My Joy, E.S.

My Joy, E.S.

Growing up, I spent a lot of my time with my friends hiking or bike riding around the hills of northern California. These times were quite pleasant to me. At 18, without a direction to my life, I left California to join the Army. What a change in the environment! From the pristine hills and mild temperatures to a 100-degree furnace called Ft. Hood, Texas. My days were miserable as I longed for a better situation. Then the thought came to me that the joy that I had in California could not get inside me. I sensed there must be something that could satisfy me deep within no matter where I was. One day I heard my roommate tell someone about Jesus. Something inside me jumped! Soon I let the Lord Jesus into my heart. He became my joy within and stayed within me.

Soon after I was saved, I went to a meeting of the local church in Austin, TX. The meetings were rather loud for my quiet disposition but I could tell that these people loved the Lord. These were such warm, friendly, and normal people. They invited me into their homes for meals and we would spend hours in real fellowship around the dinner table. Their living spoke so much to me; these seemed to me the most normal people on earth. After I served three years in the Army, the believers in the church encouraged me to pursue a college education to be more useful to the Lord. For their support in my college years I am forever grateful.

When I started to read books by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, the Bible became so meaningful to me. Their writings helped make all the truths in the Bible real in my experience. My love for the Lord would grow and the Bible seemed to unfold its riches before my eyes. I saw God had a plan to put His life into man to make man His counterpart, just like Eve who was a match for Adam.