Faith

by Deb Smith

(August 7, 1974)

I grew up going to church each Sunday with my parents, my brother and my sister. I knew at an early age that Sundays were “set aside” for church and for giving “recognition” to a God that was part of our lives. I remember having special meals as a family each Sunday. My Dad would usually say a prayer before this meal. However, all the other days of the week were much different. We were “pushed” with the business of work, school, and “life”. There was rarely ever a mention of “God” or prayer in our lives during the week. Any Bibles were put away until the next Sunday.

As a young girl in elementary and Jr. High school, I felt very confident that I (and most people around me) would consider myself a “Christian”. I stayed out of trouble and was, for the most part, “a good girl”. It wasn’t until I attended a summer church camp when I was 13 years old, that things really changed.

I remember one evening at camp, we had a special band come. One of the leaders began sharing about what it means to be a “Christian”, a real follower of Jesus. He was sharing things that I never remember hearing about before. How I needed to recognize the sin in my own life, that I need to ask for forgiveness and confess that I believe Jesus is God’s son, that He was crucified, buried, and He rose again. In order to really “be a Christian” I needed to INTENTIONALLY pray and ask Jesus to come into my heart (my life). I needed to, starting THAT day, read my Bible and commit to try to follow Jesus’ way.

This was more than just a “one day a week” recognition,…this was a life changing commitment to walk daily with Jesus for the rest of my life. I was ready to make that commitment so I determined in my heart that night that the next day at camp, during our “break”, I would hike up to Middle Vespers, an outdoor chapel area, and I would pray and ask Jesus into my life. The next day during break, I headed up the side of the mountain. I had ONE goal and ONE purpose in mind….”TODAY I will pray and accept Jesus into my life.”

As I walked through the trees, something caught my eye. Up in the pine tree was a “black” squirrel jumping from branch to branch. I was sooo surprised because I had never seen a “black” squirrel before. It scurried on the ground and ran off in a different direction. I decided to follow it for a while to see where it might go. After walking for several minutes, I suddenly stopped. “Hey, what am I doing? I WAS headed up to Middle Vespers to pray. I’d better get back on track.” So I left the squirrel and headed back up the hill. I was about ½ way up when again my eyes caught something that looked interesting. At the base of a large pine tree was a small pile of colorful pieces of paper. I stopped and squatted down to get a closer look. Much to my surprise, there were several colorful pieces of a puzzle. How strange! I immediately went right to work at putting the pieces together. I spent several minutes sorting before I, once again, STOPPED. “Hey, what am I doing?” Again I recognized that I got off track. With great determination this time, I headed straight for the top of the mountain. Nothing will stop me this time!

Finally, I reached the outdoor place of worship. I walked toward the wooden cross at the front. As I knelt down I looked out passed the cross and saw the beautiful mountains covered with thousands of majestic green pine trees. The view and fresh air were breathtaking! I began talking with Jesus, confessing my sins and inviting Him into my heart. I wondered how a GREAT BIG God, who made this whole HUGE world with billions of people, could ever see or “love” little ole “me”. My eyes were taken from the mountainside covered with trees, to a single tree not far from where I was kneeling.

Then my eyes looked at a pine branch that was right beside me. This single branch was covered with hundreds of individual pine needles. I zoomed in on “ONE” single needle. That ONE single needle is important and special to the entire branch, to the entire tree….to the entire forest. God sees this ONE special pine needle just like he sees “me”. Though I am in a world with billions of people, still God LOVES me and He died for me and He watches over me. I was completely overwhelmed with the TRUTH that God loves ME sooo much! “Thank-you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for ME!” From that moment on I knew my life was different and I was determined to make a difference in this world for Jesus. There is no greater purpose in this life for me than to share Jesus with others so that they, too can be in heaven forever with Jesus.

“I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5