GRACE, SPIRITUAL BIRTHDAYS, & CONFETTI

If cakes were baked and candles placed on them to be blown out for "spiritual birthdays," today mine would hold 37 candles.   
February 21st of 1974, at a Jack Van Impe Crusade held at the Raleigh County Armory in Beckley, West Virginia.

I was 16 years old and a Sophomore at Shady Spring High School.  My sister had invited me to go to the crusade earlier in the week... but my initial answer was a quick spoken "NO"!  I was way "too cool" to even consider spending my evening at a "Gospel Crusade" listening to preaching!  We were not raised in church - so even the thought was very foreign to me.  Yes, I had gone to Sunday School with my Grandparents on my mom's side of the family (Granny & Grandpa Cadle), and with my Aunt Flo and her family on occasion.  (This is when my cousin "Corky" and I got our behinds whipped over playing cards in the last pew)  We had even attended one or two outdoor "Primitive Baptist" Associations held in the woods at Streeter across from Little Bluestone Primitive Baptist Church when us kids were much younger.  Even though my answer to my sister had been "no"... I remember as the week progressed, I seemed to be preparing for that evening.  I did go and before I left the Crusade that night... I had made the decision to give my heart and life to the Lord.  I would never be the same!

The next morning was Friday... and I got up and dressed for school as usual.  When I walked in the front doors of the High School... there was a group that greeted me at the door with confetti.  The word had spread quickly, someone must of saw me make the long trek from my seat in the auditorium the night before to meet with a counselor at the stage made altar.  Around every corner those first few days, I heard:  "It will never last"!  Well, I'm quite a stubborn strong-headed kind of gal, and I am convinced the Lord used that to give me the determination that "I'd show them - I was sincere"!  When He says:  "All things work together for good"... He even meant those hard trying times when you feel rejected by those you call "friend" and even feel as if you are standing - "hair covered with confetti" - alone.  My life immediately began to change and new friends were made and old friends accepted the fact that I was not going to do the things I once did.  "Pot Smoke" being blown in my face by then a "boyfriend" - only caused me to ask him to take me home and that relationship ended.

In looking back over these 37 years... I have not always done what is right or pleasing to the Lord... but He has always been there to forgive and restore.  So today as I think of that special day - I can't help but thank God for the love, mercy, and grace given to me, and the difference He's made in my life.  And YES, I even thank Him for the "confetti"!

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  (2 Corinthians 5:17)