My life before Christ was boring… just staying in the routine of things LIKE GOING TO CHURCH CAUSE MY MOMMA DID… AND I HAD TO TAG ALONG and not ever doing things because I wanted to.

Before I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior, I was feeling lost and without purpose. I attended church until I graduated from high school just to please my parents. I thought I was a good person but seem to struggle with everything. I preferred my way and thought it was the best. I basically felt lost and hopeless.

I grew up going to church pretty regularly but I didn’t really pay much attention to what was being said. I went because I knew that was the right thing to do. I was a good child and never got into any trouble. Thru the years our attendance was dropping.

A few months before my 16 birthday my father passed away. My sister had been going to chuch pretty regularly with her family and I started going with them. I had been attending church for a couples of months before I accepted Christ into my heart. We were driving to church one sunday and on the way I ask Jesus to come into my life. I didn’t feel anything at that moment but a couple of months later I went to a church retreat and I felt different. I enjoyed going to church and enjoyed having Christian friends knowing that I didn’t have to worry about the bad stuff that went on in high school.

I met my husband my senior year of high school. After we got married we moved a hour away from home so we looked for a church that made us feel comfortable. It didn’t take us long to get involved and we both do what ever we can to help.

I was raised in a devout Catholic family that attended church every Sunday. My parents taught strong moral and ethical values that were reinforced at the Catholic grade school I attended. One day after school when I was 12 years old I slipped into the back of the church when no one else was around. I knelt in prayer and asked God to help me live for Him. From that point on I tried to be good but it always seemed like I was not good enough. I felt guilty because I kept slipping up. I struggled with this into my college years.

While I was dating my wife, I started attending the small Baptist church where she and her family worshipped. I heard the message of salvation preached each Sunday. I started reading books and studying the Bible to search and test if what I was hearing was true. Then one evening in the summer of my junior year, I came to the realization that I could never be good enough…That’s why Jesus died for me. Alone in my room, I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive me and to take over my life.

From that moment, I’ve felt mercy and peace that I find hard to express. I no longer feel anxious about whether I’m being good enough to earn my way into spending eternity with God. Now I have His love and seek His direction every day of my life.

God has given me a wonderful, loving wife and two great sons. He surrounds me with people who accept me for who I am. Each day He gives me optimism and fresh hope for the future. My favorite verses are Philippians 4:4-7 and Romans 8:28 because they remind me each day I can rejoice…I am His and He is in control!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. –Philippians 4:4-7

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. –Romans 8:28

I was born in Spartanburg, SC to a regular family and when i was in the first grade I spent the night at my grandparents on a saturday and woke up on Sunday morning and everyone was getting dressed in these fancy clothes and I ask my grandfather what was going on and he said we were going to church. So I was like, “OK,” but as soon as I got there I was scared I didnt know anybody.

Then for the next couple of years I would go probably couple Sundays a month and started to have fun. Then I would beg my parents to take me over there and at VBS (Vacation Bible School) one year Pastor Doug was talking about all the trash that we put in our hearts called sin so I wanted to get rid of all the sin so I asked Jesus into my heart but I didn’t do anything after that until this past year when I decided to get baptized.

My life has been better since I was baptized. I am trying to get my mom and my sister to come to church and pray that they would come to church. Since then I have tried to read my bible and ask my grandparents questions. I also ask God to help me with the answers so I can follow Him more closely every day.