The piano music attached to this slideshow is called The Value of Life and was written and played by Chuck Brown

Slideshow by Margaret Lepke ~ www.HeartbeatPresentations.org

Click slides to forward at your own leisure – Enjoy!

The world is a stage The world is a stage

And every soulAnd every soul

Must play its part…Must play its part…

www.HeartbeatPresentations.org

Elvis once said:Elvis once said:

Every life makes a journey

From the cradle to the grave.

And beyond…

The Grave

My name isMargaret Dora

Lepke

This is my journey…

I was born, christened and confirmed in the Lutheran Faith

I experienced…

A great childhood

No big traumas

Only two different schools

A few friends

Wonderful parents

And a little brother who loved me to bits

But then… But then… That sweet child rebelled!That sweet child rebelled!

But the Bible says: But the Bible says: The HEART is deceitful above all things - who can know it?The HEART is deceitful above all things - who can know it? [Jer.17:9-10][Jer.17:9-10]

There is someone who knows us completely – better than we do – and that someone is God.He searches our hearts and tests our minds – and there is absolutely nothing we can hide from HIM.

I wanted MY WAY and used the theory of evolution to defend it. After all, if we evolved at random, we had no higher power to be responsible to – and no one who had the right to dictate any moral standards…

I married my husband after knowing him for 2 short months

And the ceremony was held in a Lutheran Church

I WAS STILL REBELLIOUS – BUT GOD HAD A PLAN…

Just one year later we signed out of the Lutheran faith,

which you are born into, not choose to follow.We left all things ‘religious’ far behind us.

And after yet another year we moved to

I love it here

12 years later I had Two gorgeous children

And a flourishingNaturopathic Practice

I was also getting deeper Into New Age philosophies

Until one day…God brought along a client called Jan,And that meeting changed my life!

How beautiful are thefeet ofthose who preach the gospel ofpeace…BecauseFaith comesBy hearing The word of God. Rom.10:15,17

Jan had beautiful feet!Jan had beautiful feet!

• During the consultation I asked her what she believed in (I knew she came from the New Tribes Mission campus), and Jan talked quite freely about her Christian faith.

• Afterward we talked a little more in the waiting room, and finally she asked if she could read me something from the Bible.

• Being polite, I agreed. To my amazement she pulled a small Bible out of her handbag, and this is the verse she read to me…

God so loved the world

That He gave His only Son

John 3:16

That whosoever believes In Him

Will not perish buthave eternal life.

What Amazing

Grace!

• I could cope with a loving God.

• But then Jan went on to read a passage about sin (indicating that I, too, was a sinner)

• And I did NOT like that!!!

• This is what she read…

There is no one who is righteous, There is no one who is righteous, no, not even one…no, not even one…

For all have sinned and fallFor all have sinned and fallshort of the glory of Godshort of the glory of God

Rom.3:10,23Rom.3:10,23

All Are SinnersAll Are Sinners

GUILTYGUILTY

ALLALL are

• I did not like this at all!

• Surely, I wasn’t a sinner?

• I tried to be a good person!

• A good wife and mother…

• A good naturopath, helping people…

• And so I strongly objected, but Jan was patient and wise. She didn’t argue.

• She simply turned to the Old Testament and began reading once again…

SinSin is My My OwnOwn Way Way

We all like sheep have gone astray

Every one of us has turned to HIS OWN WAY

And GOD has laid on His Son

Jesus Christ the sin of us all. Isaiah 53:6

• And – bang – all of a sudden I felt terribly convicted.

• I could identify with going MY WAY…

• I had never wanted to give an account to anyone, let alone an almighty God.

• But I realized that if ‘MY WAY’ was self-will and therefore the basis of sin, then I was most certainly guilty!

• Had I known at that time that the word ‘sin’ is actually a

marksman’s term, a word for missing the bull’s eye, i.e.

missing the mark of perfection, it might have been easier

for me to recognize sin for what it actually is.

• My idea of a sinner had been someone who had committed TERRIBLE things like robbery or murder. But certainly not me!

• I had only taken a few small things (which ‘everyone does!’) and told a few ‘little’ lies.

• I would have realized that even one ‘little white lie’ meant missing the mark.

• And anything short of God’s perfection (even missing

the bulls eye by just 0.1 of a millimeter) would still be sin.

““NO!”NO!”

andsaying

To Jesus Christ

SinSin is also SELF-SELF-REIGNREIGN

Jesus said:Jesus said:

“ “Do not fear those Do not fear those who can kill the who can kill the body but cannot body but cannot kill the soul.kill the soul.

But rather But rather FEAR HIM [GOD]FEAR HIM [GOD] who is able to who is able to destroy both soul destroy both soul and body in hell.”and body in hell.” Matt.10:28

• I didn’t want to hear these things!

• I could not say good-bye to Jan quickly enough.

• I was polite, of course, but I was glad when she was gone.

• But then I kept feeling convicted all afternoon. What if this biblical God really existed and the Bible was truly His inspired Word to us?

• Then I would be guilty – I knew it deep in my heart.

• So what was I to do???

• I decided to simply talk to this God. After all, if He was there He would be able to hear me and, hopefully, answer my call.

• I asked Him if He was true and if the Bible was true.

• How would He answer? Handwriting on the wall? I wasn’t sure.

• And God did answer, but not quite as I had expected. He simply increased my conviction of sin until it was so

strong that I finally gave in. That night…

• When everyone was asleep, I knelt down in my waiting room and poured out my heart.

• I told God that I believed Jesus died for my sins, and that I needed Him in my life.

• I confessed all the sins that came to mind and asked Jesus to forgive me.

• I realized that He had suffered for ME!!! It got very personal…

• I shed tears of sorrow for the pain He had suffered for me, and tears of happiness for being forgiven and

cleansed.

I had found my path to life!

FAITH + TRUST in Christbrought mePARDON + PEACE

But where to from here?

??

I hadTwo gorgeous children who

didn’t know God

And a loving butUnbelieving

husband

I started reading the Bible,

And God led me to a Bible Study on family life

where I learnt how a Christian wife and mother

should behave – and love…

A woman who has a husband who does

not believe, if he is willing to live with

her, let her not divorce him. (1 Corinthians 7:13)

For how do you know, oh wife, whether

you will save your husband? (1 Corinthians 7:16)

Wives, submit

to your own

husbands as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22)

• This was hard!

• I had been quite a feminist, and now I should SUBMIT to my husband?

• But I figured that if God said this was best for our marriage, it would be true.

• And so I put God’s instructions to the test.

• Many sighs and tears later I did manage to become a helper to my husband rather than leading my own life,

and it didn’t take long to see the fruits…

My husband and children witnessed the change in me and saw the fruit…

I trusted in Jesus to save me and in God’s Word to guide me.

Within less than a year my husband and my children came to know God as well.

It was pure joy!

However, the Christian life is not a bed of roses without thorns… For instance, one year our house and shed were surrounded by fire (but miraculously survived). And over the years we went through various other trials, heartaches and disappointments.

The Apostle Peter said:

Do not think it strangeconcerning the fiery trialthat is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;

but rejoice… 1 Pet.4:12

Trust in the LORD with all your heartAnd lean not on your own understanding.In all your ways Acknowledge HimAnd He shall direct Your paths. Prov.3:5-6

It is still our favorite Bible verse!

We trusted…And God delivered…This verse became our reality…

And now Christ’s love constrains us to tell others about God’s Rescue Plan…

I am the way, the truth and the life. No one

comes to the Father except

through me.

Jesus said:

What will YOU do

with JESUS?

Will He be your

Judge or your Saviour?

Will you receive an eternal inheritance

from God?

Will Jesus say to you,“Well done, my good and faithful servant?” Because one day you will stand before Him!

Or will you reject His offer of salvation and spend

eternity in a place where there is no love (because God is not there)?

Where YOU spend

Will depend on…

How you respondto Jesus Christ

- YOUR SAVIOUR - while you are still on

PLANET EARTH!

Eternity

As for me … I am growing older now, and I am eagerly waiting for the return of my Savior. But while I am waiting…

Each morning when I wake, I say,“I place my hand in God’s today.”With faith and trust that by my sideHe’ll walk with me my steps to guide.

He leads me on with tender care,When paths are dark and I despair.No need for me to understandIf I hold fast to His great hand.

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My hand in His – no surer wayTo walk in safety through each day.By His great bounty I am fed,Warmed by His love and comforted.

When at day’s end I seek my rest,And realise how much I’m blest,My thanks pour out to Him – and thenI place my hand in God’s again.

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Margaret Lepke ~ www.HeartbeatPresentations.org

And PLEASE…

If you feel convicted of sin and realize that you need a Savior, Don’t put it off!

Talk to Jesus right now and ask His forgiveness. There is no time like ‘today’ for you do not know what tomorrow holds.

For watching!