God’s Grace for Donnie

My life was all about me. I would have never considered myself selfish, but I was very selfish. I had a sense of emptiness in my life, a void that I kept trying to fill with things of this world. Those things worked in the short term, but always gave way to wanting more and more. It was if I was throwing a rock into the Grand Canyon expecting to fill it. I felt a lot of loneliness in my life even though it was filled with people. I lived in fear of dying knowing that I would go to hell. I had a lot of worry and anxiety about life and what happened when a person dies. I had an addiction to women, sex and sports. I was consumed with sin. After being saved by God’s Grace, I began to see my worth because it’s in him through the work of Jesus Christ which I’m thankful for. I have been made new and bought by the blood of Jesus. I have an inner peace that I never had before and I have been forgiven which feels amazing. I have a reason for life and a reason to share the hope that is inside of me to a world that feels hopeless.

I had went through a divorce at the age of 26 after dating the love of my life for seven years. I had everything I ever wanted and dreamt of and yet I was unhappy and unsatisfied. This led to me committing adultery. The hardest part was knowing I hurt her and for that I did not want to forgive myself. I struggled with that for a long time. I had to learn to rest in Christ. Sounds easier than it was for me. I didn’t know how to rest in Christ. I felt like I had to do more good because of all the sin I had committed. That’s how a person doesn’t rest in Christ. Resting in Christ is to know He is all sufficient. He has took all my sin and bore it on Jesus Christ. I didn’t have to do more good because Jesus accomplished it all. I didn’t have to live my life feeling as if I’m not good enough because God bought me with the price of the blood of his Son, which means He knows I’m worth it. I learned to rest in Christ by doing what is said in Luke 9:23, denying myself, taking up my cross daily and following Him. Like John the Baptist says in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I learned to stop focusing on Donnie and focus on God. How did I do that? Through the work of Jesus Christ and by his grace alone.

God saved me by grace through faith in the person of Jesus Christ. For my sake, he who knew no sin became sin so that in him I might become the righteousness of God.

Now that I have receiving eternal life I can live without fear, anxiety and worry because I know God saved me and he is with me.

He is with me in the good and bad times, ups and downs, valleys and mountain tops. I will make my refuge in Him.

I have the assurance of my salvation because once I am His, he doesn’t loose me.