My Story of Liberty in 1976
(Note: I wrote this personal narrative in 2006 as an example for a writing assignment for the middle school English class I taught at a home schoool co-op.)
In July 1776, our country declared its independence. Two hundred years later, I had a very special independence day of my own! I had just finished 7th grade, and I was a mess. We lived near San Francisco, California, which was a pretty wild city. I was depressed and didn’t always want to live. I knew I had a lot of sin in my life, and I felt guilty. Unfortunately, I thought “born again Christians” were extremely irritating because some pushy folks at a county fair had tried to “shove the gospel down my throat.” Really, looking back I can see that they weren’t that bad. I was just being defensive and hostile. Then we received a letter from my Aunt Fay in Pennsylvania. She said that she had become a Christian. We thought she was off her rocker, crazy, deluded! Then my Grandpa and Grandma Hess, who also lived in Pennsylvania, decided to host a big family reunion at their house out in the woods. My folks decided would be awesome to take a month-long bicentennial vacation, drive across the country, visit relatives along the way, see Washington D.C., go to the reunion, tour New England, and drive back across Canada. What a way to see the country!
By the first week of July we finally reached Pennsylvania. We stayed a night at my Aunt Fay’s house and got to camp in a tent by the pond. My cousin Cindy, who is a year older than me, showed me these weird looking Gospel tracts and tried to tell me about Jesus. But I was distracted because my cousin Rick, who is a year younger than me, was pretending to be a wolf outside the tent.
The next morning, we all drove to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. They lived out in the woods, and they called their homestead Squirrel Hill. Acres and acres of beautiful trees spread out beyond Grandpa’s huge vegetable garden and his smokehouse. Cindy and I explored all over the place, sniffing the fragrant sassafras plants in a meadow. We finally ended up on a large flat rock overlooking the country road. Cindy pulled out her weird looking Gospel tracts and tried again. This time I listened. The Holy Spirit was working in my life that day, showing me my sin, and pointing to Jesus as the answer. I realized how much I needed the Savior in my life. I confessed my sins, told him that I trusted in his death on the cross, and prayed for him to save me. I knew something very profound had happened in my heart!
I was really eager to share the news. Of course, Aunt Fay was delighted! She took me to a Christian bookstore and bought me a little white King James Bible. Since then, I'm happy to say that I have grown so much as a Christian through reading the Bible, praying, going to church, and ministering to others. I pray that God would use me to share the good news with some of my relatives, just as Cindy had with me.
by Virginia Quarrier, 1980
When I was young, I went to Sunday school.
I learned “Do Unto Others,” that Golden Rule
I learned that Jesus loved children and fed the sheep,
But I never did give him my soul to keep.
How will they know unless we tell them?
How will they know unless we show them from his word?
I don’t like to think of where I would be right now,
If I had never, never heard.
Heaven was just like Santa Claus,
You’ve got to be good to get your reward,
You have to do right or you won’t get in.
No one told me that God forgives sin.
I guess I knew that Jesus died,
The pictures on the wall showed him crucified
But no one told me what he died for
I really wish they had told me more.
How will they know unless we tell them?
How will they know unless we show them from his word?
I don’t like to think of where I would be right now,
If I had never, never heard.
Easter was just a new spring dress,
Dolling up in our Sunday best,
Bunnies and chickies, and “Watch how you behave!”
No one told me Jesus rose from the grave.
No one told me that he was coming again
To take his loved ones back with him.
I thought when he left he was gone for good,
I only wish I had understood.
How will they know unless we tell them?
How will they know unless we show them from his word?
I don’t like to think of where I would be right now,
If I had never, never heard.
No one told me to ask him in
To enter my heart and take out the sin
To take my life as Savior and Lord
And that he was knocking on my heart’s door.
Somebody finally told me all the things I’m telling you.
Somebody finally told me all the Gospel truth.
I finally told Jesus I wanted him as my Lord,
When somebody finally cared enough
To show me from his Word.
How will they know unless we tell them?
How will they know unless we show them from his word?
I don’t like to think of where I would be right now,
If I had never, never heard.
Read more?
Lord, Have Mercy!
My Odyssey from "Renaissance" to "Reformation"
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