Being Thankful - Day 1

For Day 1 of "30 Days of Thankfulness" I have to start with the reason we are here.  God, of course! 

I am thankful for my Savior.  I don't talk about my faith very often, but I would hope that people who come in contact with me know that I am a Christian.

As I had mentioned when I introduced this idea of daily posts, I hide a lot of things in my life (good and bad) mainly because of my job.  For those of you who don't know what I do for a living, I am a mortgage loan officer.  I originate purchase and refinance loans for customers.  I have been doing this kind of work for 10 years now and I learned early on in my sales career that you should avoid certain topics with customers (politics and religion being two of them).  Also, I believe that because of the stress of this job, it can interfere with my relationship with the Lord.  In recent months, Bonham and I joined a church in Weatherford and that has helped to restore our relationship with God and help to build a foundation of faith for our children.

Another reason that I haven't/don't discuss Jesus with people is because I don't feel confident in my ability to speak intelligently about the topic.  There are things that I can't answer, because I still have questions myself and I fear someone questioning me and my faith.  I don't feel knowledgeable enough to witness to others and lead them to Christ.  I attended a Women's Conference a few months ago and the guest speaker said that in order to share the Lord with others, we had to start with our own story. 


Here is my story....

My parents didn't raise me and my brother in church, but I've always known that they were good people who believe in God.  And they encouraged us to be good, moral people.  When I was in fourth grade, I met my childhood best friend, Amanda.  She invited me to church and I went with her family almost every Sunday.  Once when I was staying the night at her house, she asked me if I wanted to be saved... She went through the sinner's prayer with me.  In the prayer I thought she said, "I am a center" instead of "sinner".  I remember thinking, "Why are we talking about football?"  (Amanda and I were PeeWee Cheerleaders, so I thought this had something to do with it).  It wasn't until awhile later that I realized I was a sinner (not center).  :)

I went to talk to the preacher at church and let him know that I wanted to be saved.  I continued to go to church until my family and I moved.  It was several years later that my brother started to go to church and I went with him.  When he stopped going and I was able to drive, I went on my own.  I recommitted my life to Christ and I was baptized when I was 16 years old.  As I finished high school, I got caught up in life and drifted away from church until my early 20s when I joined a church in Keller.  During the time I was attending that church, I met Bonham.  Bonham was part of the worship team at his church in Abilene, so I started going there a little more often and to my church a little less.  After we married, we couldn't find a church that we both liked until our son, Barrett was about 9 months old.  We attended that church in Abilene until we moved back to the metroplex area.  We tried a few churches in Azle and nothing felt right until we attended North Side Baptist Church in Weatherford. 

During my life, I have always been drawn back to church and back to the Lord.  Even though I have been a Christian for a long period of time, I still feel like I am in the infant stage.  Bonham and I have connected with some good people at church who are helping us learn more and get plugged in.  I can tell that it is making a difference in all of our lives and I am learning more and more.


Thank you Lord for sending your Son, Jesus so that we may have eternal life.  I can't imagine the sacrifice, but I am in awe of it and incredibly grateful.


Side note:  I figured that some of these topics would get extended back grounds, etc.  I hope you don't mind.  ;)