I was born and raised in Alabama. My parents were Methodists, so my sister and I were in church on Sundays. My mother kept her faith mostly to herself, but my father talked about God as though he knew Him. My belief in God first began when my father shared his faith with me, but it was at the alter of our Methodist church when I was twelve years old that I met Jesus. As the preacher laid his hand on my head to pray for me, he asked, “Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?” As I answered, “Yes!”, I saw Jesus walking toward me and have never been the same since! After that I started reading my bible and praying to Jesus. I had a lot of fears during my childhood, and the deepest fear of death was removed from me at that point. As time went on I learned to go to Jesus for everything. You see, Jesus actually stepped into me (into my heart) that Sunday morning so long ago and became my friend… I knew he was with me, not just with my father!
I grew up, got married and had two wonderful children. I took them to church (not necessarily Methodist) and prayed with them every night. But life has its ups and downs, and I was confronted with problems I never dreamed I would have. After all, I had a fairy tale life planned for myself!
In the summer of 1989 I experienced a much deeper walk with the Holy Spirit. I thought my life would be blissful from then on, but I was so wrong. I needed the presense of God more than ever! In fact, I don’t think I could have made it through all the trials and tribulations in my life without Him, not without completely losing myself. I’ve learned to trust Him through it all—-all the sorrow as well as the joy in life!
It was at some point around 1989 I began to write. I wrote poetry and listened to the Holy Spirit, especially in the early morning hours. He spoke, and I wrote down what I heard Him saying to me, and saved everything. I never thought to share these writings because they were so personal, until one day a few years ago I read a couple of them to a friend who has written two books. She insisted I go with her to see her publisher. The publisher loved the devotionals as well as the poems and took me right in to begin work on a book. So this has been a surprise to me and completely unplanned, not unlike much of the rest of my life… I’ve had to let go of fear and pride in order to allow other people to read my personal thoughts, prayers and love messages from Jesus!
I pray that everything that is written in this book will be to the glory of God and an inspiration to each of you who dares to come to the Waters of Life in Jesus Christ.
Carolyn M. Cruze 9/10/23