Much has been said about the “rock bottom” experience and the influential role it plays in the process of turning people to God.  Acknowledging our brokenness is certainly a very humbling wakeup call.  We hear clichés such as “at the end of self is the beginning of God”.  Humbling, sometimes it’s the utter realization of death row.

So what happens when we truly repent and place our trust in God?  When this light bulb  goes on and we “see the light” at the end of our rope we humbly relinquish our will to God while confessing we are powerless without Him. Then we ponder the true wonder of how we gradually slipped into the self-deception that treasures darkness as light and mistakes light for darkness.  It’s when the Holy Spirit hits us in the face with a sobering cold splash of baptism water that our eyes start coming into focus.  With the blood of Christ our conscience is cleansed, transforming us from the inside out.  New doors of adventure are opened that journey us though inexplicable Technicolor.  Sounds of birds singing and children playing suddenly have a different ring, as does the world’s outcry of pain and sorrow that takes on new life flowing to the nerve endings of our heart. 

Ok burst my bubble, I know the last sentence comes and goes as we continually seek God and grow in spiritual maturity.  I acknowledge old selfish habits are hard to break, but, with the help of God, we all can overcome strongholds that set us free as new creatures in Christ.  It’s to taste life from God that keeps our nose yearning for the aroma of his presence.   It’s about opening our senses and coming to our senses so we forever eat from the plate of God.

I wonder if this rock bottom experience is a common link of solidarity that all Christians share.   Feedback would be greatly appreciated.  Here are a few questions that come to mind:

1. Did you have some type of a “rock bottom” experience that led you to Christ, please share?

2. Do we have to wait for someone to fall into the pits of some hellish experience before they hit rock bottom or can we help save them this agony by somehow raising their bottom up?

3. Do some people repeatedly hit rock bottom over and over again with a short lived awaking, only to turn back to a sinful lifestyle, digging a deeper and deeper hole to climb out of?

4. As sad as it may be, are some souls (maybe most) hopelessly lost forever, spiraling down in an insurmountable hole of endless hell that will never reach a rock bottom? 

Post Edited (sparknheart) : 8/5/2005 12:29:54 PM (GMT-5)

"'It is now over. This has never been a case of trying to get free. I didn't ever want freedom. Frankly, I wanted death for myself. This was a case to tell the world that I did what I did, but not for reasons of hate. I hated no one. I knew I was sick or evil or both. Now I believe I was sick. The doctors have told me about my sickness, and now I have some peace. I know how much harm I have caused... Thank God there will be no more harm that I can do. I believe that only the Lord Jesus Christ can save me from my sins... I ask for no consideration." - Jeffrey Dahmer

Today, December 13, the 51-year-old Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state of California. Williams is a convicted murderer and the co-founder of one of the country's most notorious street gangs, the Crips.

STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS: "Well, my interpretation of redemption, it differs from the theological or the academical rendition. I believe that my redemption symbolizes the end of a bad beginning and a new start. It goes beyond, in a sense of being liberated from one's sins or atonement in itself."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/30/153247