Yes, this is a picture of a picture. But I was classy and added a border. That helps? right?
When I was young my family was trying out different churches. One Sunday at a new church they asked during children’s church if anyone there had not prayed a certain prayer yet. My sister and I raised our hands and were led to the back of the room to pray this prayer with someone. We were told that it meant that we had accepted Jesus into our hearts and would live with Him in heaven but that’s pretty much it. We weren’t ready or understanding of what we were being led through and didn’t understand. We did rush out to our van that morning after church to excitedly tell our parents only to find that there had been a fight between them while we were at church and that was the beginning of the end for our family. It was a bad day and I still remember seeing the suitcases of the parent that was leaving in the van. My joy was immediately crushed and it was hard. The memory of it is still hard to this day but God is a God of restoration has has now restored devastation and made it ito good things.
Years later I was attending summer vacation bible school at a different church with friends. My parents had divorced and life for all of us kids was different and hard. At the end of VBS they were going to be baptizing people and since a lot of my friends were doing it, I signed up to do it too. I was baptized and thought that at point, I was a christian. I knew the words to say, had been baptized and thought I was tagged and good to go.
The truth is that it was just an empty place in my life that was filled with a ritual, not a true faith. In high school I was blessed to meet an amazing group of friends. I had many great friends but Emily, Todd, Abel and Brock were my best friends that accepted me for who I am, which is really kinda scary. Todd and Abel went to church across town from us and they were always bugging me to come. Finally to get them off my back I agreed to go. However agreeing to go and actually attending were two different things in my mind and I was still determined not to go. I liked to sleep in on sundays, I was a supreme introvert that hated meeting new people and I thought I was good with God as I was, alone in my pretend faith.
The first sunday came after I had agreed to go and my whole family was woken up by Todd and Abel ringing the doorbell. I stumbled into the living room and told them that obviously I had overslept because my alarm, which wasn’t set, never went off. Obviously I would just have to go some other time. Surely that excuse had gotten them off my case, or so I thought. The next weekend once again the doorbell rang and once again I stumbled into the living room with the dried drool on my face and funky morning hair. The kept on week after week until one day they sat down on the couch and said, “we’ll wait.” Stealth is not my middle name apparently because they were onto me.
We arrived to church really late and I was really nervous. It was a place full of “perfect” people and I was imperfect from a broken destroyed family living a wrecked life. I thought they would judge me and hate me but no one did. They loved me and accepted me. I started finding friends there and attending on Sundays and Wednesdays. Then I went to camp with them and started learning more about this God that I thought I already knew. It turns out that I didn’t know Him and I didn’t know the stories about how He mends the broken pieces. I was a walking talking world of broken pieces and I needed to be put back together. Slowly I came to realize more and more that I wanted to serve God and that He was the only thing that could replace my life so far with a promise and future.
Then one night our youth group was having a concert named Harvest with a comedian speaking after the concert. I went expecting just to have fun and laugh. What happened is that I heard my name called by God. At the end of the night the comedian shared about his testimony and how he came to know Christ and then opened the altar for all those to come forward that wanted to accept Christ as their Savior.
“Bobbie.” I heard it loud and clear as day. I looked around to my friends and asked who had called my name. They told me that they had not. I heard it again and then I somehow was on my feet and walking down the aisle. It wasn’t me and it wasn’t my friends who called me. It was God. How could I hear God call my name and not accept Him into my life? It was an extremely powerful moment in my life that I still remember vividly to this day.
That was the start to my journey in November of 1997 with many bumps and bruises along the way. I’m not perfect (ha) but I am believer of a God who loves and desires to sing over the imperfect. Without Todd and Abel I still believe that God would have called me but who knows when or how much longer I would have continued living broken and torn down. They were and still are amazing guys and friends. Simple friends can change your life.
My Salvation Story
Yes, this is a picture of a picture. But I was classy and added a border. That helps? right?
When I was young my family was trying out different churches. One Sunday at a new church they asked during children’s church if anyone there had not prayed a certain prayer yet. My sister and I raised our hands and were led to the back of the room to pray this prayer with someone. We were told that it meant that we had accepted Jesus into our hearts and would live with Him in heaven but that’s pretty much it. We weren’t ready or understanding of what we were being led through and didn’t understand. We did rush out to our van that morning after church to excitedly tell our parents only to find that there had been a fight between them while we were at church and that was the beginning of the end for our family. It was a bad day and I still remember seeing the suitcases of the parent that was leaving in the van. My joy was immediately crushed and it was hard. The memory of it is still hard to this day but God is a God of restoration has has now restored devastation and made it ito good things.
Years later I was attending summer vacation bible school at a different church with friends. My parents had divorced and life for all of us kids was different and hard. At the end of VBS they were going to be baptizing people and since a lot of my friends were doing it, I signed up to do it too. I was baptized and thought that at point, I was a christian. I knew the words to say, had been baptized and thought I was tagged and good to go.
The truth is that it was just an empty place in my life that was filled with a ritual, not a true faith. In high school I was blessed to meet an amazing group of friends. I had many great friends but Emily, Todd, Abel and Brock were my best friends that accepted me for who I am, which is really kinda scary. Todd and Abel went to church across town from us and they were always bugging me to come. Finally to get them off my back I agreed to go. However agreeing to go and actually attending were two different things in my mind and I was still determined not to go. I liked to sleep in on sundays, I was a supreme introvert that hated meeting new people and I thought I was good with God as I was, alone in my pretend faith.
The first sunday came after I had agreed to go and my whole family was woken up by Todd and Abel ringing the doorbell. I stumbled into the living room and told them that obviously I had overslept because my alarm, which wasn’t set, never went off. Obviously I would just have to go some other time. Surely that excuse had gotten them off my case, or so I thought. The next weekend once again the doorbell rang and once again I stumbled into the living room with the dried drool on my face and funky morning hair. The kept on week after week until one day they sat down on the couch and said, “we’ll wait.” Stealth is not my middle name apparently because they were onto me.
We arrived to church really late and I was really nervous. It was a place full of “perfect” people and I was imperfect from a broken destroyed family living a wrecked life. I thought they would judge me and hate me but no one did. They loved me and accepted me. I started finding friends there and attending on Sundays and Wednesdays. Then I went to camp with them and started learning more about this God that I thought I already knew. It turns out that I didn’t know Him and I didn’t know the stories about how He mends the broken pieces. I was a walking talking world of broken pieces and I needed to be put back together. Slowly I came to realize more and more that I wanted to serve God and that He was the only thing that could replace my life so far with a promise and future.
Then one night our youth group was having a concert named Harvest with a comedian speaking after the concert. I went expecting just to have fun and laugh. What happened is that I heard my name called by God. At the end of the night the comedian shared about his testimony and how he came to know Christ and then opened the altar for all those to come forward that wanted to accept Christ as their Savior.
“Bobbie.” I heard it loud and clear as day. I looked around to my friends and asked who had called my name. They told me that they had not. I heard it again and then I somehow was on my feet and walking down the aisle. It wasn’t me and it wasn’t my friends who called me. It was God. How could I hear God call my name and not accept Him into my life? It was an extremely powerful moment in my life that I still remember vividly to this day.
That was the start to my journey in November of 1997 with many bumps and bruises along the way. I’m not perfect (ha) but I am believer of a God who loves and desires to sing over the imperfect. Without Todd and Abel I still believe that God would have called me but who knows when or how much longer I would have continued living broken and torn down. They were and still are amazing guys and friends. Simple friends can change your life.
That was a beautiful story Bobbie. Thanks for sharing.
You might not beleive me, but I’m serious, the same thing happened to me when I was 16. I was at a church confernce in New Orleans, and I heard God speak to me. It was a little frightening to me. Well really a lot frightening. So much so, I got up and walked out of the church. Luckily, I walked back in because once I thought about it that was really quite rude, and even if I was scared that’s no way to treat the Lord and savior. I like your story better. Its more appropriate. Less ummmm. . . dingle dork like. Sorry for my strange use of vocabulary, its what I do when I feel inferior. God bless you, I see the light of God in you, thank you for shining it on me 🙂
I was actually just looking at your cute ruffle wreath while browsing the internet for a craft to do with some friends next week. I saw your faith tab and thought I’d take a look. My hubby is a youth pastor here in Alabama. I cried when I read your testimony. Praise the Lord! I just love to read other people’s testimonies. I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was 7. He has been so good to us. Glad to find a cute craft blog and by someone who has like faith. Do you have any suggestions on cute crafts to do for a ladies fellowship meeting or something to do with apples?
thanks Jessica! Have you thought about doing a simple canvas tote bag with apple prints on it? If you slice an apple vertically it’ll just look like an apple but sometimes if you slice it horizontally it looks like a star from where the seeds are. do you have pintrest? that would be a great place to look. If you need an invite to it, just let me know. God is good to us. Keep up the good fight, I know being a youth pastor’s wife means giving up a lot of your time.
I loved your story. I was saved on May 1, 2011. I had been attending a Church near me pretty regularly for a few months, but had been raised in a different religion. A religion that teaches you that all other religions are wrong, and only this particular religion is the “right” one. I digress. This particular day was just an ordinary Sunday, or so I thought. I had been living a very sinful, destructive life. I’m not proud of the wife I was at this point in my life, nor the lifestyle I was living. My mom, my son, and myself were at Church, listening to an amazing preacher talk about how he had been saved years before. I began crying. And in my head, I heard as clear as day, “It’s okay, Maggie. You don’t have to do this alone. It’s ok. Come to me.” By this time I was sobbing uncontrollably, and I went forward. My life hasn’t been the same since. I try really hard to live a good life. I’m not perfect, but you know what? God doesn’t expect me to be perfect. He just wants me to keep trying. I still cry almost every Sunday at some point in the service. I believe this is my soul getting rid of all the pain, and letting the Holy Spirit in. Anyway, I don’t normally follow sites like this, but I feel a kindred spirit in you. Thanks. 🙂
I am so happy to hear a similar story where you also heard the voice. I don’t meet people like that often, if ever, and sometimes I actually feel silly telling people that part of it but I can’t deny it.
Your story just gave me goosebumps! Really! Praising Jesus for you! 🙂
Thank you so much.
It was wonderful hearing your story of salvation. We may not get to meet on earth but I will meet you in the sky.
I love this so much. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing your inspiring story. I’m so thankful that we serve a God who meets us where we are and never gives up on us.
Just today I found out about Annie Sloan chalk paint from our pastor’s wife and she showed me some of the furniture she had painted. Love it but she did tell me it was somewhat pricey. Then I found your Clumsey Crafter (sounds like me but I do it anyway!) pin on how to make it…so I’m def going to try it. This is the first time I’ve ever commented on a person’s site, but after reading your testimony (which I cried through, awesome!), I just had to tell you what a beautiful testimony of the Lord’s love, grace and revelation in your life. There is nothing like His redeeming Love! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
aw thanks Josie!