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(Introduction) I consider this an opportunity to share what God has done in my life. It is my goal to illustrate the reasons why I believe that my identity is in Jesus Christ; by recounting the highlighted experiences from my 25 years on the earth. Psalm 24:1 says "The earth is the LORD'S, and all it's fullness, the world, and those that dwell therein." NKJV

 From birth to present, this is the story of how God revealed Himself to me, as a witness of His love. (Testimony)

 March 1st, 1982, God brought me into this world and allowed me to be the first daughter of a loving mother in Boise, Idaho. I have no memory of my biological father because he left before I turned one. Notes from my baby book and scrapbook said I was a very peaceful, happy child. My mother prayed for me all the time. One time she told me that she and my step-dad were playing some worship music when I was 2, and she said my eyes got real big and I started smiling and glowing as if overcome by the Holy Spirit. By the time I was 4, I knew the name of Jesus through my mom's prayers' for us kids when we would have bad dreams or were sick, and through two songs; Jesus Loves The Little Children, & Jesus Loves Me. I was 5 years old the first time I went to church for Vacation Bible School. I never went to preschool or kindergarten, so VBS was a very thrilling learning experience. I remember feeling shy and a little out of place because all these kids knew more about the Bible story lessons, and the words to all these kids praise songs. It made quite an impact on me to make friends for the first time and to get hugs. I think I begged to go again the next year, but we moved out to the country, so I never did.

 For my 8th birthday, my grandma gave me a tape called Bullfrogs & Butterflies; I've Been Born Again. I absolutely loved it because now that I was a little older the stories and songs made sense and spoke directly to my heart and opened up my mind to the realization that I was missing something in my life. Through the messages and songs I came to the understanding that I had an empty place inside of me that just ached no matter what I tried to make myself happy with, and I learned that my conscience was that 'voice' I heard when I knew something was wrong. I remember one day I was laying on my bed, alone in my room, and I was listening to the tape on my Walkman with my headphones...and it hit me. I wanted Jesus as my friend, I knew He was the One I needed to make that emptiness go away. I started crying, and I began to pray to ask Him into my heart. I said Amen, took a deep breath and I felt the change instantly. A rush of calm and peace came over me and I just kept saying, "Thank You Jesus, Thank You Lord, Thank You". It was wonderful, but I didn't know how to grow. We did not go to church and we did not read the bible as a family. The bibles we did have in the house were King James Version and I couldn't understand them.

 So a few years go by, we move back into town, and as I enter into being a teenager God continues to call out to me and draw me to Him. At age 12 in 6th grade, our class was inspected for head lice. My classmates noticed the nurse took longer checking me, and when I was sent home for the rest of the day and told not to come back until I was treated, it confirmed the rumor. After treatment, I went back to school the next week hoping it would be forgotten, especially since I wasn't the only case. I was gravely mistaken. It'd gotten passed around the school and kids would yell, "watch out here comes head lice girl" down the hallway. Even my own 'friends' teased me and treated me differently. So I ran home crying and begged my mom to not make me go back. God made a way for me to attend a private Christian school from 6th to 8th grade. Again like vacation bible school, it was a great learning environment and introduced me to practice using essential tools as a young christian such as memorizing verses and getting used to praying out loud, but I still had no relationship with Jesus. I just had no idea it was even available.

 Moving on to high school, God used a circumstance that would get my attention and change the way I looked at life. September of 1998, I was 16 when I was told the news that a very good friend of mine was killed in a head-on collision. I was also informed that he was planning to come to my first cross country race and surprise me by being at the finish line cheering for me. Up to that point I had never been so overcome with sorrow and anguish. It was then I realized the seriousness of the warning 'you never know which day could be your last'. I asked God for answers, but He knew I needed to be comforted. The day of the race a friend on the team took a walk with me, we sat down and she prayed for me and encouraged me. During her prayer I started crying but then God's peace and presence came upon me and my strength was renewed. Her act of kindness opened my heart and made me hungry for God. She loaned me some Christian ska music, Five Iron Frenzy, and I remember it was the first time in my life when my spirit poured out in worship and I raised my hands in response to God's love for me, singing Every New Day at the top of my lungs with the stereo cranked. A few months later I joined a youth group, my love for God was becoming stronger, but I still wasn't learning the bible or understood what it meant to truly surrender my life over to Jesus Christ.

  So for the next couple years I was in a daze of searching for where I belonged. This was about the time I started reading the Left Behind books. So there I was, 2 months into my new job, trying to find a niche and get on my feet financially, when tragedy strikes again. July 2001, I was 19 when another special friend in my life drowned in a car accident the night before his birthday. For some reason I took it very personally and had a lot of guilt going through my mind. In the process of grieving, I became very angry. I had the hardest time letting go, so I separated myself from my family, and regrettably broke two vows I'd made to myself. I'd felt forsaken by God, and I gave up my faith, my morals, and my self-respect. I started drinking, which eventually led to having premarital sex. I gave in to my emotions more and more and became a very bitter, very foul-mouthed, very angry person which led to a deep depression. At one point I attempted suicide by swallowing a handful of sleeping pills. A little later two more people I knew were successful at their suicides, and that snapped me out of that. I realized I didn't really want to die, I just wanted the pain to go away. So after 2 extremely unhappy, lonely years of reaching for everything else, and becoming totally disgusted with who I was, I slowly began to search for a way to change. I wrestled with going back to church and giving up the lifestyle I'd become comfortable with. As I continue reading the Left Behind series, I start noticing the scripture references are more frequent and they were standing out in my mind more than the main storyline. I got more and more convicted with each one and it was becoming clearer and clearer that I didn't want to continue the way I was living. So finally I'm on book 10 'The Remnant' of the 12 Left Behind books, two new Christian radio stations have been ministering to me and I've come to conclusion that I can no longer run or hide from God, and that He is the ONLY one who can take away the pain and the hurt and the guilt. I knew I needed to make a permanent choice, not just another quick fix, I knew I wanted to come back to God once and for all. So although I knew who God was, and that He was the cure I was looking for, I'd pushed Him out of my life for so long I wasn't sure if He'd take me back. I wasn't sure if I was saved, or if I could be forgiven and I wasn't sure how to take that step.

  One Saturday afternoon in October of 2003 I drove to my cousin's house in Emmett, seeking answers and needing prayer. He patiently listened, answered my questions in a loving way, and was very gentle in helping me understand what I needed to do to be saved. Why would I want to be saved you wonder? Saved from what? Saved from hell. You see, I knew that Jesus died on the cross and rose again, I just never understood why, or had any knowledge of what the word sin meant. My cousin helped explain this to me. God created us with a conscience that tells us what's right and wrong. He gave us a standard of rules, the ten commandments, that are guided by our conscience. We know it's wrong to lie, steal, cheat, kill, commit adultery etc. Sin is simply missing the mark of God's standard. When we break those rules, we sin. When Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God, they became separated from God and were ultimately punished by death. So the consequence of sin is death. My sin was separating me from God. But 1 John1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Isaiah 43:25 says, "I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins." So since 10 out of 10 people die, and because the penalty of sin is death, how does believing in Jesus change my fate? John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life." Jesus is the only person who lived a perfect, sinless life, therefore because He laid down His life and paid the price, took the death I deserved by dying on the cross because He didn't want me to be separated from Him, and He rose from the dead furthermore proving He is the Son of God, and all I have to do is, Romans 10:9 "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." So my cousin and I prayed, I repented of my sins, asked for forgiveness and acknowledged Him as my Lord and Savior. My cousin invited me to go with him and his wife to church the next day. I remember being very excited, and as I drove to their house this verse I'd heard as a young child in one of my mom's songs kept running through my head but I didn't know where it was. I figured my cousin would know. So when I got there he showed the E-Sword program, plugged it in a search and turned out it was Isaiah 40:31 "But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint." I was inspired and ready to go to church. This was my first visit to Calvary Chapel Emmett, and I was amazed that they actually teach through the Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse on Sunday morning! I was amazed that the people were friendly and said 'hi' to one another and greeted each other with hugs! The worship was the most moving element of praise and people singing out from their hearts like I'd never heard before. I remember as I followed the words on the screen I just started crying because of the overwhelming peace and healing that was being done in my heart. I think the study was in Acts 22 and everything my cousin and I talked about the night before, the Holy Spirit was confirming during the sermon. Then 20 minutes from the end, out of nowhere the pastor says, "...and I love what it says in Isaiah 40:31..." and he goes on to quote it. Again the tears well up in my eyes and I look over at my cousin and whisper, "That's amazing!" and he replies, "That's the Holy Spirit." All I could do was thank him and hug him and pour out my heart to the Lord how amazed I was that He spoke to me in such an intimate way. That was the day, at age 21, I discovered my new found relationship with Jesus Christ, and truly began to build a real foundation and a place to fellowship and grow.