My Story Up-to-Date

Like many stories of this type, I begin by saying, "I grew up in a Christian home." Life was always comfortable, and I had a religious routine of weekly church and Sunday School. Interestingly, though, the gospel message was never presented as applicable to my life. I guess you could say God decided to take matters into His own hands, and that's where my story takes off on its own.

I was nine years old when Mom started running around attending every local revival meeting with her friends. One of these weekends, we ended up at a church retreat where Tommy Tenney commenced the weekend with a night of prayer. At first, I was quite disappointed that the evening would be so boring, but what else could I do? I had to follow suit. As I began to pray, my mind suddenly began to form images of a concrete cinderblock room. There were no lights, no windows, and no furniture--just a doorway. I saw myself, holding the hand of a figure I knew to be Christ, who was leading me into the far corner of this bleak room. There, Christ knelt with me and began to tell meof all my sins. I could not audibly hearHis words, but I knew well enough that I was in deep need of forgiveness. That night, the scrawny kid in the front row with glasses experienced her first supernatural vision, and she didn't even realize it.

The next night, I attended the youth session where after the message, the speaker laid hands on whoever wanted prayer. I lined up according to my mother's wishes, but as I stood there praying, with tears streaming down my face, a clear blue sky opened up in front of me. It was wonderfully blue. A tan road also stretched out before me with many translucent houses on either side. Int he center of this road sat a golden throne with royal purple cushions, and at the foot of the throne ran the River of Life. I was observing the scene from the far bank of the river, opposite the throne. The river separated me from the magnificent scene of serene beauty, but I was captivated nonetheless.

After the retreat, I knew a change had occurred within me, but the only way I knew to describe it was to ask my mothe if I could be baptized. However, due to church protocol, I couldn't get baptized until a year later. Although I didn't comprehend it at the time, I'm amazed by the order of God's revelation to me. The first night he showed me my need, and the next night, He offered His eternal gift. I never did pray the sinner's prayer or make the "conscious decision" to get saved, but I've always known it happened.

Throughout the years, I've continued to grow and mature in my faith, learning to trust the Lord more and more. I've taken many steps back, but God has led me forward, too. When I was 13, I realized a longtime desire to serve the Lord on the mission field. I felt within me that unless I was helping meet the real, tangible needs of others and giving them the best gift I have to offer, the message of the gospel, I personally could not be truly satisfied. That same year, I became very involved in children's ministry, which has continued to be a passion of mine. Since then, I have also dabbled in inner city outreach, music ministry, and TESOL and ESL.

At 15 or 16, God gave me a vision to reach the younger high risk boys of urban Latin America. Reading David Wilkerson's book, The Cross and the Switchblade further solidified that vision, and during high school and college, I continued to develop that vision. I came to CIU with a rather extensive and detailed vision, fully passionate about it. However, since being here, I've realized taht perhaps I've been serving my vision more than I've been serving God. There's been a lot of re-evaluation, adn while I would still love to work with the high risk children of Latin America, I know I cannot limit the imaginative power of God to send me anywhere. God has also been developing my writing and editing skills the last few years, and I feel very strongly that this is something that will follow me wherever God places me. I will do what God calls me to do, but even more, I want the world to hear the stories of His work as I am witness.

For now, my story has me here at CIU, but when I'm finished, I know I'll be happy to serve Him wherever He calls me to go, whomever He calls me to serve. However, my prayer is that no matter where I am, I will be faithful to see the needs of those God places before me and to apply the gospel as the only remedy.