I have a confession...

Hi Y'all! I have a confession. I am a sinner. I am not perfect in any way, shape, or form. I am just as broken as the rest of the world. Thankfully though, I know the Saviour and His name is Jesus! Let me tell you how I met Him...

I want to begin by telling you a little bit about how I got to where I am today. God has placed some pretty great people in my life to "raise" me spiritually. I grew up in rural Northeastern Tennessee. The area I grew up in was (and still is) one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the nation. I grew up in a middle-class family. My daddy was a coal miner, and my mom was an entrepreneur that owned several different businesses over the years. Growing up my parents were not believers. Actually, they didn't profess to be believers until well into my teen years.

My first rememberance of church was somewhere between 1st and 3rd grade. One of my mom's good friends lived just a couple blocks away from us and attended church in our community. She had a son that was close to my age. He was actually closer to my younger sister's age. Mrs. Eula asked mom if she could take us to church and my mom agreed.

I remember one Sunday, three of us kids sitting on the front pew with Mrs. Barb (she was a teacher in one of our local schools) while Mrs. Eula sang in the choir. Pastor Fox was taking prayer requests, and she asked me if I had anyone that I wanted to pray for. I said that my papaw was getting ready to have heart surgery, and she told Pastor Fox my request. Writing this brings back such precious memories of all the women (and men) that God placed in my life to guide me spiritually!

From there Mrs. Eula continued to take us too and from church for several years. Eventually, when I was of youth group age (my middle school years), I began to grow close to my youth pastor and his family. The Price's became my second family. Eventually they began taking us to and from church and I remember many times having conversations in the car with Charlie and Robin about school, my family, and how much God loved me.

I have fond memories of those years in church... vacation bible schools, picnics, pizza parties for the youth, youth lock-ins, building our new facility, sunday school lessons, and all the love that was showered on me.... the church was a family. I even felt loved when my friend, Ashley, and I got called down by Charlie on Sunday nights for passing notes in church. (I'm pretty sure I have some of those notes somewhere.). Those years molded my life.

I remember distinctly one Sunday night when when I was 14 years old, Charlie was filling in to preach because Pastor John (our senior pastor at the time) was preaching a revival at another church. I don't quite remember so much what the sermon was about that night, so much as when Charlie asked the application question... "what are you going to do?" That hit me hard. I remember the altar call. "God loves you so much and wants a relationship with you. It's a gift, you just have to take it. What if you leave here and you don't make it home tonight, where would you go?" I felt my heart swell. I knew God was knocking on my heart, and yet, I didn't walk the aisle.

I remember the car ride home was quiet. When I walked in my house, my mom was on the computer, dad was reading a paper while the tv played in the background, and my sister ran off to tell them about her day. I went straight to my bedroom, and closed my door. There on the floor between my bed and my desk, I got on my knees and prayed. I asked God to forgive me for being a sinner and to come into my heart. I remembered the ABC's of salvation from so many VBS's before. Admit - that your a sinner (Romans 3:23), Believe - in your heart that Jesus loves you so much that He came to die for your sins (John 3:16), and Confess - your sins and commit your life to Christ (Romans 10:9-10).

It was that simple, and as a 14 year-old girl, there alone in my room, I cried and Jesus came into my heart. I remember the moment. It was simple, and the peace I felt after that prayer, I have only found in Christ as I have gone through life.