Although I was raised and attended churches from the time I was a baby, I did not know what it was to have Christ in my life until the age of 10. Before that, God was there, but he wasnt real to me like He is today.

When I was 10 years old my mother signed me up for Vacation Bible School (VBS) sponsored by a Baptist church group that would become my home church during my adolescent years. Although new to the group, I was about a year older than the other kids. When sitting in a room hearing about how to accept Christ in to our lives, I figured I was too old to join in. (Even today, I find it amusing the way at the age of 10, I thought I was too old to accept Christ). The next morning, on the way to VBS I was telling my mother what they had said. She explained in terms that I could understand what accepting Christ meant, and that he could come any time, even in the next 5 minutes. When I arrived home that afternoon, alone in my bedroom, I said a little prayer. I prayed, thanking Jesus for dying for me, and allowed him to come in to my life. Although my prayer was short, and it was dedication to church, bible reading, etc that has gotten me to where I am today, I KNOW He saw what was on the inside, and my level of sincerity.

For a couple of years, I became involved with what is known as AWANA club. (AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. Throughout 5th and 6th grade, I was in an age appropriate group, filled with weekly activities and scripture memorization. Beyond the 6th grade, they did not have anything available for ages above, so I became one of the leaders of the Cubbies the pre-school aged group, and I helped do that for about a year, but volunteering and trying to keep up with my studies was not an easy task.

Because I have not been involved in AWANA club for quite some time, I have included a link below. On the site, they include a list of locations and more information than I would ever be able to remember.

Through Jr. high and High School, I was mentored by Bill Reed- a wonderful youth pastor. With our church youth group, he had well-organized outings to amusement parks, water skiing, BBQs, etc. You name it; he was creative and would do it. What he did went much deeper than the fun times. For those of us in the group who were serious about loving the Lord and desiring to learn more, he started a group called CORE. Included were weekly get together Bible Studys, a packet with questions to answer, and a guide for our daily bible readings.

Baptism is a public confession of your faith in Jesus Christ. While many people have their own views on how this should be done, I have always believed in Baptism by submersion. (There are others that believe in sprinkling. I respect that method, as Ive seen it done with the handicapped and others who are from different denominations.) At the age of 16, I was baptized by Bill. It was a special time I will always remember. While some exact details of my childhood can be fuzzy from time to time, as you continue to read, you may understand why.

The Astray Time, and Gods way of "knocking" some sense in to me:

In times after that during high school and for about a year or so after graduating, I went as may Christians refer to as "astray". I was NOT attending church regularly, not reading my bible daily, and while I still believed and would occasionally pray, I was not talking to the Lord as often as a friend should talk a friend.

After graduating from High School, I was living in an old run down apartment building with a close a friend. This friend had been my best friend since Jr. High and wanted out the house from her parents. My family had moved away, and I wanted to stay where I grew up with my friends. Here is what I would call a classic case of following my OWN desires, and not even listening to God. I had my Bible with me and was not afraid to leave it out, but was not reading it or even making an effort to. The job I was at when my friend and I moved in together did not work out. I took up a job as a dog groomer apprentice, which I really enjoyed. I've always loved animals, so this wasn't a bad job at all.

During that summer, an incident took place where I sincerely believe it may have been the work of God, trying to get me out of the area I was living, and to the NorthWest, where I grew closer to Him than ever. While sometimes God only needs to give hints out to some people, he literally had to knock some sense in to my stubborn head to get my attention.

One fall night, right around the end of summer, my roommate, neighbors and I were all out in the swimming pool of the complex. We were all having fun, doing belly flop contests, diving in, cannonballs, etc. I was just as fearless as I ever was and did a running leap and attempted to do a flip as I had done many times in to the pool before. This time, I tripped and didnt quite land in the pool. I landed head first on the concrete, then the rest of my body fell limp in to the pool. Because it was the end of summer and the pool was not heated, most of us were outside wearing wetsuits. We think it was my wetsuit that helped keep me afloat. I came to in seconds, climbed out of the pool, and just sort of collapsed right there. One of the neighbors went and got me some ice to put on my head.

I didn't sleep too well that night. Even today I'm no fan of doctors or hospitals, as such, I adamantly REFUSED to go be seen at any hospital. The next morning, my roommate did the driving to work. My vision was a little blurred and I had the worst pounding headache ever. Fortunately, the two of us worked at the same place! About halfway thru the day, my head was pounding so bad that I had to go lay down in the back room. My roommate and co-workers were gracious enough to finish my duties that day.

After getting home from work, I took asprin, but two little pills did nothing for a headache of this magnitude. I just quietly laid down on the couch in the dark that evening. My roommate was out with her boyfriend. While home alone that evening, I felt the need to call my family just to say hello. I missed them a great deal and my phone bills reflected such. I briefly told them what had happened the day before, but didn't think anything much of it. I just figured that I would hopefully get a good night of sleep, and the headache would be better the next morning.

The next morning, I woke up with a feeling I had never had in my life. I felt like I was literally going to DIE! It was the most impending feeling of doom. I woke up and promptly began throwing up. My roommate figured I had the flu, so she called in sick for me and left for work. I was scared. I felt like I was going to pass out, and never wake up. I kept uncontrollably throwing up. Because I had no medical background at the time, I had no idea that I had a serious head injury and that the projectile emesis was a sign of such. Scared, I called a close neighbor friend of mine who was unaware of the whole incident that had taken place only 2 days earlier. He had been a medic in the army and seemed to know that I was in trouble.

I was STILL adamant about not going to the hospital. While forcefully vomiting in his toilet, he called his aunt who is an ER nurse a few towns over. She spoke to me, but by then, I had become so disoriented, I don't really remember much of the conversation other than the fact I actually spoke to her and that she was telling me I needed to be seen. Eventually, I passed out on the floor. Going to the hospital or not was no longer a choice for me. Tests revealed I indeed had a severe concussion and had become severely dehydrated from vomiting all morning. The ER staff told my friend that had I not been brought in when I was, its likely that my roommate would have come home to find me dead that evening.

Later that day or the next I remember waking up in ICU thinking "Ut oh, I've really screwed up!". It was there I began to pray about what to do. For some reason, even with my head in the fog and IV tubing everywhere (that's one of the most frightening experience anyone can go thru), I knew I better start praying and turn my life back around.

After a few days in the hospital, I was okay to go home. With the concussion now behind me, I began to pray about what to do. My roommate had been discussing the idea of going back home to her parents, and I really missed mine. Although reluctant, I made the decision to move to the NorthWest.

The move that changed my life:

When I first moved to the NorthWest, I was miserable. Whenever I wrote my friends, I always seemed to promise I would return to live near them several hundred miles away. I had left behind memories of where I had grown up and all my friends. After the move, I had no friends, no job, and no career or life goals. I was very lonely.

Within a month of move, my dad brought me to the church he had been attending. For Sunday morning services, they had an overhead projector, and using PowerPoint, had the worship slides up on a large screen. They needed someone to sit in the back room on the computer during Sunday morning services to run the worships slides, sermon notes and announcements during friendship breaks. From my first day at that church, I began to that, and enjoyed what I was doing.

Slowly, I began to make friends at the church. I joined a young adult singles group where I got the opportunity to go different fun places in the area and get togethers with other people my age. Within a couple of months there was an ad in the paper for a pet groomers assistant. I applied and got the job where I worked for nearly 2 years.

While attending church, I found out the youth department was in need of volunteer help. I joined and became a part of the youth staff. I was attending church on Sunday mornings running the overheads, the youth group 2 nights a week, the adult singles group for myself once a week, and on occasion, would help out with the Friday night service. During the summer, I had the opportunity to work with youth at a nearby summer camp which I enjoyed doing for 3 consecutive summers. With so much exposure in the church, my spiritual walk became meaningful once again and stronger than ever. I was reading my Bible every day, and further growing in the Lord.

In the meanwhile, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do in the way of a long-term career. I evaluated my life, what I liked to watch on TV, what I found interesting to read when surfing the internet until I came to a conclusion. When watching shows like Trauma; Life in the ER, and reading humor stories submitted by EMS providers on the internet, it was where I thought I may have found my calling. More details on this can be found on my EMS Page.

From the time I moved. Ive done a couple of other moves since then. In the past couple of years, times have continued to change. I am a Christian, but I have hard times just like non-believers and other believers alike. After a couple of incidents (not by my own fault) just this past year, many changes have taken place. I lost a wonderful job due to illness, lost my home where my husband and I once lived and have been very insecure. Ive dealt with untreated depression. I can only conclude is a result of many disappointments Ive faced and continue to face from the past year.

Despite many hurts and disappointments, Ive hung in there. I have since found a new church where my sister plays her acoustic guitar in the worship band on Sunday mornings. The link to go there is:

The pastor has great sermons and has a wonderful family. Ive also gotten in to karate. Although my back often hurts me severely on daily basis, on my better days, I go to class and do my best to ignore the pain. While I know Im in need of medical intervention for my back, I have no medical insurance. I dislike hospitals and doctors from the end of being the patient. Because current injuries are from 2 separate accidents with one in active litigation, I will not be posting any details on this site until there are some definitive results. Although I cant release details at this time, I will say that I do not trust most physicians after being mistreated earlier in the year by some. It will take an understanding doctor that realizes I have a legitimate problem and doesnt try to label me off or attempt to treat me as a drug seeker, before I will be trusting of physicians again. In the meanwhile, with Karate, I do it at my pace, and with exercise and stretching, I know Im taking the one step any doctor would recommend by trying to keep active.

The link for the Christian Karate Association is:

An interesting point that I recently read and agree with is that reading your bible is like food. If you want to stay healthy, you need to eat every day. Much like your spiritual life, if you wish to have a strong relationship with the Lord, you need to give yourself spiritual food each day by reading your bible and praying on a daily basis.

This page of the site is one that will never have an ending until my earthly life has come to an end. Walking with the Lord is an ongoing activity. Not like high school or college where once youve graduated, its over and you just go to the next thing in your life.

Tips from my Christian walk that I would like to share with readers:

By skeptical friends and others, Ive been asked how I would feel if it turns out there was no such thing as God. Although I know the Lord is real, heres my view. Even if my some remote chance that I (and all other Christians) were wrong, you cant go wrong following whats in the Bible. The Bible teaches morality, truth, love, patience and so much more. The character qualities Christians try to live are healthy balances in our lives. What employer would complain about an honest employee who does not steal or use foul language? What rational neighbor wouldnt want a loving neighbor watching out for them? Being humble and loving will get a person thru life so much easier. No one wants to be around a depressing or agitated person. The most popular people in life are the kinder ones.


Hard times fall on us all. I have been no exception to this rule. I would like to share something I have learned in regard to this. There are so many Christians who blame God for their hard times. God is NOT the one who has caused the job loss, the cancer in your or a loved one, etc. If there is a need to blame anyone, BLAME SATAN. Curse Satan for the wrong things in your life. Hurting the Lord and blaming him for problems is not the right way to go. Asking for His help is what you need to do. Next, if the Lord does not answer a prayer, remember to be patient. The bible says there are no coincidences. There is a reason for everything. A lesson I have learned in life is to be glad I have not gotten everything I ever asked for. When I look back at some of the scariest or worst storms in my life, I can often see a reason for why they happened. For example, the concussion. Had that never happened, I may have continued living with friends and roommates, going thru life, but never re-growing close to the Lord. This website may have never been here. While what happened by the pool by my personal actions was accident, I believe deep down that its possible it was out of my hands may not have entirely been one. The only way I will ever know of course is to ask God when I see him one day.


For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are all sinners. Even I have made mistakes in life, and have had words come out of my mouth that I am not proud of. The great part about being a Christian, is we can ask for forgiveness and have the slate wiped clean. This doesnt mean I can just go on and purposely sin and ask for forgiveness all the time though. If Im trying to truly follow the Lord, he sees my sincerity. When I goof along the way without the motive of just asking for forgiveness before doing it, God knows.


Ive seen many new Christians scare non-believers away. Telling non-believers that theyre going to burn in hell (even though its true) and literally trying to push religion in their face is NOT going to save anyone. The best testament of your faith is for them to see it by your actions and how you live your life. Not getting drunk on weekends and helping those in need are just a couple of examples. Praying for them, and inviting them to come to church or even church get togethers such as BBQs is going to have far better results.

...more coming soon...

Resources:

Have YOU or anyone you know been contemplating suicide? In recent times, contemplating suicide has been a issue I deal with. If so, I would recommend the following website I found when I was feeling down. It comes from the perspective of a current law enforcement officer who is also a devoted Christian. His name is Ralph, and he shares powerful insight, scripture verses and references. Also, he has a question and answer section. Other viewers have submitted entries. It was after reading through his site that I have often thought twice. After working in EMS, I've seen suicides (and unsuccessful attempts) and know plenty of methods and ways to "do it right". What has kept me going is caring about what God has to say AND the fact it is a very permanent solution to my problems.

There is so much more I have to share. This page will be updated and include scriptural verses to back up much of what I have said. Although I am familiar with many verses, referencing them has often been a weaker point for me. When I read and learn from my Bible, I often read it as a good book.

In most recent times, I've felt very discouraged. Sometimes, I don't even feel I can live by some of my own words on this page. When I am down, I pray. I read my Bible. If I'm to the point where I need to talk to someone, I find a close friend on ICQ (saves big on long distance phone bills!!!) or talk to my pastor for encouragment. Remember to always build one another up. If things are going well for you, someone else may need your encouragment. Later on, you may be that person in need of support.

FOUNDATIONS:

While recently talking to Bill, (the youth pastor who impacted my early spiritual walk) I got to thinking about things on a deeper level. When I was a part of his youth group, one particular Sunday school lesson stands out. Bill did a teaching on "Foundations". He got out some Jenga blocks. (If you're not already aware, "Jenga" is hands on type of game. You have a tower of blocks, stacked in rows of 3. The object is to remove one block at a time, and stack it- but without tipping the whole tower over). One group had their Jenga tower on top of a hard, solid table top. The other, on a dish, full of soft, loose sand. As you can guess, the tower on the SOLID FOUNDATION is what remained standing the longest.

I got to thinking of that exercise I saw demonstrated when I was around 13, then thinking of what Bill did for me. He helped establish my foundation for Christ, which I continue to work on building upon to this day. My point, is that if you do not already have a foundation for Christ, a good start is to get a Bible. Read the book of John. Find a good church. Fellowship with other Christians, and begin to build your own personal foundation. For those of us who already are Christians, I encourage all readers to continue building on your relationship with Christ.