Do you remember the day you met Jesus? I had met Him at an early age since I was what you called, “raised in church,” but at the age of 10 after a wonderful week at Vacation Bible School, I decided to go to the altar. I was baptized shortly thereafter in Drake’s Creek.
I loved going to church, and would diligently read my Sunday School lesson every Saturday evening in order to be prepared for church the next day. I had always felt a closeness to God.
For various reasons, my parents stopped attending church when I was 13, and that ended up being a true disservice to me. Without any spiritual input into my life, I went about partying and becoming more and more promiscuous. By the age of 20, I had come to the end of myself. I was physically, emotionally and spiritually spent.
I opted out of my junior year of college to return home and sort myself out. One of the first things I did was head back to that little country church. Entering the sanctuary was like a breath of fresh air. I felt clean again just by sitting in the pew and listening to God’s Word wash over me. That’s all it took for me to completely surrender my life back to my heavenly Father.
When I think back to my wayward years, I would probably say that I mostly identify with the Samaritan woman of John 4, who is also known as the woman at the well. Not that I had been married many times or ever lived with a man who was not my husband before, but I so related to the shame and guilt that she must have felt that caused her to go to the well at midday, avoiding the other women who went to the the well in the morning.
What about you? Which of these women would you say that you can most identify with on some level?
- The woman caught in adultery
- The prostitute
- The woman at the well
- The woman with an issue of blood
- The woman with the alabaster box?
MY CHALLENGE
I would love for you to tell me in the comments section for the opportunity to win a free copy of Frank Viola’s and Mary DeMuth’s new book, The Day I Met Jesus: The Revealing Diaries of Five Women from the Gospels.
I would also like to challenge you to write your own blog post about the day you met Jesus or one of the women listed above and help me promote this book! Thanks!!!
MY REVIEW
This book is….wonderfully unique! Not only does it provide beautifully written narratives for five of the most endeared women of the Bible, but it also provides the “Sacred Text” and further elaborates on each woman’s story.
I found the narratives to be very enlightening as a reader. In each woman’s scenario when read in the Bible, they leave you wondering just how everything really played out. Thankfully, Frank Voila and Mary DeMuth did a wonderful job of providing us with this insight, as much of it is based upon cross-references in scripture and sound historical information.
In no other book will you learn as much about these women in one place as you will in The Day I Met Jesus: The Revealing Diaries of Five Women of the Gospels. The women highlighted are the woman caught in adultery, the prostitute, the Samaritan woman, the woman with an issue of blood and the woman with the alabaster box. You will learn things about these women you have never heard before, making this book’s sub-title completely appropriate.
MY RECOMMENDATION
I highly recommend this book for personal reading as well as for Bible studies and book clubs. The thought-provoking discussion questions in the back of the book make it a perfect selection for small group in-depth study.
Check out the interview: InterviewforTheDayIMetJesus
Visit the book’s website here.
Looking forward to hearing your feedback on this wonderful book! Please wait until March 3rd to purchase this book on Amazon! Thank you!!!
~gina
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Award-winning author Gina Duke is a wife, mom and the Director of Women’s Ministry at her local church. With a B.S. in Organizational Leadership, she is able to bring a clear word for authentic Christian living. Through her book, “Organizing Your Prayer Closet: A New and Life-Changing Way to Pray” (Abingdon Press), she imparts 1 Peter 4:7 with the gift of structured prayer journaling. If you would like to schedule Gina to speak on prayer or host a prayer journaling workshop, click here for more information. You may also follow her on Twitter and Instagram @TheGinaDuke.
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Great review! I’m scheduled to review this one soon, so it was helpful to get your take on it in advance today at Tell His Story!
Love the story of your country church. definitely a metaphor for returning to the Lord physically and spiritually. I can remember my days in college. I knew I was missing something, and since I was raised in the church, I knew where to go find it when I was emotionally and spiritually spent. Thanks for sharing!!
Karen, I, too, knew something was missing. Too bad it took me so long to figure it out. ~gina
Thanks for sharing this, Gina. I love new reading material. Although none of these women’s stories are quite like my own, I would say I relate most to the woman with the issue of blood. I met Jesus in the midst of an awful year of postpartum depression, and it was his Light alone that brought me out of the dark pit I was in emotionally. Praise Jesus for his healing power!
Abby, that is a great correlation to the woman with the issue of blood, unfortunately. I think it is great that her story is included in the Bible – so relatable to what we women have to go through sometimes. Thank God for His healing power – I agree!
You get me thinking about these women. I cannot seem to pick one although I think I hold elements of each within. Thank you for your words here. Thank you for sharing this book. Looks great. Cheering you on from the #RaRalinkup on Purposeful Faith!
Like you, I was raised in the church. My mother carried me there before I was a week old. I even married in that sweet church. Not long ago I attended it again and was so happy to know Jesus presence was just as real. I’m eager to read this book. Thank you for sharing your story. ~Pamela
You are welcome, Pamela! I hope you like The Day I Met Jesus!
My Testimony — #RemindedofGod’spurposeforMylife— My brother Anthony Palaile and I were inseparable until the last 2 years of High School (also prior 2-3 years of not attending church), when I pushed him away because he started doing drugs/drinking and would not stop. 8 years passed without communication, when he called me….literally sitting on the ground 5 miles from my home….someone brought him a phone and dialed information for my number. I answered, ‘HELLO’ …he said, ‘Sister I need you’. I was far from serving the Lord in my life at the time and married to my drinking partner. My brother was dying from Hep C and Cirrhosis of the liver. He was 3 blocks from my mother’s home (he had not seen her in 4-5 years). She wanted him to stay with her but his wife (partner/supplier in drugs) would not allow it and he was not strong enough to fight his addiction.
To see him this way broke me beon my hearts depth and to my knees before the God of my youth. I first pleaded with God to help my brother…but I had trouble with his wife to even visit him…(door shut!)…I could not get time off from work at the times she wasn’t home…(door shut!!)…the next Monday, I was scheduled for a minor operation that I was needing and would be in recovery for awhile…(door shut again!!!) Then I felt my guilt stricken heart….I should have Helped my brother Anthony, instead of pushing him away. Knowing that without God’s leading in Our life for even those few years….sent us Both further away from God than we could have ever imagined. I then knew!…I am No Help to my brother (or anyone else) until I can First get right with God!! With a repented heart and full submission to God’s lead….HIS work in Both my life and my brother Anthony’s …Now Began!
Monday following was my minor surgery….it was Thursday and I pleaded to his wife again, to let me visit…..She was adamant saying, ‘I do not want you, your bible or God around my husband!’ I was afraid that he would pass away before I could talk to him about the God who we loved and found joy and peace in during our youth. I asked God’s forgiveness and pleaded for a miracle.
It was Friday and I had an appointment for ‘Pre-Op’. The doctor came in after he examined me and asked, ‘Have you seen another doctor?’ My answer was ‘No, why do you ask?’ He said, ‘Have you been taking other medicine?’ I answered, ‘No, why…what’s wrong!!??’ He said, ‘Your issues for surgery are no longer needed…there are No signs of tissue disorder!’ I was healed…I…I was healed!! I do not need this surgery and I have All next week scheduled off of work to have surgery….All I could think was …’Thank you God!!…please let me see my brother!!!’ I tried Friday, Saturday, Sunday (with my mother’s and now my)church in prayer with me) and Monday to talk my brother’s wife into letting me talk to him. To No Avail!…..until just after 7:AM the following morning…his wife called me saying, ‘Come over here if you still want to (Of course I wanted to!!)…bring your Bible, God or whatever…just hurry!’ I was scared/concerned and asked, ‘Is my brother okay!?’ She said, ‘Yes, I’m just sick and tired of him calling me by your name and saying your name over and over all day and all night!!!’ Praise you Lord…Thank you Lord!!
When I arrived, she looked at the bible in my hand and not in my eyes…pointed to his room and said, ‘He is in there and you can close the door and visit as long as you want.’…..I went to hug her but she walked with me saying gratefully, “Thank you so much!”
Anthony’s condition was terminal…he could not talk to me…I mean…he tried but I could not understand him. His expressions spoke the words clearly with God giving me understanding. I spent hours into that night and the next days and nights to follow…reading God’s word and praying with my brother Anthony.
His face went from joyful (celebrating our reunion), to worried (that he would not be going to heaven), followed by a peaceful confident rest…knowing that God never ever let him go.
In my brother’s room 2 days before he passed from this world (2001) and into the embrace of our Savior Jesus…. I vowed to God, that I would never let another person (family or stranger) pass thru my life without them hearing or seeing the very testimony of Jesus that makes me who I am today.
I stand on this scripture today: Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, not I but Christ lives in me and the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith that is in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Naomi,
Thank you for sharing. I love this story! So thankful your brother received Jesus and I hope his companion did, too. What a testimony! It just goes to show you that God is merciful.
~gina