My Real Memoir
I grew up in a thoroughly secular home. God was simply never the topic of conversation. I literally didn’t know that Christmas was named for Christ. And Easter? Well, it was about eating chocolate bunnies and egg sandwiches made from multi-colored eggs found in the bushes outside. But crosses and empty tombs? Never heard of ‘em.
And yet, Mommandad wrote “Christian” on documents that asked their “religion.” More specifically, they wrote “Catholic” (Mom) and “Episcopalian” (Dad). Years later, my widowed mother would marry a man who did not believe in Jesus, and yet was deeply offended when I implied he wasn’t a Christian. For his generation (at least for those who weren’t officially something else), “Christian” meant a “decent, law-abiding citizen.”
At age eleven, I only knew one person who clearly meant something more when she referred to herself as a Christian. No, it didn’t mean she was a flag-waving conservative. It meant she was an actual follower of Jesus.
I was actually moving away from God at that point. The year before, at summer camp, I’d given God a chance to part the clouds and talk to me in a big, impressive Charlton Heston-y voice, and nothing had happened. Zilch. So, while I hadn’t actually gone full-bore atheist yet, I was gradually moving toward my dad’s view that Darwin, and not the Bible, was the go-to source for answers, and that our here-and-now existence in a randomly evolving universe was all there was. Finis. Roll credits.
But each time I came to collect the Jesus Lady’s newspaper subscription, she would tell me a little more about why she believed. She was enthusiastic, but always upbeat, and never condemning.
During the Easter season, she and her husband were hosting a visiting missionary. She asked if my family would like to meet him. To my surprise, Mom said yes. He was the first African person Mom and I had ever met (Dad was at work), and we were fascinated by his culture and traditions. But the big surprise came when we learned he wasn’t looking for donations from well-heeled Americans. No, he was here, he said, “To introduce Americans to Jesus.”
“But we’re a Christian country,” Mom explained.
“Sadly, this is not so,” the missionary replied, “most Americans, even if they call themselves ‘Christians’ (I loved the way he said ‘Kris-tee-AHNS’) have never met Jesus. They are proud—which is good in some ways—but too proud, I think, to let him in the front door.”
Near the end of that year, the Jesus Lady invited us to a showing of the movie King of Kings. But we were too busy with Christmas preparations to focus on the person Christmas was named for.
Yes, seeds were planted in both of our hearts, but they took a long time to sprout. I didn’t actually met the Jesus our African missionary friend and the Jesus Lady spoke about until fifteen years later…
On Easter morning.
My Real Memoir is a series. To read the next one, click here.
Mitch Teemley 
Pingback: The Boy with Two Brains | Mitch Teemley
Mitch, I love everything about this piece…I would have to go through it line-by-line to tell you all the reasons this resonates with me. In so many ways the “Christianity” so many Americans have understood was like an inoculation, giving them just enough of a dose to keep them from catching the real life-transforming thing.
LikeLiked by 7 people
So true, Steve.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes!! Inoculation!! Yes!! I describe it this way often!! Just enough to be immune! Lord, help us!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m looking forward to the rest of your testimony. Great so far. “The Jesus Lady” – how nice to be known as such. Blessings.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thank you, and you too, Joannie. Actually, my testimony is scattered throughout quite a few blog posts, but here’s a brief version: https://mitchteemley.com/2018/01/08/awake-in-the-dark/
LikeLiked by 1 person
And good to meet you, btw!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mitch, love, love, LOVE this! 💚
LikeLiked by 3 people
So happy to hear that, Charlotte.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: The Jesus Lady – HOPE SEEKER
Great share!! Thank you!
LikeLiked by 2 people
My pleasure, Lisa.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d like to be the Jesus Lady. I confess I’m not as bold as she. But I want to be.
Jesus, give me opportunities and the love/courage to obey. Amen.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Amen.
LikeLike
I am richly blessed to read this today, Mitch 😊. Holy Week blessings of peace and joy to you!
LikeLiked by 2 people
And to you as well, Jennifer!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Mitch!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m grateful you had a “Jesus lady” who planted seeds. Lord, may all your followers be that person to someone in our sphere of influence.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Interesting that Christians from Africa now see the USA as a mission field. During the last century we turned Christianity into a bland civil religion that has nothing to do with Jesus. Glad you found your way.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Me too, Rob.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing about the Jesus lady. I wonder how many prayers she said for you through the years.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I honestly hadn’t thought about it, but probably quite a few, Shirley.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Beautiful story . ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
A great reminder that the little seeds we sow each day can bear abundant fruit later. We may never know the extent of how our little actions to spread the gospel will later affect others.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So true.
LikeLike
Our former pastor used to say, “The problem with evangelism in Kentucky is not getting people saved; it’s getting them lost.” 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
;>)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Mitch, for sharing your journey of faith. As always, you have such an amazing “voice” in sharing! I’m so happy you had this special Jesus Lady in your life! I had a Jesus lady in my life–my Grandmother Wilson. She took all the clutter out of Christianity and taught me about a man named Jesus! Well,…life still got pretty cluttered but love won. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
So glad love won, Karla–God the bless the Grandma Wilsons of the world!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Mitch! Aww, yes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Loved this!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Kit!
LikeLiked by 1 person
really love hearing more of your backstory of your faith. Is there a part 2? or 3? or 4?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Katie. Actually, my backstory is scattered throughout quite a few blog posts, and will gradually be revealed in detail in future ‘My Real Memoir’ posts. Here’s a link to a series I wrote about my faith-journey: https://mitchteemley.com/2020/01/13/prayer-is-air/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you–actually what I was hoping for. 🙂 Have a wonderful Easter weekend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You too!
LikeLike
loved reading your story–very encouraging! Thank you!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My pleasure.
LikeLike
“‘But we’re a Christian country,’ Mom explained. ‘Sadly, this is not so,’ the missionary replied, ‘most Americans, even if they call themselves “Christians” (I loved the way he said ‘Kris-tee-AHNS’) have never met Jesus. They are proud — which is good in some ways — but too proud, I think, to let him in the front door’.”
___________
To me, that’s poetic. … I’d like to have asked the African missionary if he can, as do I, picture Christ enjoying a belly-shaking laugh over a good joke with his disciples, now and then.
And have asked him whether he also felt that Jesus was most viciously murdered in large part because he did not in the least behave in accordance to such corrupted and greedy human conduct and expectation — and in particular because he was nowhere near to being the vengeful, wrathful behemoth so many people seemingly wanted or needed their savior to be and therefore believed he’d have to be.
Maybe Christ died in large part because people consciously or subconsciously want(ed) and/or need(ed) their creator’s nature to be a reflection of theirs. And, yes, Jesus also offended some high priests, money changers and Romans in-charge.
I, a believer in Christ’s unmistakable miracles, can imagine many ‘Christians’ likely finding inconvenient, if not annoying, trying to reconcile the conspicuous inconsistency in the fundamental nature of the New Testament’s Jesus with the wrathful, vengeful and even jealous nature of the Old Testament’s Creator.
While he was no pushover, Jesus fundamentally was about compassion and charity. He clearly would not tolerate the accumulation of tens of billions of dollars by individual people — especially while so many others go hungry and homeless.
Today, when a public figure openly supports a guaranteed minimum income, he/she is nevertheless deemed communist/socialist and therefore somehow evil by many institutional Christians. This, while Christ’s teachings epitomize the primary component of socialism — do not hoard morbidly superfluous wealth in the midst of poverty.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, this is fantastic!! I often think about how America suffers from thinking we are all Christian and we don’t even know what it means or who Jesus us. I was also raised Catholic. But didn’t know Jesus until I was 28!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your faith-journey is a familiar one indeed, Peach.
LikeLike
as of 53
LikeLike
I wonder where the Jesus Lady is now. (How old would she be?) She’d be so pleased to know where you are now, spiritually. I know you will connect again someday, if not in this life, in the next one. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have no idea where she is now, Annie (she’d be in her 90s, I assume). But, yes, I do look forward to meeting her beyond the veil.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: The Jesus Lady | WE BELIEVE ANGELS VISIT US!
Pingback: The Jesus Lady | Sharing Positive Links to inspire. Original Windows From Heaven Journey Pics included.
Thank you for this powerful piece
LikeLiked by 1 person
My pleasure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: The Jesus Lady — Mitch Teemley – Christ-centered ruminations
There’s always so much to glean from your posts Mitch. Intrigued with your story and certainly encouraged to share mine with you someday. Stay Blessed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Sophia, you too, and I look forward to reading your story, as well.
LikeLike
I was an atheist too, but once Jesus comes into your heart, there is no denying Him. Sadly, so many Christians get distracted by condemning others who sin, and forget that we are all sinners. The most important commandment is to love God and your neighbours as yourself. With that as our guide, we cannot go wrong.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen, Harley. And good to meet you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: The Jesus Lady | JESUS IS COMIMG BACK! Enjoy the Matthew Seufer Amazon Authors Page. Bringing Inspiration and Hope Worldwide in 2022.
Pingback: My Biggest Hits of 2022 | Mitch Teemley