"The Evolving of Me"

I was born! (a good place to begin....)

I was raised in a Christian home with much love and not much money.
I never had a new bike until Mike bought me one after we were living in our current home.
My Dad got our swing set at a dump and redid it. My Mom made our play clothes and one of my
Grandmother's made our other clothes...she even made my very first formal gown!
The lady next door made my Barbie doll's clothes!

My Grandparents were very Godly people and showed me great love and acceptance...so did my parents. I had my share of spankings when I was deliberatly disobedient and then it was enough
just to know that some of my behavior disappointed my parents, which hurt more than a spanking ever did! (for example, my one AND only speeding ticket!)

I grew up on a street where you knew practically everyone. I walked to school and we could even walk to church.

I had great Sunday school teachers and one particular older Pastor that was a great influence on my life.

I accepted Jesus as my Saviour around the age of 10 and thought I had a pretty good relationship with Him.

I had a wonderful childhood!

I made it through High School, College, and then married the man of my dreams and then somewhere along the way my "rose-colored" glasses fell off!

Wow! I became a bit disillusioned with life in general!

Finally one day I had had it! And I literally "strongly" made this statement to God...
"If this is all there is to being a Christian, then it isn't much!"

Amazingly, God spoke to me saying that He had been waiting for me to come to that conclusion
and basically that I hadn't seen anything yet!

From that day on my life drastically changed...for the better even though some very difficult times arose. I learned that I couldn't live on just what I had been taught as a child...that there was a difference in knowing Christ as Saviour and as my Lord...huge difference there!
He had been my Saviour all those years but He had never been my Lord.

From that moment on, God showed me "things", told me "things" letting me experience His Life
and then I would read it in His Word! Wow! I was living it!

He became my Abba Father, my Lord...my very life.

Being a Christian isn't about a set of rules and regulations...it's about a real, viable relationship with Someone Who is more real than this day to day living here on this earth.
He is as close and real to me as breathing.
He is my very life, the air I breathe. His Word gives me life, strengthens me and keeps me sane in a world that is vastly becoming a place of confusion and injustice.

Without Him I would merely exist, having no real purpose.

There are too many professing Christians that are steeped in legalism, lists of rules and regulations and they give Christianity a bad name, leave a bad taste in the mouths of society.
There is no relationship and therefore there is no love...the Love that God showed and gave to the world in Jesus. Love is the key! Yes, we are to hate evil but not hate people. We are to love as God loves and only God can help us do that.

I could say so much more, share so many more experiences but maybe that's for another time.

Because He is...I am!