“Even in old age they will still produce fruit, they will remain vital and green; they will declare, The Lord is just! He is my rock! There is not evil in Him.” Ps 92:14-15 – NTL
I am grateful for the fruit bearing promise of Psalm 92 because I didn’t even get planted until middle age. I was saved on a Friday evening, April 11, 1997. I am happy to share my salvation story if you ask me. That night changed my life forever – gave me a purpose and passion that thankfully has not dimmed in over twenty years.
Giving your life to Jesus at any age can dramatically affect your relationships. You begin to think differently, act differently, “want” differently. Even as a church goer there is a shift in your relationships. For almost twenty years I persevered in prayer and fellowship with women I deeply loved in a Women’s Bible Study. A time came when I could no longer stay true to my understanding of the Bible, and I left that church. I found the Point through the invitation of some friends who had left before I did. I knew I had found “home” the very first Sunday in September 2016. The music, the preaching, and most powerfully, the invitation to others to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, thrilled my heart.
It took me a year to join a women’s group. Looking back, I don’t know why. Well, yes, I do. After I left my former church, I had continued in Bible study with these women I still love. It took God’s putting a book, He had put on my heart several years prior, that I could never persuade the other women to study, on the heart of a Point group leader. I found this out during a “chance” encounter with her. I use more quotation marks since knowing God. With Him there are not coincidences. I signed up!!
Although I had been in a women’s Bible study with the same group of women for a long, long time, it had not prepared me for what community means at The Point. I give God all the glory for what The Point version means. It means transparency, it means accountability, it means intimacy, all with Jesus as the focus. It means so much more than friendship and for me it means a constant reigniting of that purpose and passion I mentioned earlier.
The women in my group have helped me look into the face of Jesus. I know Him better because we seek Him together, every week, through prayer and study, and often by texts and phone calls throughout the week as life presses in. We are bearing fruit in our lives for His kingdom, in and for each other, and beyond.
Prayer – Father, thank you for my salvation. Thank you for the wonderful group of women who love you, who surround and encourage me, as we live our lives together for your glory. Amen