It's hard to believe that five years have passed since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. For me, like many others, that day was a wake-up call from God. I had been peacefully "sleeping" through my routine of family and ministry, lulled into a subtle complacency.

When the telephone rang that Tuesday morning, I heard my youngest daughter's anxious voice urging me to turn on the television. Two planes had flown into the World Trade Center towers. I watched in horror as the first tower imploded, followed by the second. Suddenly word came of a plane crash at the Pentagon, and then a report of a fourth plane crashing into a Pennsylvania field.

"Oh, God, no!" I cried audibly. "So many people dying! God, help them!" I knew at that moment people were stepping into eternity, and I wondered how many of them were really ready.

That day, God woke me up and renewed my passion to tell people the glorious good news of the gospel.

Several days after 9/11, I was interviewed on CBS's The Early Show. The broadcast originated in New York City, but I was able to interact with co-host Jane Clayson by a remote connection from my city.

One statement I made, in particular, struck a chord with the viewers. Jane asked how I would respond to those who say, "If God is good, how could He let 9/11 happen?" I replied:

God is also angry when He sees something like this. For several years now, Americans, in a sense, have shaken their fists at God and said, "God, we want You out of the schools, we want You out of our government, we want You out of our businesses, we want You out of our marketplace." And God, who is a gentleman, has quietly backed out of our … public life. And we need to turn to God, first of all, and say, "God, we're sorry that we have treated You this way, and we invite You now to come into our national life. We put our trust in You." We have our Trust in God on our coins. We need to practice it.

I later learned that a transcript of the interview was posted on the Internet and went around the globe as people e-mailed friends far and wide, sharing my words with a world that was looking for spiritual answers. When I heard this, I prayed that God would use those words to challenge each of our hearts. Five years later, my prayer is the same. May God wake us up and reignite a passion in each of our hearts to see Jesus, and to share Him with a desperate world.

Adapted from Anne's book, I Saw the Lord: A Wake-up Call for Your Heart (Zondervan, 2006). Used by permission. Visit Anne at www.angelministries.org.

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