I grew up in Spartanburg S.C. in a two parent home. My mother took me and my brother to church. My father was not a Christian and did not attend.When I was young I knew even then that something was missing in my life. I did not have alot of self esteem.I was searching for something.
I was sitting in children’s church at Park Hills Baptist Church at the age of eight.The teacher told us that Jesus Christ had died for my sins and that He was buried and that He rose again on the third day. She stated that if I wanted to trust Jesus for my salvation I could do that right there and come up to the front of the room to let others know that. So I did.
Since that time God has given me a sense of purpose in my life. While I once was very selfish and uncaring, God changed my heart on a mission trip to Kenya East Africa in 1994. I realized I needed to use my skills as a physician to serve Him and His people. Also I developed a compassion for others like never before. My sense of longing and striving has left me since I came to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Later I began to take classes to learn how to share my faith because I knew that was a command from the Lord. He continues to give me opportunities to serve Him both here in Spartanburg and abroad–even in Kenya EAST Africa.
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I always believed I was a Christian because I was baptized as a baby, confirmed at age 12, and I was a good person. After a divorce when I was 30, I went back to school and got a job and work became my idol for survival to prove I could ‘make it on my own.’ I carried bitterness, hate, anger, and unforgiveness. After being single for 9 years, I fell in love, remarried and had everything I wanted, but my life was still empty.
In June 2001, I was devastated when I almost lost my son and found out my husband had advanced prostate cancer. Just weeks before this, Terry, one of my employees, had brought his Bible to work and read scripture to me. He told me that Jesus would come back and ‘rapture’ all believers and he thought it would happen in his lifetime. He told me that Jesus was God in the flesh. Because of my ignorance of the Bible, I could not understand. Terry encouraged me to get a Billy Graham book. I read ‘Peace With God’ and my eyes were opened to new truths about who God really was, my purpose in life, and how to know for sure I would go to heaven when I died. When I compared myself to a holy and righteous God, for the first time I saw myself as a filthy sinner. For the first time I believed and understood that Jesus came to earth and died on the cross to forgive MY sins. I believed that Jesus rose from the dead 3 days later and He defeated death — and He is alive today. I humbled myself and confessed I no longer wanted to be in control of my life. I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. This was July 20, 2001! I was 50 years old and had been out of church for 30 years!
My husband and I started going to church, and I made a public confession of my faith at Restoration church and was baptized AGAIN. I joined a women’s Bible study that my next door neighbor, Olive Fuller, taught. The Fullers invited us to Sunday school. We fell in love with the class and church and joined First North in January 2002. God made a complete turn-around in my life and I finally had ‘peace with God.’ I was filled with God’s love. I now have a burden to share my story with others. I love to go to church every week and I have a strong desire to seek God in His Word. I face life and circumstances with the help and power of the Almighty Creator by talking with Him through prayer. I still sin, but when the Holy Spirit convicts me of my sin, I ask for forgiveness so that my sin will not separate me from God. I thank God for Terry who had the courage to share his faith with me at work. A year ago I resigned my position at work, but I was able to share my story with MY manager on my exit interview. Mission completed. My God has other eternal plans for my life and I am so excited! To God be the glory. AMEN!
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My life before Christ is hard to explain. I was 6 years old when I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord. Prior to that I practically lived at the church. My mother worked at the church we attended as a church secretary. My father was a deacon and was active in the church bus ministry. So the church was like my second home. I was blessed with Christian parents and generations of Christians in my life. However, in spite of these blessings, I strayed from the Lord at the age of 18. I continued to be very active in church and was faithful in reading my Bible, but I began to explore in the area of sexual immorality. The practice of immorality in my life lead to health problems and eventually depression. One night I was so depressed over the way I had messed up my life, attempting to live 2 different lives (one for God and one not for God) that I attempted suicide. I placed a gun to my head, and as I did something told me to check the bullets. My dad had always told me to leave the gun revolver on an empty slot so that if I ever dropped the gun it would not go off and hurt someone. So I knew that if I was going to kill myself that I had to make sure the gun was not on the empty slot. However, when I checked the gun for the bullets, all the bullets were gone! I frantically searched my nightstand for the missing bullets, but there were no bullets to be found. I cried myself to sleep that night. Soon after this incident I asked the Lord to forgive me for my sins and for the way I had been living my life. I rededicated my life to the Lord and I enrolled in several Bible studies at church allowing the Holy Spirit to heal me. Through His healing power my life was changed.
Who or when someone emptied my gun of the bullets is still unknown to this day. No one had a key to my apartment, nor did anyone know I had a gun and always kept the gun loaded because I lived by myself and I traveled a lot. It was not until six months after the attempt of suicide that I opened my nightstand drawer and find all 6 bullets for my gun. It was obvious that the Lord knew I had a gun, and it was nothing but a miracle that the Lord intervened and prevented me from killing myself. Since that miraculous night many, many years ago my walk with the Lord has changed. Yes, I have made mistakes along the way, but I only live one life now and that is a life for Jesus Christ. The Lord got my attention that night long ago and I realized that He truly loves me and that He was willing to use me in spite of my past and in spite of how I messed up my life. The Lord told me in Jeremiah 29:11 ” I know the plans I have for you, they are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
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I grew up with both parents and twin sisters living at home with me. My parents always made it a point to have my sisters and me in church. I as a younger kid would yell, procrastinate, and even ball my eyes out to keep from going (it was a feeling of fear that I was experiencing, a fear of all the people and the BIG atmosphere and surroundings). As I matured I realized that there had to be a bigger reason behind my parents making it a point to keep us in church. One night as Pastor Mike was talking, something he said just hit me…it touched my heart and replacing those old cold selfish tears were tears of warmth, joy, and security.
I was nine years old when I accepted Christ, and through doing so at an early age I feel as if I’ve been extra blessed. My life hasn’t been perfect by any means, but God has been right there beside me the entire way guiding me in the right direction. I began a quiet time going on three years ago now and through that time every night God has truly opened my eyes and allowed me to see things from an entirely different perspective. HE HAS BLESSED ME SO MUCH!! In the last few months alone he has placed me in the role of Student Body President and Beta Club President along with a leadership role in FCA , football,wrestling, track, and various other clubs (all of which gives me a better opportunity to relate to people, share with them, and hopefully make a positive difference in their lives in doing so). Thank you Jesus for BEING MY SAVIOR.
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I lived in a home where we never went to church or even talked about spiritual things. My family consisted of twelve children. There were six boys and six girls. I knew my parents loved me but they never told me. I never remember having a Dad / Mom conversation growing up. We lived and let live. We never talked about church and spiritual things. The only time I remember being in church with my mom and dad was at my dad’s funeral and my mom was at my wedding. Around the age of nine, a neighbor invited me to church. For about two years, I went to church every time the doors were open. At first the pastor would pick me up and later on, I would ride the church bus. I loved Sunday school and even the preaching. Later in life, I was married and after twelve years it ended in divorce. There was a huge hole in my life that I could not get filled up. It got bigger and bigger as I ran from the things of God. Then one day I went to a home of a friend whose brother had died. There was one chair over in the corner in the middle of a bunch of godly men. As they shared stories about the man that had died and gone to heaven, they even shouted, laughed, and cried. WOW! I was thinking what I had gotten into. This was supposed to be a “SAD” time. Everyone seem to be so happy. I wanted to leave but the more I listened about the love of God, the more I wanted to hear. If someone had asked me to, I would have gotten down on my knees right there. From that Friday evening until Sunday morning, God was speaking to my heart. I wanted what they had. I needed what they had. I needed that hole in my life filled.
Sunday morning arrived and I just had to get to the church. I sat with my friend in the second pew from the front. The pastor preached and a quartet was singing “THE APPLE TREE” for the invitation to give your life to the Lord. My friend’s mom touched me on the arm and asked me if I was ready to give my life to the Lord. Before she got the sentence out, I was at the altar on my knees. I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and come into my life and be my Lord and Savior.
Before my salvation, I had no regard for Christians, preachers, churches, or anything that had to do with God. The second Jesus came into my life ALL of that went away! I am a NEW creation . My entire thinking about life was changed. Remember the HUGE HOLE? It was now full of Jesus. Since then, I married a godly lady that went to be with the Lord in 1991 and now God has given me another godly lady. In fourteen years of marriage, Merle and I have lived a lifetime together. God Has blessed us in so many ways. God has taken this country boy with little education to different parts of the world to witness for Him. He opened doors in places in Romania that ONLY GOD could do. I have spoken in churches and homes in Romania and seen hundreds pray to give their lives to Jesus. If He can use me, He can use anybody. Give your life to Jesus now. That would be the most important thing you will ever do. I did and if I died before tomorrow, I will be with the Lord Jesus. I believe that God put that chair in the corner just for me. Are you missing something in your life? How big will you let that hole in your life grow before you let God fill it? The world can not fill it, only God can.
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