Everyone Has A Story.....

I find it amazing that everyone's story about how they were led to Christ is just so different. I love to hear the stories people tell about their journey and what life was like before they were saved - I think the sharing of these stories also helps the non-believers....

I've been contemplating about blogging my story for over a month now because it is so easy to judge people. However, I realize that it might actually help someone out there in the blogging world. After I came to know Christ is took about 8 years for me to realize that Christ does forgive and has forgiven me for all the stupid things I use to do. The verse, that helped me out the most with this was Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins." - this post will probably be a little long, but I'll do what I can to shorten it.

Growing up as a little girl, we did not go to church. I'm not sure why, but I think it was because my dad wouldn't go (just a guess). I really did not start going to church until close to the end of my senior year in high school. During my childhood I can only remember a handful of times we did actually go to church. It was on Easter, because everyone else goes on Easter or it was because I went with a neighbor. I remember going to my neighbor's Sunday school class one particular time because the teacher asked everyone to draw what God means to us. I remember thinking, who? what? I don't understand? So, in turn I just copied my neighbor's drawing.

I also remember growing up my mother sitting at the kitchen table reading her Bible, which I really didn't have a clue about (other than some of the words were in red and others in black). While she was doing that my dad would be in the living room reading his newly sent Playboy magazine. Which I might add, that he was reading this out in the open, not trying to hide anything. Plus, if we ever wanted to see what was illustrated in the publication, all my sister and I had to do was look in the bathroom magazine rack or in the floor of his side of the closet. (if you wanted to know - yes we looked did through them) I remember, taking some of his really old magazines (the ones in the garage) and selling them to other kids....Yep, I was that kid that sold your boy his first girly book.

Next, I took my first drink of alcohol when I was in 5th grade. My best friend had a father that was an alcoholic, so he never knew anything was missing. Needless, to say after that first night of drinking when I came home the next morning I was vomiting in the kitchen sink. I just told my mom that my friends sister had a stomach bug, so I must of caught it.

So, as you can imagine by the time I was in high school I had a pretty messed up mind. I continued to drink, heck I could even get served alcohol at one of the local bars downtown and I was only 18. Plus, I had been in multiple adult book stores getting things some people could only imagine. With these two previous sentences, I think you can put one and one together on some of the things I was doing. - So, I don't think there is a need to go into any more detail.

My turning point.........It was funny how everything turned around. I remember it was close the the end of my high school career and the guy I was going a lot of these "things" with ask me if I knew God. I of course, said no, not really why? Then we talked about God for the course of about thirty minutes to an hour and this guy told me what God meant to him. Afterwards, we started attending church however we still participated in the things that were not considered good in the sight of God. Finally, we broke it off and I got my life straightened out. I started attending Woodland Park Baptist Church and the preacher at the time taught the Bible in ways that anyone could understand.

Well - that it, that's my story. Oh - and Gary knows all about this, I told him everything once I thought our relationship was getting somewhat serious. Plus - I confessed everything to my mom as well....