Today’s guest post is an excerpt from the ebook: Real Love Guaranteed to Last by Anne Peterson, a speaker, poet and author.
Every person needs to be loved. Nothing compares to knowing you are accepted just as you are.
Some people spend their whole lives looking for someone who will love them. Someone who will complete them.
I am loved. Loved by my husband, my children, my grandchildren, my friends. It is special being loved. But, I want to tell you about another love.
I am a storyteller. This ebook holds some of my stories. I hope you find encouragement tucked inside them. I hope when you read my stories, you reflect on yours.
But, my biggest hope is that one day you’ll find love that I found. Real love: guaranteed to last.
Walking down the sidewalk in Chicago I felt a tinge of nervousness. Would I fit in?
Certain I had the right address; I knocked on the back door, wondering what I’d find.
Little did I know going to this house would change my life, and my forever.
She wore jeans and dangling earrings. This thirty-something housewife with sparkling blue eyes.
I felt welcome from the moment I stepped into that basement.
“Help yourself to some pop,” someone called out.
The room held about 40 people my age, early 20’s. Long tables held stacks of Bibles and scraps of paper. Pencils were scattered on the tables, as well as bowls of chips and pretzels.
The smell of freshly made coffee filled the room intermingled with cigarette smoke.
And then she spoke. She asked for volunteers to read verses. Periodically she stopped, explaining the verses to us. She spoke about Jesus like she knew him personally. Like he was her best friend.
I liked the feeling of belonging. Accepted, just as I was.
I was invited back the following day for another study. There was no thinking about it; I knew I would go. Opening the door that second night, about a hundred people filled the room. There was such a warmth in that place. After the study we sat around talking.
Lois came over with a fresh cup of coffee steaming. She introduced herself, and talked to me about her Jesus. I had heard about Jesus as a child at Vacation Bible School. VBS was a place with macaroni art and homemade plaques of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I heard stories about Jesus at Awana clubs, in between playing “steal the bacon” and memorizing Bible verses. Gloria, one of the leaders, beamed when she talked about Jesus; just like Lois.
Verse by verse, Lois explained what the Bible said. She and her husband had been missionaries in Paraguay. Now they were missionaries to young people like me.
God was working in my heart.
Everything came together that night.