God's grace in salvation

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works
lest any man should boast"(Eph. 2:8,9).
"A sinner saved by grace through faith"
At this particular time I would like to share how I was saved by grace through faith.I happened to be stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. I had joined the Marine Corps three months after I graduated from high school.

Before this time perhaps I should tell a little something about my earlier life. I had some wonderful parents. My mother who was religious at the time but not saved (later on she got saved). Any way I had great parents who took us to S.S. and church every Sunday.My mother would teach me to say the Lord's prayer and make sure I said my prayers at night. She also read from the best Bible story book in the world (anyway I thought so). It had a lot of good pictures along with the Bible story. (I recommend parents to read the Bible stories to their children with the pictures). Anyway this was a great help in understanding the plan of salvation in my future.

Then another big help in coming to know the Lord was my wonderful wife. When we started dating I was not saved which was not a good idea (she being saved and me not). But I could tell their was something different about her. She would be reading her New Testament at school in her spare time. This did have a big influence on me. Anyway these were some of the people leading up to my conversion.

Then going back to the Marines I happened to meet two Christian Marines, one from Penn. and one from Peoria,Ill. who asked me to go to church with them. I started to go to about every service they had. On one Saturday night they were holding a special service and a Bob Jones University student was preaching there that night and I felt the need to go forward at the invitation, but was a little afraid. There were several Marines that did. Any way I talked to the speaker afterwards and he went through the Romans road with me, realizing I was a sinner by showing me Rm. 3:23 and realizing Christ died for my sin Rm. 5:8. I was shown Rm. 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved." This verse really opened my eyes of understanding through the power of the Holy Spirit. I then received Christ into my heart. This was the greatest decision I ever made. I cannot Praise Him enough for saving my soul.