WHAT INSPIRED ME TO WRITE CHILDREN'S BOOKS, DAY 2

Typically, I would turn the television off at the end of Joyce Meyer’s program but for some unknown reason one day “something” said to flip through the channels, which I did. I am so glad I listened to that prompting because God used it to bring me great blessing. 

I just happened upon a preacher as he was saying, “Jesus says ‘Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I’ll give you rest…’ The source of His love does not lie on the ‘loveableness’ of the one being loved…”

That claim grabbed my attention so that I stopped channel surfing and remained to the end of the program, listening intently. I even ordered the CD recording of the broadcast and listened to it over and over again in the months that followed. I have listened to Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church in Singapore’s broadcasts ever since that special day.

God used Joyce Meyer and Joseph Prince to deliver me from my deep depression. Through their teachings, a desire to know God in a more personal way began to grow in me so I started reading the Bible. I had been in church all my life; but reading God’s Word on my own for the first time made me realize I did not know God at all. I only knew about Him. I wanted to know the Person He is but did not know how.

I remember praying: “God help me know who You are. I want to really know You.”  And God was faithful to answer my request. He introduced Himself to me in a tender and creative way by reminding me of something from my childhood.

When I was about 8 years old, I wrote an essay in school entitled: “Myself.” The assignment was to introduce myself to my class by sharing things that were true about me. Facts like my name, my appearance, my interests, and my past times.

God answered my prayer for HOW to go about getting to know Him by bringing to mind that essay. I saw in my memory myself as little girl Jane Efua Harrison standing in front of her class reading her essay about who she was.

And just like that, God answered me by saying through that memory I was to use that same guideline of the elementary school assignment for getting to know who He is.

Suddenly it was clear how to go about this discovery I longed for. His Holy Spirit explained it to me, like the good Teacher He is. Based on the “Myself” essay example, I understood what God was asking me to ask Him.

He was inviting me to be curious and explore.  And I did! And I still do.  It’s a lifelong quest full of surprises and wonder, questions and mystery. 

So my life in Jesus really began back in that bleak time when I began to read His Word in earnest. Since then, when people ask me when I accepted Jesus, or when I began to follow Him, I always have one answer. “When Andrew was born.” because it was in that desperate time that God introduced Himself to me in His tender, personal way. 

I had that eureka moment about God and His name being the first way to know Him. Who would have thought that depression could bring me into a deeper relationship with God? He always creates good out of evil.