In the Beginning!

With this being my very first blog I thought how everything has a beginning. Praise be to God as His children and believers that His Son Jesus died for our sins (John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.) for with Him there is no end. But to be sure the Bible tells us also in the book of John, (John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.) thanks be to God.

So to many of the readers who do not know about the God's Love Outreach Ministry let me explain how God has used a wretch such as myself to touch many lives in a short span of 5 1/2 years. I like using the word wretch for I now understand it's meaning as stated in the hymn Amazing Grace. See it was God's grace that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see! Praise God!

For a long time I thought a wretch was just a nasty person but now I understand for me who was mainly a good person for 66+ years, I was like so many without Christ in my life, lost! Something was missing. Jesus was missing! I guess this is a good place to give my testimony. My mother, my best friend took her (3) sons to a small white Presbyterian church in Blasdell, New York in the early 1950's. I was around eight years old when I started to go to Sunday School. I think like most children my mind was wondering all over the place during our Sunday School class and the Sunday sermons. I really didn't know it at the time but God was preparing my heart for the day I would say, Jesus forgive me of my sins and become my Lord and Savior. That happened at the age of 15 years at a skating rink of all places. Isn't it amazing that it can happen at any place or time. It is all up to the person.

Halfway through the skate we would stop and they had a speaker or speakers come and talk to us about Jesus. As I was sitting there listening, all of a sudden it was like no one else was there, just me and this over whelming feeling of love, God's love! Now as I think back I can't remember what happened when we got back at church but I do know something happened to me and it was left like that for so many years. I didn't know how to talk to anyone about this. I wish I did and also there would of been someone there that could of helped me understand about a relationship with Jesus.

So like so many I would call out to God when I needed Him and He was always there. But still no real relationship. See I now understand that a lot of people ask Jesus to be their Savior but struggle with the Lord aspect which is so important. A favorite quote of mine, which I am not sure the author, is "If God is your co-pilot, swap seats!" I gave Jesus control and made Him Lord of my life in my mid 50's. One day I believe it was a Sunday I wasn't even attending church back then, I was sitting on my couch with my little dog at my side and was thinking though I had everything, cars, house, family, a few friends, financial security I really had nothing. Please don't think family and friends are nothing but I just want you to understand Jesus is so much more! What I really didn't have was a relationship with Him. Was I saved all those years, yep. What I just wasn't doing was fulfilling His purpose, God's purpose in my life. Until you give Him control you can't. I said on that day, Lord You take control of my life for I have made a mess of it. Why was my life a mess? Because He was not the center of it. I remember at that moment I felt a cool sensation start from the top of my head go throughout my body to the bottom of my feet. I sat on the couch crying saying, "Thank You Jesus, thank You Jesus!

Wow what a way to start my first blog! See as I now tell my church family, "It's not about me, it's not about you, it's a message for them, that's all about Him! Praise God!

In my next blog I will discuss how through my love for Him, He has in trusted me with an outreach ministry to minister to His wounded.

From God's heart, to mine, to yours,

Ed Shagott