November 28

On this day 20 years ago, I stopped fighting the Holy Spirit and surrendered the throne of my life to Jesus. At five years old, I was very much aware of my sinfulness and need for a Savior (my parents were too!). I knew there was nothing I could do to fix myself and make me a good person. But I didn't want to admit that openly and publicly to everybody else. So I was fighting the Holy Spirit's promptings to walk down to the front of the church and ask my pastor to help me. However, I finally got tired of resisting and turned to my parents.

On that Sunday night, I began a new life. The last two decades have brought me on an unbelievable journey, and it's just getting started! I look forward to the next 20 years of walking with my precious Savior (and the next, and the next...).

On this Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the relentless grace of my Savior and the power to live a new life in Him. I am thankful for the journey - the struggles, trials, joys, friends, lessons. I am thankful for my daddy who gave me the courage I needed to walk down the aisle.

A few months ago, I went to a Beth Moore simulcast at my church. I knew without a doubt that was exactly where God wanted me to be that day. She gave a powerful illustration of living with our old, dead self. She showed us how we keep trying to resuscitate our body of sin and death instead of burying it and living the new life that we have in Christ. Then she said, "Some of you need to write an obituary for your old, dead self." That statement grabbed me. I knew that's what I needed to do. She read us a few examples of obituaries people had written and sent to her. Before I even left that day, I had started drafting mine. I got saved at a young age, but there have been many times since then that I have carried the dead Lauren around instead of getting rid of it and walking as a new creation.

In remembering 20 years of my new life in Christ, I am posting my obituary. The old is gone, the new has come. To God be the glory!

Lauren passed away on Sunday, November 28, 1993, at First Baptist Church in Miami, OK. She died suddenly after a long and hard fought battle with her sickness of Rebellion. She was born in Sin and lived in numerous other places such as Fear, Anger, Bitterness, Loneliness, Discontentment, Emptiness, Insecurity, and Doubt. Her life was marked with despair, anxiety, and stubbornness. She was an outstanding faker. Her best attempts at keeping her life well-planned and under control failed miserably and caused her much grief. She excelled at people-pleasing and doing good works; she could be a "Martha" with the best of them. She possessed a super-hero power of being able to morph into the Hulk in an instant. Her other accomplishments included having an incredibly strong will that could outlast her opponents in arguments. She played her cards well. It was said of her that she would argue with a sign post. She wanted things to be done her way, and did not want to yield her rights.

 

Her passing was not mourned, but did not go unnoticed. At the moment of her death, a major and decisive battle was won in the Kingdom of heaven.

 

She is survived by the blood of Jesus and God's super-abounding grace. In lieu of flowers, investments can be made in making disciples and advancing the Kingdom of Almighty God on earth.