Full of Joy

Please welcome my friend, and one of the fabulous leaders from my writing group, Beth Fowler! Her story fascinates me, and I know you will be blessed by reading it. She is writing in response to my question, "Who is Jesus to you?" as part of the Who is Jesus series.   *** Who was Jesus to me? He was a storybook character like Santa Claus and Prince Charming. I went to Sunday school and endured goofy flannel-board stories narrated by ladies that seemed very old to me. At age 12, I quit going to Sunday school and church. My parents didn’t question why. Faith was never discussed in our house. You went to school on weekdays, the YMCA on Saturday and church on Sunday. Now my Sundays were free! Decades passed. M y life looked perfect. In reality, many mornings I woke up angry, but didn’t know why. Time slogged by as I guzzled alcohol, studied Buddhism, attended Avatar (not the movie, but a thought system), consumed legal and illegal drugs, used sarcasm...

Recently I was sharing with my man that my upcoming guest bloggers will be writing in answer to the question, "Who is Jesus to you?" He jumped on it right away, and volunteered to write the very first guest post on the topic. I am over-joyed to welcome my incredible husband on the blog today. Thank you Babe for supporting my gifts, and helping me thrive in Jesus, even when things might feel scary. I'm your number 1 fan. I love you mucho. (said with an accent) Jesus, you're my superhero!   That’s the name of a song, by Hillsong Kids , that was stuck in my head this morning. Works perfectly for the title of my post. J     Who is Jesus to me? Abigail often teases me because I add an accent to ethnic names. Having grown up in Germany, I commonly roll the r , which comes up in many languages. I love Jesus’ Hebrew name – Yeshua HaMashiach . (Try pronouncing the ch as if something got stuck in the back of your throat.) Ab once thought...

Over the next several months, when I host a guest on here, they will be writing in response to the question, “ Who is Jesus to you ?” Thought it would be fitting if I share my own heart’s answer.    Would it be too cliché to say Jesus is everything to me? If I whittle it down to my deepest core, I am living because of Jesus. His Father God gave me breath- created my mind, soul, emotions and body, and His Son brought me life . I was destined to live a life riddled with selfishness, anger, betrayal, bitterness, immorality, fear, anxiety, and worry. But Jesus took it all, and paid the price through His death on the cross- for me. For my freedom. (For you, too!) What astounds me is His Victory over death. Not even death can defeat my Jesus! Right now, in my daily world, Jesus is Victor. Most of the time that means He is victor over the fears and anxieties that plague my mind. I’m afraid of physical diseases on a regular basis. I’m afraid an illness is going to take the life o...