My second marriage ended and I knew that I needed to be in church. I had wanted to go but my second husband didn’t want to. He felt his church had let him down in the past and didn’t want to try again. A friend of mine and I started going to church together. We were going to “shop around” for a church but settled on the first one we went to which was Oak Grove Baptist.

About a month after beginning to go to church Pastor Rufus Chaneyworth preached a very simple message entitled “God Is Love.” This was truly my breaking point. I felt God reaching down and telling me that it didn’t matter what I had done, that I was His child and would be forever as long as I accepted him. When I left the service I started crying and didn’t stop for a long time. I didn’t go up for the invitation that day, but I did the next Sunday.

Almost 8 years ago I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. He has taken me on a journey that has been indescribable. My friend who started going to church with me became my husband 2 years later. We have been able to serve in different church groups and even have been teachers! The Lord laid a burden on our hearts to change churches and he paved the way to FBNS, and we feel so very grateful in the way the Lord prepared us to serve. I can’t wait to see what the Lord wants from us next!

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.

I grew up in Western Australia. My father had been in the first world war and had lost his faith because of the war. He became a Communist and an Atheist. My sister and I were consistently told that there was no God. But he was a kind and honest man and a good father, except there was no God in our family. So I became very rebellious as a teenager. I married, and the hippy days came. My children were brought up without boundaries and my life was extremely dysfunctional. Then after 34 years of marriage my husband met another woman and left me. Because I was so devastated, I ended up at the age of 55 at a church where I asked Jesus into my heart. As the song goes, “Floods of joy o’er my soul Like the sea billows roll, Since Jesus came into my heart!”