Biblical

MY TESTIMONY HOW I BECAME A CHRISTIAN November 3, 2010 I would like to start out by saying that I have always believed in Jesus Christ and as a very young child I went to Church with my grandmother, but somewhere, somehow that seemed to fade away. After my childhood years I never spent any time going to Church, praying or reading Scripture. Sadly, I knew nothing about scripture and didn't feel the need to learn it thru my adult years. I used to spend most of my days working, watching TV, playing games, living the everyday routine of life as a wife and mommy, which I now realize was laziness in every way, including spiritually. Bottom line is that I did not have the Lord in my life. At the age of 36 is when a serious revelation in my commitment to God occurred. After praying day in and day out of why my 18 year relationship with my husband ended in a heart breaking divorce in 2008 (who too did not have Christ in his life) I now know that God had bigger and better plans for me. A very close friend of mine stayed in close contact with me very often to make sure I was doing ok as I was going thru my separation with my husband and dealing with getting a divorce. Every time we spoke he would tell me “What you need to do is get yourself in Church and get to know the Lord.” I of course would say “Yeah I know”, but never did anything about it and my train of thought was “What is that going to do for me. I am hurting right now and nothing is going to change that.” But he never gave up on me and never pushed anything, but would just say “you know what you need to do”. Just a few months after my ex and I split up I met a very nice guy. A guy that was very motivated, independent, loving, had a goal in life and was very connected with God. Being a girl that did not go to Church I did not frown down upon the fact that he went to Church and had God in his life. I actually thought just maybe that would be a good thing for me and just maybe my friend was right. In the beginning he would go to services without me and I would stay home. I still at that point wasn't really interested in going. A couple of months went by and I attended a couple of services with him and after doing so, decided again, that it just wasn't my thing, so I didn't go with him anymore and actually convinced him to stay in bed with me on Sunday morning's and not go either. Yes, terrible on both of our parts. About 6 months into our relationship we moved in together and started attending another Church in the area that I went to with a friend a few months back. We attended this Church for about a month before we decided the drive was just a little too long for us and again stopped going. About a month later while driving around our area we noticed a sign in the grass along the street that said "Awaken Virginia Beach" with its web address. We went home and looked at the website and found out it was a new Church that was about to launch right down the street from where we lived. I contacted the Pastor via email with a few questions. The Church was about to have a grand opening in March, 2010, so my new husband and I decided to go and check it out. We loved everything about it. Although, I really liked the Church and everyone in the Church I still wasn’t too sure if that was really what I wanted to do. We started attending the “Small Groups”, which was a little uncomfortable for me. I felt out of place, dumb and was embarrassed because I did not know anything about Christ. I started thinking to myself and telling my husband that I didn’t think I wanted to go to the small groups anymore or even go to the Church because I felt dumb because I didn’t know anything and I would never be able to learn, but in the back of my mind I did want to at least try. I really wasn’t sure what I really wanted to do. I decided to not give up and we continued every day thereafter attending Sunday morning service and attending the weekly Small Groups. From there we started helping with the Churches outreach events and just serving God and others were we could. I started realizing that this was God’s plan all along and there were so many things pointing me to reach out to God and let him lead my life. On or about August 29, 2010, I gave my life to Christ and it felt absolutely AMAZING. On September 12, 2010, I was baptized and it was the BEST feeling in the world. I literally felt like a new person. Today, I am one of the Church's Leaders, I help out in the Church's nursery, and I am the Church's Events Coordinator. I absolutely LOVE being a part of God's World!!!! I realized that I wanted a stronger relationship with my God. At first I was very confused and crushed emotionally thinking it was too late to develop a deep relationship with God. I strongly believe that my new husband had a strong impact on me getting connected with God. I really believe that God’s plan was for my previous marriage to fail, so that I would first and foremost come to know Christ and secondly for me to meet my husband who was and is connected with Christ and for us as a couple to follow Christ, become leaders of the community and to help others around us who may not know Christ. A deep love for God has developed and gets stronger and stronger every day. Through scriptures I am getting to know God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I am by far perfect, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13), I sin much less and I am spiritually minded. I will continue to help others know the Lord Jesus Christ and teach them the way! Again, I thank you God for what you have done in my life and continuing to do in my life and the many blessings that you have gave me. My life is not perfect. My life does not always run smoothly for me. But I do know this: He is in control of all things. I strive each day to place my trust in God, knowing that He will work things out in accordance to His perfect will. Today, I know and love our Lord Jesus Christ. I am a loving Wife, a loving Mother and a loving Leader!! Through my testimony I hope that others will find this helpful and may be able to connect to Jesus Christ as I did. Words of wisdom: Don’t hold back. Let yourself go and let God be in control and you will find amazing outcomes. Awaken Church is my family and a place I can call home! Thank you!