Q: My first recollection of being in church was …

A: Not till I was an older child, maybe 7 or so, would I ride the church bus with some family friends. Around age 10 or 11 when my grandmother was raising me, we went to a Catholic (or maybe Lutheran) church. I don’t remember much church in my life and I have zero memories of either of my parents stepping foot in a church except for funerals.

Q: The closest I have felt to God in my life was …

A: In 2015, just after Holy Spirit saved my life from suicide and I had my 1st real “Jesus face to face” encounter.

Q: The time I have felt the greatest doubt or distance from God was …

A: In 2015 just BEFORE my “Jesus face to face” encounter. I had become the most suicidal and destructive I had ever been in my life and was literally hours away from killing myself.

Q: If I could thank God for just one incident in my life it would be ______ and why?

A: April 17, 1015. I had not seen my child in over 2½ years and there was no hope left in me to ever see her again. I had been stripped of everything in me and around me and was an empty shell of a woman. I had made a plan to kill myself with a bottle of meds I’d been saving for 3 months just for this day. I had planned to crawl up in the covered slide at the local; park, take my pills, and go to sleep…for good. That night, there was a church gathering in the park and I decided I’d sit at it until they left THEN I’d do it. The message was on bitterness, but I was way far past bitterness by that point…so I didn’t really listen to it. All I could think was “When is this over…I have something to do?” I spoke to a few people that night, just being nice. I told one lady that I was kicked out of where I was staying the day before and had no family or friends here (I’d only been in town 3 months 1 day). Then the service ended with a prayer time…I hid in a corner and pleaded with God one last time “God if You are really real, and everything they say You are, do something TONIGHT. I need to know!” Then I sat and sobbed for what felt like forever. The head of the meeting got back on the microphone and said they’d just collected the money for a room for someone who was in great need and did anyone wish to help. A few mins later that man and the lady who I had told part of my situation to came up to me and informed me the one they gathered money for never showed up for it and they wanted to put me in a room for the next 2 days. That Sunday at church, the pastor paid for a month at a cabin in town. Monday I had a job, and the next Friday I got a small vehicle with my 1st check and some help. Days later I met my husband, and 4 months later we were married! That one incident set my entire life on a new course and I’ve never looked back again!

Q: If I could thank God for just one person in my faith journey it would be _______ and why?

A: There are honestly way too many to thank, but it would have to be, Cassie Perez for being the woman who told my story to the head of that meeting and was the orchestrator of me getting a room, a job, and a vehicle. Without her heart, I would have taken my life that night. Then an extremely close second would be Dayna Milam, who has taught me how to walk out of trauma and curses in my life!

Q: If I could name a turning point in my life for my relationship with God it would be ________ and why?

A: Everything in my life seems to revolve around that one night lol…but it really was my pivot point. I was in my late 20s when I got “serious” about God but was still in religion with Him…that night I began to learn about RELATIONSHIP with HIm.

Q: If I had to tell someone why I am a Christian I would have to say

A: I am not a Christian. I am a believer, follower, and lover of Christ! My sweet Savior who literally showed up and saved me from the pits of death. How could I not follow Him everywhere He goes!?