I write more about faith then anything; some say I tend to preach.
I probably do. If someone asked me what I’m passionate about, it will be my relationship with Jesus. As much as I love my family, my greatest thoughts toward each of them is to have Jesus the core of life. I understand the importance of Jesus, possibly even to being called radical. That is a high compliment to me; radical is good! Not in the way of turning people off of the gospel of Christ but where I am known for my love of Christ.
Years ago, a family moved into our small town. One day the lady inquired about church and she was quickly informed to stay away from Kathy Jimerson. “She’s a religious fanatic,” she was told. The newcomer got my number, called me up, invited me over, and she has been one of my best friends for almost forty years! We still laugh about that!
In 1976 I had an encounter with Jesus. Some would say, I got saved; others would say I was baptized in the Holy Spirit; this is what I know: He changed my life; I write about it in my book, Detours & Dreams. I didn’t become all knowing, all spiritual; my looks didn’t change nor did many of my actions; I did not take on a holy persona. For months I was in awe; I couldn’t explain what I experienced. Crying became part of every day, but it wasn’t a sad or ugly cry. Tears of joy seemed to flood me. A passion for Jesus took over in me; my Bible came alive; the words that before seemed to elude now read like a great novel that I couldn’t put down. And I cried when I read! The words had meaning, life, purpose. Light was coming into the dark places of my hollowness, and I was coming alive!
During this season, I enrolled in our junior college. My mentor, Leta Fae Arnold, continually encouraged me to take her class. With fear and trepidation, I signed up. I had taken other courses through the years, usually dropping out, so failure was not something I wanted. But I could feel a shift; something was changing in me.
The long and short of it was, eventually I graduated with a degree from The University of Texas in Tyler. All because I began with one English class at the junior college in our town. Small beginnings, requiring my time, my energy, and my hard work eventually earned me a coveted degree. I thought the purpose was to have a degree; what I learned is, there is always a bigger picture when Jesus is in charge.
While I was growing educationally, I was equally growing spiritually. Driving back and forth to Tyler every day, listening to wonderful music that fed my soul, talking to Jesus, became my sanctuary.
Shortly after graduation we moved to the Dallas area. If anyone had told me that was in the greater plan, I would have laughed. The day we moved I was doing anything but laughing. But faith……
We choose to operate in fear, or in faith. Fear was screaming at me from all sides; faith was speaking softly within. Those drives back and forth to Tyler daily had been laying a foundation of faith. When Jesus said, get in the boat we are going to the other side of your comfortable world to one that will require you to lean on and trust in Me; I still questioned but I went……kicking and screaming!
I did not know the bigger plan. I’m glad because I wasn’t ready or equipped to meet the challenge that lay ahead. However, Jesus had been laying the foundation. He had been equipping me all along.
Jesus does not waste; period.
My life’s experiences, and a piece of paper from The University of Texas at Tyler, were going to put me onto a road that on my own, I could not have traveled. There is a cliché, “God does not call the equipped, He equips the called.” He had been preparing me to help other kids like I had once been.
A teacher asked me one day what was my secret in doing the kind of work I did; let me translate that: how do you work with those kinds of kids? First, I was once one; second I had encountered Jesus Who rocked my belief system and changed my world; and third…..the faith that time in my sanctuary had built allowed me to, “Believe for them till they could believe for themselves.” I could have told them all day long I believed in them but they needed more; they needed to see that my actions lined up with my words. Because of the work Jesus had been working in me, I could help them find a different perspective and voice. That was what they would have to have.
This week when I heard someone tell a Supreme Court nominee that, “her dogma lives loudly in her,” I remembered the well- meaning person who said something similar about me, only she used the word “fanatic.” When Jesus enters the heart, soul, and mind of a person, there is no distinction in who we are. We become at that point a child of the most high King. I could try to explain it all day but hopefully, my “dogma lives loudly.” I am eternally grateful that Jesus allowed me to become a family member. Without that, where would I be? The kids who were waiting for me to help them needed me to be the better version of me; not perfect but courageous to lead; only Jesus could make that happen.
So Jesus is my bedrock; faith guides me when fear assails me; hope helps me rise when my knees become weak, and courage keeps me focused. I am a Jesus fanatic……and you heard it here.
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel; when necessary……use words.”
St.Francis of Assissi
