Saving Grace

Its been on my heart to share my testimony with you all.  How can I have a Bible Study Blog and share the scriptures with you without sharing what the Lord has done for me?  How can I have a blog sharing the good things in life without sharing with you guys the absolute best thing in my life?!  I'm ashamed that I am just now writing this out to you....

I was raised in a God fearing and loving family.  Since before I can remember I have had a knowledge of the God who created all things and sustains all things.  I have always known that Jesus was God's only Son and as a sinless man died a death on a cross to pay the ransom for sinners.  I prayed "the prayer" in church at a very young age and professed my belief of Jesus as my own personal Savior  at my baptism in high school.  While I do not believe that praying "the prayer" and being baptized meant that I was a believer, I do know that The Lord broke the chains of my sin, blessed me with The Holy Spirit and revealed to me my sinfulness and my need of Him as my Savior.  The joy of the Lord was in me and I was given a strong desire to know Him and serve Him.  These desires have only grown stronger throughout the years.  He has given me a growing love for His law, understanding of His scripture and consciousness of my sin.  I definitely have times of doubt and fear, low seasons and droughts.  I have failed over and over again. I continue to sin against my God everyday.  But that's the point, that's the Gospel.  I'm not perfect.  Becoming a believer doesn't make me perfect either.  As a child of God, a christian, a believer in Christ I am still just as much a sinner as I was before.  It is only the Lord's Saving Grace that makes me a child of God, nothing of my own doing.  Not because I have become a better person.  Not because I'm better at not sinning.  No, it is because The Lord chose to lavish His loving grace upon me.  It is because Jesus died for me, so that my sins could be forgiven and I could be looked upon as righteous by a Holy God.  Giving in to His calling and accepting the Lord as my Savior may have been a one time thing, but my testimony, my christianity, is a daily walk with the Lord where my relationship with Him is deepened, my mind is renewed by His Word, my faith is strengthened by His truths and my steps are guided by His will.  All of this, my testimony, my relationship with Him and my daily choices are with the intention and prayer that The Lord of the Heaven and Earth is glorified and that His name is praised.  Amen.