"How do I love the let me count the ways"

Remember that line from Robert Browning's famous poem in school???.......have you ever used that line to your spouse or loved one?......Have you ever used that line with your Savior Jesus Christ?..........Are there enough words in your vocabulary to tell Jesus how much you love Him?

As a 9 year old child , I was told if I joined the church I was saved.......there was no mention of personal relationship, devoting time to the Word,time for prayer, time for praise or even water baptism , much less baptism of the Holy Ghost.

For almost 20 years I lived a life that was truly not acceptable to Jesus.Even though I taught Sunday School as a teenager, I partied like there was no tomorrow, drank alcohol as an everyday staple and never ever gave another thought until I had a child of my own , that Jesus needed to be in my life, my love and be my everything.

While pregnant with my daughter Angel, which was my eleventh pregnancy, but yet only my second child to live, I visited a small Baptist church where there was a 90 year old evangelist holding revival. He explained the plan of salvation and exactly what it meant to be a Christian and to live a daily life in love with the One who gave everything for me. I RAN to the alter when the alter call was given, and this time I wanted it all.....I studied my Bible like there was no tomorrow and began asking questions my Baptist pastor was not comfortable answering.....after giving birth to my daughter I began going to Women's Aglow meetings and learning there was a deeper love in Christ and a relationship like no other. I asked my sweet Baptist pastor the 1 question that he stammered over like crazy..."What is the baptism of the Holy Ghost?"......I wanted everything I had heard at the Aglow meetings and his answer was that, that was only for the disciples back then, not for me....I questioned Acts 1:8, Acts 2:17, Romans 12 : 6, Hebrews 6 : 4- 5...and list went on and on, yet the answer was always the same and yet I knew there was more, much more.

I began visiting different churches when Angel was 8 weeks old. The very first Sunday I visited Jonesboro Church of God I was handed the Sunday School leaflet. I got my children settled in their classes and went and sat down in the adult class and looked at the lesson for the day. The title was " Holy Ghost Baptism For Today"......can you say my heart lept with joy and love and everything just overflowed.

I knew right then this was where Christ wanted me to grow and learn and be healthy in His Word. The Sunday School teacher's name was Billy Bostwick and when he explained the lesson it made so much sense . All those questions I had had for months and months now had answers and Godly Biblical answers. I spoke with the pastor, Rev. Furman Green after church and told him what a blessing the lesson had been and that I would be back. Even though many obstacles came my way, Satan would throw everything he could at me, I received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost in March of 1974 and have not looked back but forward. I learned a love that no poet could ever explain , because there are not enough words to explain the magnitude of His great love and the depths of all He gave....and He did it all for me .

Now write your list of love, count the ways He has loved you, how He continues to love you, how He will always love you. Can you count the ways?????....are there enough fingers and toes, enough hours in the day, enough days in the year to count His undying love.........

How do I love thee, let me count the ways ........there is no way to count it all!

A Vessel 4 Him 2 Dwell,

Mary