The Everyday Club

1/16/10 Latanya, 26

"I'm a good person, for the most part" was Latanya's answer there in Food-For-Less explaining why she thinks she will go to heaven, yet she doesn't think she is good enough to go to church. She is a single mom with 5 young children, and said she would feel like a hypocrite there. Latanya had no church involvement growing up, and has been to church only a few times as an adult. She prays daily but clearly hadn't thought much about God's judgment. I let her know that God doesn't compare us to other people; his standard is the Ten Commandments. I asked her how well she has kept individual commandments and as I did she moved from confident self assurance to excuse making to clear conviction, her eyes filling with tears. She agreed that she is indeed a liar, thief, adulterer and a murderer at heart, and deserves God's wrath and punishment. The law had done its work in preparing her heart, and I explained the way of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus, encouraging her to put her trust in him this very day. I could see that she loves her children dearly, so I also talked about the benefits and blessings of having a church home and family for them to grow up in, something her own mother hadn't given her. I prayed for her, that God would bless her and her five children.