Amazed by Grace
Mike Mullins
(14/3/2001)
I was brought in quite a religious family. In our house we had a Bible, it was one of those big red, leather covered ones. It had a very special place in our house, because in it we used to keep the television license, the dog license and other important documents. The Bible was the safest place to put things in our house because no-one ever read it!
In my early teens I heard about the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He had died for ME on the cross, to pay for MY sins. It was explained to me that all I had to do to be saved was to simply ask the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart to be my personal Saviour and accept the free gift of eternal life that He had earned for me by His death on the cross. Jesus had paid in full for my sins when He died on the cross. God had made a way for me (a sinner) to be rescued and brought back into a relationship with Him. I simply had to trust in His finished work on the cross. I did and everything was fine for a time.
I had no Christian friends where I grew up. My parents, although they were church goers, were not Christians. The church that I was in did not teach the Bible at all. There was plenty of religion but no reality or relationship with God. I was always too afraid to question it. I feared the priest more than I did God.
In 1990 I had reached my twenties, I was disillusioned and now very far away from God. But in that year the Lord used certain circumstances to make me more aware of my need of Him. In the summer of that year I spent a whole week crying out to God. I felt so far away from Him, I felt so sinful and unworthy of His love. In fact I doubted if He ever loved me at all. Then one day in the privacy of my own bedroom I felt the Lord's presence like I had never felt it before. I read Matthew chapter 4 verses 19 and 20 and how Jesus called the first disciples. "Come follow me, Jesus said ,and I will make you fishers of men". It was as though He was calling me. His love overwhelmed me as I fell to my knees and surrendered my life completely to Him. That day I had allowed Jesus Christ to be the Lord in my life.
Almost instantly I felt like a new person. I was always a very shy person but now I was on fire for the Lord. I thought that I was the only person in the world who understood the meaning of the cross, God's love demonstrated for me not only to pay in full for my sins but also to to give me life in full with meaning and purpose, hope and assurance of eternal life. I knew I was forgiven , I knew I was loved and I knew that I was going to Heaven. It all made sense, how could I have been so blind. I was amazed by grace.
I remember one day shortly after this, standing on the steps of the Bank of Ireland in Newbridge, County Kildare with a Bible in my hand. I wanted to preach but didn't know how. I wanted to tell people what had happened to me but I couldn't explain it. So I opened my Bible to a section somewhere in the Old Testament and started to read. (I could feel my knees in close fellowship.) I remember people laughed at me and spat in my face and even threatened me. I had always thought that Ireland was a Christian country, the land of saints and scholars. That day I realised how wrong I was.
I found a Bible teaching Church and was baptised as a believer in December 1990. Since then I have had the joy of seeing others saved including my own parents. I serve a mighty God He is able to save and He is able to keep.
Amazed by Grace,
Mike Mullins