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Key Bible Verse: You offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you (Psalm 130:4). Bonus Reading: Psalm 130:1–8

Back aboard ship, Alan Baker tried to fall asleep one night. But his doubts and confusion kept him awake. "I was 24 at the time. I was so uneasy. I had so much anxiety. I just hit bottom." What was he really after, he wondered—integrity or looking good?

"I was too sick at heart to continue down the path I was on," he says, "I prayed that God would look on my sin and forgive me, take away my pain and guilt. I sensed God's voice in my heart. He said, 'I can do that. But I can't do that to half of you. I can't just take the bad part. I need the good part too.'"

"My first thought was: No way. I was wrestling with God. 'I want you to take away the pus and pain and problems, but I don't want to give my time, talent, and treasures.'

"He gave me an argument in my mind. 'If you believe I created you, don't you think I know what's best for you?' I couldn't refute that."

Before dawn that morning, Baker yielded to God's role in his life. "That was my conversion. On the next cruise, I made a commitment to spend all my free time learning the Bible. I quit reading Louis L'Amour westerns. With a friend, I started memorizing Scripture."

—Adam Piore in Christianity Today

My Response: Have I turned over to God all parts of my life?

Thought to Apply: Conversion is not the smooth, easy-going process some men seem to think it, otherwise man's heart would never have been compared to fallow ground and God's Word to a plow. —John Bunyan

Adapted from Christianity Today (4/23) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

God, You sent Your Son because mankind needed rescuing. I'm ready to admit that I'm no exception, and ask You to take charge of my life.

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