I Was Lost but Now I'm Found

By Glen Elmer

This an inspirational account of the authors life before and after Vietnam. It reflects the power of our Lord throughout those life challenges that we encounter in life. It is a riveting suspense-filled biography that will bring tears of sorrow leading to tears of joy, that the author has searched for most of his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512749151

Glen Elmer

The author has experienced lows seldom seen in the general public. As a Vietnam veteran, he has been haunted by the trauma he was exposed to as well the war that raged once he returned. At his lowest point, he reached out to our Lord and found the love, comfort and forgiveness that only Christ Jesus can provide.

Book preview

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Chapter 1

THE CROSSROADS OF LIFE

Where to begin? I suppose, like with many people, there comes a time when there is an urgency to review one’s life, to share the story of those life experiences that shaped us into who we were and have become. Every person has life experiences that I identify as crossroads. These are places where one has had to make serious decisions about which road one will travel.

Those experiences become teachable moments. We hope that family members and friends will listen to our story and not duplicate our painful experiences or choices. We want our loved ones to escape the penalties and anguish that we endured. Our Lord gives us free will, and unfortunately, and as hard as we might try, the realization is those whom we care about will still make painful choices, and some of those choices will lead to painful consequences as they make their way through their life journeys.

In my sixty-seven years, I have come to believe those painful experiences are necessary to humble us. We need that despair, that feeling of hopelessness, to search the deepest recesses of our hearts to find the true meaning of our life. That which we seek is found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is such a tragedy that we wait until we can no longer endure the pain before we ask for help.

Humanism leads us to believe we are in control of our lives. This is Satan’s greatest ploy, to instill thoughts that there is no Jesus, no God the Father, and that we are alone in the universe and in charge of our own destiny. The crossroads are there for a purpose: to teach us important life lessons that will lead us to what we have dreamed and prayed about for so long—life with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Yet those who choose the broad path will fall into Satan’s ploy and join him in the lake of fire. It is tragic because it doesn’t have to be that way.

The mistakes we make are for a purpose: to humble us so we forsake the piety of our false pride. Our Lord knows that Satan has many traps and lures to undermine us in our daily walk. Free will enables the unsaved to fall into these traps. Thus, the lessons from the mistakes teach us and will make us stronger in our walk, in our talk, in our prayer life, and as children of God to defy those lures and temptations and be the warriors he needs us to be. However, for someone like me, it took a bit longer before I finally got it. God’s grace and patience were such blessings to me. They picked me up from the prison I entered through Satan’s influences of false pride and greed. We buy into these ruses because we have become overly full of ourselves, thinking we can do it without any help.

The path to God’s glory is indeed straight and narrow, leading us away from disaster and into our promised land. It is Jesus Christ, not Satan, who will deliver us to that glory land. Satan is a liar and deceiver. He will say or do anything to undermine the promises of Jesus. My Savior, Jesus, loved me and showed me the way when my journey became too difficult and painful to bear. He will be there for you, too, when you’re feeling like you are all alone, lost in the vast wilderness of life.

My experience has led me to believe that there are not many people who haven’t wallowed in that wilderness at some time in their lives. I was there for what felt like an eternity, wandering aimlessly with no hope or direction. Yet Jesus’s love enabled me and gave me strength to climb out of that endless pit of sorrow. And that was the motivation for this book, Lost but Now I Am Found.

This is the part of my journey I want others to benefit from. In my life’s journey, the most important discovery I ever came to at one of those crossroads was the discovery of Jesus Christ. I am proud to say that he is my Lord and Savior. He has always been there for me. I got caught up in my own wonderfulness and didn’t have time for him. My personal crash before I turned to him was devastating. It was at the very lowest part of my life that I turned to him.

What joy has appeared in my life since then! This story is worth telling, and I pray that anyone who has lost hope will find this book as eye-opening as when my eyes were opened. This is illustrated in the New Testament in Luke 15:11–32 in a parable Jesus told his disciples about the prodigal son. This wealthy man had two sons. One was content to work in the fields while the other wanted to go out and explore the world beyond the farm where he grew up. He took his share of inheritance that the two sons would split upon their father’s death and went out to conquer the world.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for him. The world conquered him. He was destitute; he had no food, no money, and no bed to sleep in. At the most difficult time in his life, the son returned to his father. His father rejoiced and took him in at that moment, for he worried every day for his son. He fed him, bathed him, and gave