Some More of My Story

For many people who “grew up in the church,” their testimony is a two-part story. Many children accept Jesus as their Savior. Later, as young adults, those same children often go through a time when they question and perhaps even rebel against what they have been taught. I believe this period, usually in the late teens and early twenties, is a time of decision. The young adult is deciding to either accept what they have been taught as their own beliefs or to reject the teachings and follow their own path. You can read the first part of my story here: Sylvester & Tweety Bird. This article is about the second part of my story:

Time passed and I continued to grow, both physically and spiritually. However, I reached a point where I became bored with church, God, and the Bible. I moaned at the same old stories I had heard over and over through years of Sunday School and Christian high school. Other activities and interests started looking more interesting and I spent my late teen-age and early adult years in a spiritually dark place.

As the end of my college years approached I sensed God calling to me, trying to pull me out of the pit I was in. I knew I wanted out but I was still leery of religion as I had come to know it. However, the Spirit’s persistence and the logic within my own head won out in the end. The God of creation could not be a boring God. The God who enacted a plan thousands of years ago, prophesied that plan’s end, and has carried it out thus far, could not be a boring God. The God who would give His only Son to be born of a virgin, die on a cross for the sins of all mankind, and resurrect, thereby conquering death, could not be a boring God. I determined I would seek after the God of those things.

Despite many gifted and dedicated pastors and teachers, some of whom might actually be reading this blog, I came to realize I was responsible for my own spiritual growth. I believed every Word of Scripture was absolutely true and wouldn’t be included in His Book if it didn’t serve a purpose, not only at the time it was written but for us today as well. So began an amazing journey of studying the truth of God’s Word.

Through this journey God is bringing me along one step at a time. In the beginning, my studies were done between God and myself. Then, God called me to teach. I would study on my own at home and teach studies by other authors at church. Later, God called me to start sharing some of the lessons He had been teaching me in the privacy of my own home. As the journey progressed, God led me to start writing the studies down so other people could teach them. With the publication of my first Bible study, “Seven Roles, One Woman: You Expect Me To Do All That?” I have come one step further in the journey I believe God created for my life. At this point I look back in awe of how God has worked in my life and I look forward in eager expectation of completing the journey.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6