Hi friends, I guess I’m supposed to tell you all about how I met Jesus.

My story really starts 2 years before I was born in December of 1982, when my parents got married. They had individually chosen to commit their lives to Christ, and when they married in on December 18^th, they chose to dedicate the life they were beginning together to raise their future children to know the Lord. They were actively involved in their church; hence, I started going to church 9 months before I was born. J As long as I can remember I have always known who God was – and that he loved me and had created me for purpose. I learned in Sunday school though that I, as a human being, was estranged from God and his love because God could not be near my selfish and sinful heart. There was a way that I could be reunited with God though. I had to accept 1) that I was a sinner and separate from God, and 2) that Jesus (his son) could take the place of my sin, to allow me to be near to God. At the young age of 4, I remember lying in my bed at night, singing a line from a little kid’s praise song called “Into my heart”. I truly understood that I was asking Jesus to come and live inside of me. I told my mom the next morning, and she said that all of heaven was rejoicing because I had made a decision to accept Jesus in my heart.

As I grew older and continued to attend Sunday school, I realized that there was something that I needed to do. I knew that I had Jesus in my heart, and some people knew that, but Jesus told me (in the bible) that I needed to make a public announcement to others; I needed to show people that he lived inside of me. A way to do this was to be baptized as a physical representation of what has happened spiritually within me. I have died to sin (as I am lowered into the water) and I am alive in Christ (as I come back up out of the water). After many conversations with my parents, I was baptized by my dad 3 days after my ninth birthday. After being baptized I felt pretty content with where I stood with God. I knew what he wanted from me – to know him and to follow him – and I could do that very well (I was a good kid who didn’t like to get in trouble). But there was something I had missed. Knowing about God and knowing God are 2 different things. I went through my elementary and junior high years learning information about God, but not really spending time with him – like one does with a friend. I was comfortable where I was, and saw God as more of a good thing when I needed him, or when I was in trouble. Little did I know that I was about to experience a new side of God.

When I was in 8^th grade my Dad’s company reorganized and he was “let go”. He looked for another job in Edmond (Oklahoma, where I grew up), but there were none available. He finally began to look outside of Edmond, and got a job in Tulsa. While the new place was only an hour and a half away, it rocked my world. Everything changed, and I was no longer in the comfort zone that I had grown up in. In Tulsa I entered high school at a smaller school where I found it very hard to make friends. I went to a new church that was made up of many cliques none of which I liked. And to top it all off, my cat of 9 years went missing. While I have a good relationship with my family, it still hurt not to have any friends. I can honestly say I felt like Jesus was my only real friend the first 2 years of high school. In those years, I really began to understand what it meant to have a personal relationship with Jesus. While those years were hard, I wouldn’t go back and change them.

My story is getting long, so I’ll start winding down. I started out by telling you about my parents. I’ll end by saying they have kept their commitment to raising a God-fearing family. I have 2 younger sisters and a younger brother who all have made an individual decision to follow Christ. Now it’s time for “and they lived happily ever after” – right? No, not really. Life has been more like a roller coaster ride than a stroll in the park. I have had my share of troubles - both of my sisters and my brother have been seriously ill (like in the hospital for a week or longer), I lived in Oklahoma City when the Murrah Bombing happened in 1995, my best friend growing up got into the drugs and alcohol scene, and my dad was recently unemployed for about 2 years, making money scarce. I wrestled with a lot of uncertainty and the frustration during these things. Through it all though, God has been faithful. I am learning more and more what it means to truly live my life as a disciple (meaning someone who adamantly studies under a master, and dedicates their life to learning all they can about that master) of Jesus Christ. It is not easy. There are days that I feel like everything has hit the fan, and nothing positive can happen. But it is in those times, that I am able to run to my Heavenly Father (God) and trust in what he has promised me: 1 – that ”if I seek him, I will find him” (in Jeremiah 29:14 and other places) and 2 - that he “will continue the good work that he began in me.” (from Philippians 1:6)

I hope that by reading some of my story, you have been blessed in some way. The cool thing is that God loves you and created you for a purpose too. He wants you to have a personal relationship with him. If you have any questions about what this looks like, please feel free to ask me more about it.