Starting Over

This blog is about the way life has a way of changing our heart in some way with every situation we come into.  I hope all who read it will be inspired, will find humor, will enjoy it and come back again and again.

First a little about me.  I was raised in Marietta, GA by two parents who were so in love that I think they breathed the same air and shared brain cells.  They were never afraid to show affection toward each other in front of me and my 3 brothers.  When I was 16 I went to a revival, with my two oldest brothers and a group of friends, at a small Baptist church near our home.  I was saved through one of the services that week and baptized that Sunday.  There should have been a huge change going on in my heart because of this experience but I know now, many years later, that I just did it because others in our little group did.

Fast forward a few years.  I was working in the purchasing department of the county and a friend set me up with a friend of hers.  We started dating and were engaged and married within a year. It lasted 3 months! More changes should have been going on here that were just not there.  Looking back I know there were major red flags about the relationship that I should have recognized before walking down the aisle, but you know what they say about love being blind.  There was no love...not really...so, I picked up the pieces of my heart and moved on.

Fast forward again, 1 year.  My older brother has announced the first grand child of the family was going to be born in 8 months...in Dayton, OH (where my family lived now).  My heart was so longing for family at this time that I packed up all my things and moved back into my parents home.  One month after my move, God placed a man in my life who would change my world and my heart in a major way and for the rest of my life.  Ok, think of some romantic music and click it on in your brain here.  Two months after my move to Dayton, I had my first date with the man I would eventually marry and have two beautiful daughters with. 

On one of our first dates, Terry (my husband) asked me if I knew Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.  Yes, I told him.  And that was the beginning of his planning to marry me.  We have been married now for 29 years and have grown so close that sometimes I thing WE share the same brain cells and breathe the same air.

I know some of you are wondering why I would tell you all this, and bore some of you to tears, but I have reason to believe that if I fill you in on this information, it will help you understand why I write this blog in the first place. The reason is to share the many changes of my heart (and hopefully some of yours) through my experiences as a wife and mother for 29 years and also through my walk with God and the many changes He has made in my heart.  The biggest change of all came when our daughter Courtney was about a year and a half old.  We were at a church service listening to testimonies of choir members who had just returned from a trip to Wales.  I was so moved by one of the testimonies that I began to question my own relationship with Jesus Christ to the point that I went forward to speak to a pastor and get my salvation experience confirmed.

After praying with the pastor, he gave me a small workbook that talked about assurance of your salvation.  In it were Scripture verses to look up and answer questions about.  We had a couple of meetings after and I was in deed assured that I was saved.  This was the real beginning of my faith journey and the first oa many changes to my heart over the years. I participated in many women's Bible studies over the years, even led a few and God just keeps changing my heart through each one. 

If you are seeking that type of heart changing relationship with a God who loves you enough to send his only Son to die on a cross for you, it is as simple as saying a prayer and asking God to forgive you for your sin (the bad stuff we all do) and asking Jesus to live in your heart and be your Savior.  Does this mean you won't ever sin again after this? Absolutely not.  Does it mean you will be changed instantly like you see on so many movies? Possibly.  Does it mean you will have a relationship with a loving Father and live with Him in eternity? Yep!  We don't have to even change the way we are to come to Him.  He just bids us to come!

I feel like I've rambled in many directions on this the first entry to my blog.  Hopefully, you found something interesting here and will return often to see other "changes of the heart".

Blessings