My Testimony

Growing up my family wasn’t exactly what I would call a Christian family. My parents were loving and caring and I loved them very much, but we didn’t attend church very much and never really as a family. When I was in the 2nd grade my parents started making me and my brothers go to Sunday School with our older brother at the First Baptist Church in Grapeland, TX, where we lived.  My older brother was 10 years older than me so he could drive and he was a devoted Christian. Maybe he asked my parents to make us go, but I’m not sure. He died at the age of 17 from bone cancer so I can’t ask him. Anyway, I was VERY shy when I was little and hated going to church and Sunday School without my parents. I do think I would have enjoyed it had they been there with me, but I didn’t like going anywhere without them. I do think that this has made me a better parent about making sure my children were in church with their mother and daddy.

All throughout my elementary and junior high school years I only went to church occasionally with friends. My sophomore year in high school I met a guy who soon became my boyfriend. He and his family did attend church regularly and his grandfather was a preacher at the Assembly of God church so I attended church with him and his family. I was baptized in this church at the age of 16.  I have nothing against the Pentecostal ways, but it was quite a shock for me the first time I visited. I really liked this guy so kept going with him every Sunday. Soon after I was really into the church thing, but some of the ways of the church such as speaking in tongues and such, I was never really comfortable with, but I didn’t quit going until we broke up after graduating high school.

After graduation I am sad to say that I didn’t attend church until my son, Matt was around 3. Even then we only attended it seems like on special holidays such as Easter, Christmas and maybe a few other times during the year. It wasn’t until I had my daughter Kalli and she was 4 and Matt was 8-1/2 that we really started getting serious about attending church. Still then we didn’t attend as much as we should have. I was so bad about always putting church last on my list of things I needed to do and of course there was no time to spend with the Lord. Now I feel so ashamed of that, but at the time I didn’t!

I have always believed in God and that he sent is his Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins every since I can remember, but this really didn’t have a lot of meaning to me until about 2 years ago. I was praying for nothing really particular, just praying, and I had the feeling that someone was in the room with me and I was the only one home at the time. I wasn’t scared, actually it was kind of a peaceful feeling. I continued to pray and felt such a lightness about me like the Lord had lifted burdens from my shoulders. I know He was there with me telling me He was pleased at my praying, and gently nudging me to follow Him, learn about Him and His word. I knew right then that I needed to get my life on the right path, and it was my job to get my children’s life on the right path too! That is when I picked up a Bible for the first time and started reading but only becoming discouraged because I didn’t understand half of what it was saying and not quite sure what the Lord had in store for me.

I then found Sharing Hearts on the Internet and was pointed to the NIV Rainbow Study Bible which has been a blessing to me. This Bible is so easy to read and learn from. I learned a lot from this group but soon it became just a lot of emails, someone got mad about something and would leave abruptly only to return and then the same happening again. I felt it was holding me back from my walk and time for me to leave. I am grateful to Sharing Hearts because I don’t think I would be where I am today without them.

Today, I am a member of the First United Methodist Church of Elkhart, Texas, and attend regularly. I try to keep involved in church activities as much as possible. I feel like I have come along way, but still have a ways to go before I am where I want to be and where He wants me to be. I try to read my Bible regularly but still struggle everyday to find time to spend with the Lord. I believe it’s a matter of getting my priorities in order and the Lord should be first on that list.

There have been so many times that I have felt the Lord’s presence and have had many prayers answered. I am in awe of His ways and so grateful to be His daughter and to call Him my Father. I so desire a real and alive relationship with Him. I will never be able to repay Him for all He has done for me but I can make Him proud of me and that is what I am striving for. Bless you my Father!

Are you ready for a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ?