The Choice of a Lifetime
By Jessica Brodie
I feel like God had his hand on me my whole life, but I remember distinctly the moment I chose to be part of God‘s team forevermore.
I was 21 years old, living in an apartment in South Florida, and just wrapping up my final semester of college. Nothing momentous had happened that day, but sometime in the night, I had a profound spiritual experience that shook me to the core and changed my course completely.
First, a bit of background about where I was spiritually and emotionally at that time. See, while I considered myself a Christian, I’d always been very open-minded about what “a Jesus-follower” looked like. Back then, my faith was more about a belief and less about how I lived my life. I didn’t think you needed to read the Bible or go to church to be a Christian. I thought you just needed to love others and believe in God and Jesus. But I also thought a few different pathways might also exist, so I stumbled along blithely, shaky in my convictions. As an intellectual, I was also fascinated with other religions. I was friends with Buddhists and Muslims, in addition to Christians and seekers. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this, but it’s important to know where I was the night of my vision—open-minded, open to possibilities.
All that openness had left me spiritually vulnerable. And I think that’s why this happened when it did.
My dreams that night started out innocently. I was having a casual conversation with a man, someone who was supposed to be a friend. In real life, I didn’t know this man, but in the dream he was a nice person, friendly, almost like a brother would be. He was teasing me and trying to get me to tell him something… I’m not sure what that something was, but it had to do with knowledge and truth, and needing to know certain things. It was something to do with ego and certainty versus trust, but the details are vague. At one point it turned from a mental wrestle into a physical one, and I started to grow angry and frustrated. I knew he just wanted me to admit something, but I didn’t want to. I was tempted to go along with what he was saying just to avoid conflict, but it felt wrong to do so.
Finally, I pulled away from him. “No,” I said. “I’m not going to say yes.”
The next moment I was in my bed, terrified. Above me stood a massive horned beast, dark and seething with rage.
“You have to choose!” he thundered.
I knew the wrong answer meant agonizing death. He’d burn me there in my bed, burn me alive in an instant. Fire was my biggest fear in those days, the worst imaginable death possible.
Yet I had to say it—scream it, rather.
“I choose God and Jesus!” I bellowed at the top of my lungs.
Instantly I felt the searing heat of the flames.
But there was no pain. Instead, I found myself far, far above the scene, high in the heavens and cradled in the arms of Jesus and Father God.
They were smiling down at me, welcoming me to the family, reassuring me that everything was all right, and in that moment, I knew I’d made a critical choice.
I chose “team God.” I chose the way, the Jesus way—the truth and the light (John 14:6). I didn’t cave to my fears or to the ways of the world or to going with the flow just to soothe feelings, but I’d chosen the right path.
The only path for me.
In Revelation 3:15-16, God tells the church in Laodicea, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (NIV).
I don’t know what that church did to be considered lukewarm, but if they were anything like the “old me,” they straddled the line when it came to choosing the path of the Lord or the path of the world. Their foundation wasn’t solid, and they were exposed to the elements, in danger of crumble and attack.
The apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”
It’s much the same as what Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
We must all choose with conviction who we follow—God, or something else. And who we follow must be clear, revealed in our actions, the way we treat others, the way we run from sin and turn our lives over to God’s use entirely.
It’s funny—I’ve never feared fire in quite the same way since that vision all those years ago. It’s not even one of my “top fears” anymore.
I know I’m safe with God, and there’s nothing that can happen to my earthly body that is as important as keeping my soul in check for eternity.
Thanks be to God.
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THANKS TO MY SPONSORS: MATT BRODIE, EMILY DODD, KATHLEEN PATELLA, BILLY ROBINSON, AND LANNY TURNER.
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