Testimony

I decided I was due for a positive post for once. :0)

So, what could be more positive than telling you about my Savior and how I came to know Him?

one of the few things my mother did *right* was taking us to church every Sunday. For many years of my childhood we did not have a car, so we would either walk to the nearest church, or catch rides with random friends of my mothers. We also went to church on Dad weekends, so we had a lot of exposure to a lot of different denominations, I learned a lot about God during that time, getting so much from every angle, but I never really felt that God was calling to me, or that He was a REAL presence at any of those places.

The first time I ever remember "feeling" God's presence in my life was at Niagara '97, a youth for Christ conference in Niagara Falls, NY. I learned a lot about God when I was there, but going back to a church where I didn't really feel God's presence, and not having anyone there to challenge me, it felt so routine, it didn't feel like I was going anywhere. I fell back into my old routines fairly quickly, and never really felt challenged at the church we were attending.

I stopped going to that church during the end of my senior year in high school. Really, because my mother was kicked out of it, and I didn't have ride anymore, and I didn't want to continue going there any longer. Thus, began my downfall away from my savior.

Right around that time, my mother decided she no longer wanted to be my mother, and walked out on me, and my brother, I blamed God, how could a God who loved me so much let this happen? I fell further and further into a pit. I blatantly tried to take my life as far away from God as I could, though, He never let go of me. There is so much comfort in knowing He never let me go during that awful time in my life. I started going to bars, doing things that are completely uncharacteristic of me, and even smoked for a few years. It has taken me years to realize that God could do His will DESPITE the decisions I had made, and that only He could make good out of the bad in my life.

I met Amanda working at ADT ((ADT Free is the way to be!!)) after I left we became very fast friends and she and I began talking about God, and I went to her church for a while, but never really felt at "home" there. I decided to "find" another church, but we never really made much effort to go looking for one.

Ramon invited us to the Harvest Banquet at Anchor Christian Church. Jim and I LOVE thanksgiving food, so we went! The people we sat with, I have no idea what their names are((I SUCK with names..lol) but they were talking to us about how they found Anchor, and what they thought of it. They had only been going for about a month at that point. And the husband was saying that he was raised catholic, but he really liked Anchor because of the traditions they keep. The next week we started going to Anchor. I guess it needed to be Jim's idea, not my own.

We stopped going for a few months in between there, and then this happened, and we went back the next week, and that week made the commitment to start going to church their regularly, and begin bible studies with Chris so Jim could take the steps for salvation. We have been going every week since! :0) I love my church, and I love what I have learned through going there.

It is so good to be back in the arms of my Savior. Back where I should be, growing, learning, and understanding in a way I never have before. In some part, I am glad for my time away, I learned a lot about the world, and about what I was doing wrong as a christian. But I am ever so thankful for Jesus' death on the cross, to save MY sins. I know that God will turn the bad things that I did into great things, in His timing. I am growing so much in my relationship with our Lord, and I look forward to what the future holds for both Jim and I.