You Are The River by Leonard E. Smith, Jr. You are the river running through my soul You are the river that makes my body whole You are the river my source and my supply You are the River that never will run dry Flow, River, flow through me Flow, River, flow to the sea Flow, River, flow through me Flow, River, flow to the sea You are the river from the mountains flows You are the river that to the ocean goes You are the river coming from God's throne You are the river that carries me back home chorus just one of Barb's favorite songs by |
Barb's Testimony |
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Some teach that if you cannot tell your testimony in one minute; then it is too long. Well I am not so sure I believe that unless you were trying to communicate it in a real emergency. Well, all that to say this: The Lord is Great and He saves, it does not matter from what walk of life you may be from, and it does not matter what gifts you may have to give to the poor, or what talents you have to give to the world. All the gifts and talents come expressly from our Father in Heaven anyway ... what I am trying to express here is the fact that many attribute their salvation to the good works they do. Now please don't get me wrong ... I have done plenty of good works for the Lord Jesus. What amazes me is the fact that no matter what good works I do ... they are never good enough for salvation. These good works come only through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in me. I assure you this is no minute testimony: When I was a young girl, I was forced to attend the Catholic Church. I have nothing against them, in fact, I do believe that is the reason I have a good foundation of faith in my heart. They taught about Jesus dying on the cross, his burial, and his resurrection. Anyway when I was 16 years old, I decided to question my belief in God. I was going with a young man who continued to tell me about God. He was attending a youth group in another state and continued to write to me about his faith in Jesus. I remember writing to him and saying, "Who do I pray to?" He wrote back and explained to me that you pray to Jesus because He was the one that died on the cross for you. Well, I knew that he died and I believed it, so that was not hard for me to understand. Yet, I was very confused because of what the Catholics had taught me. So, he continued to tell me that I needed to ask God to forgive me of my sins ... again I had no problem with that because I had been taught all my life that I was a sinner. He had enclosed a little booklet called "The Four Spiritual Laws." I read this little booklet and came to the conclusion that I needed to be forgiven, and that I needed Jesus as my Savior. Now, I did not understand it in that way ... what I did understand was that I needed forgiveness. After I accepted Jesus into my life, years later I understood what had happened that day. In 1966 after reading my boyfriend's letter, I went into my bedroom closet and prayed to Jesus to come into my life. Just a few months prior I had contemplated suicide. I was so miserable living the life I was in at the time. I had many nights that I woke up and thought my mom was going to be killed by my alcoholic/abusive stepfather. I will spare the details here because it is not important ... just wanted to explain that as a 16-year-old girl, it is hard to look at life anywhere past where you are at the time. In the letter my boyfriend told me that there was a verse in the bible that stated that you should pray to the Father in secret and that you should enter into your closet to pray. Well now you must realize that he was only eighteen at the time and just a new Christian himself. I believed what he said and that is why I chose to go into my bedroom closet. At the end of the little booklet he included, it stated that you must pray a certain prayer, which is just what I did. When I came out of the closet, I ran next door to my best girlfriend and told her what I had prayed. She was already a Christian and was very excited for me. We are still best friends to this day and have known each other since second grade. My boyfriend is now my **husband** and we have six children and 33 years of marriage together. Our God is continuing to bless us daily and I am so appreciative for my salvation that He gave me freely on the cross. I hope this blesses your heart and that God will use it in some way to encourage you in your walk, or in your wanting to know more about God the Father. Seven years after I accepted Jesus into my heart, I had not grown in His word or in fellowship with other believers. I was attending a seminar with a church group and the man in front said, "are you sure you know Jesus"? I had to stop and think about the answer. He said, "if you are not sure, you can be sure today." He continued to explain if you have never asked Jesus into your life and would like to do that today, then from this day forward you will be sure you know Jesus. If you have asked Jesus into your life many years ago and you do not remember, or you just don't know if you did or not; then do it now, and you will be sure you know Jesus today." I thought about all he had said and decided to commit my life to God that day. From that day on I have known and I do know that I know Jesus. 1 John 5:13 "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." My husband was put into jail when he was fifteen years old for destroying coast guard cutters in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan. He asked Jesus into his life because an old man came through the jail and handed out the booklet titled, "Four Spiritual Laws." He had nothing else to do but to read and after he read the booklet, he asked Jesus to forgive him and to come into his life. Less than two years later he shared his faith with me. God has an awesome plan for each of our lives and if we follow that plan to the best that we know how, we can never tell who we will reach. He did not know at the time that he was leading the mother of his children to Christ. What an awesome God we have!!! Also if you would like to read more about him, read Clay's testimony from the link below. Incredible story of life after death - an amazing experience! Barb |
This page was last updated on: 10/5/02
Leonard Smith who writes such beautiful songs forJesus! including "Our God Reigns" visit his midi site below! |
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Thanks, Andy, for these beautiful butterfly backgrounds and graphics. If you love butterflies, be sure to visit Andy's site. |
