Women’s House Director

Before Jesus: I did not grow up in a Christian home. My dad struggled with alcohol abuse and my mom was the typical “co-dependent.” I was yearning for attention and acted out in order to get it. I felt unloved, invisible, lonely, and hopeless. I just wanted out. I was also judgmental, self-righteous, and prideful thinking I was so much better than my family. I tried filling the gaping hole in my heart in my teen and early 20’s by pursuing ungodly relationships with men. I did not realize it at the time, but I had made a huge idol out of marriage and having a husband which led me to make choices that left me with heartache and regret. I was going my own way with no thought of God.

How I was saved: I first heard about Jesus as a pre-teen when an aunt took me to the Billy Graham Crusade in the Kingdome. As I listened to the message of forgiveness I was captivated. I knew I was guilty before God and separated from Him. It seemed too good to be true that Jesus could be the solution to my loneliness, guilt, and shame. How could he love me? More years would go by before the Lord, in his grace, would pull me back to himself. In the early 90’s I sold a home to a pastor and his wife who asked me if I knew Jesus. I said I did, but I also was not going to church. I was living as a functioning atheist. There was just no evidence I was saved, and I may not have been. But- I also believe the Lord honored that original response to the gospel I had back in the Kingdome.

After Jesus: I started attending that pastor’s church and I intentionally surrendered my life to Christ that very first Sunday. I was convicted of rejecting God and I repented. I began to grow as I read the Bible. I was beginning to understand what lordship of Christ was all about- that I must die to myself- pick up my cross and follow Christ daily. I learned that my life is not my own, it has been bought with a price, and I am to live for Him alone. I discovered that only Jesus is able to fill the gaping hole in my heart and he has! Today, my life in Christ looks completely different. God’s forgiveness has impacted everything about me. My thoughts, attitudes, and emotions have all changed. Loneliness has become a path to knowing Christ. I completely agree with the Apostle Paul who said in Philippians 3:8, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Men’s House Director

I was raised in a church going home and grew up learning scripture. I did not however truly understand the gospel or my need for a savior even though I understood quite easily that going to hell didn’t sound very fun. I figured golden streets and a big fat mansion would fit my desires a lot better. Looking back now… I had a superficial, flannelgraph understanding of God’s character and the reason for my being created. At a young age I struggled with major identity issues. My biological father left before I was born and was not interested in being a part of my life. This caused feelings of insecurity and abandonment. I became very resentful and angry. At age fourteen I ran away from home and the next 12 years were filled with immorality, drugs, and rage.  By God’s grace at age 26 the Lord opened my eyes to His rescuing hand and my need for being saved. All my life I had developed a victim state of mind but through God’s word and hearing the gospel I became aware that my worst enemy resided within myself. It wasn’t my dad, my mother, or even my high school principal who expelled me in my junior year. I needed saving from me. My flesh needed to die and I had to be reborn as a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). By God’s grace and the opening of the eyes of my heart I learned that Jesus came to save that which was lost (which I was). Jesus came to pay the penalty through His death which was the penalty required for my sin (which was too costly for me to ever pay). Jesus raised from the dead proving that sin and death had no dominion over Him and He has full authority over them (of which I was only a slave to). Jesus gave me His spirit to seal me as His own, to give me fruits reflecting His character, and He will return to gather those He’s sealed as His own and to judge the world according to their own deeds which will measure according to His standards of whom all will fall short who don’t have the blood of the lamb on their mantle.