My story

Our pastor has been ruthlessly hounding us to actually write down our story, to be prepared to give our testimony of Christ's faithfulness to those who will listen. Somewhat reluctantly, I wrote it down and here it is:

1. My life before Christ:
My life before Christ was fairly simple – follow the rules … stay out of trouble. Although my parents did not raise us in a Christian home, they were strict and raised us to be “morally” upright, for which I am thankful. As long as we stayed within the boundaries, life was good. I have 3 older sisters, so I quickly learned how to be “good” by observing what they got in trouble for and deciding not to do it. I mostly obeyed because I did not want the consequences of disobedience. However, trust me, I was not perfect.

2. How I met Jesus:
Throughout my early years, the main glimpses I had of Jesus were birthday cards from my Aunt Myrtle – a devoted Christian. Those cards talked about Jesus and were full of information of what it meant to be a Christian.

When my oldest sister, Debbie, went off to college, she rented a room from Aunt Myrtle and through that time became a Christian. Through Debbie sharing her testimony I became a Christian. The day I asked Jesus into my heart, He became my Savior – I knew I would live eternally in heaven with Him.

I wish I could say that is the end of the story … happily ever after and all that. But it wasn’t. When I went off to college, I was so tired of being someone’s little sister and following all of the rules that I rebelled and decided to define my own rules and boundaries.

Then I took a break from college to be a nanny in CT where I rededicated my life to Christ and was baptized. I returned home and then back to college – continued regularly attending church, but still just following the rules. I was no longer actively rebelling, but I still wanted the control of my life. I didn’t want to surrender full control to Jesus. I thought I knew all the right words to say and to look the part, but deep inside, I didn’t really allow Jesus to be Lord of my life. I visualize it as God on the throne and me pushing my way on so that I could sit there, too.

About 5 years ago, through a variety of circumstances, God finally got my attention that He doesn’t share His throne. Either I was going to let Him rightfully FULLY have it or I was going to continue to make a mess of things trying to control everything myself. Finally, I gladly surrendered and allowed Jesus to be not only Savior, but Lord of my life.

3. How my life has changed:
My life has changed significantly, although there are still times when I fight the urge to crawl back up on the throne. I am still not perfect – I would not be here if I were.

I have learned that:
- God is amazingly HUGE and capable to handle circumstances in my life.
- He wants us to be in relationship with Him, not just follow the rules.
- He cares for me, even delights in me.
- He is abundantly patient and loving and desires an even closer relationship with me.
- Even though hard times still come, He never leaves me.
- Knowing more about Him is a blast! His Word is alive, active and very relevant.
- His grace is enough.
- There is so much more to learn…

I have been richly, richly blessed with an amazing, God-fearing, God-seeking, patient husband who leads our family as he follows the Lord. I have been abundantly blessed with 2 nearly perfect children who are a continual example and reminder that teaches me about the Father’s heart towards His children.

Most of all, I can say He is truly all I need - He is my Lord and Savior!

So, now it's your turn ... what's your story?

1 John 5:10-12 Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.