{"id":30597,"date":"2024-10-02T13:46:30","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T17:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=30597"},"modified":"2024-10-02T14:07:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T18:07:39","slug":"worship-wednesday-my-story-and-my-jesus-anne-wilson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=30597","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – My Story and My Jesus – Anne Wilson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was a little girl, God showed Himself to be a Father to me.\u00a0 At that time, my family had some hard days.\u00a0 My mother took care of us, and she was always working.\u00a0 I wanted to help her and tried always to be good.\u00a0 Even as a young child, I found it was impossible for me to be good all the time.\u00a0 I felt bad when my brothers and I quarreled which made my mom sad.\u00a0 We began going to a church when I was five or 6. It was the first time hearing about God’s love for us, no matter what. I was relieved to learn that everybody has the same problem of trying unsuccessfully to be good.\u00a0 The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23<\/a>).\u00a0 How can we know a holy God then?\u00a0 How can we be reconciled to Him?\u00a0 In His mercy, He provided a way\u2026.a Saviour.\u00a0 Jesus says, \u201cI am the way, the truth, the life.\u00a0 No one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6<\/a>).\u00a0 As I learned more about God, and how He revealed Himself to us through His Word, Jesus, I wanted to give my life to Him\u2026. To serve Him; to be His child.<\/p>\n

At 9 years of age, I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and to come into my heart.\u00a0 My older brother and I came to faith around the same time, and we were baptized together in a sawmill pond near our church.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been in relationship with God now over 60 years, and every day I am more grateful for His love and power in my life.\u00a0 He is my Lord and my God\u2026and My Father forever.<\/p>\n

There are three significant spiritual markers in my life after coming to faith in Christ.<\/p>\n

1) At 14y\/o, at a youth retreat, around a campfire, we were challenged to examine our lives to see if we were ready to meet God that night.\u00a0 I knew I wasn’t ready because my life, as a teen, didn’t reflect a life surrendered to Him. I did business with the Lord again that night (“rededication” would be the word used in those days).<\/p>\n

2) At 18y\/o, I went to a very liberal university, in my home state of Georgia, and although I’d felt prepared spiritually for entering college life, my faith took a beating.\u00a0 Confronted often by secular, and sometimes hostile, classmates made me timid…and then I went into a season of living almost two lives – deceived and deceitful – serving in my church as a youth worker, and then living a worldly life at college and for a few years after college.\u00a0 In my mid-20’s, the LORD got hold of my heart again, thanks to the persevering love of a Godly friend.\u00a0 After that, I never looked back.\u00a0 The LORD had captured my heart, and I knew there was no other life for me but to follow Him completely.<\/p>\n

3) The third spiritual marker came in my late 30’s, but before sharing that, I can say that life with the LORD had become an incredible journey.\u00a0 In my late 20’s, I served college students in a large church in Atlanta.\u00a0 It was also a great blessing for me to go on several summer missions trips, doing evangelism and construction projects — Mexico, the Philippines, and Haiti.\u00a0 During this time, I was applying to mission agencies, and seeking God’s direction.\u00a0 After a particularly difficult summer in Haiti, I put the applications on hold, because it seemed I wasn’t really ready (mature enough?) for overseas service.\u00a0 Without going into further detail, I ended up moving to Connecticut for a teaching job, working in a Southern Baptist church plant there, and meeting David.\u00a0 We married, he finished his PhD, we moved to Tennessee, and had 3 children — Christie, Nathan, & Daniel (he came to us through adoption, but was “born” into our family in Tennessee).<\/p>\n

All during these years, I was seeking the LORD and serving Him in some capacity or another — leading discipleship groups or prayer groups or being involved in local missions.\u00a0 However, with the weight of responsibility of marriage and then children, and trying to continue being connected with my professional life and service in church….the joy went out of my life.\u00a0 I questioned my salvation, because it seemed there was just no power for my life in Christ.\u00a0 I knew He wasn’t at fault, so it must have been me.\u00a0 Well, long story short:\u00a0 I happened upon the Experiencing God<\/em> (Henry Blackaby) Bible study<\/a> and the LORD really did a work of healing in my life through that.\u00a0 In that study, He began correcting some of my thinking about living victoriously in Christ.\u00a0 Then about that same time, Dave and I attended a conference on spiritual revival with Henry Blackaby and Richard Owen Roberts<\/a>….and the Holy Spirit so moved in my heart that I have never again questioned my salvation.\u00a0 So grateful for His grace.<\/p>\n

A few years after this, Dave experienced a call to overseas service, and then our calls were joined (mine coming to fruition many years later than I’d first thought).\u00a0 Seeing GOD work in impossible situations has enlarged our faith and gratitude to Him for His love that will not let go.\u00a0 We’ve see the work of the Cross in the lives of people who were far from GOD, as well as in some who thought they were doing all the right religious things, but really didn’t know GOD.\u00a0 It’s been amazing to watch GOD draw people to Himself…some through very difficult situations. Yet He moved in and through those situations to redeem people to Himself.<\/p>\n

In recent years, we have encountered all the too usual challenges of life – illness, deaths of loved ones, broken relationships, family struggles, altered dreams. Yet the beautiful constant has been Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wherever you are in your faith walk, if you know Jesus as the One who made a way for you to come back to the Father, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’re going through hard times or you think you’ve lost your way back to Him…turn your face to Him. He is closer than you think.<\/p>\n

Worship<\/a> with me to Anne Wilson<\/a>‘s anthem of praise to her Jesus, “My Jesus”<\/em><\/a>, written<\/a> when she was a teen and her older brother was killed in an accident.<\/p>\n

Are you past the point of weary?
\nIs your burden weighing heavy?
\nIs it all too much to carry?
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus
\nDo you feel that empty feeling?
\n‘Cause shame’s done all its stealing
\nAnd you’re desperate for some healing
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus[Chorus]
\nHe makes a way where there ain’t no way
\nRises up from an empty grave
\nAin’t no sinner that He can’t save
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus
\nHis love is strong and His grace is free
\nAnd the good news is I know that He
\nCan do for you what He’s done for me
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus
\nAnd let my Jesus change your life[Post-Chorus]
\nHallelujah, hallelujah
\nHallelujah, amen, amen<\/p>\n

[Verse 2]
\nWho can wipe away the tears
\nFrom broken dreams and wasted years
\nAnd tell the past to disappear? Oh
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus
\nAnd all the wrong turns that you would
\nGo and undo if you could
\nWho can work it all for your good
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
[Chorus]
\nHe makes a way where there ain’t no way
\nRises up from an empty grave
\nAin’t no sinner that He can’t save
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus
\nHis love is strong and His grace is free
\nAnd the good news is I know that He
\nCan do for you what He’s done for me
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus
\nAnd let my Jesus change your life[Post-Chorus]
\nHallelujah, hallelujah
\nHallelujah, amen, amen
\nAmen[Bridge]
\nWho would take my cross to Calvary?
\nPay the price for all my guilty?
\nWho would care that much about me?
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus, oh<\/p>\n

[Chorus]
\nHe makes a way where there ain’t no way
\nRises up from an empty grave
\nAin’t no sinner that He can’t save
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus
\nHis love is strong and His grace is free
\nAnd the good news is I know that He
\nCan do for you what He’s done for me
\nLet me tell you ’bout my Jesus
\nAnd let my Jesus change your life<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[Post-Chorus]
\nHallelujah, hallelujah
\nHallelujah, amen, amen
\nHallelujah, hallelujah
\nHallelujah (Amen, amen)
\nLet my Jesus change your life*<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
YouTube Video – Anne Wilson – My Jesus<\/em> (feat. Matthew West) – Live from West Friends Fest<\/a><\/div>\n

*Lyrics to My Jesus<\/em> – Songwriters: Anne Wilson, Jeff Pardo, Matthew West<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – Anne Wilson – Strong<\/em> (Official Performance Lyric Video)<\/a><\/p>\n

‘My Jesus’<\/em>: The Story behind 19-Year-Old Anne Wilson’s Song<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – Never Once<\/em> [ With Lyrics] – Matt Redman<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – Story Behind “Never Once”<\/em> – Matt Redman<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a little girl, God showed Himself to be a Father to me.\u00a0 At that time, my family had some hard days.\u00a0 My mother took care of us, and she was always working.\u00a0 I wanted to help her and tried always to be good.\u00a0 Even as a young child, I found it was … Continue reading Worship Wednesday – My Story and My Jesus – Anne Wilson<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[794,147,1277,2556,1435,18,5130,317,795,888,432,761,887,4160,1001,610,32,47,946],"tags":[10197,798,7468,1835,4086,292,271,448,8144,270,10196,49,360],"class_list":["post-30597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faithfulness","category-family-2","category-glory-of-god","category-grief-and-loss","category-growing-up","category-jesus","category-legacy","category-lessons-learned","category-love-2","category-memories","category-music","category-redeeming-restoring","category-remembering","category-resilience","category-stories","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-walk-with-god","category-wednesday-worship","category-worship","tag-anne-wilson","tag-faithfulness-2","tag-jeff-pardo","tag-jesus","tag-life-story","tag-loss","tag-matt-redman","tag-matthew-west","tag-my-jesus","tag-never-once","tag-testimony","tag-worship","tag-worship-wednesday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-7Xv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30597"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33390,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30597\/revisions\/33390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}