Jenny Carter-What Easter means to me

…As I thought about this I remembered one life changing Good Friday in the 1950s when I was 14.

I had become a Christian when I was 11.  I had realised that I needed to confess my sin and ask the Lord Jesus to be my Saviour and this I had done.

There wasn’t a huge change in my life.  I knew I was ‘saved’, a Christian, a child of God, but it didn’t occur to me that I needed to take it further.

Everything changed on that particular Good Friday.  I was in my room, alone.  I suppose I had been thinking about the first Good Friday – the betrayal by Judas, the trial, the crucifixion. It suddenly became very real to me and very personal.

I thought about what it had cost the Lord Jesus to die for ME.  Thinking about what He had given so willingly, I realised that I could do nothing but give Him everything in return – whatever the cost.  That day I committed my life fully to Him, and determined to follow Him more closely.

Although things have not always been easy I have never regretted that decision.  When I was left to bring up two daughters on my own, it was so good to be able to share my concerns for the girls with my Heavenly Father Who not only loved me, but cared for them even more than I did.

We did not have much money, but,  and I find this amazing,  I knew that I could tell my daughters about the Saviour, and that by trusting in Him they could have something no amount of money could ever buy: their sins forgiven and eternal life.

So I have found, as the years have gone by, that He has always been there to help me and though I have sometimes failed Him, He has never failed me.  In fact, I have come to realise that I could never repay the debt I owe Him.

 

A verse from the Bible sums it up for me: “I live by faith in the Son of God who loved ME and gave Himself for ME.” (Galatians 2:20, NIV).