Jodi Willoughby: Gentle, sweet spirit.  That is Jodi.  She has come from a far away place and has ended up smack dab in the middle of the arms of Jesus.  And she is thrilled about it and not afraid to tell ya’.  The words that I have been blessed with as she has prayed over me, filled my soul with Joy and Peace.  I’m grateful to call her friend.

I’ve been a wife for 27 years to my husband, Ted and a mother for 14 years to my son, Luke.

I want to tell you some of my testimony in hopes that it will bless  you and give glory to the Lord. I’m 51 years old and have served the Lord for 26 of them.

I love to read and recently read a book by my friend’s favorite author, Tessa Afshar called “Pearl in the Sand”.  It chronicles the life of Rahab, she was the prostitute who saved the pies in the Old Testament.  Rahab and the woman by the well are women I can identify with.  These women had lives full of bad choices and many sins.  They spent a lot of years living lives that seemed would never amount to much except heartache and regret.  But both of them changed and turned their lives around by accepting Jesus in their heart.

I too made a lot of bad choices when I was young.  Circumstances played a part but I still made the choices that basically shaped my life.

When we are young we don’t realize sometimes that that we can get scars only Jesus can heal.  When I was 15 I lost my father in a tragic accident.  I was on only child and it drastically changed the course of my life.  I filled my youth with bitterness and one bad decision after another.  I lived the life of Rahab and the woman at the well in many ways. I was grasping for anything or anyone who would love me.  During this time I was hurt physically very bad.  I was in the hospital for 3 months and in a coma for 13 days.  I had a great chance of dying.  But God had mercy on me.  I’d like to tell you my life changed right after that, but it didn’t.  I returned to  a life far from God for four more  years.  I sank lower and lower in a pit.  And when it seemed nothing would help me out of it, God sent me another miracle.  Now I have to tell you, I was living in a far off place I’m sure few have heard of.  And then God sent Ted.  Three months after meeting him we married.  Me, the girl no one decent would ever marry, I married one of the most decent men in the world.  I asked him one time, why me?  His exact words were “he saw good in me”. That reminds me of Jesus.  He sees good in all of us.  When I gave my heart to Jesus my eyes were truly opened.  I saw people, all people, and they had great worth.  There is no shame and no sin that God can not take away.  I stand in awe of my Savior who has blessed me beyond what I deserve.  And I am Thankful!  Life is such a gift and it should be lived to make a difference in someone’s life.

So remember, no matter what you, YOU ARE LOVED BEYOND MEASURE!

Ephesians 3:16-21

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Lord I thank you for bringing Jodi in my life.  I pray that I will be an encouragement to her just as she has reminded me that regardless of where I have come from, I know that I will end up sitting at Your right hand.  Amen!