As a young child of four I immigrated to Australia. There, as the youngest of five, I was taken to Sunday School and Gospel meetings each week. My parents were Christians and by that I mean that they had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. It was their practise to attend a place where each week the good news of the Gospel was faithfully preached.
While my older brothers and sisters were Christians I knew from a young age that I was not. I had heard so often that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23]. My Sunday School teacher had told me of the lost sheep and the shepherd who searched till he found it. This was likened to me being the lost sheep. “All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way” [Isaiah 53:6] and the shepherd was the Lord Jesus Christ. “I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep” [John 10:11]
At the school I attended we had Religious Education once a week. A few months after I turned eight years old our RE teacher handed each child a booklet entitled ‘The Path of Life’. On page 19 there was a section headed ‘My Decision’. Under a paragraph of writing were two lines where you filled in you name and the date. This I did straight away.
At Sunday School the following week I was showing this booklet to some of my friends. I noticed a group of older boys, including my two brothers, looking at me and deciding who would tell me. Still unaware I wondered what they had to tell me.
That afternoon one of the older boys came and explained to me that where I had signed my name and placed the date was only to be filled in if I had asked the Lord Jesus to save me from my sin and from a lost eternity. This I knew I hadn’t done.
Later that day while standing with a group in the streets near my home I heard one of the Christians tell those passing by that if they died in their sins they would go to hell. I knew I didn’t want to go to hell. I also knew if I died now that’s where I would go [Rev 20:15]. The group in the street sang the hymn:
Oh happy day that fixed my choice
On Thee my Saviour and my God
Well may this glowing heart rejoice
And tell its raptures all abroadHappy day, happy day
When Jesus washed my sins away
Suddenly I realised that I didn’t need to go to hell. I could make the choice to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to be my Saviour.
When we returned to the hall I told one of the older men that I wanted to be saved. He took me into a back room and after asking some questions as to my understanding of what I wanted to do we knelt on the floor and I prayed and asked the Lord Jesus to save me.
That was over forty years ago and I can testify that since that ‘happy day’ I’ve had peace in my heart and assurance that no matter what I am a child of God.