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I
started my journey to Christ when I was 19 years old I was saved
in a Southern Bible Baptist Church in Biloxi Mississippi in 1974.
It was a most wonderful time walking with the Lord witnessing to
people and actually saving souls. Unfortunately that was short
lived and my walk with him only lasted for about 1 year. I became
backslidden and lived a good life with my wife and three sons. We
had many trials and tribulations but for some reason I never
connected back to the Lord until 2008. And that is where I would
like to start the story of my new journey.
In November 2008 I
was in the process of loosing my house, my wife, a business I had
started with my 3 sons nine years prior, my investments were
failing and it seemed like the world was throwing everything it
could muster at me, and I was ready to throw in the towel and end
it all. I started going back to church in Sarasota Florida, a
wonderful church called the Church of Hope. Pastor Scott the
leader of this fine church was the most God like person I had
known since back in the days in Mississippi. I could feel the love
of God the second that I walked thru the doors that first day, but
I had a heck of a time coming back around to God. I remember going
up front one evening and having Jose pray for me. He asked me what
he could pray for and I told him I was losing everything that was
important to me and I needed him to pray for me to find a job. He
is a wonderful man and he prayed his heart out for me but I got
nothing from it. I went home despondent thinking that God would
never touch me like he did back in the 70’s. I was afraid he would
never let me walk with him again like he did before. A couple of
weeks later after much soul searching I went up front for prayer
again and told Jose I had rethought my prayer request and asked
him to pray for my salvation. I was starting to get it! He said
the most wonderful prayer for me it really touched my soul. Later
I knelt at the big wooden cross and prayed more for my salvation
and I felt a small glimmer of hope that the Lord was getting thru
the fog of rejection that I had. I had issues with my father, and
the illness that my wife had suffered with for 7 years prior to us
moving to Sarasota. I was angry with God and didn’t even know it
at the time, but he still forgave me and took me back. I was
making progress but was scared that my life would never be the
same and started slipping back to old habits. My wife Debbie whom
is my reason for living told me that she was going to leave if I
didn’t get my life turned around. She even told me one day she was
going to the grocery and went to the church and talked with Pastor
Earl and he gave her a book for me to read. She was afraid to give
it to me as I was so angry with the way things were turning out.
Finally one day she worked up the courage to give it to me it was
called Total Forgiveness by R. T. Kendall. Oh what a great read it
was, I was really starting to move on by forgiving my father and
the Lord for letting Deb be sick for all of those years. My
fishing buddy Steve who slowly got me to start thinking about
church asked me to go to the men’s breakfast the end of January
09. I reluctantly agreed, I showed up and met the most wonderful
group of men. We talked about the book that I had read and I got
the impression that most of them had read it as well. They had a
nice breakfast for all of us and we said prayers. That is when it
hit me like a ton of bricks that the Lord loved me with all his
heart and soul. A fellow named Gary was holding my hand as we
prayed at the table and he said a prayer for the Lord to touch me
with his Agape love and boy did he ever. The next day I wrote my
poem EPIPHANY OF AGAPE LOVE. And my wonderful journey of poem
writing had begun. Thanks to Pastor Scott, Pastor Earl, Steve,
Jose, Gary and countless other people from the Church of Hope for
showing me the Agape love like Christ had to help bring me back
from the spiritually dead. But most of all I have to thank my wife
Debbie, for never losing her faith in God or me because if it
wasn’t for her selfless ways I would probably be dead by now!
Peace and Mercy Always,
Lyle |
