WALKING IN GRACE

I can remember growing up in my little country home.  I am proud of the family that took me in and taught me the ways of the LORD.  I am living proof that a child that is raised in the way of the Lord will one day find thier way  back home.  I thought that I was missing out on life because it seemed that my every waking moment was spent in church,  and in my younger years that was all well and good.  But when I became an adult I realized that I needed more,  I needed freedom to stretch my wings and fly.   Little did I know that the fall would be hard and fast.

Although I can say that I have always been " A good " person  I can not say that I have ever been without faults and sin.  I began looking for something in my late 20's but really had no clue what I was searching for.  I went to the bars around town with friends,  because I was lonely,  but more so because I LOVE country music.  I wasn't looking for a date...I was merely trying to fit in with another crowd of people.  These years of going to places where I NEVER should have been...changed my life.  My only  hope in all these years was my constant stirring to still love the Lord...even in the bars listening to that music I loved- I still thought about God.  I tried to run...but He still followed me,  reminding me that HE WAS MY ANSWER.  That phase of my life ended and I found the Lord once again...but I payed a high price for decisions I made while out in sin.  I was searching for something to fill a void in my life...and ain't it funny that my life was full all along.  My friend Bob wrote this song and he kindly loaned it to me for my website.  It so reminded me of all those times I went searching...finding nothing but lonliness after the doors of those bars closed.  I was lucky..I knew a man named Jesus,  and he never let go of this girl headed down a road she should have never traveled...I felt his tug upon me,  and when my valleys got so low,  I felt his arms around me.  I realized that HE gave me everything I needed.

THAT WAS A LIFETIME AGO...  Now if I could leave but one thought for the lives of others it would be that Answers to life's problems will never be found inside a place where EVERYONE is searching for something...and it will never be found at the bottom of a bottle.  I'm glad to know that God allows U-turns...and that you can trade a BOTTLE for a BIBLE anytime.

It would take a lifetime to count all the tears that have fallen in my life, and many of them were of my own making.  I can't go back and change my past,  or undo any of the choices I made.  But I am so glad that one day I chose to return to the ways of my youth...for it was then that I  could stop my searching...Now I have everything.

Only God can take your NOTHING and give you EVERYTHING.

Bob Paxton: Southern Harmony ,  CD

Song:  Holding onto Nothing

What a wonderful song,  by a wonderful man of God.  If you would like to know more about this group of singers feel free to check out thier website at

www.southernharmony.org