By Guest Kevin Lewis
I decided to post my story about how I received my salvation in the hopes that it would inspire people to seek out a closer relationship with Christ or find Christ for the first time. If the story touches your heart, leave a comment. I love to hear how anything I post speaks to the heart of someone.
Feel free to comment and share your own personal salvation story as well. Would be awesome to read more testimonies about how different people recieved Jesus for the first time. This same story is posted in my latest book, Devotionals for Living Free, which can be found on www.amazon.com.
Excerpt from my book Devotionals for Living Free:
My Salvation Story
Kevin Lewis
Growing up my parents made sure that I was in church every Sunday. No matter rain or shine, my two brothers and I had to go to the service. My dad over the years went from being a deacon to being a member of the choir. It was not hard to pick out my dad in the choir. We were the only African American family in a predominantly white church.
My dad has a loud singing voice, is 6’3 in height and easy to notice. The church was small in member size, maybe 100 people. This was the normal size for a church in the town I grew up in. The town I grew up in was aptly named Niceville. It was a small town in Florida and most people ask, “Is everyone nice there?” I would have to say that most people have good southern hospitality there. I had a good time growing up.
Sitting in church every Sunday the pastor would start to preach and about two minutes into the sermon, I would be lost. I got to doodling on the church program a lot because I did not understand what the pastor was talking about. I had been baptized and my parents figured I was saved but I had never really decided. I did not even know who Jesus was as the pastor delivered his sermon. I did have a good idea that God existed somewhere up above. I would pray sometimes and just hope that God would hear my prayer.
The older I grew, the more I would try to avoid going to church. I would make up all sorts of excuses why not to go. Every now and then, I would have a conversation with God while doing my chores, complaining about certain things and wondering why my life is not going as good as this person or that person. I went through all my teenage years but never sat down and truly accepted Jesus.
Eventually I went to college at 17 because my birthday comes late in the year. I was finally free, no more chores and no more sitting through church. I was finally able to strike out on my own and do what I wanted. From the age of 17 until the age of 30, I never went to church, other than holidays. Occasionally, I would still have my conversations or complaining sessions with God. Over the years at different times, I would fall into deep depression. I would say, “If God is supposed to be good and life is supposed to be good, how come mine is not very good?” I would spend hours analyzing all the bad events in my life and try to figure out where I went wrong. All my friends were having success and my brothers as well and I could not do any better it seemed.
During the 30th year of my life while living in Atlanta, Ga., I met a friend who would help me change my life. I was out buying a sub sandwich for lunch and I saw a beautiful woman outside. After paying for my sandwich, I went up and introduced myself to her. We exchanged names and started having a conversation. Through the conversation, I realized she was a Christian woman and had been saved for a number of years. I found myself fascinated by her boldness for the things of God. I got up the courage to ask her for her number, thinking to myself, such a beautiful woman. She definitely has something different about her. She gave it to me and said I should come to church with her sometime. Little did I know she would help me change my life two weeks later.
Two weeks later, laying on my bed listening to some dreary R&B music, the depression reached its limit. I was so down, I just cried out “okay God I can’t do this anymore, tell me what to do, there has to be more to this life than what I am doing, I need an answer, please tell me!” The room was silent and out of the silence, I could hear a clear audible voice say, “Go to church.” I know I must be hearing things but I sat there a few minutes and then heard it again “go to church.” I said, “Okay I am going to go,” but being in Atlanta, GA, I had no idea what church to go to since I had not been in years.
Then I remembered the woman I had met a couple of weeks ago. I picked up the phone and called her. After exchanging greetings, I said, “You know what, I want to go to church. Can I go with you?” She said, “Yes, we can go on Sunday. We will go Sunday morning,” and I said, “Great, cannot wait to go, see you then!” and hung up the phone.
Sunday came, I met her at her apartment, and we rode together. We arrived at the church and sat down, waiting for the service to start. I did not anticipate what happened next. The pastor of the church started to speak and this time the words he spoke made sense. The pastor was sharing the Word of God and something happened in my heart. I felt every word and the more I heard, the more I wanted to hear. The more I heard the more I got a warm feeling inside. I had a feeling that I had never felt sitting in church. I was not doodling anymore. I was writing every word and on the edge of my seat. I felt so much joy in my heart as the pastor continued to speak and then felt some sadness as well because I had missed this feeling all these years.
I was finally ready to know Jesus and know what He was all about. Then the pastor gave the opportunity for an altar call. When the pastor said, “Anyone who wants to know Jesus and be saved come forward,” I looked at my friend and said, “Can I go down there?” She said, “Sure go on down there.” I started to walk down toward the altar. Each step I took seemed like it took 20 minutes. I made the long walk down to the altar. I made it there and kneeled and said “Yes, Jesus I want to know you, I want to be saved!” From that point forward, I have been different. A change has come to me in my heart. I went from not wanting to know God to being on fire for Him. I went from not knowing Jesus to knowing Him as my Savior.
Make sure to check out my latest book on www.amazon.com, called Devotionals for Living Free. You can also purchase my book on the Amazon website.
In addition, find me on twitter @kevin_l_lewis and Facebook as well www.facebook.com/kevinlewischristianauthor.
