"I must say the grace & mercy of Jesus Christ is sweeter to me now than it was then."

Jesus never gets old. This past Sunday, Kim reminded us that Jesus is the “same yesterday, today, & forever” and will never fail us.

This is simply wonderful news. Read along to “hear” her testimony.

Good morning. I want to share with you and testify how God has miraculously changed my life. I was raised in a wonderful home, in which God provided for all my needs and gave me two hardworking parents who taught me how to live a good, moral life.

However, as I entered my freshman year of college at the University of Tennessee, I began to ask questions of my life and sought to find true happiness. I searched for it mainly in friends and dating. I lived for myself and my desires. However, the happiness I pursued never satisfied.

In God’s kindness, years before my brother became a Christian during his college years at UT. He plugged into a local church and his life was never the same. Several years after that, my sister plugged into the same church and began serving the Lord there. During that first semester, she continually pursued me to come to church and attend campus ministry events. I resisted and then resisted some more. Finally, after her continued prodding, I reluctantly agreed to attend a Christian conference over the winter break. God was at work somehow!

During that conference—in a message about the local church—God began to open my eyes and help me see that I was living a life that did not honor him. God softened my heart, gave me eyes to see and ears to hear the truth from His word. I came to see that I was a sinner in need of a Savior and that God himself sacrificed His one and only Son for ME and my sins. This understanding was freeing and such welcome news! I no longer needed to work to be good or to be accepted, but all through Christ in me! There was such a sweetness and freedom in being forgiven by God in Christ!

That was over 17 years ago. And I must say the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ is sweeter to me now than it was then. I’m still a sinner, but living in the light of the fact that my greatest problem has been taken care of is a game changer. Like many of you, these past 17 years have not gone completely as I had imagined. I am not in the career I thought I would be in. I have had several miscarriages. I have walked through the recent death of my mother. And I have had to take up my cross in ways I didn’t plan to and didn’t want to.

Life can be hard and difficult at times. I have not walked it out perfectly, but I am sure of this: God has never left me or forsaken me. He has been faithful again and again. His grace and mercy have followed me and I trust they always will, because of Jesus.