Shana's Update: My Testimoney Part 1

I have been thinking about posting my testimony for a while now. So, here it goes. I will try and keep it as short as possible, but if you have any questions feel free to post them or email me.

I grew up in Sarasota, Florida. Those of you who might think this is the south/bible belt, WAY WRONG! I was raised in a very non-religious/non-christian environment, no church on Sundays really, etc. If anything dominated my culture for faith, it was the Catholic church. So, I grew up with an occasional attendance to an AWANA or a Sunday service. Nothing really stuck, besides the free candy/donuts and the fact that I had this nudge (wink-cough=holy spirit) that there was a God and some purpose to this life on earth, but not sure what. Crazy as it might sound, but I pondered this question from a young age. I can remember having nightmares as young as 11, wondering what happened when I died. In middle school all my friends were going through confirmation and communion. This raised more questions for me because I was obviously not in this loop. When I reached high school I asked my dad to take me to church - naturally we went to the Catholic church. That lasted a few months, but I didn't seem to find what I was looking for there.

I seemed to always have this question in my head, what is the purpose to this life. I remember statements my mom would make growing up like "you work, pay bills, and then you die." Things like that stayed with me because that just didn't make sense in my small brain. Life had to be more than that. So I pursued what the world put in front of me for purpose. This meant for middle school and high school that the purpose must be to be popular. That is what the world seemed to be telling me anyways, so that is what I pursued. It seemed like that is what all my other friends were pursuing as well, honest or not.

My mom enrolled me in cheerleading in the 6th grade which soon became my idol until I graduated high school, but like I said this gave me purpose and I was good at it. It also seemed to help my end-goal of popularity.

My senior year in high school something happened to my mom, she started going to church all the time, which was really odd in my family. Odd fact here = it was the church across the street from our house, South Biscayne Baptist Church. She kept that up consistently that year. Well, I graduated from high school and moved away from home to go to college. Like every other teenager, I wanted to move away from home to party. Sin wouldn't be so appealing if it weren't so much fun, right? I had fun for a semester, but Christmas was fast approaching. My mom had placed herself in the "Christmas Pageant" at the church she had been attending. When I came home for Christmas she invited the family to come see her in it. Naturally families support each other so we all went to see her. My plans were to go to the pageant see my mom, check, and then go get hammered with my old high school pals.

That night was the very first time I heard the gospel. It was definitely a creative story along with the traditional Christmas story weaved in and out. Pastor John Cross came out on the platform and explained the purpose of the Jesus dying on the cross. This might sound crazy to some, but that always confused me. I had no clue growing up what the deal was with Jesus dying on the cross. So, here I sat 19 years old getting it for the very first time.

For me I did the traditional baptist thing. December 18, 1999 - I signed a card, checked that I had received Christ that night. I know some theologians might disagree with this model, but for me it was real and God saved me that night. He seriously made me a new creature in that very moment. I remember opening my eyes from that prayer and thinking my life is going to be different now. Needless to say I didn't make it to that party that night.

A little more back story, I knew my mom was praying because of subtle things she would say. I was pretty sure that night that she scanned through all the decision cards with her new friends to see if I had made a decision because the next morning she asked me if I wanted to run errands with her and we just so happened to end up at the Christian bookstore (wink-wink). She asked me if I wanted a bible, I was like yeah I do. I remember getting my first bible and leaving the next day going back to college with it in my bag. It was as if my mom and I had a silent conversation about what had taken place. As I look back, we never did define it. Just all of a sudden things were different. So, if you know my family at all, that is just how things work.

To be Continued........