The Testimony

Ok so here goes. For this particular post I'm just going to talk about my Salvation Testimony. For anyone who doesn't have a clue as to what I just said...it's basically how I became a follower of Christ.
When I was very young, I watched a play of the life of Christ. It was at my very small church in backwoods North Carolina, so you can imagine how limited this play would have been. No lights or special effects. I don't remember too much about it, but I do remember the part where "Jesus" was walking down one of the aisles about to be crucified. He had all the blood and make up on and to a seven-ish year old it looked real enough. I just remember being struck with a fear of dying. I didn't want to die. I started crying and cried all the way home. My parents sat me down that night and asked me why I was upset and when I told them, they told me that I didn't have to be afraid to die. That because of what Christ did, dying for my sins (all of them...past, present and future) that I could be saved from the fear of death. Without Christ I was destined for an eternity in Hell, but because of Christ I can be accepted into Heaven. I became a believer that night.
I don't have one of those testimonies where I went astray, and got into "bad" things. There really wasn't much to my life. I was a "good" kid. I did what I was told. I went to church every Sunday. I was a good student. Not much of a rebel.
But I believe that the danger of that situation for me was to start thinking that because I was such a "good" kid, I didn't really need saving. I slipped into the involuntary thought that I had somehow earned my salvation by being good. I would never have openly acknowledged this.
I had no understanding of the seriousness of sin. Of how God in all his glorious righteousness sees my sins. It took a long time for me to realize this...I believe it was my second or third year of college that I began to get a glimpse of how disgusting my sin is before a completely pure God. Since coming to this realization I have realized that on my own I had already rejected God. From the beginning I wanted to do evil. BUT (and what a wonderful but this is) God drew me to himself. Took what was inside me and changed me. "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son..." (romans 5:10)
What does that mean? It means that while I was spitting in God's face...he chose to make amends with me.
I'm so grateful that my salvation has never been dependent on what I do, or I would have lost it ten billion times over. I'm so grateful that it is only dependent on the blood of Christ that covers me, Christ who stood in my place and took all the wrath of God on himself...the wrath that was meant for me, me and my wretchedness. I heard it put this way once and it was just perfect...When Jesus died he was treated as if he had lived my life, so that when I died I could be treated as if I had lived his.
Because of Him I have life. Life now and life to come. I have no fear of death. What can death do to me? Only speed my arrival home.

"My sin, Oh the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin not in part but the whole
is nailed to the cross
and I bear it no more!
Praise the LORD!! Praise the LORD, Oh my soul!!"