Stephanie's Story

I grew up in a home where the only mention of God was in a heated moment and His name was used in vain. No one went to church and we did not have a Bible in our house. Life was pretty miserable and family relationships left a lot to be desired. I always yearned for something more - I knew something important was missing in my life, but I couldn't find it.

In high school, a friend invited me to church, but there, Christ and the Gospel were never mentioned. I liked it there though because I was accepted and got involved in more sports and music activities and learned to play the handbells. I went to a Christian college and some of the meetings for organizations like Baptist Student Union and Icthus. I even went to a small group Bible Study but still didn't have a relationship with God. I studied French through high school and college. I applied for a scholarship to study in France and got it! I had to find a place to live, so I wrote the only Christian organization on campus where I would be attending, Le Feu - the fire. Through them, I found a roommate and actually saw what it meant to live as a Christian as she lived her life before me and shared her testimony with me. My roommate could not be open about her faith in her daily life and the church she attended was unmarked and not obvious. She was open with me though and I learned a lot from her. The lady who ran Le Feu was a Canadian missionary there and she had one on one Bible Studies with me. Without me even telling her anything about myself, she addressed the specific areas of sin in my life - only God could reveal those to her. I finally saw God as more than just something or someone who existed somewhere out there but someone who cared about me and wanted a relationship with me. I came back to the states and it took me a few more years and a lot of wandering before I found another group that I really connected with (not that I was looking, at a weekly Bible Study at a couple's house in MO). They would often ask us to write on a piece of paper how we knew we were Christians. I guess they got a lot of strange answers from me. The guy I was dating died while I was attending this group. One night, a couple days after his death, the group met. I stayed after and talked with the wife. I asked a lot of questions about where he would be spending eternity and where I would be if I died. That evening at the age of 26 I gave my life to Christ.

Everything about my life has changed and I became a different person (2 Corinthians 5:17), including what I like and what I am interested in. Some areas that I struggled with, God just removed from my life and when presented with them, there is now no struggle. Other areas, I am still working out, but now I am able to because I have Christ in my life. That void I had and yearned to fill in all the wrong ways, is now filled with the love of God and the peace that only He can provide. My life may not be perfect but I know where I am going when I die and I no longer fear death. I look forward to the day I will meet my Maker in heaven face to face and hope to meet a lot of family and friends there too, many of whom are currently unsaved.