Jesus Will Rewrite Your Story

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13 (NLT)

            I was in a dark depression.

            I could not even go get groceries. I just wanted to smoke my cigarettes and drink my coffee and be in my room. I put dark towels around my windows so that no light could come in.

            My family planned out a surprise party for my birthday. In the middle of the party, I turned to my mom and I said, “I’m just completely losing my hope.”

            Later that night, I was watching TV when Joel Osteen said, “If you want to receive Christ into your heart, just repeat after me,” so I did. Then T.D. Jakes came on. He said if you want Christ in your life, just repeat the words that he said, so I did that, too. I’d do anything for God to come into my life and make a change. The last thing I remember before I went to bed was T.D. Jakes saying, “When God comes, he knocks once. You can’t miss it. It’s the loudest knock you will ever hear in your life.”

            At five o’clock the next morning, I was awakened by a knock so loud and so strong that I thought somebody had run into my house. At first, I got scared. Then I went to the kitchen, and looked out the window. A star shone on the cross on top of the church next door.  I’d never seen a star like that one. I remembered T.D. Jakes said that when God comes knocking, you have to open that door and invite him in because he won’t come in if you don’t. I opened the door to invite Christ into my life, and a wave of fresh air blew over me. My depression lifted and other things started to change as well.

            My eighteen-year-old son had a really bad addiction. He was lost. I prayed, “Whatever you got to do, Lord, do it!” Later that day, I got a phone call from the Department of Juvenile Justice. They’d arrested my son. I went to see him.

            Although there’s generally a period of isolation before detainees are allowed visitors, the lady in charge said, “I just feel it in my heart that I need to let you come in and talk to your son.”

            When I saw him, my son told me what happened that got him arrested.

            “I was at a hotel hanging out in the parking with the guys when the alarm went off three cars down. It was none of us. We weren’t even close. When the police officer got there, he sent everybody home, but I stayed and said, ‘I need to confess something. I’m on probation. I’m not supposed to be out here.’”

            My son didn’t even know why he was telling the officer that stuff. He could have gone back in that hotel room and pretended that nothing happened, but something in his heart told him that he needed to tell the truth. As a result, he was sent to juvenile detention for five months.

            While he was incarcerated, a minister gave him a Bible. He didn’t read it; instead, he put it on the top bunk. Every night before he went to bed that Bible fell from the top bed into the ground by his feet. He picked it up and put it back and it would fall again. Finally, he said, “Okay, God, I’ll read it.” He started reading it and began changing his ways. He turned around.

            And that was only the beginning of how Jesus has been rewriting my story since I invited him into my life. Many more chapters after the prologue.  Marisol Lozano