I grew up in a Christian home with amazing Christian parents. My brothers and I were at church every Sunday and Wednesday, regardless of whether we wanted to be there. We were taught all the Bible stories that kids learn in Sunday School and were raised to respect others. Because of this early foundation, I truly believe God spared me from so many other trials I could have gone through in life.
At the early age of 6, I felt God calling me to Himself at a children’s camp service. In the back of the auditorium, I knelt with my mama and told Jesus that I needed Him to save me from my sins. While my understanding of grace and mercy was limited to a child’s understanding, I have seen God use our early relationship time and time again to point me back to grace and mercy.
I spend my childhood and teenage years trusting in Jesus, knowing He was the best friend I could ever have, especially when other friends turned their backs on me. I was active in my church and in Bible studies at school. But I always struggled with why I did not have the lifestyle-altering testimony of so many others. Having grown up in a Christian family and in church my whole life, I questioned if that really played a role in the testimony I was not even sure I had. One day, God placed my husband in my life to explain to me that I had a testimony. While I knew I was a sinner and needed Jesus every day, I did not have much of the baggage that marked other testimonies. That alone was a testimony to God’s grace and mercy! Just because I did not have the trials others had, it did not mean I was any less of a sinner. It could ONLY speak to God’s goodness! So, I choose to trust God even more, knowing that He could use a testimony like mine to show His faithfulness in my life and the same faithfulness He can have in the lives of others!
I never had a heart for church planting. In fact, church-planting was not a term I had ever heard of growing up. I have lived in same 25-mile circle my entire life. When Justin and I got married, I knew that he had a heart for missions. At the time, I thought it was international missions and I told him “No way! If God wants to you to go into missions, He is going to have to change my heart Himself.” I should have known better than to say that because the Lord has a sense of humor and change my heart is exactly what He did. But at the same time, He was also working on Justin’s heart by leading him towards church-planting in the United States. The Lord used Justin’s passion for international missions to teach me to obediently trust Him because He is working for my good, even when I do not see it.
Romans 10:13-14
Hebrews 10:23
