My Testimony: From Teen Mom to Jesus Freak!

(I will continue with our mini-tour of Alaska in the next post, I just had to take time to post my testimony for Kelly's Korner's "Show Us Your Life" tour. )
Here's a couple of pictures of what's ahead:

I'd like to start this post by saying that as I sit here and type this out, I am suffering with a terrible sinus infection {and my husband is too} so, if something doesn't make sense, it's due to my loopy head and I apologize in advance!

This is hard for me to admit, but I used to be the kind of person who made fun of "Jesus Freaks", or Christians in other words.  Seriously.  I am completely ashamed of myself and the only thing I can say is that I didn't know better.  I am so thankful that God's grace is so great that He willingly forgives my wretchedness and sins, in all its forms.

I am an only child who grew up mostly in Texas, in a home that did not go to Church.  Ever.  The only times I can recall either of my parents at a church was when a relative or friend was getting married.  It makes me sad now to think how different our lives could have been had we been involved in a church as a family.   

 

My mother's mom (my Nanny) however, was a Christian and she loved to take me to church.  I don't remember being too crazy about going at the time, but now I look back and have fond memories of being there with her.  And amazingly, in that short period of time, that is where I learned the foundations of God's Word.  

In my teen years, I had a tendency to be rebellious and as a result, found myself unmarried and pregnant at 17.  I went into labor the day after my 18th birthday and I graduated high school a week later!  It was a busy week, to say the least!


  I lost a lot of baby pictures due to a flood, but here is my son when he was about 9 months old:As I said, I grew up mostly in Texas.  When I was five, my mother married my step-father and we moved to Oklahoma when he took a job with an oil company.  I have often thought that oil company families are very similar to military families.  At least my family was.  We lived in Woodward, Oklahoma.  Then we moved to Burns Flat, Oklahoma.  Then Mineral Wells and Gainsville, Texas.  

Love that smile!

Here he is at age 2:

William and me:

Grandma, Grandpa William and Me:

Oh my gosh, my glasses were HUGE!


Age 5:

William and Grandpa camping:
(age 6)

William at Disneyland:
(age 7)

Graduation 2009:

I can't believe how time flies!  The old cliche is true; it really does seem like just yesterday that I was changing his diapers and rocking him to sleep!  Now he's a foot taller than me!

We lived in Gainsville, Texas the longest, and it was my favorite place. I was very sad when at age 11 I was told we were moving to Alaska. The word "devastated" comes to mind actually. Talk about culture shock. I didn't even know I had an accent until I moved to Alaska. The kids in 6th grade made fun of me relentlessly and the people in Texas now think I sound funny!  But I digress...

 

In my early twenties, I partied and went out to bars, slept around with different guys and basically was as far from being a Christian as you could get.  I decided at one point that I didn't even believe in God.  That decision made it easier for me to justify my immoral behavior and sin, but it left me empty inside because deep down, I knew that what I was doing was wrong. 

I attended church with a neighbor's family when I was 12 and 13 at a Christian Church in Anchorage.  It was at that point that I asked Jesus into my heart for the first time.  But, because my family didn't go to church and we soon moved to a different part of town (and I began hanging around with the wrong crowd), my spiritual life suffered.  I drifted far away from God and more into the world until my early to mid-twenties, when I met the man who would become my future husband.  If it wasn't for him, I likely would not have ever gone back to church.  (Thanks honey!)  

We have been married almost 5 years now and are one third of the way to our goal which is to distribute one Bible to every person in our town (hence the name of my blog)! 

Click here to read Part One of our wedding story, which was also my very first post on this blog.  I met my husband through a mutual friend who recommended me to him for bookkeeping.  That was the beginning of our friendship and the beginning of the end of my back-sliding ways.  

Click here to read Part 2 of our wedding story and find out how I was the first person to receive a Bible from my husband (who was just a friend at the time) when he began his mission of giving away Bibles and how that led to our first date: our wedding! 

(We have stacks of Bibles in the entryway of our business with a sign that says "Free, help yourself")

I love Jesus Christ with all my heart and I hope that my testimony will be an encouragement to anyone who struggles with their faith in Him.