Tom's Testimony
Tom Shrader shares his personal testimony of how he came to faith in Christ after years of pursuing satisfaction through worldly success, relationships, and material possessions. He describes his journey from cynicism and self-centeredness to finding true acceptance, hope, and peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Tom concludes by challenging listeners to consider who Jesus is and to respond to God's offer of salvation through faith in His son.
“There's only one source of real peace and that's a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Standalone Teachings
Recorded: 1991
Duration: 36 min
Themes: testimony, salvation, faith, hope, peace, acceptance, transformation, purpose, searching for meaning, feeling empty, pursuing worldly success, new believer, skeptic, seeking purpose, questioning faith, adult conversion
Scripture: John 3:16, 1 John 5:13, Romans 8:35-39, Hebrews 9:27, Galatians 5:22-23
Theological Themes: personal testimony, salvation by faith, justification, being made right, conversion experience, spiritual transformation, gospel message, redemption
Full Transcript
Two weeks ago I was in California, LA. It's one of my least favorite places in the whole world to be. I don't like going over there. I do like coming back from there. But when I was over there, I saw two of my favorite bumper stickers of all time. If California does nothing but contribute to society bumper stickers, they've done a lot.
Two of my favorite bumper stickers, they're about a year and a half old. They are from the time when LA had the Highway Sniper. Remember that? About a year and a half ago, the first bumper sticker said, "Cover me, I'm changing lanes." And I like that. The other one I like even better, the other one said, "Honk if you're out of bullets." And I thought, well, that's LA and that's the way they are.
I get a chance to travel around and do some of this and talk to people. So to be here and be with you today is a treat for me. And I get to Tucson regularly, so it's kind of a natural.
My Credentials
Let me be up front with you. I think it's important for you to know my credentials. Everybody that does an introduction likes to talk about the books that they've written or the things they've done or the seminars that they've led. I've done none of those.
I am here today not because I'm famous and not because I'm infamous. I'm here today, and I think my best qualification to talk to you today is, I am just like you. You and I are exactly the same.
Now, I know what you're thinking. No, no, no, Tom, you're much taller. Much more handsome. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about on the inside. The experts tell us that we have a couple of dozen emotions that come together to give us a personality and that you and I are basically motivated by the same things, a little more of this and a little less of this. And that's what makes us tick. And that's why I'm here today to speak to you, because I'm just like you.
The Move to Arizona
I was born and raised in Iowa. And one spring, a friend mentioned to me he was moving. And that day, it was an April day. I pulled into a gas station. I was listening to WGN Radio in Chicago. And they were doing a Cub game, Vince Lloyd, Lou Boudreau in the booth.
They said, "We're in Scottsdale, Arizona. It's 72 degrees and clear." And I had no clue where Scottsdale was, but I did remember my friend was moving to something that sounded like Scottsdale. And I asked him, and he said, "Yeah, that's it, Phoenix, the general Phoenix area." I said, "I'm going with you."
So we packed up and we came down, day after Labor Day, 1975. Never forget the trip, because we drove across Kansas, and that took about four and a half weeks, as I remember it. It's the longest drive in the world. We knew a shortcut that no one else knew, so we spent the night in Delhart, Texas, because we're real smart.
And then we came back over, and we landed in Flagstaff. It was dark. Woke up the next morning, and I walked out, and I saw, for the very first time in my life, a mountain. I'd never seen a mountain before. And I was so excited, I thought, "Boy, we have arrived."
And then we began the trek from Flagstaff down to Phoenix. And as we came closer, it got more and more brown. We came across Bell Road, and there was a sign that said, "Welcome to Scottsdale." And the minute that we got to that sign, the skies opened up, and it began to pour rain. And I thought, "What have I done? I left this, left my mom and my dad and my brothers."
My Way of Life
But I came to Phoenix absolutely convinced that I had whatever it took to succeed. I was convinced that Phoenix was just another little thing for me to conquer. In fact, I used to have a hero who sang a song, and it became a song that was important to me. In fact, it described my life. If I ever wrote an autobiography, this was going to be the title.
Paul Anka wrote it. Frank Sinatra sang it. He said, "I'm going to do it my way. And the regrets? Eh, I'll have a few, but then again, too few to mention." And I began to live life my way.
I understand the principle that something has to be number one in your life. And I lived. And what was number one in my life and my goal was to satisfy Tom Schrader. I was convinced that there was a God who'd made a planet. He made it and called it Earth. And then He gave it to man to make me happy.
When you start to live that way, people get hurt. And along came Sammy Davis, Jr., and he sang a little song. He just said, "Well, I just got to be me. That's just the way I am. It's got to be me." I said, "Yeah, that's it."
Because I saw as I started to climb a corporate ladder, I had to step on a toe here and kind of reach over and climb over a body there, but that was okay. I grew up in a time where that bumper sticker was popular that said "The one who dies with the most toys wins." That was my motto. That's what I lived by.
What I Really Wanted
In retrospect, there's three things in my life that I've always wanted: acceptance and hope and peace. All my life. I wanted to be accepted. I wanted hope for the future, and I wanted peace.
And I stopped. I looked at my life, and I said, instead of acceptance, I have rejection. At this point in my life, instead of hope, my life is filled with uncertainty, and far from peace, my life is filled with turmoil.
Meeting Susan
As I contemplated this, it was a Saturday, and I was in an apartment building. I lived in apartment number 202, and I was sitting out on the porch doing what I did best, having a glass of Michelob and reading the racing form, and I saw coming up the stairs the top of a chair, and this chair got to the top of the stairs, and all of a sudden it made a left to go into apartment 201, and underneath this chair was this great set of legs.
And much to my joy, coming out of apartment 201 after the chair went in was this cute little torso. It was attached to those legs with this smiling, bubbling face. The girl's name was Susan, and I said, "I've got to get to know this girl."
And we got to know each other, and I discovered we were opposite. I had become so cynical, and she was so sincere, fresh from Boise, Idaho, and I was so filled with
I had become filled with hate, and she was filled with love. I had become pretty rude, and she was so kind. I had become pretty hard and cold, and she was pretty soft, pretty warm. As we got to know each other, I said, "I have to have that girl."
You guys in the audience need to really grasp this. I've always wanted to be in the Guinness Book of World Records, and I may be there for this reason. I set out to get Susan to marry me, hoping she would change me, hoping that if we got together, whatever it was she had would rub off on me.
The Pursuit Begins
So we started the dating process, and it was a little rough. One night after a Christmas party, she announced the next day she never wanted to see me again. Well, guys, you know what that means: "I love you. Call me in the morning."
So I set out, and I called, and she said, "No, I was pretty serious about this. If you were the last guy on planet Earth, I wouldn't go out with you again." Well, I'm going to take that as a maybe.
So December 8th, we start this process, and I would call her every day, and this went on into March—literally every day. I'd call her at work because she had to be nice to me, and she consistently said no. So finally I figured out she was serious about it, and I tried this: I said, "Look, if I don't call you for two weeks, will you go out with me?" She said, "Okay."
Thirteen days later, I called her. I said, "Susan, I can't wait another day. Tonight's got to be the night." She said, "I'll go out with you if you promise me you'll never bother me again. You've got to give me your word on that." I said, "No problem." See, my word wasn't worth anything, so it didn't matter. I said, "Here, you can have my word. Take my word. You want my word? You can have my word."
The First Date and Beyond
I went over and rang that doorbell that night, and she came to the door, and she said, "I want you to understand the rules here. I can't stand you. I don't like you at all. And the only reason I'm doing this is because you've told me this is the last time." I said, "We are going to have a terrific time."
To make a long story short, we have literally been together every day since then. One day in June, I walked into a church, and she walked down an aisle, and I said, "I do," and then held my breath, and then she said, "I do, too." We walked out of there, and I was so excited. I had been accepted by the person that was most important to me in the whole world.
My hope level was as high as it could be. I was convinced the future was so bright, and I knew that peace was right around the corner. Then we started to live together.
The Reality of Marriage
Somebody has said you and I are like cups and what we try to do is keep ourselves filled with people and places and things. Well, my cup began to leak and Susan couldn't keep it full.
Finally December 13th, 1979—a watershed day. If you're a sports fan, it's the day that Ed Tuttle Jones fought up in Phoenix, and if you're really a sports buff, you'll know that Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini was on the undercard. Additionally, it was a good friend of mine's birthday.
Birthday and boxing to me meant two things: gin and tonic. So we started early in the morning and we went all the way to noon, and then we adjourned the meeting to get downtown. Then we went to the ring and they ran out at the Civic Plaza of gin, and then after the gin we said, "Well, we'll have a little beer," and then we adjourned from there and it was time to head back from Phoenix to Scottsdale.
The Arrest
So I started the trek back and there's a classy little place that I used to hang out at called the Tuba City Truck Stop and Country Club—a classy little joint. So I stopped there for a little trail juice. Those last three miles are typically the most treacherous, and as I pulled out of there on the Camelback Road heading home, I saw these emergency vehicle lights in the background.
So I moved over to let the vehicle get by me, but the vehicle moved over with me, and this female police officer came up and said, "Can I see your license?" I said, "Look, I've been through this before. I can't stand on one foot. I can't touch my nose. Let's just go."
So down we went and she said, "Go ahead, you can call somebody." So I called Susan. I said, "You might stop by and just see if anybody's waiting for you at the Scottsdale Police Department. I think there's somebody there you'll want to see."
I'll never forget the look—not on her face but her whole body—when she walked in the door. She was eight and three-quarter months pregnant.
The Morning After
She took me home and I woke up the next morning and I said, "Something is out of whack. Something's not right. Everything that I aspired to I was beginning to achieve and yet I experienced none of what I wanted."
I went to a fellow in my office and I said, "How is it that in the middle of the commercial real estate business"—and that's the business that I was in for eight years, which gave me proof daily that man is inherently evil—"and in the middle of this commercial real estate business, how is it you have peace and I don't?" He said, "Tom, the answer to life that you're looking for is the person of Jesus Christ." I said, "Be around the base, Ace."
The Bible Study
Three months later I knew that there were a group of men that met at Phoenix Country Club for a Bible study, so I figured, "Well, it's Phoenix Country Club—at very worst it's some sort of a religious Rotary type of a deal and it'll be good for my business image."
I walked up and I sat down in a study with a group of about 40 men. A guy by the name of Larry Wright was teaching, and He opened this Bible and began to teach. It's as though there was just the two of us in the room. It's as though He was just talking to me. In fact, I remember thinking, "Now somehow Susan has given this guy notes."
I walked out of there shaking and I got back to my cubicle and I called this guy. I said, "We need to get together." He said, "How about lunch in a few days?" We sat down and I asked Him some of the stinging questions of life: Adam and Eve and where did Cain get His wife.
The Answer to Life's Difficult Questions
At the end of our conversation, my friend said he'd tell me if he was able, and I asked him those difficult questions of life. When we were all done, he said, "Tom, let me give you the answer. The answer is Jesus Christ. I want you to go home tonight and I want you to read this Gospel of John."
So I went home and I looked up John and I read it, and it meant nothing to me. The next morning I was early for an appointment and I was sitting in my car, and there was a little book. I opened this book up and it said God loves you. It said you're a sinner—I knew that part was true. It said God loves you so much that He sent His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross, and I knew that Jesus existed. Historical secular historians will tell us that Jesus Christ was a real man and that He died on a cross.
The book said He died on the cross to pay the price for your sin, something that you'll never be able to do. If you'll call upon Him, if you'll believe in Him, He'll take control of your life. I remember sitting in that car praying that prayer and then kind of peeking out. It was 8:30 in the morning, looking for shooting stars, listening for bells, and there weren't any.
Discovering a New God
Let me tell you a couple of things that I did find though. I found that in my life I had put together over 30 years my own private theology, and I had developed some myths. In fact, one of the myths that I had developed was my concept of God. I discovered a whole new God.
I kind of had a picture of God like the wizard in the Wizard of Oz—lots of smoke, lots of fire, kind of a cosmic killjoy. God's biggest job in life was to try to find those people that were having fun and then kind of zap them. That's what I thought God was. I discovered a God that's a big God.
We live on a planet that's six septillion, five hundred and eighty-eight sextillion tons and it spins on its axis at a thousand miles an hour on a five hundred and eighty million mile orbit around a sun. It's moving on that orbit about a thousand miles a minute. If you could travel at the speed of light—a hundred and eighty-six thousand miles a second—it would take you a hundred and twenty-five thousand years to cross our galaxy, which is just one of what astronomers now say are as few as two billion or as many as ten billion galaxies.
That's why I have a hard time when somebody says, "Well, it just happened." It didn't just happen. Somebody said believing in the Big Bang Theory is comparable to saying we got the unabridged dictionary from an explosion in a print shop. It didn't just happen. There was a God who created it all.
A Personal God
Then I had that down, but then I discovered something else—that this big God is also concerned about me. The Bible says that He sees the sparrows fall from the tree and He has the very hairs on our head numbered. Now to some of you that verse doesn't mean much, but what I discovered was a whole different God. I discovered not a distant God, but a God who was in control and cared about me personally.
The Bible: God's Owner's Manual
Here's another thing I discovered—this book we call the Bible. I used to think it's just a book of fairy tales that some guy wrote a long time ago, kind of like a religious Aesop's fable just to make point after point. Those poor ancient people, they just tried to wrestle those things through and that's really all they could handle.
I discovered that the Bible gets a lot of credit for things it doesn't say and not near enough credit for the things it does say. I met with a guy sometime ago and he said, "The Bible says," then he said something, and I obviously gave myself away because I kind of looked down like this. He stopped and said, "No, that was Paul Harvey this morning."
I believe that you and I have the mind of God in our hands when we hold the Bible, that it's infallible, it's inspired by Him. Several years ago in a one-week period I bought a dishwasher, a garage door opener, and a hot water heater. I sat down at the end of the week and I said, "There's got to be a lesson in all this for me. What's the lesson?"
The only thing I could see that these three products had in common was an owner's manual written by the manufacturer telling me how to get optimum use out of their product. If there was a problem with that product, all I had to do is go to a little checklist that they had and I'd check down it. If that didn't work, each one of those came with an 800 number and I could call the manufacturer himself.
I said, "That's it. That's what the Bible is. It's the owner's manual for man written by the manufacturer Himself, telling you and I how to get optimum use out of this life that we're in." It comes with a series of checkpoints when those problems come in our lives, and not only the checkpoints—if all else fails, man, you've got an 800 number called prayer where you can call God Himself.
That Bible is a book inspired by God. It's the absolute authority of God and it's the absolute authority in your life and in my life. When you begin to understand that and grab hold of that, it becomes life-changing.
Faith That Makes Sense
I did one of these not long ago and a guy came up afterwards, kind of in a corner like this, and he said, "Are you telling me you believe in Adam and Eve?" And I said, "Yeah." "Noah and a flood, you believe in that?" I said, "Yeah, I really do." "How about this one—Jonah in the belly of a fish?" And I said, "Yeah, I do." He said, "How did that happen?" And I said, "Well, when I get to heaven, I'll ask. I'll ask Jonah." He said, "Well, what if Jonah is not there?" And I said, "Well, then you ask him."
I found something else out. I found another myth—that Christians took this blind leap of faith that it really didn't make a lot of sense. But I opened up that book and I found a verse that said this: "These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you might know you have eternal life."
I used to think eternal life went like this—that God somehow graded on this giant cosmic curve. That like the PGA tour, He had a cut system that He would take all of us and He'd say, "Well, half of you make it and half of you don't." That somehow He had a giant...
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I used to think God was like a big IBM computer that kept meticulous records of your life and mine. That He would do the debits and the credits, and then as we stood before Him after death, He'd hit a grand total button and say whether we made it or not. That's not it at all.
Do you know that you can know for certain today where you'll spend eternity? You can know it. And it's not this blind leap of faith. It's based on what God says and the knowledge that He's given us—that if we'll come in repentance and faith, He'll respond to that. You and I can know where we'll spend eternity.
You might think it's something else, but the Bible defines faith. It says faith makes us certain of the things we hope for. It makes us certain of the future, but it makes us certain of realities we can't see. There are things in our life that we can't see, but they're realities. It doesn't always look like God is right there with you, but He is. There are times when it seems like God could never forgive what I did, but He will.
Finding True Acceptance
That was eight years ago at McCormick Ranch, and I've discovered a whole lot of things. But let me tell you something more important than any of that: I discovered acceptance and hope and peace.
I found the acceptance of God. "To as many as believed, they became sons of God." That was written in the time that you were adopted into His family, and under those laws in that day and age, an adopted son or adopted daughter could never be disowned. You could disown a natural-born child, but never disown an adopted child. God will never leave me. God will never forsake me.
Here's how Paul says it: "Who's gonna separate me from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword? But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." Here's how he concludes this out of the book of Romans: "For I'm convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, things to come, nor powers, height, depth, nor any other creative thing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus."
There's real acceptance, and I've got real hope. My future is bright. Scripture said, "Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." My hope for my future is certain.
A Certain Hope
I'm getting ready to drive back to Phoenix. If I put that car in a viaduct and I die, I know the first face I see will be God and the Lord Jesus Christ saying, "Come on home, Tom."
A couple of years ago they unveiled the Statue of Liberty—been rebuilt, refurbished. One of the members of the cabinet stood there and the Marine Corps band was playing. It was a great time, and he said this: "I stand here today before the Statue of Liberty, the hope for all of mankind." No, it isn't. Great country, great economic system, great political system, but the hope for all of mankind isn't the Statue of Liberty. It's the person of Jesus Christ.
Perfect Peace
I found acceptance and I found hope, and let me tell you what I found in my life more than anything: I found peace. He said this: "My peace I give you, and my peace I leave you, not as the world gives, but a peace that passes all understanding."
See, the world has its version of peace. The world says if you just accumulate, accumulate, accumulate, you'll have peace. I bet you never thought we'd be quoting Eddie Murphy today, did you? Here's what Eddie Murphy said August 1st: "I feel a void. I feel a void. There's not total emptiness, but there's something missing," speaking of his own life. "No matter how much you accomplish or how much money you make or how many cars or how many houses you have or how many people you make happy, life isn't perfect."
He said that he and Sylvester Stallone faced the same situation. Murphy says, quote, "When I sit back with people like Stallone, we trade stories. It's like the same identical thing happens—the way power isolates you and everybody tries to get close with you and the weight of being the patriarch of your family."
The Emptiness of Success
Elizabeth Taylor was being interviewed not long ago. Elizabeth is a size three again. She's got just a beautiful face with dancing eyes, and they had this close-up of her. They said, "Elizabeth, how are things going?" And she said, "Right now my life is going well." Then she said something I'll never forget. She looked right in the camera and she said, "But I know it won't last."
Sally Fields in the same program was interviewing. She said, "Since I was a little girl, I've had something inside of me. I don't know what it is. I'll call it a yearning."
Martina Navratilova says after she wins a major title, she's high for two hours and then depressed for two days.
Here's what Vince Lombardi wrote—remember, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." This is what else Lombardi says, quote: "The pressures are horrible. The pressure of losing is bad. It's awful because eventually it kills you. But the pressure of winning is worse—infinitely worse—because it keeps on torturing you and torturing you."
The Pressure of Success
Cliff Harris, after the Cowboys won the Super Bowl, said this, quote: "You have something to look forward to only if you lose. After the one we won, I looked over at Charlie Waters and I whispered, 'Who do we play next?' When you win the Super Bowl—I hesitate to say it—you're depressed."
Joe Gibbs said this after his Super Bowl victory: "What happens to you as a coach is as soon as you win the last one, you start to worry about the next one. You build a monster if you're winning. People expect it. In fact, they demand it from the owner right on down."
Here's somebody that I don't know, but he made a statement that reflects my philosophy on life. He said this: "No man on his deathbed will ever say, 'I wish I would have spent more time at the office.'" You see, at that moment in time, things become incredibly clear and you begin to see what's important and what's not. You understand the futility of accumulating.
Let me help you. Let me save you a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of aggravation. Getting this deal closed that you're working on is not going to—
The World's False Promise of Peace
Winning this lawsuit is not going to bring you peace. Racing back to get the promotion is not going to bring you peace. Meeting the quota by the end of the year is not going to bring you peace. Finding a new wife is not going to bring you peace. There's only one source of real peace and that's a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus said I'm going to give you peace, not as the world gives. See, the world says peace is the absence of turmoil. God says peace is the presence of God.
The Reality of Death
Let me read you something from January 6, 1988, USA Today. James Dobson invited Pete Maravich to California to appear on the Focus on the Family radio program. Maravich came and played in a pickup game. "There were nine guys," Dobson said. "We played four on four and rotated one guy. We played for about 45 minutes and had a good time. I asked him if he'd been playing and he said he couldn't because of a problem in his right shoulder from which he'd only recently recovered. I asked him how he felt today. He said great. He then took one step backwards and fell. I thought he might be joking at first, but I bent over him and saw he was in a seizure. About 30 seconds after the seizure he stiffened and quit breathing and never took another breath on his own."
There's some gals here and I like talking to them, but I love talking to the guys because they're bottom-line guys. Just give it to me straight, Doc. Well, here it is straight, Doc. The mortality rate in this room will ultimately be 100%. George Bernard Shaw said it this way: the statistics on death are impressive. One out of one people die. The author of Hebrews said it this way: it's appointed to each man once to die and then judgment.
The Certainty of Judgment
See, death is certain. There's not a person in here that doesn't believe that. We all know the data is overwhelming. We all know we're going to die. Let me tell you what happens then. Then you stand before a holy God and He judges you, not based on whether you were a good father or not, or a good mother, or a good husband, or a good wife, not based on whether you went to church. His criteria for judging and approving or condemning is: what did you do with the person of Jesus Christ?
Jesus was walking along one day with His disciples and He said, "Who do the people say that I am?" And they said, "Well, some say you're John the Baptist and others Elijah and others say you're a prophet." And then He wheeled around to those men and He said, "Who do you say that I am?" That's the question that transcends time. That's the question that you have to answer today. Who do you say Jesus Christ is? A good teacher? A prophet? No. Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh to do something for you that you could never do for yourself and that's to pay the price for your sin.
The Problem of Sin
See, just like I was, you're a sinful person too. And you're separated from God by that sin. And it's a chasm that you'll never be able to cross. And you can't do enough good things and you can't give away enough money and you can't do those things to appease the Holy God. There's only one way to come to His son, Jesus Christ, to say that I believe Him.
And that doesn't just mean in the head. See, there's an important 18 inch gap that needs to be closed. It's the difference between believing in your head and believing in your heart. See, if you really believe that, then you'll act on it. Then you'll move. If you really believed the price of gold was going to $2,500 an ounce tomorrow morning, you'd be down there buying all the gold you could get today. Because if I really believe something, I'm going to live my life on that basis.
The Solution in Christ
I'm here to tell you, not because I'm clever, because I'm not. I'm here to tell you because God said it's true that His son, Jesus Christ, died for your sin. And that if you'll come to Him in repentance and faith, you'll find all the things you're looking for in this life. You'll find all the benefits of God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. You'll never find them apart from God. You'll only find them through a personal relationship with Him through His son, Jesus Christ.
A Call to Decision
Let me be really candid with you. Some of you are more confused now than you were when you got here. I know that. Let me encourage you to seek somebody out, the person that invited you, Jerry, Morris, and try to get some answers to those questions. What was he talking about? That doesn't make sense. What do you really mean?
Others of you, there is a distinct chance that today, maybe for the first time in your life, all the pieces of the puzzle started to fall together and you understood what was missing in your life. If that's the case, you need to call out to God and pray to Him right now along with me.
A Prayer of Salvation
Let's pray. Father, we come humbly. We ask You to send Your Holy Spirit in a special way on us, to touch us in a special way. Father, we ask You especially to maybe touch those men and women who, for the very first time, are understanding that Jesus Christ is Your son and He's the answer to a problem that's in their life, this problem of sin. God, we just ask You to pull those men and women to You in a way that they can't possibly resist.
And if you're in the room and you feel that pull, and maybe for the very first time, I'd ask you to pray along with me. And honestly pour out to God your heart and just say, "God, I'm a sinful person and I know that I'm separated from You and I just thank You for Your son, Jesus Christ, for His life and His death and His resurrection. God, I thank You that I can have eternal life because He died. And Jesus, to the very best of my ability, I just ask You to take control of my life. I just call out, not with all the answers, but with a heart that really, really wants to know You and ask You to take control."
Father, thank You that You're an honest, true God that gives us all the facts. Thank You that we can come to
Thank You for the privilege of calling You Father, Daddy, because we're Your children through faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ. And it's in His name we pray. Amen.