A New Series: Who Is Jesus to Me?
Our pastor, Randy Gunter, began preaching through the Gospel of Mark this week, and after spending an entire sermon on just the first verse, I found myself asking a question I had never seriously considered.
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” — Mark 1:1
Mark doesn’t begin with a genealogy or the Christmas story. He simply tells us who Jesus is.
As I listened, another question quietly settled into my heart.
Who has Jesus been to me?
The Gospels tell the story of Jesus for all mankind. My story is much smaller, but it is still a testimony of His faithfulness. Over the coming months, on the first Friday of each month, I’d love to invite you to sit with me At His Feet as I remember the many ways Jesus has revealed Himself throughout my life.
This first chapter is about Jesus, my Savior.
Jesus, My Savior
My childhood wasn’t an easy one. I was a serious little girl because, more often than not, I was afraid. I never felt pretty, smart, or athletic and often felt I was too skinny. I had very little self confidence and I was sickly. A childhood friend used to say that I’d be in school in the morning and hospital by lunch! Maybe most kids feel this way, but; looking back, I realize how much those early years shaped me.
My mother faithfully took me to Sunday School each week. She would drop me off and return later to attend the worship service. I remember feeling very alone at church. Although I made a profession of faith around eight years old and was baptized, I don’t remember understanding what it truly meant to know Jesus personally. I attended church and even a Monday afternoon group called the Sunflower Girls, but my heart had not yet been awakened.
Everything changed when I was fourteen.
Jesus, My Teacher
Our family began visiting a church of a different denomination, and for the first time, Scripture came alive. I couldn’t get enough. I loved going to church. I loved learning God’s Word. I wanted to serve. Jesus was no longer just someone I had heard about—He became Someone I wanted to know.
When I was sixteen, our youth group traveled to Cocoa Beach, Florida. There, standing in the Atlantic Ocean, I was baptized again—not because the water itself changed me, but because this time my heart had.
My mom later told me, “You came home glowing.”
She was right.
Something was different.
Jesus, My Friend
If I had to describe who Jesus revealed Himself to be during those years, I would choose three words: Savior. Teacher. Friend.
A year later, I met Jay.
He began attending church with me, and together we joined a neighborhood Bible study held in our next-door neighbor’s living room. I can still picture seasoned believers opening their Bibles each week, patiently teaching two young people hungry to learn. Those evenings laid a foundation that has carried us through decades of marriage.
Then came one of the sweetest years of my life.
When I was eighteen, both my father and Jay came to know Christ.
Daddy attended our Bible study rather reluctantly at first, invited by our dear family friend, Robert Bridges. But one evening, Robert lovingly shared the Gospel with him, and my father surrendered his life to Jesus. Watching the Lord transform my daddy remains one of the greatest gifts He has ever given me.
That same summer, while my family and I were standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon marveling at God’s magnificent creation, Jay walked forward during a church service and accepted Christ as his Savior.
I’ve often smiled at the thought that while I was admiring His creation, God was making Jay a new creation.
I’ve also wondered if the Lord intentionally had me away that day. Perhaps He wanted Jay’s decision to belong completely to him—not influenced by me, but born from his own encounter with Christ.
Only God knows.
From then until we married at twenty, our lives revolved around church, Auburn University, Friday night Bible study, and learning what it meant to follow Jesus together.
As I look back now, my first thoughts are not the fear that marked my childhood.
I remember the Savior who rescued me from it.
I remember the Teacher who patiently opened His Word to me.
I remember the Friend who surrounded me with people who loved Him and pointed me toward Him.
When Mark declared, “Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” he wasn’t writing theology alone. He was introducing a Person.
And this is how that Person first introduced Himself to me.
He was my Savior.
What about you?
Who has Jesus been to you?
Here’s another story about Jesus’ love, if you’d like to read about Living to Leave a Legacy.