What’s your faith story?
Growing up I went to church and would say that I believed in God. I was Baptized as a baby and took communion classes. When I was twenty-one I realized there is a difference between having a belief in God and having a relationship with him. Jon [my future husband] was a big part of realizing the importance of having a relationship with God. I was living the typical lifestyle of a twenty-one-year-old when the topic of faith came up. Jon challenged me and said the word Christian meant Christ-like and asked me if Christ would be living how I was living.It originally made me mad but things kept happening to change my mind.
Another time when Jon and I were hanging out, he turned to me and said we would both go to hell if we died that night. Around the same time I found a track on the floor that Jon’s friend had given him. It talked about the Ten Commandments and heaven. I took it to a friend’s spiritual mom for advice.
Jon was not living for Christ but wanted to change too. Over a period of six months we talked about reading the Bible together, but we never did. One day we visited Jon’s childhood friend who was living for the Lord. The family bible was one the table and we were sitting around talking. The friend said time was like a line and life is like a dot on the line. No one knows how much time they have. He read Mathew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” I had never heard this before.After leaving the friend’s house I thought I should make a change. It was an overwhelming sense that I needed to change. Though, I didn’t know how or what salvation would look like yet. I started thinking in a different way.
Soon after I called Jon and said I need to get saved. I told him “I know you can tell me if you want to, or give me your friends number so he can tell me.” I didn’t know how serious Jon was about wanting change. But he said he’d start reading the Bible with me. We started reading Matthew and read five chapters a day. I wrote down lots of questions. Jon wouldn’t answer my questions. He said it would be revealed to me the more I read. A lot of the questions I had were answered as I read and some I still have.Still, it got me seeking God.
John told me I really needed to ask God for forgiveness. I felt like God couldn’t forgive me or I wasn’t worth forgiving. After a few weeks I started talking to God and asked for forgiveness. It wasn’t necessarily things that I read that were sins but that I knew were sins. The next day I told John that I had asked God for forgiveness the night before and he surprised me by saying that he had done the same that morning. So within twenty-four hours of each other John and I both asked God into our lives.
What was your last moment of bliss? I saw the new Little Women movie.
If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be? Pizza
Do you think that people’s perception of you is accurate? No, people think I’ve always been a Christian and are surprised when they find out my story.
What causes are important to you? I’m very pro life. It’s a cause that’s important to me.I signed petitions to ban the dismemberment of unborn children and I join pro-life marches. My daughter understands exactly what abortion is and can’t believe such a procedure exists. It’s been her choice to be involved. I’m not the type of person to force my child to participate in something just to make a point.
What is a policy or law you would like to change? As someone who can’t have my own child I think there should be adoption reform. Adoption is so expensive. But it’s so inexpensive to abort a child. I know so many people who would meet women at abortion clinics take them home and care for them and their child but it’s not legal. The system makes it very difficult to help others.
What is one personality trait that you get compliments on? That I am giving.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? A tropical island somewhere.
What is one dream you have for the future? To have more children.
