Christocentric

How I became a Christian

There wasn’t any magical moment or earth shattering ground shaking revelation to my becoming a Christian.  In fact my story is quite simple and it begins like this:

Someone handed me a little Gideon New Testament bible while I was a 7 year old in elementary school.  Those days the little bibles were popular around school campuses and no one made a big fuss about it being done.  No atheists, no ACLU, no TV cameras or parents making a big stink about it.

I opened the bible and went to the back page.  It talked about God’s love for us, us being sinners and Jesus saving us from our sins and offering us eternal life.  All I remember was my little child-like faith really falling in love with God and grateful that He gave Jesus to me! I wanted that and it had that little space on the bible where you can sign and date the day you make the decision to have Jesus as your Savior.  I signed it and have considered myself a Christian ever since.  (I share that same info from the back of a Gideon bible on my link here from this post:  How to be Born Again.

Forgetting about being a Christian

Having an agnostic military dad (but a believing mom) we moved around a lot so much so that my church attendance was sparse.  But sadly my bible reading was non-existent and as a result I kind of fell to the wayside and forgot about being a Christian at all until my freshman year in college.

At the University of North Carolina at Greensboro I roomed with two other women, one of which was really different.  The rest of us were partying a lot, sleeping around and although I didn’t do drugs or drink (much), I was hardly ever in my dorm room.  But whenever I was, I would see that “different roommate” reading her bible or doing school work.  I would ask her to go out with the rest of us but she would always decline.  I was confused whether to hate her or like her.  She was likeable so I just resorted to teasing her and making her mad while making fun of her car that I nicknamed tin can.  (She worked her way through school, while Miss Spoiled Marine Corps Officer’s brat had her own lil’ sports car in school.)

This roommate’s lifestyle began to convict me about mine. Didn’t I become a Christian? Wasn’t I born-again too? How come my life wasn’t looking like my roommates? I was beginning to feel really guilty whenever I lay with a man.  I was beginning to hate myself tremendously because of my life.  I didn’t share that with my roommate nor did she talk much to me about my lifestyle.  But her just being there was tough enough!

So when my sophomore year completed and my grades handed to me, my .0196 GPA was enough to convince me that when my dad got orders to San Diego, I asked if I can leave with him and my mother.  I was too ashamed to stay in North Carolina and wanted to start my life anew.  Our family made its move after a seven year stay in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to San Diego California.

My new life

I left friends, old boyfriends, my old lifestyle and bad grades to try to better my life.  By the time we did that, I was a 20 year old and moved with my younger sister who was 18 to stay with our aunt and uncle in Los Angeles.  A hunky 22 year old man lived with his mom across the street from us.  He had just finished his college and was staying with his mother until he could get his own place.

To make a long story short, that hunky guy became my husband and father of all five of my kids.  I had finally settled down with one man, started going to church and reading the bible and my faith began to soon grow.

The marriage was extremely difficult which drew me even closer to God.  I wanted to be a better Christian which I became, and also a better wife.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t hang with the problems (which included adultery) so I booked from my marriage -  and back to San Diego to start my life anew again but this time as a divorcee.  My mother and father took me and all five of my kids into their home.  I was so blessed to have them help me when I knew many who could never return to their parent’s home.

While on welfare I went back to college, graduated with a 3.5 GPA, majored in Office Automation Systems, minored in Business Management at our local computer college and landed a pretty decent job and began working to care for my children.  My life had taken a great turn!

My Church home

I have attended some great churches here in San Diego, but I have made the Rock Church San Diego my church home for the last five years and am currently involved in several ministries there.

And by the way, that roommate became one of my dearest friends ever!  She was my maid of honor at my wedding, the godmother to my first two children.  And after coming to Los Angeles she decided she liked it, moved and is still living there with her husband and two children.  God gave me a lifetime friend!

That was my story of my beginnings.  But oh is this story getting more interesting…another chapter for another day!

God is so good!