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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Joy (05/18/06)
The Return Home


One day I happen to be thinking about my past and how horrible it had been. I had done everything under the sun as I darn well pleased. I was not a Christian or an Atheist or as a matter of fact not much of anything. Since I was eighteen I almost lived in a bar and drank like no tomorrow. I became baptized when I was sixteen in the Roman Catholic Church but really had no interest in that ‘God thing’ except for a place to go to get me out of my home for awhile.

I started working when I was sixteen in a local diner where I learned how to cook. I also learned a lot about washing dishes and keeping the kitchen cleaned. Now you might say that it is not hard to wash dishes but unless you have done them in a restaurant you would not imagine. Peeling fifty pounds of potatoes every day was not such a picnic either.

Over the next couple of years, I guess it finally got into my blood so to speak. I had become so good at what I was doing that the owner of the diner eventually asked me to do the hiring of dishwashers and kitchen help. I worked at the diner for about three and a half years. I moved to another town where I also got a job in another restaurant. Boy did I love the restaurant business.

I returned to my home town for a week and as usual I went to visit my old boss at the diner where I first started. The minute I walked in, the boss’s wife asked me if I would take and show the new dishwasher how to keep things in order. As I walked into the kitchen I was startled at what I perceived. The Kitchen was a total mess and the dishes were piled high. After trying to explain things to him, he just told me to get lost. I fired him right there on the spot. Of course he went right out front and complained to the boss which told him I had the authority to fire him. I remained there for the next couple of days, cleaned things up and hired a good worker to take the other dishwasher’s place.

The rest of my life ended up being drunk and going from job to job. What I was searching for seemed to be out of reach or at least for someone like me. I wanted to be wanted and loved but being the way I was, who could?’ By the time I was in my fifties, I had really become a sight for sore eyes. As I have stated, I drank most of the time. I was not a mean person or get into fights and all that stuff but the more I drank the happier I became. I moved to Roanoke Virginia and found things quite hard and scary. Being in Virginia something happened to change my life, plus made me a better person. I quit drinking and cursing all at the same time.

I found no matter what I had done or how much I cursed at the time or drank
I was not only wanted but also loved. I became a Christian and began reading the bible. I didn’t understand it until one day I asked God to allow his Holy Spirit to teach me. Believe you me, God did just that. I began understanding things in a whole different way.


I never knew what ‘Joy’ was until then. I returned home that day to my creator, my father and best of all my life.

Jesus died for all my sins and when he left this earth to be with his father in heaven. He said to his disciples, In John 15:11 KJV,

“These things have I spoken unto you, that my ‘Joy’ might remain in you, and that your ‘Joy’ might be full.”

Today, I sing a new song and that is a song of ‘Joy’ because Jesus gave unto me his ‘Joy’ and there can be no better ‘Joy’ than to know that you are loved and wanted so much as you are with God our almighty father in heaven.

Praise God in the highest for the ‘Joy’ of our lives!!!!!!!!
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This article has been read 846 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Lynda Schultz 
05/25/06
Returning to our Father is the greatest joy of all. Thanks for sharing your testimony.
Melanie Kerr 
05/25/06
A great testimony of God's joy.

You have a very conversational style - writing pretty much as you speak I would guess. Its worth asking a friend to read things through - they always notice things - like the tense changes or the missing words - that we don't!
Phyllis Inniss 
05/26/06
Your testimony would help some other lost souls to come to Jesus who rescues us when we seek His help. Thanks for sharing.
Rita Garcia
05/27/06
Joyful testimony! Thank you for sharing this look at joy!
Edy T Johnson
05/29/06
This is very easy to read, because you write well, keeping your reader interested. One big gap jumped out at me: between being such a good restaurant worker and (suddenly) wasting years being drunk. A connection seems to be lost, here. What happened to your narrator? Your reader will want to know. Otherwise, a well done testimony! God bless your writing!
Marilee Alvey
05/30/06
I enjoyed your piece. One thing I felt as I read: you had grasped the ability to do your job well and have pride in a job well done. God was speaking to you as you took pride in your work and as you threw the sluggard out (to gnashing of teeth?) I believe that God was showing you how you are a person of value. If you could be valued for your organizational skills, for your dishwashing skills, perhaps you were worth being loved! I could see some of your Heavenly Father in that!

Watch little grammatical errors and keep up the good work!