What was life like before you met Jesus?
I mostly knew of Jesus my whole life. My parents were divorced and my mom found God shortly after. She made sure we knew of God in her home. We went to church on Wednesdays and Sundays, VBS and church camps. My dad and his wife do not know God so they brought in all the things my mother was trying to keep out – inappropriate music, movies, books, etc. – so I grew up in a very divided life. Middle school is when I remember really pulling away from everything I knew about God and the Bible. I started fighting my mom on going to church, wanting to instead hang out with my friends and such. High school got even worse but the year long military training after high school was the worst yet. I buried myself in the "cool crowd" wanting to be socially accepted, which involved smoking weed, drinking, sneaking out, sex, boys, smut books, etc. During those years I just progressively fell more and more away but I wasn't ever happy. Money was always a problem. After I got back home from military training I was constantly working and constantly broke. This led to constant stress, always worrying about everything. I finally met my husband about a year after coming back home. He was an atheist and I just didn't care, yet I knew in my head God was real but didn't want to give up the "fun things". We got married and continued living in sin. At one point I started feeling like maybe I was ready to go back to church. I asked my husband to go with me and he agreed. We went maybe twice but after both visits we were freaked out! We were very convicted so we stopped going.
How did you meet Jesus?
Coming back to God again started with my grandmother’s death. She was a very strong believer and definitely a light to the world. God shined through her everywhere, always! Her funeral was no different. The good news of the gospel was shared throughout her entire service. My husband was even extremely moved by her service. We both felt God pulling at our hearts to turn towards him. On the way to the burial site we had today hits radio playing in the car. But, after the burial we got back in the locked car and the radio was on a Christian radio station. I sat in awe and just cried. My husband and I looked at each other in amazement and I just simply said, "okay, I hear you." We decided to locate a church and made a commitment that if we were going to go, it was going to be a routine thing and not just all over the place whenever we felt like it. We found a church and started going. We very quickly got pulled into a life group and felt accepted. Between church and our life group, our eyes and hearts were opened so wide to a whole new world.
After being saved by Jesus what is your life like now?
My husband got baptized a couple years ago and it was such a joy to watch! At this point we have been able to sit back and see how things have changed so drastically. We were struggling with money and stressed about little things all the time. We have gotten to watch all of that melt away into almost nothing. We have such a different mindset going into difficult situations, with less worry and more faith. My husband has been so blessed in his career to sustain our family enough to a point where I stay home with our currently 3 children (1 in school) and soon to be 4. We look back and see blessing after blessing in our lives, and we know it is all because of God’s love for us! John 5:24 says “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” I'm ready to fully die to myself, and show my family, friends, and church that I am God's child.