I Just Said "Yes!"
My name is Brian, and this is my story.I had been feeling dissatisfied for a while. I should have been happy. I had a good job, a nice house, a loving wife, so by most measures successful. But I was becoming more and more discontented inside. I grew more frustrated everyday with my job. I couldn’t find peace within myself. Where am I going? What am I doing with my life? What should I do? What do I want to do? I tried all kinds of things. I tried making changes at work and in my personal life. None of it made me feel better or answered any of my questions.
Then one day, one of my friends and his wife told me how God had helped them through a recent tragedy. I hadn’t known that they were saved but I knew it now. A few days later my best friend told me how he had just recently turned to God as a result of a tough breakup in a relationship. One day it finally hit me: God changes peoples’ lives! I realized I needed to find out about God.
So, one night I picked up my wife’s Bible and began to read it like any other book, from the beginning: Genesis 1:1. It was easy to read, interesting, and made me think and question. I found a reading guide in it: two weeks in the life of Jesus, a chapter a day for two weeks. I started that reading schedule.
"I just didn’t believe in 'organized religion.' I didn’t want to go and pretend to be into it."
A few days later God worked another change. Every Sunday my wife went to church and every morning she would ask me if I wanted to go. I always said “No”. I had turned my back on church in late high school. I just didn’t believe in “organized religion”. I didn’t want to go and pretend to be into it. After a few days of Bible reading and asking her questions, I agreed to go to church with her. I also asked her what Sunday school was like but she hadn’t gone yet. So I suggested we check that out too.
They taught and preached straight from the Bible and everyone had a copy. They believed what they said and they could explain what they believed using the Bible. So many people welcomed me personally and warmly. This place was different. I went back next Sunday and went to the evening service too. Then, I attended the Wednesday evening service. I agreed to do a Bible study with one of the church members. The invitations during the service were really working on me. By now I knew that God was doing something.
In the Bible study, I was shown how the Bible is true and not just a collection of stories by men. The Bible is the Word of God, it’s all true, and God speaks through it. Then I was shown the difference between saved and lost. I asked my study leader, “What do I do?” He said “you need to do business with God.” I realized on the way home that everything I had; my house, my wife, my artistic ability, I had done nothing to receive them. It was all by the grace of God. If anything, I was lucky that I didn’t ruin all of it through the sin in my life. I went home that night wanting to “do business with God”. But… I got distracted. By the time I got around to reading the verses he had recommended to me, the stirring inside of me had waned and the verses didn’t speak to me. I was at a loss and disappointed.
The whole next day at work I prayed about it. I tried to eliminate any distractions I could and asked God for help and guidance. Later that night, I was unsettled and my mind was wandering. Suddenly a thought came into my head, clear and strong, and it was “Do you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior Brian?” I knew the question was serious. I knew the answer had to be “yes” or “no”. Even to not answer was saying “no”. I knew this was a point of decision and I might not get a chance to change my answer. I said “Yes!” Just “yes”, nothing else, because there isn’t anything else. Either Jesus Christ is my Savior and my life belongs to Him or he isn’t.
"Christ told me to follow Him because I had just accepted Him as my Lord and Savior."
It felt like something happened, but I had to be sure. I remembered from church that the Bible is where to go to figure out the truth. I immediately got up, took a Bible and began to read the verses my teacher had suggested before. It didn’t take long for me to I come to John 1:43. The words leaped off the page and when Jesus said to Phillip “Follow me.” He was telling me too, “Follow me.” Christ told me to follow Him because I had just accepted Him as my Lord and Savior.
The next day I still had questions about what had happened to me. The whole thing had happened without the powerful feelings I had been having in church. I wanted a “sign” that I had been saved. I was confused and starting to despair so again I picked up the Bible. God answered me through his Word in John 4:48, “Then Jesus said unto him, except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” God was telling me to believe because faith is a choice, not a feeling. Do I have faith that Jesus had saved me, even if there is no sign or feeling when I expect it? I thought about that and again I said “yes”.
Since then, I have always found confirmation in the Bible, not in feelings, when I question my salvation. Also, I have seen steady changes in myself showing that I have, as II Corinthians 5:17 says, “become a new creature”. When I trusted Christ, I got rid of the music I used to listen to. The frustration I felt at the time at work waned. I still look forward to going to church. I continue to read the Bible every day and only rarely miss a day. God eventually called me to full time ministry and there is nothing I would rather do than serve Him and His people in my church.
Everything has been God doing. God got my attention and drew me to salvation through the Bible and biblical preaching. God saved me. God continues to change me. I have no desire to go back to my old self. Every step has been His leading. I have done nothing. God and his son Jesus Christ did it all. I merely said “yes” at the moment of decision and continue to say “yes” to His Lordship and leading in my life.