My testimony

I have been a Christian my whole life. I was raised in church and have always known about the Lord. I have led an awesome life. I don't have any sad stories or anything like that, but I do have a testimony to share. So, here it is!

I do remember when I made the conscious decision to be saved at probably about 8 years old. It was at some special event that our church was having Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. I got saved Friday night and was so excited and loved it so much that I decided to do it again on Saturday night. On Sunday, my mom had to explain to me that I didn't need to do it at every alter call. Once was enough. Haha. What can I say? I was just trying to be enthusiastic?? I honestly don't know if I have ever been baptised. I need to get to the bottom of this...I suspect maybe before I was old enough to remember, but I need to find out for sure. Mom???

Anyway, for years my relationship with God remained pretty stagnate. I believed, I prayed, and I went to church sometimes. I was happy in my relationship with the Lord as it was....Mediocre....pretty surface level.

Then, a couple of years ago, Matt and I decided that we wanted to have a deeper relationship with God as a couple. We started praying together for this and began to read the book Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. What we didn't realize at the time was that in order to get this deeper relationship, God was going to have to help us change our priorities, attitude, and views on certain things. Let's just say by the time we got to Day 14 in the book....our lives had begun what would be a two year long process of turning our lives upside down and all around. Matt and I are (well, were) "plan" type of people when it comes to important things in our lives (i.e. finances, children (ha!), etc.) We had back-up plans and back-up plans for the back-up plans and so forth. So, God had to bring us to a place in our life where none of our plans were happening to show us true Faith in him and to show us that His plan is the one we should be concerned with...not ours.

At the end of this period, we found out we were pregnant with Lilly. How??? What?? We were so excited but knew it HAD TO BE His plan. Then, as most of you know, right after we had Lilly...we became pregnant with Reid...again, we did not think this was possible at that time--for several reasons. But you can't become a parent and not become closer to the Lord. Or, it would sure be hard not to. One, our prayer life increased dramatically because the entire world seems so dangerous for our little babies that we wondered how any one makes it to adulthood. Eventually, we just had to turn their safety, health, and general well being over to the Lord. (Matt is still working on this one..ha!) But, mainly because I see how much and the ways in which I love my children and get some kind of tiny understanding of the ways in which he loves us. Because I know that no matter what Reid and Lilly do, I will love them and care about them and I will do anything in my power to guide them and keep them safe. He feels that way about us too. That understanding automatically deepened our relationship.

Then, finally, the reason I am sharing this today. My New Years Resolution was to read my bible and get involved with other Christians. I will tell you that I have only been reading my bible for 3 weeks...but ladies and gents--it is changing my life!! (for the better for those who are wondering) There are two things that keep coming up when I read:

1: Speak boldly about the Lord. I have always been a "quiet Christian". The Lord has blessed my family and me personally in so many ways and I have just kept them to myself...or at most shared them with people that I knew were believers. I certainly didn't leave me comfort zone to share the work he has done in my life. I feel led to change that part of myself. Hence, sharing my testimony. Why on the blog? I stay at home with my kids...this is my way to tell as many people as possible. Over the past few weeks, he has blessed us in so many ways. All of which I hope to share soon-maybe I will do a weekly thing with it.

2: It keeps mentioning prayer and fasting. So, Matt and I are beginning a 21 day fast tomorrow. I will share details of that later..this is just about the testimony. We also found a church yesterday that we both love....we have been searching (albeit half-heartedly) for a church for a long time and are sooooo excited!!!

So, all in all after being pretty lazy in my faith for soooo many years, I finally decided to seek a deeper relationship with God. It took some personal change and growth but I have never been happier and I know that regardless of what happens this year, this is going to be Matt and I's most blessed year spiritually and I can't wait to see what happens!