INTERVIEW WITH DR. MONICA LARSON (PART 5)
Updated: Feb 15
Warrior Richardson: Making a long story short, once I went back home to Omaha, Nebraska I actually reached the point where life seemed meaningless because those were the logical conclusions of my atheistic assumptions. And when I reached that point where I couldn't care whether I lived or died (because everything was meaningless) suddenly I could hear God. It was...it just... out of the blue air...just out of the blue I could hear God plainly and I had this urge...I didn't know it was God, but i did, but I didn't. c; and it just became more and more overbearing.
I was playing in a Gospel group, you know, they asked me and I said, "I like music. Sure, I'll play anything." And so we were playing in a church and so, anyway I went back to that church and asked them for a Bible and she said, " A Bible?! Warrior wants a Bible?" So, I couldn't stop reading the Bible. I was unemployed at the time. I woke up, ate breakfast, read the Bible, ate lunch, read the Bible, ate dinner, read the Bible. And I did that for about a week and then I got a job and I read the Bible from cover to cover for about three times...once a month I guess (something like that) and then I couldn't stop reading it. I couldn't do anything else.
And then I went to my Grandfather's church. He hadn't heard me play my saxophone in, oh, decades. And, so, I was a celebrity--the pastor's grandson, he was a bishop at the time. He had just become a bishop of the Church of God in Christ; and so, I was a celebrity. They hadn't seen me in a long time and certainly not in a church; and so they ushered me down to the bandstand with my saxophone and they stuck the microphone down the bell of my horn.
It was the Church of God in Christ so, these alter calls last forever. It lasted for at least an hour. I think it was longer than that. I think it was an hour and a half. Yeah, I think it was an hour and a half long alter call. And they were singing "Lord let your spirit fall on me" by Shirley Ceasar and I was soloing almost like the whole time for about an hour and a half. And my Grandfather looked at me dead in the eye the moment I was born again, which reminded me he was in the hospital before that. It wasn't that much longer before that that he was in the hospital and I came in the hospital with him and then he looked at me and when you know somebody as well as you know your grandfather you have all that non-verbal communication and I saw that look on his face like, "That's the one. The one who's going to follow me and, you know, he's gonna he's going to be my successor. He's gonna succeed me." and I was like, "you got the wrong person here"; and then the instant that I got saved he looked at me dead in the eye. He knew exactly what had happened.
I was so confused after that. You know. After the service was over somebody I knew all my life he walked straight up to me and asked, "what happened?: You know, what did I say? He said, "Are you saved?" I said, "No." "Then what happened?" Then I described the conversion. And he was just baffled, 'cause I was baffled. I described being born again but the word "being born again" or "saved" actually the word "saved" actually didn't mean anything to me. Even though I had read the Bible back and forth. I could quote scripture and everything I could quote it but I didn't understand it but yet I could explain it to other people. It was thoroughly confusing.
But, leaving out numerous details, uh, my grandfather asked... I joined his church. My grandfather asked me to come to a three day fast--no food, no water. So, I did and I prayed a 72 hour prayer, "Lord give me understanding." It was amazing how I could just pray that same prayer; because I was a walking contradiction. I was thoroughly confused. And so, I'm making...I'm leaving out a lot of details. At the end of that 72 hour prayer, 72 hour fast 72 hour prayer I walked out of that church [and] with every step each step that I made, took another thing became clear. I said/thought, "Oh, I get it. I understand". And my understanding continued to increase rapidly and, so yeah, uh that was my conversion. Thoroughly confusing.
To be continued...
Dr. Monica Larson Purpose Statement:
To serve, love and touch the hurting through performing and writing to restore items lost through low self-worth, validation insecurity,
mistreatment by others and self-deprecation.
To build up through performing, writing and speaking to beauty. Teaching that although marred, they are masterpieces.
To be a witness for Christ through the entertainment industry.
To teach despite life's challenges, obstacles and setbacks, we can and we will finish the good race.
We are a work of art
We are all masterpieces from the painter's palette.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this blog I take a close look at a wide variety of topics using the Bible as my lens. When we look at the world through the lens of scripture we discover life-changing truth that transforms us. We discover our
identity, purpose and worth. We find answers to life's most pressing questions. “If you don't know where you're going any road will take you there.” But when we look at the world through the lens of scripture we find the "way, the truth and the life;" then we live life to the fullest.
The Scarlet Thread LLC is a Christian media production company that produces e-books, audio books, podcasts, explainer videos, animations and comic books in an effort to help skeptics overcome intellectual and emotional barriers to faith.
(323) 500-3217
