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A Destiny of Salvation…by Zack Fugate

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A Destiny of Salvation

When I was around the age of 12, there was a period of time that the fear of death set in and overwhelmed my thoughts. I could not imagine that there was this thing that I could not escape. I felt anxious, lost sleep, and began to worry about the death of my parents, friends, family members. I didn’t know why the fear was so intense, but the fear subsided for a while. As I got older, the fear began to change, and there were times that I would lose sleep because my mind would race. My heart would begin to pound in my chest and I would get overwhelmed with this feeling of panic. As the fear changed with me, so did my faith and walk with Christ. There were nights when I would sit and pray, talking to God and asking him to calm my fear, take away the panic, and to provide comfort so that my mind could rest. As I got older, the fear changed over time. As my faith in Christ grew, and the Word became engraved on the walls of my heart, my fear was molded. I would experience longer periods of time without the fear setting in. However, as I got older and my life circumstances changed, the fear changed from being afraid of death itself. I would get overwhelmed by thought of leaving my wife or children behind, missing out on the lives of my potential grandchildren, or that something would happen to me before knowing that my children had accepted Christ as their Savior. When I was impacted by that fear, I would also struggle with feelings of doubt. It bothered me that I could have this strong and intense faith in Christ, yet still experience a very real fear in such an intense way. Shortly after my youngest son was born, Christ convicted me about that fear. My oldest daughter and I were talking one day and she was asking questions about life as children sometimes do. While we were talking, she asked me a question about what it would be like to be with Christ in heaven and she expressed an excitement stating, “Papa, I can’t wait to see Jesus’ face and to be able to walk and talk with him.” In that moment, Christ’s conviction hit me like a ton of bricks. I was stopped in my tracks and my eyes began to well up with tears. There I was talking with my daughter about death…and she had no fear. She was completely content and excited about being with her Lord and Savior. I was struck by the fact that, even though I had lived with this fear for so long, Christ had moved in my life, and in the lives of my wife and children, in such a way that death meant life. It was also in that moment that my fear subsided altogether. I recognized that the burden of that fear had distracted me from being excited, as my daughter was, to be with Christ in heaven. You see brothers and sisters, that excitement should overwhelm us because we have a destiny of salvation: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”-1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 Brothers and sisters, please be praying with me and let’s be certain to share this truth with the world…we are loved by a Great and Awesome God and we have a destiny of salvation!

Your brother in Christ, Zack Fugate

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