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BY JACK WOODFORD

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians of the great change that we experience as we are transformed from bondage to sin to freedom in Christ through grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (2:8).

I grew up in Upstate New York. My Dad was a dairy farmer, normal for the farming community that we lived in. But that all changed suddenly when I was about four years old. At the age of 35, Dad suddenly started going into convulsions. It was a very frightening experience.

He suffered a crippling stroke. We lost the farm and nearly everything that our family owned. We received some financial help through Social Services and the welfare program, and food to put on the table through government surplus.

The first time we experienced some of God’s grace was when we received some Christmas gifts and gift baskets from people who we did not know. For a year or so, the pastor of a nearby church picked us up and took us to church and Sunday School.

We found that it was difficult growing up as welfare children. In school we were shunned and picked on by others because we did not wear the nicest clothes. I was also shunned because I was very tall for my age.

When dad passed away at the age of 51, the pastor of our church visited with my mom a few times, but he never talked to me or my siblings. Through my own grief I became very angry with God. I fell into a pit of sin that I lived in for years. I stayed away from the church.

My daughter is the one who brought me back into the church. She told me, “Daddy, if I have to go to church, so do you,” and I went. After a few years, I accepted Christ into my heart at the age of 51. I realized that God had used the suffering that my dad went through and that our family went through as an educational training ground for something that God had planned for me. Through grace, God is using me in his service.

God now uses me as an advocate serving underprivileged children, the homeless, the hungry, the elderly and those that are grieving the loss of loved ones.

We are soon coming up on the “One Great Hour of Sharing.” My prayer is that you will be generous. If you are unable to give financially, there are many other ways that you can give in your community, such as volunteering at a food bank, mentoring an underprivileged child, doing yard work for an elderly person, giving a homeless person something to eat and talking to them. These are just a few ways that you can give.

“For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” – Ephesians 2:10.

Jack Woodford is a Certified Lay Minister and Stephen Ministries Leader at Trinity UMC in Prince Frederick. Contact him at .