OUR GOD IS MIGHTY TO SAVE.
i became a Christian when i came to college at the age of 19. i discovered passion and the “DVD guy” Louie in college and was blessed to be able to come to Passion 2010. when i was at Passion, i bought the 4 part Passion series DVD with indescribable, how great is our God, when life hurts the most, and fruitcake and icecream. i had seen indescribable and how great is our God, but it has been several years. i love my walk with God and love how much of difference He has made in my life. thats my story in a (small) nutshell.
i’m now a graduate student getting my doctorate in physical therapy. its a friday night, and i have the house to myself. i decided that i would watch the 4 part DVD tonight because i have really had Passion on my mind this week. i had read Ashley’s story before on the blog, but had never heard Louie actually talk about it. as i listened to the last 2 DVDs, i was overcome with emotion. i was overcome with grace. with mercy. with salvation. i got on my knees in the middle of my empty living room and wept. i wept for ashley. i wept for her family, Anna, Jacob, Jeff, Mike. i wept knowing that i have been so blessed to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who has His arms wrapped around me. i feel like i have become a Christian all over again, knowing that Jesus died for me, someone who has led a life of sin and shame. He hung on that cross, looked at my life and my sin, and said yes. He said yes to dying for me.
who would have thought that a quiet friday night at home would have been such an encounter? as i sit here on the couch, crying as i type, listening to the Passion music that i have fallen in love with, i wonder, how many people around the world have been changed by hearing the story of Passion, the story of Ashley? i pray that i will be a “fruitcake” for someone, even if its just one person. i know that i can make a difference like Christa did for Ashley. sometimes i feel lost in how to do that, but i know that when God decides its time for to make that difference in someone’s life, He will give me the tools to do so.
so, if Mr. Louie Giglio reads these words that i’ve typed from the heart sitting here in north carolina, i want you to know something. i thank God for you. i thank God for Passion, and for changing my life through it. i thank God for changing Ashley’s life and so you could tell her story. i don’t have a story like hers, but maybe i can be part of the wonderful work of Christ working in the darkness of her death.
like the rising sun that shines, from the darkness comes the light, my soul has been awakened. ~Andrea
