted prayer. I did receive but way more than I known to ask for. They asked me if I was a Christian. I said of course I am, I’m an American. They kindly explained the difference and the way to be saved, so I was born again. They asked if I wanted all that Jesus had for me and if I wanted to received the Baptism in the Holy Sprit and I said I wanted all that Jesus had for me. They prayed and I was filled to overflowing with the love, peace and Spirit of the Lord, praising God in a new language. My life has never been the same. God used one of the darkest circumstances in my life to let his light and truth shine.I may not have known Jesus when I was a wounded child but he knew me. He was always there, always the answer, always the healer, always the deliverer, always the lover of my soul. He has taken me through every place of rejection and abandonment, every place of torment, every place of bitterness, every place of hopelessness and death and given me life.
Thank you Lord that you have known us from before we were formed in our mother’s womb.
There is nothing hidden from you. You are present and aware of our circumstances every moment of our lives. You work in our lives to bring us into salvation, healing, redemption, and abundant life. Thank you for the people who you have used to plant seeds of truth, water those seeds, nurture our tender new life as new believers. You meet us exactly where we need to know you in the way that is according to your plan for our lives. You are always good, always trustworthy, the same yesterday, today and forever. You are worthy of all of our praises.Amen