June 10

All Because of the Cross

Every once in a while, I have the opportunity to share my testimony. Nowadays, I don't spend much time thinking about everything we went through. Yet, as I retold our story, I was overwhelmed by the awesomeness of all God did in our lives and what is available because of the cross.

It started as I began telling the story of the night my Mom answered an altar call at a small Pentecostal church down the road from our home. When we were adults, she told us that she had been thinking about suicide at that point in her life. After growing up in an abusive household, she thought she married Prince Charming and would have a different life. When her marriage started following the same patterns, she saw no hope to go on. Still, she kept going because she didn't know what would happen to my sister and me.

Then one day, our neighbor invited her to church. When the pastor picked her out of the crowd and asked, "Do you want to be a Christian?" she said she felt loved for the first time in her life. From that night on, her life, and ultimately our lives, were dramatically changed.

She was transformed that night. Almost immediately, the Holy Spirit started working in her heart, healing her from her past and making her into the woman God created her to be. Starting at salvation, she changed, and our lives changed. As I retold the story and remembered how her salvation experience changed our family, I was once again overwhelmed by the power that salvation has to change a person's life.

As I continued sharing our story of overcoming abuse, control, lies, secrets, and so many other issues, I was overwhelmed by the incredible gift of healing offered to each of us through the blood shed on the cross.

Because the cross didn't just give us salvation. As Isaiah 53:5 says:

"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (ESV)

This healing isn't just for our physical bodies (although that's great); it's also healing for our minds, hearts, and emotions.

Because Jesus willingly laid down His life on the cross, we are given so much: salvation, healing, deliverance, freedom from the sins that want to control us, and eternal life in Heaven.

Because of the cross, we don't have to carry the heartache and pain of our past throughout our lives—we can experience healing.

Because of the cross, we can experience deliverance from generational iniquities and the sins passed down from our ancestors.

We don't have to follow the same patterns as grandma, grandpa, and all who have gone before us. We can experience freedom and follow Jesus down a completely different path.

The incredible thing is that these things aren't just "doctrines" or "spiritual teachings"—they change actual people's lives.

As I told our story, I was reminded of the incredible impact Christ's work on the cross has had on me and my family’s lives. Without the cross, we were destined to repeat the same destructive patterns as those who lived before. As often goes, we probably would have delved deeper into sin, addiction, and heartache then our ancestors.

Yet, because of Jesus and what He did at the cross…. because of salvation and its transforming power…I have a testimony of changed lives, healed hearts, and a purpose for living.

Once again, I am reminded that the heart of Christianity is found at the cross. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John. 3:16, ESV)

Memory Verse:  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10, ESV)

New International Version (NIV)

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