Jesus, Thorns, and Roses

I love roses. The thorns are another story. But the truth is you cannot have one without the other. They go hand in hand.

A few days ago I was in my car and I was thinking about a situation that I had been trying to make some decisions on. It had been nagging at me for several days and the problem side of it was just looming in my mind.

Suddenly it seemed like God was trying to show me something as I got a picture of a rose garden in my mind. This one question settled in my spirit: Where is your focus? Then a little nugget came to me.

DISMAY complains and says” “How sad that there are so many thorns on a single rose.”

DELIGHT exclaims and says: “What joy to find a single rose in the midst of so many thorns!”

Again the thought came to me…what is my focus?

Life is kind of like that nugget. It is a combination of roses and thorns. There are very good days and very bad days. There are seasons that seem like nothing will ever be right in our lives and then there are the seasons where all is well.

In those hard seasons, we have a choice. When problems arise, we have a choice. When we look back on the years of our lives wishing we could change things, we have a choice. Will we try to find the beauty of a single rose in the midst of the thorns or will we focus on the many thorns in dismay?

I want to share a bit of my journey to finding Jesus in a way that he became personal to me as my Lord and Savior because in some ways my journey to knowing Jesus, is like the thorns and roses scenario. You see I grew up with a lot of religion but it was relationship with God through his son, Jesus, which was the missing link for so many years in my life.

Religion gives us doctrine.

Relationship gives us Jesus.

I grew up in a large family and attending regular services in our church denomination was something that was instilled in each of us from an early age. I am not saying that was a bad thing. Not at all. Our church attendance and the teachings of our denomination instilled a basic religious foundation for me and my siblings. I knew who God was and I knew who Jesus was. I had heard the stories surrounding his birth, death, and resurrection. I had successfully memorized a few prayers that came from my head but not so much from my heart. I proudly knew the correct answers to the doctrinal questions I was asked. Yet in spite of all my religious accomplishments, something was missing.

There was a void in my heart that was like a big hole longing to be filled.

But then, God began to move in our large family in ways that I honestly did not understand. As I already mentioned, there were six other siblings under me. The youngest who was ten years younger than me is named John. He was the first one to come to the understanding of what it meant to become a born-again believer. His salvation experience was radical in a very good way…I just did not understand it at the time.

One day my brother, John, shared the gospel message with me. To be honest, his words made no sense to me. The thing that actually caught my attention was the fact that he was carrying a tattered bible that was highlighted and written in with more colors than I could imagine. I would go so far as to say that I was quite appalled that he would write in a Bible! I even told him so. You see I had never owned a Bible, nor read one…much less considered writing in it! My brother had only been saved a few months, yet the Bible he carried was so worn, it looked as though he had owned it for years.

After sharing the message of salvation with me, my brother stood there looking at me with tears in his eyes. He hugged me and spoke these words: Rosie, I love you so very much. More than anything I want you to know that you can go to heaven someday. I know I am going there when I die. Jesus is the way. There is no other way to the Father or to be saved. I know that is not what we were taught but I am speaking truth to you. It is all in the Bible. God speaks to us through his Word. I want this so much for you. I love you and I am not going to stop praying for you, your husband and your children to come to know Jesus personally.”

I can honestly say that even though I was far from a place to commit my life to Christ at that moment, my brother planted the first seed of the gospel in my heart that day! Yes indeed, God had a plan. Even though it would be a process and it would take years, God did a deep and beautiful work in my entire family. It would take pages and pages to share all the beautiful details of how the Lord moved among us, drawing each of us to himself. One by one my siblings came to know Jesus. Eventually, both of my parents gave their hearts to Jesus. And yes, eventually I also came into a personal relationship with Jesus.

Like I said, it was a process. From the time my brother planted the first seed of the gospel in my heart, it would be about seven years for that seed to fully grow and be ready for a harvest. As I watched my younger siblings not only become believers and followers of Christ, I watched their lives become transformed. I was intrigued. My siblings who came to the Lord before me never stopped praying for me or my own family.

Late one night I had been on the phone with another one of my brothers, Adam. For months he had been sharing Jesus with me. He was a very new Christian at the time but his zeal and love in sharing his heart with me really captured my attention. Perhaps my heart was getting softer. Or perhaps I was just getting tired of trying to do everything right and never feeling that it was not good enough to please God. Mostly I knew there had to be more than just doctrine and doing enough good works to hopefully… just maybe… someday… I might get a chance, however slim, to work my way into heaven!

So on August 13, 1995, after yet another marathon conversation with Adam, I hung up the phone and sat quietly.  It was almost 2 am but I knew I could not sleep yet. I knew the tugging on my heart was God nudging me to take a step of faith. At that moment I knew that my deeply engrained rote prayers would not suffice to be able to tell God what I was feeling. So I began to talk to God. That’s really what prayer is… talking to God.

As I conversed with God in the quiet of the night, I was open and honest with him. I told him I did not understand everything there was to living a Christian life, but I was willing to learn if he would lead me. I already believed that Jesus was God’s son and that he not only died for my sins but that he rose from the dead. But up to this point, these things were nothing more than head knowledge. Suddenly it felt like a light had gone off in my head and for the first time, I really began to grasp the depth of Jesus sacrifice to save me. I knew I needed a savior and Jesus was the only one who could save me. I told Jesus I was sorry for my sinful ways. I asked him to forgive me and to come live in my heart. I asked him to help me live my life for him so that I could truly serve him. I really wanted to get to know who he was and not just know about him. After that prayer, I went to bed and I slept in a way I never had before. I felt surrounded by a blanket of peace that I had never experienced. That prayer of surrender was the beginning of a journey with Jesus that continues to this day.

So back to the thorns and roses. First of all, I would be lying if I said I have never looked back with the regret of not becoming a believer sooner. I was 41 when I surrendered my life to the Lord. I used to get so upset with myself for not understanding what my siblings had tried to explain to me about salvation so many times. But by God’s grace, I no longer do that. I understand now that my appointed time of salvation was simply that…my time. I no longer compare my faith walk with others because we are all on separate journeys and God leads each of his children according to his time frame. I refuse to let the thorns of my past keep me from enjoying the roses at the present time.

Secondly, I wish I could tell you that once I became a Christian, all my problems simply disappeared. That too would be a lie. In the twenty plus years of my faith walk with the Lord, I have experienced storms, trials, sicknesses, loss, rejection, betrayal, and disappointments. But in the midst of every single hardship, I have never faced the fires of testing alone. Never. Jesus has gone before me…walked beside me…had my back…and even carried me when I was too weak to walk. In the midst of those difficult seasons, I have learned that for every problem I face, God has given me a promise that he will get me through. I have learned over time that I have a choice of where my focus will be. Will I look at the thorns that seem to prick and cut me at every turn, or will I see the beauty of the roses hidden among those thorns? I have a choice. We all do.

Now to my reader, may I ask you a question before I end this story? As you have read my testimony of coming to know Jesus, what are your thoughts? Have you asked yourself the same question that I did multiple times? When it comes to God and faith…is there more than just what I am experiencing in my life right now. And the biggest question is simply this. My friend…DO YOU KNOW JESUS AS YOUR PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR?

If not, I would ask you to go to this link to find out more about having a personal relationship with the Lord.

In addition, will you find a Bible and see for yourself what the Word of God has to say about salvation?

Doing these two things could be the most important things you do today. It could change your life in ways you could not even begin to imagine.

I would also like to pray for you. Leave a comment below if you need prayer for direction in your life.

 

TO BE CONTINUED….

 

 

Note: This blog post was written by Rosie Williams and first appeared on Nuggets from the Heart. This blog post, either in part or in its entirety, may not be copied, duplicated, edited or appear in any other publication without the written approval or permission from the author. For full copyright and disclosure information, click here. For questions regarding the use of this blog post, you may send an email to Rosie Williams by clicking here.