GEORGIA (life story)

FRUSTRATED WITH NOT BEING ABLE TO FIND GOD

Georgia was frustrated she couldn't find God. But she came to realize that the only way to enter into God's presence was through Christ who is alive and the sole mediator between God and man.

Searching for answers about God

God promised in Jeremiah 33:3, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

So began my quest for answers to questions such as:

• What is the purpose of my life?
• Where is God in all of this?
• Is the pope really infallible?
• Why is Mary claimed to have been born without sin when the bible clearly says, "All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory"? (Romans 3:23)

• Why was I taught to pray to people other than God (Mary and the saints) when the scripture plainly tells us "there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus"?
  (1 Timothy 2:5)

My religious background

I came from a broken home and was raised by my catholic grandmother who was very religious. We would go to mass early, sometimes even an hour early. During the month of October we would pray the rosary (a long prayer centered on Mary, the mother of Jesus) almost everyday. It became so mechanical it seemed like a contest among siblings to see who could pray the fastest. I began to question the significance of this activity. Questions like those above would haunt me sporadically while growing up. Nevertheless, like many people, I continued in the faith I was born into.

A lingering void

An inherited faith, a troubled heart and a quest for answers caused me to go to mass while I was at college almost every day. But still the void I had always felt lingered deep in my heart. There was such a crisis within me as I struggled with the following thought. "Did I dare question the faith I grew up with and knew so well?"

Still hadn't found what I was looking for

It was a life of hypocrisy. I had an outward religiosity that craved for answers and led me to doctrinal debates. I attended many retreats that would give a temporary emotional high and but this euphoria would later fade away. I was living a life of sin. I was a dedicated dental student by day and a party girl by night. I was popular but what most didn't see was a broken heart while I tried to fill the emptiness with everything the world had to offer. However, these things were never truly satisfying. Why was I in this state? The answer to this question was that I had made so many professions of accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior without really understanding what it meant! What I had were just merely professions of faith that had no basis in Scripture. Then God taught me that our zeal and professions of faith ought to be based on knowledge in the word of God as the bible says; "Faith comes only from hearing the word of God." (Romans 10:17)

Seek, and you will find

God promises in the bible "if you search for Him with all your heart you will find Him." (Deuteronomy 4:29) Little did I know that years later God would answer my questions. I was at a bible camp when suddenly the wayward life I had been living flashed before me…the nights of drinking alcohol to numb my hurting heart, smoking pot, misbehaving and having no respect for my body and soul. All I could do was break down in tears when confronted with the good news that, in spite of my wrongdoing, Christ died for me. He paid the penalty for my sin by dying on the cross. I read Romans 6:23 where it says, "For the wages of sin is death" … death here meaning more than just a physical death but an eternal separation from God. Imagine that! But the good news is that "the free gift of God is eternal life." I also read Romans 5:6-8 where it says; "You see at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

The loneliest moment in life…

God heard my cry for help when He backed me into a corner where I had no choice but to look up and surrender everything in my life I had held dear. No matter what I did could never satisfy the deepest longings of my soul. I heard a man's story this week that echoed my own… the loneliest moment in life is when you attain that which you think is the ultimate only to find that it lets you down.

Surely just a little bit of sin won't hurt?

The person who shared about Christ with me showed me that I could never even get remotely close to God by my own good actions. You're in for a shock when you discover that God doesn't honor the sentiment that "our good deeds outweigh the bad." We might consider some of our minor faults as tiny sins but there is no such thing. In God's eyes sin is sin. In James 2:10 it says "for whoever keeps the whole (of God's) law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." So I was faced with the dilemma that, if even a hint of sin will condemn me, how could I go to heaven? And the answer is in John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son to die on the cross for us and pay the penalty of our sin and that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

A new assurance

But I doubted whether I could really be assured of a place in heaven. This changed when I read 1 John 5:11-13 that said, "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life." Some people might think Christians arrogant when they claim the confidence of eternal life but this criticism has an arrogance of its own, elevating man's opinion above what the bible says. I came to know God after I studied His word and acted on it. Genuine Christian faith always carries with it, right from the beginning, the call for obedience. One cannot have true faith without obedience nor can one truly obey without believing from scripture.

The most important thing

The most important thing I want to leave with you is not where I've been but what my life has become and where I am going. I was a sinner whose life was transformed by Jesus Christ's love and mercy. God reveals Himself in the bible. Our relationship with God is tantamount to the time we spend with Him. We must prayerfully study His word and put it into practice. As I sought to obey his command to seek first his kingdom, with the promise that everything else will be given to me, the promise was fulfilled. God blessed me with a great husband, a beautiful daughter and the family I never had - the caring people in our church.

Please carefully consider if you wish to reach God:
1. Jesus is alive (not dead)
2. The bible clearly tells us that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man

"Let us boldly approach the throne of grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

Sincerely,
Georgia

The Lord is my life and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? …. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. … Wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 1:1,4,14).

I want to know God

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