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I love to write poetry that glorifies God, And I am humble that He has blessed me with a gift that draws me closer to Him. There is no better joy to me in this life than to live out my passion, to love and to encourage other people to be all God designed them to be.
God is marvelous. He is an awesome creator of the heavens and the earth. He created each individually fearfully and wonderfully made including me. My life was not perfect until Christ made me a new creation. His grace and his mercy pulled me away from darkness into his marvelous light. It is always and blessing and honor to share my testimony of the love of Jesus Christ. My first encounter with God was when I was twelve years old. I watched a Jesus film that a missionary had delivered to my home. The portrayal of the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ moved me to tears. Watching this movie for this first time, to me, was life changing. This movie left a deep impression to my mind and to my heart. In my mind I saw the images of the suffering, pain, and agony of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In my heart, I felt the pain of His ridicule, humiliation, and rejection from humanity. After I finished watching that movie I repeated the prayer of salvation that the narrator proclaimed to all people that desired to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Immediately, I felt the power of God touch my body to depths of my soul. The very presence of God felt like a cool rush of wind. I will never forget that feeling.
Although this may seem like a very nice place to end my testimony, there is more to my story. At the age of twelve, I had my first encounter with God, but I still lacked the full knowledge of how the gospel applied to my life. I did not grasp the fullness of my identity in Christ. In my youth, I struggled with low self esteem and insecurity. I always saw myself as being inadequate to my peers. However, God was merciful to enlighten me of who I really am. My whole life changed when I attended Charleston University. Charleston Southern University is a Christian university that promotes academic excellence in a Christian environment. In my first year of college I isolated myself. I was very shy and suffered from social anxiety. I knew that I wanted a change in my life. I did not want to be miserable anymore, so I sought help from a counselor.
My counselor introduced a Christian devotional book The Search for Significance. Faithfully, through my counselor sessions I read and studied this book. My counselor and I would devote time to prayer for God’s strength and empowerment. This book really challenged me to see my identity in Christ. The Search for Significance was a very powerful tool that my counselor found useful in sharing the deeper depths of Christ’s love and the power of the gospel. One day, during a counseling session, my counselor challenged me with a question. He asked me what type of person I thought I was in the eyes of God. He also asked me on a scale of one to ten how I would rate my certainty of going to heaven after I died. To the first question I responded that I believe that I was a pretty good person because I tried to live a decent life. To the second question I responded that I would rate my certainty of going to heaven after I died as a seven out of a possible ten. From my responses to those questions my counselor and I had a discussion. My counselor explained to me that I was saved by grace alone and not by works. The reason that I was living in insecurity was because I did not see myself how God saw me. I learned from my counselor that I could not gain the approval of God through good works or merit. God loves me unconditionally. I am justified in the eyes of God through Christ’s finished work at cross. Christ has broken down the walls, so I have full access to our Heavenly Father through prayer. I no longer have to walk in condemnation. My heart was filled with joy to learn from my counselor that the Divine Creator of earth, the heavens, and the whole universe cared enough about me to desire a relationship with His creation. Christ loved me enough to endure pain and agony to make this possible. I was overwhelmed with tears. After our discussion, my counselor and I had prayer. First, he prayed for me, and then I prayed. When I prayed I accepted God’s grace over my life. I surrendered to God’s unconditional love and repented for trying to earn God’s approval through my own vain efforts. That day, for the first time, I felt the love of God embrace me. I knew that God reached His hands down from heaven to give me a great hug. Since that day, God has changed my life. I know that His love is abiding within me. With all my heart I believe that with God, all things are possible because there is no failure in Him!!!

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

CONTACT ME
 Philip Simmons  Work phone: 8435604959
 203 Delano Street  
 Saint George, South Carolina, 29477  Contact: [email protected]
biography · accomplishments · contact me

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