Lisa Morrone
A personal testimony of my walk with Christ

I was born into a family of converts. My mother had been raised in the Catholic church and my father was raised in the Orthodox Jewish tradition. Both, in their adulthood, made decisions to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. (Not so unusual for a Catholic, but certainly for a Jew!) They began regularly attending a Baptist church where I was brought twice each Sunday and every Wednesday night during my youth.
 

Through Sunday school and other classes, I learned that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. Jesus had provided a solution to the eternal separation from God my sins demanded. By dying on the cross, Christ offered Himself in my place as the perfect sacrifice for my sins. By accepting Jesus’ offer of salvation, through the shedding of His Blood, I could be set free from the power of sin and death. My relationship with God, the Father, could be restored.

At the age of twelve, I made a public declaration of my personal decision to ask Jesus into my life. At that moment I received forgiveness from my sins and the gift of eternal life. I dedicated my life to following the commandments of the Bible. My spiritual journey throughout my teen years and young adulthood were not always marked with obedience to the teachings of Christ, yet I was a work in progress. Whenever I would drift away from God, His Holy Spirit (who was living in me since I accepted Jesus’ gift of salvation) would draw me back to my first Love…

The last twenty years of my walk with Jesus have been fruitful. I have been learning that holiness is a choice; one decision at a time, one action at a time. I can choose to do, think, and say things that please the heart of God or grieve the heart of God. I have spent and continue to spend much time studying God’s Word, the Bible, and praying. What I have found is that God is faithful in good times and in difficult times. His life principles are trustworthy. His grace (unmerited favor) and mercy (cancellation of deserved punishment) are new every morning. My goal is to become more like Christ and less like my “old self”. I am part of a large community of believers, which is as nearby as my local church and as far away as the rest of the world. Together, as Christians, we live to bring glory to God by carrying out the plans He has for us and by using the gifts and opportunities He gives us to spread the Gospel message of new life in Jesus Christ.

SCRIPTURES TO NOTE:                

Acts 4:12
John 3:3 
John 3:16 
Jeremiah 29:11

SUGGESTED READING:

The Bible
     (The book of John is a good starting place.)
The Purpose Driven Life,
     by Rick Warren
Seven Life Principles for Every Woman,
     by Sharon Jaynes and Lysa TerKerst