Beginnings

What kind of treasures do you have in your Bible? I have a few, I keep them tucked in the pages even tho I know that isn't really good for the book binding, or so the binders have told me, but it is good for my heart when I open it up and see them. One is a Christmas present 1998 given to me by my then 12 year old daughter. She wrote me a note giving me some promises from her to me because she didn't know what to get me that year. It isn't the promises that she gave me, it was the intent of her heart to show her love that is the treasure I keep. I have two love letters from my husband to me in my Bible too, one given to me on my birthday, the other a bit older, given to me during a time when I was really struggling spiritually. I don't suppose he knows how much I treasure them, love letters after you are married are so special. I also keep a copy of my testimony that I wrote many years ago...

     This story of my new life in Christ really begins the summer of my 16th year, but first we have to go back a bit further... I grew up just outside a very tiny town in southern Nevada. It was a beautiful place to grow up. We were surrounded by thousands of acres of BLM land and a child could hike, ride bikes and ride horses for hours without ever crossing a fence or a home. Our favorite past time was chasing lizards and horny toads.
     In this small town was a small church, just one church, the mormon church, built right in the middle of town. I would say at least 85% of the community were members there. That number included my family and me. My parents didn't go often, so neither did my brother or I. We did get baptized at the age of 9 tho, and were confirmed as members of the church. I had a Bible then too, I remember being nine or ten and trying to read it, I started in Genesis and got as far as Numbers, which considering my young age was quite remarkable.  As you can imagine, I really didn't understand it much and so left it on the shelf. It was an Old King James, nuff said, no one told me that you could skip around to the other books.
     By the time I had reached the ripe old age of sixteen I had been working on the weekends at the local drive-in for two years and didn't give church much thought. I did think about God tho, a lot. I was scared of God. I knew my behavior wasn't up to snuff and I was afraid some day he was gonna snuff me! Somehow with the small amount of religious training I got as a child, that was the thing that stuck to me, God had rules, and you had to obey these rules or else!
     So there I am, 16 years old, spending the summer working for a Vet in Polson Montana. John Petersen, one of the greatest men I will ever know. John had just become a believer that winter and he was on fire for God. He sat me down and said, "Do you know Jesus?" "Umm what? Ya, I belong to the mormon church." "No, do you know Jesus?" "Have you accepted his gift of salvation given to you when he died on the cross?" "What What?" I had never heard the salvation message until that day.
     I wish I could remember if I accepted Christ that first day, but I can't. I do remember asking about a million questions. I do remember the day I prayed for forgivness and for Christ to be my savior. I even remember where I was sitting, the color of the carpet  stairs that I rested on was blue, a dark blue shag. I remember the feeling of such relief, such joy, such peace. God wasn't mad at me after all. In fact God had been pursuing me with a Holy fervor just waiting for this divinely appointed moment.
     You know, things were different after that summer, and things were the same. I learned I could read what ever part of the Bible I wanted, whenever I wanted. I learned there were easier versions of the Bible to read, although there weren't nearly as many as there are today. Those were good changes. The things that didn't change; I was still living in that tiny town with that one church set right in the middle. It would be many long years before I finally left the mormon church. It was a hard thing to realize things you were taught as a child weren't necessarily truth. I still had parents who were indifferent to God, and I had no idea how to walk this thing called faith out.
      But God is faithful, always faithful, and we have walked a few miles since that day. I feel so blessed to be where I am today, to have been able to raise my children according to Gods word and see them become Christ followers from an early age. What a gift!