My father was catholic and my mother converted to Catholicism to marry my dad. I attended Sunday school, took my first communion and had my first confession. My family moved overseas when I was nine. My father took a job with the State Department and our first posting was Africa. Attending church just became a non-issue in our home. It wasn't that we opposed God or attending church, it just wasn't a part of our life. If we happened to be near a catholic church on Christmas or Easter we might attend, but didn't go out of our way to do something on a weekly basis. So, church/religion also became a non-issue for me. It just wasn't something I thought about.
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| Me! |
When I graduated from Nursing school in 1999, my first job was at a hospital just outside of Orlando. I worked in the ER where I met a co-worker named Terry. She fast became my friend. We spent a lot of time shopping, eating and going to the movies together. One day I was given free Universal Studio tickets and I really wanted Terry to go with me. We looked at our schedules and could only find a Sunday when both of us were free. I was good with it, but Terry responded "I go to church on Sunday". I was like what is the big deal with one Sunday. Her response, "I will make a deal with you. If I go with you to Universal on that Sunday, then you have to come with me to church the next Sunday we are free". In my mind, I thought "No problem, I don't actually have to follow through with it because we are going to Universal first." So I quickly agreed. We went to Universal and much to my dismay, Terry LOVES roller coasters. Can you guess it, I HATE roller coasters. We road everyone we could get on and I screamed all day long. It was a great day.
Before long, I found myself having to hold up my end of the bargain. Now Terry attended First Baptist Church Orlando where the sanctuary holds approximately 6500 and the membership was 12,000+. This was the definition of a mega church. We went to Terry's singles bible study class first. It had about 100 people in attendance. We listened to a short devotion and then broke up into groups of about 10-12. It was about 3 minutes into the group discussion when I was totally offended and thought to myself, "I will never come back to this class". One of her classmates quickly stated that he never took advice from non-believers because they could NOT provide wise counsel without believing in Christ. He said this while he stared straight at me. After the class, Terry tried to explain what he was saying, but by then it was too late for me.
When we entered the "sanctuary", I was wide-eyed. I really had never seen anything like it. People were pouring in and at the front was a huge stage with a band. Yes, that is what I actually called it - a band. Terry smiled and laughed a little when I looked at her and said "They have a band!". Let me tell you the music was good! I was sure it was going to be these old hymns with 5 verses each, an organ and stoic behavior. It was not. There was a praise team, a choir and a lot of instruments. I LOVED IT!. To this day, worship music is what gets me ready to hear about Jesus, it moves me to tears, it pulls at my heart, and it raises my hands in praise. When I don't get the music, I find it harder to listen to the rest of the service.
When Terry saw how much I really enjoyed the music she recommended I try out a Tuesday night service called Orlando Metro Live. It was very informal, lots of great praise music and a man from Tennessee named Brent Gambrell gave a 30 minute "sermon". Brent had never attended bible college or seminary. He just loved the Lord and was able to give a very applicable study for today. My first night in attendance was September 11, 2001. Yes, the infamous 9/11. For obvious reasons, Brent was not able to fly in for the evening. So, the FBC staff provided additional music and a time of prayer. I was hooked and attended every Tuesday night unless worked prevented me.
I quickly decided if I was going to be going to church on a regular basis then I needed to read the Bible. I hate looking stupid in front of people. I didn't want them to know that I knew essentially nothing about the people and events they were talking about. Over the next 2 months I read every moment I could. I worked full time as an RN and I was attending classes for my BSN. When I wasn't involved in this or basic life chores, I was reading. Poor Terry was hit every shift was a barrage of questions about what I had read since the last time I saw her. She answered each one simply, without judgment and waited for the next onslaught. One evening alone in my apartment I decided I need this, I need Jesus. Not only did I need it, but I wanted it. So, I asked Him into my heart. I was 31 years old.
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| My guy, my husband, my Pastor! |
My boyfriend Steve (now my husband) was on a travel nursing assignment in Maine. We were emailing back and forth about the church, the Tuesday nights and a book series we were both reading called "Left Behind". When Steve returned to Florida, he started attending both events with me. We really grew to love our time at this church. We attended several bible study series on the End Times and Crown Financial Ministries. We also served in the nursery for babies aged 0-12 months and loved it. Some time after we were married, we decided we needed to find a church more close to home. We were traveling about 40 minutes and found it difficult to become more involved with the distance. We located First Baptist Church of Eustis where we became members.
We joined the choir, led bible studies and eventually Steve was ordained as a minister by our Pastor, Dr. Hal Kitchings.
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| Our one-eyed mutt Abby! |
Telling our story and giving HIM glory!
Mally
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| Owen - our newest and 1st grandson! |
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| Owen's sister Avery - grandgirl #4 |
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| Grandgirls #2, #3 and #1 - Kennedy, Blayre and Sari! |
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