So many of us feel like we are walking alone through our struggles in life. It is commonplace to believe that our own heavy burdens, and uncertainties, the unjust treatment we endure, or fierce temptations we battle against, are singularly more difficult than anyone else’s trials.

But we are not alone in our struggles and suffering. There is a holy God who understands our pain and walks with us through it all.

Scripture teaches us that “no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) Everyone is fighting something—silent battles, feelings of disappointment, hidden fears, family strife, private heartaches. Realizing that these difficulties are universal experiences should lead us to soften our hearts toward others and remind us to extend compassion, patience, and grace as well.

While I was walking through the darkest parts of my own deep valley in life, I felt absolutely alone most of the time. I had little awareness of Scripture, God’s ways, or His love for me. I wandered blindly and hopelessly for a long stretch. I felt completely lost and adrift because I was unaware that real help (and hope) and safe harbor was available to me.

Then, through a series of astounding events, Christ opened my eyes to His truth. To get to the point, God “rescued me” from myself and from the oppressive evil forces that had formed against me for most of my life. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I repented of the many transgressions in my own doings. (This process continues to this day.) For the first time in my life, I began to understand true love and a real sense of belonging. Since that act of salvation, my sanctification has been ongoing, and I expect it will continue throughout my lifetime. Season by season, my relationship with Jesus has grown.

Perhaps while you’re reading this your prevailing thought is, “This is nice for you, but I don’t believe in God.”

If that is your perspective—believe me, I understand exactly where you are coming from. Though the word atheist is not one I ever really used to describe myself during my life before Christ, the term is not far off the mark considering the worldview I held for far too many years. It is fair to say that I considered religious belief to be foolishness and I was biased against anyone who professed to be a Christian. Before my salvation, if anyone had asked whether I could possibly imagine living as a devoted follower of Christ—my reply would have been an immediate and resounding, “Not a chance.”

But as I mentioned, through a series of remarkable and mysterious events, my life was radically changed from what it had been.

In the Bible, the story of Saul (Paul) of Tarsus’ journey along the road to Damascus is a widely known example of God’s unlimited transforming power. In short, Saul, a powerful religious Jewish man, had devoted his life to persecuting Christians in the most relentless and heinous ways imaginable. Then, during a supernatural encounter with Christ, Saul was transformed completely. He became a faithful follower of Christ. By God’s inspiration, Saul [Paul] wrote a significant portion of the New Testament, and the remainder of his life was dedicated to spreading Christ’s message.

I mention this pivotal Bible passage because, in some ways, I can relate to Saul’s sudden transformation. (Although, admittedly, my salvation did not involve a blinding light nor an audible voice from heaven.)

Still, from my perspective, as someone with a lengthy history as a staunch non-believer, the degree of my own transformation seemed no less profound to me.

In fact, the level of change I experienced felt so dramatic and powerful and was so comprehensive that, initially, I was at a loss for how to explain it clearly to others, especially to those who had known me for most of my life. Truly, it was like being born again. I understand now why that phrase is so apt in describing a person’s salvation. In the course of just a few months, my understanding, my ability for discernment, as well as most of my priorities and preferences all changed, significantly. Almost overnight, it seemed I wanted little to do with my previous lifestyle. Frankly, it seemed as though I had become incapable of tolerating ungodly things and ungodly behavior. I cannot overemphasize the countless changes that occurred in every aspect of my life within a very short amount of time.

A verse that was shared with me in those early days helped to clarify how it could be that I felt so overwhelmingly changed.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it is explained: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.”

There were many things in those early days that I found both amazing but, at the same time, inexplicable. But with every mystifying or perplexing puzzle I encountered, I discovered that the Bible provided the missing pieces I needed, so that God’s ways became less and less of a riddle to me.

That said, this new path forward was not without its bumps, twists, and turns. Firstly, as the heavy veil of this world was lifted from my vision, I eventually began to see myself clearly for the first time in my life. I understood the real implications of my past choices. Initially, these realizations filled me with unbearable sorrow, remorse, and regret. Like many newly formed Christians, I began to consider that perhaps I could never actually be worthy of Christ’s love or acceptance. Again, reading and learning Scripture corrected my broken outlook. When I first read Psalm 103:12, the Holy Spirit showed me that through true repentance and by God’s mercy, I had been pardoned fully. Full stop.

At that time, I also began to learn how demonic spirits manipulate our emotions of guilt and self-pity. This is an insidious method that is used in order to try to separate us from God. By trying to convince us that we are too broken to be loved and too messed up to be accepted into God’s family, evil tries fervently to destroy our bond with Christ.

In my first year as a believer, I encountered another significant stumbling block as well. I began to convince myself that being saved meant that I should somehow be capable of becoming spiritually mature, straightaway. When I failed to achieve that self-imposed ideal, doubts began creeping in. My misunderstandings about Christianity threatened to derail my faith at one point. You see, I was still clinging to some old habits. In this case, it was the flawed notion of needing to work my way to acceptance. Many Christians fall prey to this idea of “performance-based salvation.” Our own pride and ego combined with erroneous teachings about God’s Word, oftentimes lead to wrongful beliefs in this area. Once again, through Bible study, I’ve been shown that having this faulty view of the Christian life actually means that we are trying to usurp power that rests only with Christ. Scripture provides absolute clarity on this matter. (Ephesians 2:8-9) I can also suggest reading C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. It is a fascinating book full of astounding insight on how the evil one weaponizes our tendency towards sinful behavior, with the aim of separating us from God’s kingdom.

Despite my own shortcomings, I’m amazed at how God uses me to share His good news with others. Often these evangelistic encounters happen in the most unexpected moments. My theory on this is, that He knows that if I had too much “lead time” regarding discipling someone, I’d probably argue with God about why I should not be chosen for the role of messenger, or, I would otherwise talk myself out of doing it. [ See: the book of Jonah.]

These days it feels like I experience less trepidation about evangelizing. I understand now that God is in control and may use my life in ways I simply cannot imagine or foresee in order to reach people I might never consider. I am not a pastor and never will be one. To date, the mission fields in which I’ve operated have been located in the checkout line at the grocery store, or at art events, or while walking along the sidewalk of my neighborhood, or while caring for the children in my family, or hiking along nature trails, and so forth. I have had some good laughs at the unexpected evangelism opportunities God has provided in my everyday life. Those occurrences are reminders for me that it is He who saves, and it is the Holy Spirit working through me that makes it possible for me to disciple at all.

I still hold myself accountable for faithful Bible study. That said, coming to better understand God’s nature, His power and mysterious ways, has taken the pressure off of me regarding the prospect of sharing the gospel. The Bible has multiple passages that show how God often uses the most unlikely characters and, oftentimes, very unwilling individuals as well, to carry out His most profound works.

I’m not saying here that I view my impact as profound on any grand scale.

I’m not preoccupied with the vastness of my outreach but instead focus on His will and my own willingness to share the saving grace of Christ within the scope of my own simple life. Only God can know the impact of our outreach. We cannot know His thoughts or plans. (Isaiah 55:8–9)

I’ve had many instances where, while in mid-conversation with others, I find myself praying silently the message of Luke 12:12. I’ve seen with my own eyes how God can cause someone to see something—or another person to hear something—during their interactions with me— that I may not even be aware of in that moment. In the times when I have become aware of this after the fact, it has brought about an extraordinary goose bump moment of realizing His awesome power! This is the work of a living God who comes to live inside of us.

Before I close this introductory message, I want to share a challenge I encountered while drafting the About and Blog pages for this website.

In seeking feedback on my first blog entry and for the overall site design, I sensed there were subtle suggestions telling me that I should tone down the overt Christian message I’d drafted. When I asked for clarification on this, the subsequent responses seemed vague and were unhelpful. I couldn’t shake the impression I’d gotten from this outside input that choosing to write a distinctly clear Christ-centered message might result in possibly hindering my objectives to grow an audience for this blog and to build a fan base for my artwork.

The feedback I received unsettled me enough that I ended up delaying this post for a little while.

In my effort to get this matter sorted, I can say that I’m grateful for pastor and Bible teacher Alistair Begg. From my early days of being saved by Christ on through to my present-day life, it is Alistair Begg’s explanations of Scripture that have helped me to understand God’s Word clearly and which have helped me to avoid falling prey to false teaching or misguided theology views…on more than one occasion.

Pastor Begg [TruthForLife.com] teaches the following message consistently: “If you need clarity, open your Bible. If you desire to hear God’s voice, you have only to open His Word.” [Paraphrased.]

So that’s what I did while working on this website and blog: I read Scripture. I prayed. I sought guidance through His Word. And in that time of reflection, this message formed clearly in my mind.

The truth is: without God’s total transformation of my life—this blog, this website, and even my ability to create art and to persevere in general—would not exist!

How could I not acknowledge His amazing grace in my life?

Consider how you have felt in your own life when you’ve gone above and beyond for someone—investing your precious time, energy, and effort in that individual—to then watch as that person goes on to thrive and flourish while, at the same time, they choose to give no acknowledgment to you, nor do they offer any thanks to you whatsoever. In one way, I guess this might be viewed as a lesson in humility. But let’s be honest here. How exasperating is it to be treated in this dismissive and ungrateful manner? Worse still is the experience of having someone else takes all the credit for our own hard work—without offering even the least bit of acknowledgment in our direction!

The point is—that I owe everything to God’s saving grace and ongoing mercy in my life.

Therefore, in all things, I hope to give glory to God!

Romans 12:3 — For I say through the grace that was given me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.

You are invited to submit your ‘grace laced’ comments to:  HeatherSophiaDesign@gmail.com