Michelle

Well, I was born and raised in a fairly small town: Keokuk, Iowa.  My parents were diligent in raising me and my siblings in the Methodist church.  It is a beautiful church on the northeast side of town that was built in the 1950's or 60's and it has a contemporary look.  It looks like a flying dove.  As a child I knew Jesus loved the little children.  That's about it until we moved to a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.  I met my best friend Karen Johnson and she was a Methodist, too!!  Her church was a little more "spirit-filled" than my church in Keokuk, Iowa.  The songs were very worshipful with a strong gospel background and there were people of many colors in this church.  It was beautiful.  Her parents were strong in their faith walk and I went away on many church and family retreats with them.  One day Karen led me into a prayer to be saved by Jesus.  We were 10 yrs. old in the back of her mother's stationwagon.  Her mom was so happy for me. I was happy, too.  My father had a difficult time living in the south and my grandmother was aging with a few health concerns so we moved back to Keokuk when I was 12.

My jr. and sr. high school years proved to be a bit challenging.  I made many poor choices.  Several times throughout my highschool years I could feel God trying to bring me back to Him; yet I wandered anyway.  I experienced great joy dancing with the Poms team "The Little Feathers", singing in school and church choirs, and being a drama queen in several plays and musicals.  Singing was my favorite.  Music has always stirred my heart.  If I hear a song from my childhood or teenage years I will remember the year, what was going on in the world, which boyfriend I had at the time and all of my struggles, hopes and dreams for that time of my life.  Music is powerful that way and I understand why God has hundreds of scripture on playing music with instruments and singing praises.  During my senior year my parents got a divorce.  It ripped our family apart! My mom left my father and moved to California.  I felt duped by my mom and dad and God.  Instead of running to God, I denied Him, questioned His existence and even mine.  So, I made poor choices and took the easy way out by focusing my attention on a boyfriend who was more broken than I was.  We partied my senior year away.

My mom heard that our family wasn't doing so well back in the midwest so she tried to come back and patch things up with my dad and us.  It was hard for my mom and dad to stay together so my mom talked my sister and me into moving to California with her.  We did and I started community college that winter semester.  California was a wonderful culture shock.  We lived about four miles from the beach and the majority of people were very happy and beautiful.  I met  uplifting people in college who wanted to change the world.  I majored in music and had wonderful grades.  I worked part-time and loved learning.  Then as classes became harder and I needed to study more and decide where I would finish my degree, I met a guy who reminded me of my old boyfriend.  I met a guy who needed my love to change him!  I found an easy way out!  I felt the urge to start partying again with this man and gave my heart and soul away... again!  Yes, I made some very poor decisions again.  I wasted four years of my life with this poor soul.  God tried to call both of us back to Him with several co-workers and college students but our flesh rose up against them.  Finally, we could not make it as a couple. We made some horrific choices together.  We were too different and I could not live this addiction-like lifestyle. Not long after we broke up there was a young girl fresh out of high school who I worked with.  She had a light that shone from her face and she was so happy, sweet and infectious in her zest for life.  She was condemned by some but envied by most because she did not hide her love for Jesus.  She left the job for several months to go on a mission trip to Guatamala.  When she came back we started discussing life and she invited me to a concert called Harvest Crusade.  We went and the music was good and the testimonies were great and people flocked up to the stage to receive Jesus into their hearts.  I was stubborn.  I did not.  She took me there two more nights and would always ask me if I was ready to accept Jesus into my heart. I always said, "No, thank you."  Then she invited me to her church service where once again the music was rockin' and people were praising the Lord...I even praised the Lord.  That night after the music stopped she said to me, "When are you going start singing for the glory of God?  I see you up there with the praise band!  What are you going to do with your life?" (Wow..I couldn't believe she said that to me!)  Then she introduced me to some of the members of the worship team.  As we got into her car she said, "O.K. Michelle, I don't want to bother you anymore, if you don't want Jesus, then that's o.k. but you've come with me five times and have not accepted Jesus.  Are you ready to accept Him into your heart?"  I just thought, "I'm going to get this girl off of my back!", so I said, "Yeah, o.k."  So she led me into a lovely version of the sinner's prayer where I just repeated everything back to her and in my mind I was saying "No, I'm just doing this to get her off of my back"...then I saw a picture of Jesus that flashed into my mind.  He was looking at me with a sad face and His hands stretched out toward me.  I began to softly weep and when she was done praying, she was touched that I had tears in my eyes.  She thought it was a good thing, but I was crying because I was denying Him.  So, she tried to keep in touch and get me connected but, I had "other things to do".  Eventhough, I denied Jesus with my heart, I confessed with my mouth and He worked on me.  Eversince then, God kept fishing for me and pulling my heart back with little seeds and nuggets.  My heart knew I needed Him back.

When my husband and I moved back to the midwest to take care of his mom who was going through chemo and then a big cancer surgery, we were challenged and our newly wed status was on the rocks.  I had people at my work who ministered to me and encouraged me to seek answers in scripture.  There were even patients who ministered to me!  This could only be orchestrated by Jesus!  So, in 1996, God had me.  He put so many people around me who loved Him.  I sang in the Sweet Adeline Chorus and we were blessed with many women of God and were quite talented in competitions.  My marriage became stronger and my husband came to the Lord!  Praise God!  The Lord answered my prayers and blessed us with a boy and a girl. Now, my husband and I make music together for Him!  We are blessed being in this TOW family!  What a life!  My life is not perfect, but having Jesus back to be with me and to guide me through this journey of life is something that I will treasure and never ever give up again!!