My Testimony: Are you done yet?

After graduating from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, I had two goals in life: to play quarterback in the NFL and write the great American novel. In short, I knew as much of what I wanted to do as much as I knew what I didn’t want to do: follow Christ

I would pursue these dreams years after college by writing in the morning, working out in the afternoon and driving truck at night. 

Then in January of 1984, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me in a dream. Like a split screen TV, He was just standing on one side of the screen wearing a white robe with his palms open wide and down by his side facing me as if to say “come.” On the other side of the screen was a frightening, reoccurring dream that I often had as a child in which everything grew bigger and bigger and then started to fly around me in a chaotic whirlwind. 

As I stood there in the dream, I knew I had a choice to make: either follow Christ or live in chaos. Not wanting either, I forced myself to wake up and then continued to follow my own ambitions by attending football tryout camps in various cities. 

The last tryout camp I attended was in Bethesda, MD. Having developed tendinitis in my throwing arm a few weeks before the camp, I went to a local doctor to get a steroid injection to help ease the pain. Then on the morning of our first day of the tryouts, all the quarterbacks began throwing 40 yard out patterns and I found the pain in my throwing arm slowly inching its way back; and by the end of that session, the pain was too much to bear, and I ended up sitting on the sidelines for the duration of the camp.

When I arrived home, I had a major pity party and then, right during the midst of it all, I heard a still small voice within me say, “Are you done yet?” I knew it was God, but I didn’t want to acknowledge His voice, so I continued with my party until I heard His voice again: Are you done yet? “Yes,” I finally found myself saying out loud. Then I heard these words in my own mind just as clear as if the Lord himself was standing before me and speaking to me in an audible voice: “Now it’s my turn.” 

I knew God wanted me to surrender my desires and my will for His. And if truth be told, I always thought His desires were less than mine. But nothing could be further from the truth. The NFL will come, and the NFL will go, but the Word of God and the Kingdom of God will last forever. And what we do and who we live for during our time on earth will last for eternity. Will it be for our own limited agenda or God’s? Like Bilbo Baggins in the movie the Hobbit, God offers us an invitation to join Him on a great adventure—the likes of which we have never seen--nor heard. It is an opportunity to join the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords in accomplishing His great plan of salvation: of saving souls, of providing light to those that walk in darkness, and showing compassion to those that oppose themselves.

If truth be told, I was selfish. My life was all about me and my plans and my desires. Little did I realize that by pursing my own agendas and ambitions, I was mimicking the nature of the father of all lies—Satan himself--who declared in Isaiah 14:14 “I will be like the most high God.”

If truth be told, I didn’t know the truth about my Heavenly Father who loved me apart from anything I could accomplish on my own. If truth be told, I didn’t know how much Jesus loved me personally. I didn’t know that when I asked how much, He stretched out His arms upon the cross and said: “This much.”

If you don’t think God loves you, Dear Reader, think again. The Bible says in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God loves you with an everlasting love; and if truth be told, God needs your love as much as you need His because He is a loving, Holy Father who longs for His children to turn from their sin and turn towards Him.

It is God’s love that is calling you to surrender your life in exchange for something far greater and far more fulfilling than you have ever imagined. And if you have not done so, if you are still running from God and trying to do your own thing under your own power, then hear the words of God today: Are you done yet?

If you are, then pray this prayer out loud:

“Father forgive me for my sins. I need a savior. I need you Lord. I cannot save myself. Thank you for loving me enough to die for me and take my sins upon the cross over 2000 years ago. I want to be a part of your family. I am tired of running from you. I am tired of trying to fulfill my own ambitions and agendas. Forgive me of my sins and save me from myself, oh Lord. In Jesus name I pray. Amen”

If you prayed that prayer, please contact me at: 

applemanagementgroup@gmail.com and share your testimony and allow me and others to help you grow in your faith in God, knowing we are all part of something bigger than ourselves by fulfilling the plans and purposes God has designed for all of us before the creation of the world as stated in Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Thank you and may God bless you.

Sincerely, 

Robert Ringham