Faith Stories: Kirby Hoffart

My name is Kirby Hoffart. I grew up in O’Neill, NE. I had wonderful parents that were very supportive and always available and was given the opportunity to learn and experience many different things. And, for that, I am indeed thankful. But, spiritually, my relationship with God was absent.

I attended college at the University of Nebraska at Kearney where I met my wife, Brenda. After finishing college, Brenda and I were married and I went to work in Kearney at Good Samaritan Hospital. I worked the majority of my time there in the ICU and learned so much. But, my time spent there was challenging our marriage. Desiring to have all the “worldly” things and experiences, I worked way too much. During the first two years of our marriage, my wife was alone the majority of the time. She often reminded me that it was time together she desired, not all the “things.” But, I couldn’t see it. I was truly blinded.

As some time passed, I had managed to place us in such a difficult financial situation that I had to work all of the time. My desire to have and do all that the world calls “significant” placed us in a situation where our possessions owned us, and what a dark, hopeless feeling that can be. I had no peace in my life. I was always stressed out and often depressed. I was carrying a load that no one could keep up with. But, I don’t regret those times now; rather, I’m thankful for them because that’s what God used to get my attention and to break me. All my life I had been attempting to fill the empty hole in my life with worldly things and experiences. Naturally, I never felt fulfilled or satisfied. There was always something missing.

A big turning point for me came in the Spring of 2001 when we moved to Minden, NE. It was about this time that Brenda’s mother, Mary, gave me the Message Bible to read. What a blessing that turned out to be. There is no better way to describe what God’s Word did to me than Hebrews 4:12, “For the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” God’s Word completely transformed my thinking and my life, and I began to experience true joy and peace for the first time.

In the summer of 2002, we began to attend the Evangelical Free Church in Minden. One of the first Sundays we attended the class, Pastor Jerry Classen was teaching what it meant to be truly “born-again.” He said that it meant that you leave your old life behind and start a new life with Jesus Christ and that you also ask Jesus Christ into your heart, pray for forgiveness of sins and ask God to take control of your life. I had read this before but never thought about it this way. I spent the rest of that week meditating on those verses: “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Finally, at the end of that week, God wouldn’t allow me to sleep one night and I knew why. So, I went outside and sat on the tailgate of my pickup and asked Jesus Christ into my heart. I also asked Him to take control of my life. It was an awesome experience and my life has never been the same.

I am trusting Jesus Christ alone for my salvation. I understand that I have no righteousness of my own and believe that the blood that Jesus poured out for me at Calvary covers all my past, present and future sins. 1 John 5:12-13 says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

That hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord has given me so much peace and joy. It has helped me understand that everything in this life is temporary, even difficult times. God has shown me that there isn’t anything this world can offer that has any true lasting value. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Jesus Christ is the only sure thing that we can count on. He will never depreciate in value, rust, rot, decay or burn. My favorite verse of Scripture is Matthew 7:24-25 in which Jesus tells us, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.” I am no doubt a work in progress and have much to learn, but I do know this… if you attempt to build your life on anything other than Jesus Christ, you will be disappointed, dissatisfied and unfulfilled. The chorus of the Hymn The Solid Rock says, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.” Today, I stand on the Rock.