4th YEAR ANNIVERSARY-REFLECTION,PART 1:

God has been there from the beginning.
He blessed me with a mother,who was not born into a Seventh Day Adventist church,but through His righteous hand had taken her out of a small city called Jansenville to settle in Port Elizabeth.There,through his servants,my mom and her two aunts found the Adventist message and since then,she has walked with God.Unfortunately,her two aunts left the church.

But mom remained.And many years later she married an Adventist and a year later we were born.Unfortunately,my dad left the church too.But my mom continued and she raised us in the Word.I remember how she used to tell us stories about Daniel as we slept together in one bed with my twin.I remember how when she was an Adventurer teacher she would invite all the Adventures from our church to our shack,cook for all of us and teach us about Ellen G.White.How God called her,a weak vessel and sickly.

I remember how she,uneducated because of certain circumstances,she always sought to bring us in the way of the Lord.She would take us to church every Sabbath.Tried to provide not only for our physical needs but also for our spiritual.

I am thankful to God for keeping her unmoved,so that,even though I'd leave the church,I would reflect and realize she was right all along.When I got into my teen years,there were certain aspects that disappointed me in our events.It was also becoming clear that we were poor.

I chose education over God.I put His  Sabbath aside.I wanted Rhodes University.I wanted to be rich so that I could take my mom away from the mud,the shack that always got wet whenever it rained and more.So,I worked hard,woke up at dawn so that I could get the 40 points.I wanted to be a psychologist because the mind fascinated me and my heart,although selfish,wanted to listen to the woes of others.But dad said a BA degree like his wouldn't feed me.I decided social worker will do;but money called first,so I chose Pharmacy.I wanted to prove I was intelligent too.

Then I went,with just the knowledge that God exists but the year off church had made me weak spiritually and I decided I'd choose Him again since He gave me what I wanted.It was a different world.Rhodes was beautiful.I was exposed to many white people,other tribes and more.I claimed to be a SDA but I was no fully so-in fact,my mom was, not I.I lived in a bubble where I didn't have to worry about rain anymore and I started to like rain since there was no mud around.Breakfast was always insured,so was lunch and supper.At least a burden was off my mom's shoulders.

But God had more than a degree for me.He wanted to draw me to Himself.As I continued to be part of SDASM I fell inlove.Inlove with the zeal that these young Christians had.They had genuine love for God,humility and joy.I wanted this God who could transform people to be principled.So,God continued to court me-It was then that I saw how much He loved me and How life was vain without Him.

It was a Jeremiah 2 experience.God was asking:

⁴ Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
⁵ Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

As I realized through the conviction of the Holy Spirit that I had been blind to His mercy and goodness,He continued to pursue me and He proposed:
  

²² Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.-Jeremiah 3:22

And today I,like the Israelites admit:


Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.-Jeremiah 3:22

-Salvation is not in our parents or churches (Ezekiel 18:4) ; but is found through a personal relationship with God
"Though these three men,Noah,Daniel,and Job,were in it,they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness,saith the Lord."-Ezekiel 14:14 
-Salvation is not found in any reform-For in Christ is salvation-Acts 4:12
-Salvation is not in a relationship with a godly man/woman-a converted sinner cannot save you
-Salvation is a personal thing