     |
Grace and Mercy
Although steeped in religion, my family life was totally broken. I felt like I was dying inside. One day as I was leaving a meeting I noticed a gospel tract lying on the steps. All of a sudden a thought occurred to me—I had only heard of this “Jesus” but I didn’t know Him. My faith had actually been in a system that didn’t work. Eternal life seemed impossible. As I looked up the scriptures cited in the tract, Jesus was made real to me. By His grace and mercy I sensed His presence in my heart. Now, I wanted to know Him more deeply and intimately. I hungered for so much more of Him. I turned to His Word and began to search and study the scriptures. Realizing my ignorance of Him and His ways I could really relate to Abram in Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 12 ff). I was a heathen. I didn’t know anything. “Lord,” I prayed, “by your grace and mercy I would like to know You and live in You even as You led Abram step by step.”
Several years later in a Christian bookstore in Bunkie, LA, I met a Christian sister who had a visible faith, trust and confidence in the Lord that I had never experienced before. What sweet fellowship we had. She introduced me to the local churches and gave me a book titled The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee. My “knowing” of Jesus deepened tremendously as a result.
Because our family moved away, I was no longer able to meet with the church. Twelve years later the same dear sister called to introduce me with another sister in the Lord who resided close to my home. As soon as I met this sister, I recognized the same quality of spirit in her as in the believers I had met in Bunkie with whom I had previously enjoyed fellowshipping. Together we began to fellowship with the church in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Oh, “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:19). Fellowship with the church in Alexandria, our corporate studies of the Word and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, open up the Word and enable me to live in Him and experientially know Him as the reality of life. “Lord, I thank You that by Your grace and mercy You are answering my prayer every day through Your Body.”
Barbre Johnston
Back to Table of Testimonies
|
