DIRECTOR OF REDEMPTION WOMEN
Email: [email protected]
TESTIMONY
I was raised in a Catholic home. I was baptized as an infant, received the sacraments and attended church on Sunday, yet I knew nothing of who God was. My mother became a Christian in my early teens. Around the same time, a friend invited me out to her youth group, where I started to learn about Jesus. We ended up at a Pentecostal church where I heard the truth of the gospel message. I attended a big Christian youth event (Summit ’93), and I gave my life to the Lord. I’d like to say that was it, I surrendered and have been pursuing him ever since, but that’s not my story.
For many years that followed, I wrestled with my faith, and I resisted God’s love. I married a man who was like me. He knew God, was raised in a Christian home, and went to a Christian school. He liked the idea of being a Christian, and even identified as one, but wasn’t following Jesus either. I (we) wandered in and out of church and relationship with Christ. I chased a life of sinful pleasure, then I would repent and try to live better, only to return to shaking my fist at God again. Although willfully defying God, He continually nudged my heart and put people in my path that spoke truth to me. The problem was that I wanted to be a follower of Christ, but I wanted to be a Christian on my terms, chase my dreams, and call all the shots.
In the midst of heartache and struggle (the beginning of a 7-year journey of infertility) I started crying out to the Lord. My life wasn’t going as I had planned, and I couldn’t understand why. For the first time in my life (at 30 years old), I understood I was a sinner in desperate need of a Savior. I humbled myself before the Lord, repented, got baptized and started living the life God was calling me to. The journey didn’t get any easier, in terms of disappointments, but this time I was letting the Lord guide my way.
Over the last 15 years the Lord has radically transformed me. He has given me a hunger and a desire to know Him and to serve Him. 1 Peter 3:9 says The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. I am so thankful for His steadfast love and His enduring patience with me. Jerimiah 29:11 says For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’ I am so thankful that He never gave up on me and He never stopped pursuing me. The life He had planned for me is SO much better than the life I thought I wanted!