I was raised in church, going as an infant through high school, every Wednesday, twice on Sunday, and every other time that the door was open for services, i.e. revivals. My sisters and I sang in revivals in our community and on a radio broadcast every other Sunday. I gave my life to Jesus Christ at a young age, but due to the beliefs of the church (and my parents), whenever I committed any wrongs (such as fighting with my sisters, talking back to my parents, etc.), I had to get “saved” again for we were taught that one could lose his salvation (backslide). When I grew older and left home I was so confused about salvation that I completely stopped going to church. After many years of drifting, married and divorced, and marrying again, I had a revelation from God in the form of a miracle. Now, perhaps some would question God’s healing power to a “drifting Christian”? However, it happened to me. While living in Florida, sitting by the pool one day, I began having the most terrific headache one could even imagine. I went inside, began walking the floor, considering calling 911, knowing something more than just a headache was happening. It had been a long time since I had really prayed, but I began to. At that time, I recalled many of the things taught not only by my parents, but in various churches and I knew deep within that my parents did the best that they knew how to do at the time. And where might I have been had they not even taken me to church, for the basics were there albeit fanactical. My husband came home and we decided to go to the hospital.

To make a much longer story short, in the ER the physicians decided that it was just a migraine and were going to release me. My family physician was called, and he decided to come to the hospital. I was told later by him that he had such an urge to come to the hospital that he left office hours to do so. He did not agree with the ER physicians and called in neurologists. Bottom line–I had a hemorrhaging brain aneurysm and they did not understand why I was still alive. My husband was told that if I made it through the surgery I would most likely have side effects which would be very detrimental to a normal lifestyle. My husband called everyone that he knew: family members (esp. my prayer warrior mother) and others to request prayer. Many were praying for me. I had the surgery. The aneurysm could be clipped, and I had absolutely no side effects. Other than the skull healing from being opened and missing hair, I was normal. When I had my first appointment with my family physician, he made a statement to me which I had never heard from a physician and might add, I have not heard since-he stated: “The only reason that you are sitting here today is that God has something for you to do, so I suggest that you find out what that is and do it.”

I have been privileged to testify to the power of God and His healing power in the worst of circumstances. He can and does love us even if we turn our backs on Him for a time, and in miraculous ways, He is always with us. I believe that sometimes small situations He gets our attention and drags us back to what might have been buried inside for too long–serving Jesus Christ must take priority in our lives. NONE other could have helped me during that time and many times since. I praise Him daily for His blessings, both small and great, and know that in all of us He has a purpose for our lives. The words of the song “Trust and Obey” needs to be our daily prayer AND action.

I was raised a PK and I was at chuch at least 3 times a week and sometimes more. It never bothered me because I enjoyed the people. At a very young age I gave my life to God. I served him with all my little heart and would always invite people to church. One Sunday in a Wesleyan Church in Akron, Ohio my Dad had a special service to see who brought the most people. I had 35 people and one of those ladies that came got saved and served God till she died. I always had a gift for bringing people to church.

During my teen years I rebeled and went on with life without God. I started drinking and thought it was cool. Two marriges and 35years later I was getting a 2nd divorce with no money and no one to help me. I started going to the Nazarene church where I gave my life back to Christ. Things have been changing in my life ever since. One day on my way to church I saw a sign that said Mike Huckabee ws coming to speak at First Baptist North Spartanbur. My car made a left turn right into the parking lot, and I have been coming here ever since. God has given me a home that I love. My Mom now lives with me. We both trust in him and pray, and when things go wrong Mom and I pray. When two people pray in God’s will and agree on it, it will happen.

It is now a joy to get up and start a new day because I know that God will be with me. The life I left behind was a terrible place, but through Jesus Christ I will aways live the new life for him. I am glad that Jesus died on the cross so that one day I will be in heaven with my dad and family. I’m proud to tell the world that I’m going to serve him everyday of my life.

I thought it was normal to date whomever you wanted to. And when you got tired of him or I could not get him to do as I wanted, you just moved on to the next one. I was not brought up in a Christian family. I had no idea what it was like to be saved. Very lost for a long time.

I accepted Christ at FBNS in 1994. But I did not know exactly what I was doing. Moved to North Carolina and started going to church, but doing some serious back slipping. It was so slow I had no idea what I was doing. It took awful divorce for me to drop to my knees and repent. Again in 2008 I accepted Christ and mean it this time!

My life now is still hard because my divorce was different. He didn’t do anything wrong, I did. And that is hard to swallow. Everyone wants to blame him but it was me. I looked elsewhere instead of God. God keeps pulling me to minister to women. And to help them not make the same mistakes that I have made. I have a story to tell and I want to encourge women to treasure their husbands. Please do not take them for granted. The grass is not greener on the other side. I know, I am there!

My life without Christ became a disaster. At the age of 13 I experienced an overwhelming power in church one Sunday to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. Prior to that I don’t remember too much. I was brought up in a Christian home. I never experienced any child abuse and never witnessed any drug or alcohol abuse in my family. I do remember feeling very fortunate in having good parents.

My story begins as a child who attended church and listened and one day got the message that God died for me and loved me. For some reason this was important to me, but I did not understand it much until a Sunday School teacher made it clear.