I love to hear testimonies of how people come to Christ. For some, it involves adversity or an “aha moment”-mine does not; it was gradual. Thank you God. I was raised Catholic. My mom encouraged me to go to church on Sundays and would speak to me about God, mostly to make me aware that God was everywhere and could see everything I did. I would attend consistently, but was not moved. I did not fulfill that spiritual void. During my high school years, a very lovely family knocked on our door one Sunday morning. I invited them in and we got to talking. After spending time with them week after week, I agreed to go with them to Kingdom Hall. I went a couple of times but again left empty. When that fizzled for me, I turned to something else. I was studying the “Theory of Evolution” in school, and though I always believed in God, I started to believe in Darwinism. I read somewhere that God had used the Theory of Evolution and that sounded good to me. During that period of my adulthood, Pastor Robert Salazar from Victory Outreach (VO) and his family had moved into the house directly across from ours. We started developing a relationship with them. We had a swimming pool in our home so VO’s baptisms would take place at our home. I would witness them here and there, but as a teenager I had a different agenda and was too busy for God. I remember one evening, after the baptisms, Pastor Bobby and his wife Maria had stayed for dinner and my mom mentioned to him of my “spiritual quest”. After conversing with them, he asked me if I believed in Jesus Christ and if I would accept Him into my heart and as my Savior. I said yes to Christ sometime in 1993. Although I had said yes, I was not prepared to live a life that paralleled that decision. At my mother’s request, I attended a couple of Sunday services at VO to support our neighbors and because my uncle (a recovering drug-addict who was leading a men’s rehab home) also called VO his church home. I did not feel like I fit in. I felt uncomfortable there. At that age, I was not able to understand the depth and charisma of that church. I felt like I was not born-again or recovering from any addictions so I felt out of place. I still wanted to find a church that was right for me.
After high school, I moved to Las Vegas, NV. As a twenty-one year old, Vegas was a new “playground” for me. I was working and making good money, had a career that afforded me special perks and a glimpse of a very desirable lifestyle. I had access to the latest nightclubs, fancy restaurants and easily got caught up in the glitz and glamour of it all. At the end of the day, I still felt empty. I remember one day praying to God to lead me to a church that I could call home, where I felt I would fit in. I literally grabbed my phone book and asked God to lead me and that is when I found Canyon Ridge Christian Church. I went, loved it, and started attending consistently for over one and a half years. Then, I bought a home on the other side of town and stopped attending. My sister, who also lived in Las Vegas, would attend Central Christian Church and would invite me to join her and her family. I went and really enjoyed it. After going to Central a few times, I felt that this was the closest to a home church I would find.
In 2006, I started attending Central consistently. In 2007, I took their membership class and became a member, then began serving in the Children’s Ministry (2 & 3 yr. olds) for a short period of time. In May of 2007, my dear friend Ken, who lived in California, invited me to Saddleback Church and I LOVED it. I started dating Ken shortly after and considered relocating to California. In June of 2007, I was laid off from work and made the decision to go forward with the move and the relationship. I started attending Saddleback Church and got baptized July 22, 2007. Although I was still living in Las Vegas and did not officially move until September when I got engaged, I would attend Saddleback whenever I was in California and would watch services online while attending “live” services at Central. I have been at Saddleback since moving to California in September 2007, and I can say with complete confidence that this is my “home” church, where I fit in (I think, anyway. lol). I became a member in November.
For me, being baptized was a HUGE covenant I decided to make. God and I know the life choices I have made, the hurts, hang-ups and habits I had to overcome, the circumstances I have been in, the challenges I have had to face, and I am so grateful that I get to be a new creation in Christ. One of my life verses is 2 Corinthians 5:17. I take that very seriously and have worked really hard, through Christ in me, to change the person I used to be and be a new creation in HIM. For friends and family who have known me over the years, my transformation has been shocking to most. Not that I was a bad person or anything like that, I was just living a very self-centered life-Me, Me, Me. I am so blessed and my God loves me so much. I don’t deserve all that He has done for me, but He blesses me anyway. That brings tears of joy to me. I know that I couldn’t possibly do anything here on earth to earn God’s love, mercy and grace but that does not mean that I cannot show my appreciation to Him. My husband has a t-shirt that I absolutely love. It says, “He died for me, I will live for Him”. I want to live a Godly life that makes our Heavenly Father proud. I want to work for Him, and fulfill my purpose in life for Him. I want to grow His Kingdom, and ultimately glorify Him. I pray that one day I can get to heaven and God will turn to me, spread his arms to hug me and say, “Well done my good faithful servant”.
