Read Online Rich in Love: When God Rescues Messy People by Irene Garcia, Lissa Halls Johnson - Free Book Online
Authors: Irene Garcia, Lissa Halls Johnson
Tags: Adoption
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bewildered me. “Of course I do. I told you I’m Catholic.”
“Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?”
I had no idea what he meant. His words went right over my head. Probably noticing that I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, he asked me another question. “Do you want to be a follower of Christ?”
That’s what Mary had been talking to me about at the salon. But I was still confused. How was any of this different from everything I’d believed and done as a Catholic?
“Jesus died on the cross for every person,” Fred explained, “because we’re all sinners. God hates sin, and there must be a sacrifice for it.”
I got that. I went to confession all the time. I knew a lot about sin. I committed a lot of sins too. Especially with my mouth.
“Because Jesus was crucified on the cross, his blood can be the sacrifice so your sins can be cleansed and erased and you can receive eternal life.”
I nodded, not because I understood, because I didn’t—it was still over my head—but because that’s what you do when you’re listening to someone, even if you don’t get it.
“All you need to do, Irene, is to acknowledge that you’re a sinner, ask God for forgiveness, and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord of your life. This means you will obey and follow Jesus.”
I’ve never claimed to be an intellect. I’m a simple woman. So it was hard for me to understand what all his words meant. But I knew I wanted what the two of them had—that whatever it was was really good. Then Fred asked if he could pray.
I bowed my head, and as he prayed, I silently repeated the words he said in his prayer. When he said, “Amen,” I wasn’t sure what was supposed to have happened. I didn’t understand that he had presented the gospel. I didn’t understand that I had done, in my heart, the thing that would now make me a Christian—I made Jesus Lord of my life. I don’t think it was important that I clearly understood. What I did know was that I wanted, with all my heart, to have peace with God. To have a connection with God through Jesus. So if that’s what Fred was saying with all those words and concepts I couldn’t understand, then that’s truly what I wanted.
When we opened our eyes, I realized I had gotten so caught up with what Fred was telling me that I didn’t notice Mary had not come back. I never did ask her where she had been, but I can bet she was in the next room praying for my salvation.
I thanked them both for lunch and said I needed to leave. I didn’t even think to tell either of them that I’d repeated Fred’s prayer—and meant it.
Not long after that, I changed salons, and Mary could no longer afford to come to me to get her hair done. So she didn’t know I had become a Christian that day.
No one knew I was now a believer. I was trying to grow the best I could, but I was discouraged with all my fumbling. So I called Mary and told her that if she would come in every week to talk with me, I would do her hair for free. I didn’t know then about older women teaching younger women as the Bible talks about in the book of Titus; I just knew I needed help, and I knew she could give it. She agreed and discipled me for over thirty years.
hungry
I was eager to learn all I could about God, but it seemed that the more I tried to get close to God, the more Domingo drank. But he was traveling a lot on the racing circuit—one year he was gone forty-six weekends—so things got a little easier at home. This meant the boys and I were alone and did everything together. On Sundays we started going to church where the Barshaws went—Grace Community Church, where the pastor-teacher, John MacArthur, was teaching verse by verse through the New Testament book of Matthew. I was in awe that anyone could teach so much out of one verse. It was a great book for a beginner like me to study because it was filled with Jesus’s teachings and had great applications for my life.
Little
“Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?”
I had no idea what he meant. His words went right over my head. Probably noticing that I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, he asked me another question. “Do you want to be a follower of Christ?”
That’s what Mary had been talking to me about at the salon. But I was still confused. How was any of this different from everything I’d believed and done as a Catholic?
“Jesus died on the cross for every person,” Fred explained, “because we’re all sinners. God hates sin, and there must be a sacrifice for it.”
I got that. I went to confession all the time. I knew a lot about sin. I committed a lot of sins too. Especially with my mouth.
“Because Jesus was crucified on the cross, his blood can be the sacrifice so your sins can be cleansed and erased and you can receive eternal life.”
I nodded, not because I understood, because I didn’t—it was still over my head—but because that’s what you do when you’re listening to someone, even if you don’t get it.
“All you need to do, Irene, is to acknowledge that you’re a sinner, ask God for forgiveness, and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord of your life. This means you will obey and follow Jesus.”
I’ve never claimed to be an intellect. I’m a simple woman. So it was hard for me to understand what all his words meant. But I knew I wanted what the two of them had—that whatever it was was really good. Then Fred asked if he could pray.
I bowed my head, and as he prayed, I silently repeated the words he said in his prayer. When he said, “Amen,” I wasn’t sure what was supposed to have happened. I didn’t understand that he had presented the gospel. I didn’t understand that I had done, in my heart, the thing that would now make me a Christian—I made Jesus Lord of my life. I don’t think it was important that I clearly understood. What I did know was that I wanted, with all my heart, to have peace with God. To have a connection with God through Jesus. So if that’s what Fred was saying with all those words and concepts I couldn’t understand, then that’s truly what I wanted.
When we opened our eyes, I realized I had gotten so caught up with what Fred was telling me that I didn’t notice Mary had not come back. I never did ask her where she had been, but I can bet she was in the next room praying for my salvation.
I thanked them both for lunch and said I needed to leave. I didn’t even think to tell either of them that I’d repeated Fred’s prayer—and meant it.
Not long after that, I changed salons, and Mary could no longer afford to come to me to get her hair done. So she didn’t know I had become a Christian that day.
No one knew I was now a believer. I was trying to grow the best I could, but I was discouraged with all my fumbling. So I called Mary and told her that if she would come in every week to talk with me, I would do her hair for free. I didn’t know then about older women teaching younger women as the Bible talks about in the book of Titus; I just knew I needed help, and I knew she could give it. She agreed and discipled me for over thirty years.
hungry
I was eager to learn all I could about God, but it seemed that the more I tried to get close to God, the more Domingo drank. But he was traveling a lot on the racing circuit—one year he was gone forty-six weekends—so things got a little easier at home. This meant the boys and I were alone and did everything together. On Sundays we started going to church where the Barshaws went—Grace Community Church, where the pastor-teacher, John MacArthur, was teaching verse by verse through the New Testament book of Matthew. I was in awe that anyone could teach so much out of one verse. It was a great book for a beginner like me to study because it was filled with Jesus’s teachings and had great applications for my life.
Little
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