My Testimony

  
Growing up, I believed I did not have a testimony, because my life didn’t have an evident physical change when I accepted Christ. I was at the simple age of 9 when I became a believer. I thought you could only have a testimony if you had been delivered from things like alcohol or drugs. As I got older I then realized your walk as a Christian was your testimony.


For 21 years I have been a believer. I have not always walked hand in hand with the Lord, however He has always walked with me. My first true test as a Christian came, when I was 12 or so. My parents went through some trials and decided to get a divorce. I was very angry with them and God for splitting my family up. At age 12 you really don’t have the wisdom or forethought to see God’s plan or even know how to be faithful and trust in Him. The Lord placed people in my life at that time to help me deal with the situation, although I harbored those feelings for many years. Over the next couple of years, the Lord dealt with my parents and restored their marriage.


My Daddy had moved to the big city of Locust Fork (only 2 gas stations, a school K-12, and a post office in a trailer at that time) during their separation and when they got remarried they decided that our family would reside in Locust Fork. I was not happy about moving to the country and leaving everything I knew.


Little did I know, what kind of plans the Lord had for my life in the small town of Locust Fork. All through my high school years I read the Bible and prayed most everyday. I was very active in my youth group at church and First Priority at school. Yet, there was always something more tugging at my heart. I knew I was a Christian, but there was still something more I needed to do. For many years I ignored and ran from that tug.


I had moved off to college and was active in a campus ministry and busy trying to “play mom” to about 8 or so of my friends. I also was driving home an hour and half each weekend to teach Sunday School at my home church. I thought by taking the Sunday School class, that would satisfy the Lord enough that He would leave me alone. However the tug in my heart continued. For months I was miserable yet on the outside I smiled and walked through the motions of being a good Christian young lady. I felt like I was dying inside. I continued to read my Bible and prayed very faithfully, but I still wasn’t ready to listen to the tug that the Lord had placed on heart.


In March of 2003 I was so tired from running, I was emotionally, physically and spiritually exhausted. One night I knelt at the foot of my bed and simply gave my life to full-time ministry. I didn’t know what it would involve; but I knew for the first time that I had a full peace about my life and my future. For several days I worried over the fact that I needed to call my parents and tell them I wanted to move home. In some way, I felt I was a failure, because I didn’t want to stay at college and finish my degree, but instead wanted to move home.


I finally called my parents and they had been waiting on my phone call. My parents had been praying for me for a very long time and they knew that I was called into full time ministry, but they were waiting on me to answer the call of the Lord. I moved home as soon as the semester ended and began volunteering some at my home church. Only 2 months after I accepted my call, a children and youth assistant position opened at my church. I applied and got the job. Over several years, I acquired more duties at the church and watched a number of children and youth accept Christ who in turn, would witness to their parents and family. I was able to mentor and still mentor students, who have become incredible young men and women in the Lord. The Lord taught me so very much while I was on staff there. I honestly thought I would be on staff there for many, many, many more years. I would have never imagined where the Lord would lead me in the next chapter of my life.


When I was 14 years old I met my future husband, Chad. I didn’t know then that I would end up marrying him. We dated on and off from the age of 15 to 20, then we went our separate ways. I prayed for several years for my husband, even though I did not know who he was. I had been praying for my first love all along. The Lord brought us back together in 2006. I began praying for direction.


I knew that I would spend the rest of my life with Chad, but how did that fit into my calling? I did not want to leave my home church. I wanted to make sure that I was in the Lord’s will with whatever decisions I made. Chad proposed in August of 2006 and we had a lot of choices to make. Chad was still in the Navy and had a year left. We made the decision to go ahead and get married in December 2006.


I resigned from the church in November. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. But I listened to the Lord and His calling on my life. On the 30th of December we were married. I then moved down to Florida. For the first time in my life, I had truly left everything I had ever known. Chad and I had only each other and the Lord to rely on. Through the first year of our marriage, not only did our relationship with one another strengthen, our walk with the Lord as individuals and a couple grew stronger.


Towards the end of Chad’s enlistment, he was offered a position at the base to work as a civilian. We prayed diligently for months about the job. We both felt led to move back home. We knew that we would be taking a huge cut in salary and neither one of us would have jobs, but we knew that we were in the Lord’s will and He would provide. My parents were more than willing to let us live in their basement until we could find jobs and save enough money for our home. We moved back in November 2007 and learned to lean heavily on the Lord. Since that time, the Lord has blessed us immensely. We both were able to find jobs and being to look towards our future. In August 2008 we were able to move into our own home.


When we moved home we began to attend Chad’s home Church, Warrior Assembly of God.  

In the Spring of 2014 we were led back to my home church of Locust Fork Baptist.**


So that brings us to present day! My goal is to live a life pleasing to the Lord. And I am thankful for a Savior who is forgiving, because I am not perfect! So here is to the future and watching life unfold!!!

**Updated as 2015.