I grew up in a home where I was raised in church. My father died when I was seven years old, and my mother was left to raise three children on her own. I was the oldest of the three. Due to her heartbreak over the loss of my father, my mother walked away from God and the church. My life changed as well in that I was left with many voids in my life, and I felt haunted by so many mixed emotions and feelings. I made a brief return back to church at the age of 12. It was then that I asked Jesus into my heart as my Lord and Savior and was baptized. I fell away from the Lord again, and it wasn’t until I entered my early 20’s that I came back to the Lord. Sadly, I didn’t take Him at His Word and believe the things I needed to believe. Instead I saw only reflections of my failures in the areas of school, finances, wrong relationships, and childhood losses. So I fell away again. Finally, in my 30’s, some significant changes came about in my life. Those changes brought about a whole new perception of God the Creator and Jesus the Savior. During this time I also married. In my second year of marriage I came to a point where I felt like my salvation was not settled. I had asked Jesus Christ into my life at the age of 12, but I wasn’t sure that I had really understood the decision I had made then. So I reconfirmed my faith in Him and settled the issue of salvation once and for all. This was the point in my life when I truly sought to make Him not just Savior, but Lord of my life as well. I had finally taken God at His Word.

I continued to grow in my walk with the Lord. During my fourth year of marriage, I was challenged to take God at His Word again and live out what Ephesians 5 says on marriage. Even though it was a struggle, I sought to put my husband as the head of our marriage. This was difficult to do because trust was a real struggle in my life, especially trust in men.  The results were surprising – I found that by living out what God’s Word says on marriage I received a clearer picture of God’s love for me. It further proved that I could trust Him and know His Word is true. My husband and I have also trusted and found His Word to be true when it comes to what His Word says concerning finances. We have obeyed His command in Malachi 3:10 and lacked no necessity for our lives. When my flesh, the world, and the lies of Satan want me to see a different picture of God, as they so often try to get me to do, I reflect back on these ways God has shown Himself clearly. One final verse that has meant so much to me is Zeph.3:17. This is my favorite expression of God’s feelings towards me:

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

This Scripture describes the Lord Jesus who loves me and desires for all to seek after Him.