God speaks to me in a multitude of ways, but I haven’t always heard His voice.During my younger teen years I thought God was done with me. I hadn’t heard His voice but kept being told God speaks. This made me feel like God didn’t want to reach me because I couldn’t hear Him. After years of growth and hardship I now look back and realize I was plugging my ears to what God had to say. I didn’t want ...  Read More

As I share this part of my story, I can’t help but feel like I am a little behind for my age! Yet, when I look back and think about how I arrived at this point in my story, I realize that I am exactly where God had planned for me to be. I am a lifelong Christian that has had many opportunities to grow in my faith. Some good, some very trying.  I have experienced a lot of spiritual growth in the pa...  Read More

I grew up going to church. But not this kind of church. I did all the things—the things you were "supposed" to do. From Sunday school to sitting near the front row, I did it and thought it was the right way. It was a church of obligation, that box you check. Even doing "all the things" and being in church, I couldn't tell you a thing about Jesus or the Bible. In fact, I can't even remember opening...  Read More

Sometimes it is so hard to not see what you want, what you pray for and what you know is God’s heart for the ones you love the most. I love my children deeply but I desire them to know and embrace God’s love even more. I think it is even more difficult when my wife and I know, in spite of our imperfections, that we spoke God’s truth to and over our children. We have vivid memories of planting the ...  Read More

My dad and I did not have a good relationship for a long time. I honestly just wanted to be away from him. I want to be away from most people most of the time, but especially him. A year after my parents got divorced, I began coming to church. I started to see that church was helping me. I realized God was always with me and I could talk to Him. He was pulling together my mental health and showed ...  Read More

I grew up in a small town in the heart of Illinois called Chicago. I grew up in a Christian home with my mother and five siblings, in a two bedroom apartment on the city's south side. We, for the most part, were happy and we had Jesus in our lives. Mom was the daughter of a southern pastor and we came from a long line of God fearing down-home southern Christians who knew and spoke the word of God ...  Read More

When I was a child, I was brought up in a divorced family and lived with my mother and stepdad. Though we were constantly busy, my mom would take me and my brother to a catholic church almost every Sunday. Yes, I believed in Jesus, but because I didn’t really have a great relationship with either my father or stepdad, I struggled to really understand, or even want to understand God. I don’t believ...  Read More

I was born and raised in Milwaukee and had a difficult time as a child cuz of ADHD and ODD.  When I was young there were no diagnoses for these behavioral disorders, which meant no treatments.  As these conditions got worse in my early teens I began to rebel and disrespect my father which led to me being placed in foster homes at the age of 13.  This meant going from being raised as a strict Bapti...  Read More

I came to know Jesus at seven years old for the first time, but it wasn't until sixteen that I really grasped the depth of how much Jesus loves me. My life at a very young age was chaotic. I lived in a household where sexual, verbal, emotional, and physical abuse took place. It became my normal. I remember nights where I would cry out to God to take my life because I was afraid of what tomorrow wo...  Read More

As the oldest daughter in my family, I was the first in many things. Perhaps the hardest was being the first to leave my father. He was not an agreeable man, unless, of course, you were agreeing with him.I was twenty-three, ready to leave for my first year of college. It was time for me to say good-bye. I went out into the backyard, looking for him. I found him, his face set like stone, staring ha...  Read More

How much did it take for me? I have said this to a diverse number of people, even my own family who continues in their paths of sin. I'll never forget the day that I simply said, "Lord Jesus, just take care of me." Three events took place before I would surrender.It all started with my Grandmother Lois, who rested in the Lord. It was she who took her three Grandchildren in tow to church. It would ...  Read More

I was raised in a very traditional Catholic household. I recall at a young age not agreeing with everything I was being taught by the church, but questioning things was never encouraged. So even though I knew Jesus, there was this great disconnect in my life.I moved away to college and found myself distancing further from the church. I met a young man and within a short time we were engaged and ma...  Read More