What was life like before you turned to God?
I was born with a cleft lip and palate and had difficulty talking and was extremely self conscious about how I looked and sounded.I didn’t talk much, was shy, and tried to stay in the background, unnoticed. I experienced severe ridicule, teasing, staring, being laughed at, and rejection. I had many corrective surgeries, years of dental and orthodontic work, and many years of speech therapy. I was extremely lonely, sad, and severely depressed, and by the time I was 16, I felt everyone would be better off without me around. I wanted a way out of all the pain and crippling depression, and began to contemplate how to end my life.

What kept you from knowing Him and experiencing Him?
I felt that if God could allow this to happen to me then He must not love me or care about me. I believed the lie that I would never be good enough or beautiful enough, and would spend my life being a social outcast. To me God was distant, cruel, and severe.

What spurred you to turn to Jesus for salvation?
Although I grew up going to church and learned all the Bible stories. I knew about God and Jesus, but never heard about a personal relationship with God until I attended a youth camp one summer in high school and heard some of the kids talking about a personal relationship with Jesus. There was something different about them and they didn’t reject me. I saw a peace and joy in them I desperately longed for. I wanted to feel loved, accepted, and have something to give me hope and purpose in life. I was suicidal and wanted to be rescued.

What happened in your heart and your life as you came to know God?
When I prayed and asked God to forgive my sin and come and be the Lord of my life, I felt physically as if a weight was lifted off my shoulders and my body was flooded with a warmth and deep sense of acceptance. I felt like God reached down and rescued me from a very dark and lonely prison. I felt unconditional love for the first time in my life, and as I began to get to know God through His Word and through other Christians who discipled me, I was able to have more confidence in talking and being around others. As healing was completed on the outside, God continue to heal me on the inside. It was a journey and took many years, but little by little, as I understood how GOD saw me and felt about me, I was set free from all the lies that had been written in my heart and life, and all the pain and hurt they inflicted.

What helps you to experience God better each day?
Abiding in Him each day. (John 15) Reading His Word, devotionals, prayer, surrender, listening to Him, and being aware of how He is at work all around me each and every day in the little and big things.

What’s the one aspect of God He has revealed himself to you as that is the most dear to you?
That He loves me unconditionally as no one else can, did not make a mistake when He made me the way He did, and He wants to use my life and experiences to help others draw closer to Him. That He could take a child that didn’t talk and was extremely shy, and prepare, call, and equip me to speak, teach, and lead a impactful healing ministry.

What is God teaching you in this current season about Himself?
That He is 100% faithful and trustworthy. That HE will equip me to do what it is He has called me to do, (lead True Identity Ministries) and wants to continue to grow me to be more Christ-like each day. That if I stay close to Him and walk with HIm, He will guide my every step and provide for every need. He will never leave me nor forsake me and has given me an exciting future and hope!

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