Category: New Life

Time: God’s Gift to us

Have you ever thought about time? I’ve been listening to this song by Jill Paquette called “One of these Days” which has a line in it that says, “Your love brought time just what I needed, to see I needed you.” Wow! What a profound statement. Time, truly is a gift from God. Have you ever heard someone say “we are not promised tomorrow”? In many ways many of us do take tomorrow for granted, like it’s owed to us, even guaranteed. Many of us may even live like we have all the time in the world, like we will live for 100 years. When I look back at my own life, I see just how true this was/is for me.

When I was caught in drug addiction, I had no sense of time. I had all the time in the world to waste, so to speak. I also remember how Jesus intervened in my in life and gave me more time. You see, when I was living in my mess of a life, my goal in life was to make it to 30 years of age. I didn’t have very many dreams or aspirations. My life revolved around drugs and having a good time. I lived recklessly and foolishly. It’s funny, when Jesus began to move in my life, showing me that He was real, that He loved me and that He had a purpose for my life was when I was 29 years old. Then, Jesus saved me at 30, which to use biblical terminology, my old self died with Jesus on the Cross (Galatians 2:20) and my new self came to life with Him through His resurrection (Ephesians 2:6). So, technically speaking I did die at 30 with Jesus, but was give a new life and…more time. This is something I am eternally grateful for and is a good reminder that right now I am living on bonus time.

This time we have isn’t promised to us nor do we earned it. No, the time we have is truly a gift from God and I pray that by the grace of God during this time we would all come to truly see just how much we need Jesus in our lives. My prayer for you and for the many people right now struggling with drug addiction is that God would meet each one and give them the the gift of time to come to know Jesus and be saved by Him.


The Jesus Life

A bible verse that is very near and dear to my heart is 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” What an amazing truth! When Jesus saved me, this was one of the verses that the pastor shared with me. I remember very clearly my thoughts in this moment. I thought to myself “I am so tired of living this life of drug addiction, if Jesus wants my life and can do something better with it then He can have it.” And Jesus has been true to His Word. My life is a living testimony to this truth. My continual prayer is that Jesus would continue to encounter those struggling with drug addiction and speak the promise of this verse to them. If this is you, then receive this truth. If you have a loved one or friend in bondage to drug addiction then I pray that the Holy Spirit would cultivate a patch of good soil in their heart to receive this truth. And for you who has been faithfully interceding at 4:20, I pray the Lord would speak to you about His great pleasure in your sacrifice and obedience.


Living the Dream

Praise the Lord! 15 years ago Jesus saved me from a hopeless life of drug addiction, pain and loneliness. And I declare that Jesus will continue to save and set more and more people free!