THE DIFFERENCE

“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.  Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

John 19:28-30 KJV

The Gaither Vocal Band wrote one of my favorite hymns “The Old Rugged Cross Made The Difference”.  The words in this hymn are so true because when we ask God to forgive us and the cleansing redeeming blood of Jesus is applied to our heart it does make the difference.

I’m so glad these words are true.  “Twas a life filled with aimless desperation Without hope walked the shell of a man; Then a hand with a nailprint stretched downward, Just one touch then a new life began.”  I know from personal experience that one touch from our Saviour does make the difference.

For over forty years I wandered in the darkness of a crippling and devastating depression.  I really believed that I didn’t have a right to live and that nobody loved me or cared if I lived or died.  I was not living; I just existed.  One day as I was lying under a bed in a mental hospital, Jesus came to me.

Jesus put His arms of love and compassion around me and lifted me up from under that bed.  He said “I love you, Joanne, and I will never leave you”.  Nobody had ever said “I love you” to me and there are no words to express the happiness I felt knowing Jesus loves me and will never leave me.

What a precious Saviour we are privileged to know and have.

Joanne Lowe

June 18, 2018