T E S T I M O N Y

"My heart whispered "seek God,"

my whole being replied, "I'm seeking Him!"

Psalm 27:8

I haven't written on this blog for the longest time. Mainly because I have been so busy with school, marriage, and church..but also because I have been in a season where I really felt the Lord calling me to do many hands on ministries rather than to write. 

But lately He has taught me so so much and I am here to write about them once more-the things He has laid on my heart to speak and to write about. I want to transform this space into more of a ministry than just a lifestyle blog. Because what He has to say is just so much more important than anything that I have to say..(obviously! ) And I wanted to start by telling my testimony. Not so anyone can know anymore about me...but rather so that He can be glorified. 

I was raised in a christian household where we talked openly about the Lord and prayed together frequently. We were involved in the church all my life and I also went to a private, christian school. When I was seven I heard my preacher talk about heaven and hell. I knew my parents were going to heaven and I surely didn't want to be hot all the time in hell ( I HATED being hot when I was a kid) so I walked an aisle with my brother and we were baptized shortly later. I remember being fully aware of my decision. A deacon taught a little class for us youngsters accepting Christ making sure we knew exactly what decision we were making before we got baptized. I remember experiencing true joy at the thought of Jesus on the day I accepted Him and on the day I was baptized. I truly believed I was saved when I was seven. 

However, as time went by and I entered those horrible teenage years I began trying to get all my affirmation and love from boys. I started attending a public high school starting in ninth grade and all I wanted was to be pretty, and popular, find my high school sweetheart and live happily ever after. (like any of those things would bring me joy......I was so naive). But honestly the worst part was that I was such a hypocrite. I was so fortunate to have godly parents who raised me to know the Lord, but I was so full of head knowledge and didn't love Him with my heart. I was a modern day pharisee, and the worst part was that I didn't even realize it. I carried around my bible in high school and read it but didn't apply it. I gossiped, I judged people, I was selfish, I was prideful...I was living in sin and I was ok with it. 

By my senior year I was so sick of myself. I knew that I was wrong because I knew the word of God, but I couldn't seem to apply it to my life. I had a friend who invited me to a retreat and it was there that I fell head over heels in love with the Lord. I was captivated by Him, enthralled, wondering how in the world I had read these passages of scripture over and over all my life but never knew Him. 

It scares me to think that if He hadn't interrupted my life, I would have been one of the ones to get to the gate of heaven and say "Lord, Lord, I did all these things in your name. I talked about you and fed the homeless and carried my bible around high school" and to hear Him say "depart from me, I never knew you." 

wow.

I have tears in my eyes just typing that. Only by the grace of God was I interrupted from my prideful life and saved from hell. 

I rededicated my life in January of 2013. 

God is so cool, because He also saved my sweet husband shortly before me. Before we even started dating and had no idea about each others spiritual lives, Matthew rededicated his life to the Lord in the fall of 2012. So before God brought us together, He made us right with Himself. Which I honestly think is the most beautiful part about the love story God wrote for us. 

Now, I am called to girls/women's ministry. I am seeing how He led me through specific trials in my life to minister to the girls that He has given me to love, and it brings me so much joy to watch glimpses of His plan unfold. 

And that is my testimony! I pray that it resonates with someone. This story is not about me, but about the amazing God who saved me from myself! The all encompassing God who has my heart and is the joy of my life. Here is the start of my blog as a ministry. I will do with it as the Lord leads!

Feel free to contact me with any questions, or just to chat. :)

"On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Matthew 7:22-23

When you come before me,
    whoever gave you the idea of acting like this,
Running here and there, doing this and that—
    all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?

13-17 “Quit your worship charades.
    I can’t stand your trivial religious games:
Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—
    meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
    You’ve worn me out!
I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion,
    while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance,
    I’ll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
    I’ll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing
    people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up.
    Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
    so I don’t have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong.
    Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
    Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
    Go to bat for the defenseless.

18-20 “Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.”
    This is God’s Message:
“If your sins are blood-red,
    they’ll be snow-white.
If they’re red like crimson,
    they’ll be like wool.
If you’ll willingly obey,
    you’ll feast like kings.
But if you’re willful and stubborn,
    you’ll die like dogs.”
That’s right. God says so.

-ISAIAH 1:12-20