”Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will, they existed and were created!”  (Rev. 4:11)

“Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals, for Thou wast slain and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation…”  (Rev. 5:9)

My early young days had many depressions. I sometimes said in despair, “Why did I come into this world?  Why?  Does life have any meaning?  If so, what is it?

I faced the fact that I had inherited much misery and darkness from my not very noble family stock, despite its apparent affluence.  Suicidal thoughts sometimes haunted me already in my early teens.

But Christ found me as the outreaching Shepherd, and I wondered why?   I didn´t reach out after Him.  My testimony in prose and poetry revolves frequently round this wonder of grace.  So why am I here?  “Because of Thy will” (Rev. 4:11).  This is the reason why you too are here.

But why did  He find and bought me?  Who would be interested in buying me?  He did with His sacrificial blood for time and eternity. But why?  It was grace, grace, grace! And in His free will His Spirit conquered my stubborn will.  Indeed, “Salvation is from the Lord!”  (Jon. 2:9).  Period.

I was one day arrested by the gospel word in 1 Pet. 1:18-19 about being redeemed (ransomed) “from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers” and the price was the precious blood of Christ, it says.

 I asked a godly woman who  as a servant girl grew up with our family and knew about the shadows of its forefathers, “Do you think I may claim complete deliverance from the curse of my “forefathers” on the virtue of the blood of Christ?”  She solemnly admonished me to do exactly that.  “Do stick to that”,  she said.

I was lost, but was found.  My greeting to people is now, You are lost too, but you will be found, if you will let the good shepherd find you.  Will you let Him? This is the most important string of my new gospel harp. – March 18, 2021 - jn