I grew up in a Christian home. In fact, I can not ever remember not being involved in church. I cannot name a person on either side of my family that is not a Christian. And, although that is a blessing that I would not trade, it also made it very easy to take my salvation for granted. It was something I always had and something I did not grow to truly value until later in my adult life.

 

I graduated from Appalachian State University in 1986 with a teaching degree in special education. In the spring of 1987 I married Scott. It was not long into our marriage that we decided to grow our family. Little did I know that this decision would force me to learn to totally lean on Jesus. Over the next eight years we would lose seven children to miscarriages and give birth to three beautiful children. It was during the first miscarriage that I realized that although I knew about Christ and had accepted his forgiveness, I did not have my own relationship with Him. I could either choose to lean totally on Him or be consumed by the repeated grief. I chose Him. I began to develop my own personal relationship with Christ that continues to grow each day. 

 

I have always been active in church. I have memories of helping park cars at a large downtown church with my father as a preschooler, helping clean the nursery rooms as an elementary student, and later helping to copy (on a mimeograph machine) the newsletter and then help fold, label, and stamp. By middle school I was playing the piano for our small country church. In high school a friend and I convinced a parent to step up and be the “youth director,” but the catch was we had to do all the work. We then later started a children’s church and continued to teach or coordinate the program until I graduated. This created a life style that just felt empty if I was not involved in church.

 

When my family joined Cornerstone we knew this was where God wanted us, but the children’s ministry was still very young. I wanted my children to have the memories I had and the only way to make this happen was to jump in and help. Little did I know that this time the volunteer work would lead to an entire change in my life’s direction. I knew that once my youngest child began school I would return to work and always assumed it would be teaching. I loved working with the children, but there just was not an excitement about spending the rest of my life in the classroom, so I spent my days searching for what God really had planned for me.

 

It was during a quiet morning that of Bible study and prayer that I heard God ask me “where do you find your greatest passion?” The answer was working with children at church. This led to a new excitement about the future. I committed myself to fulltime children’s ministry and then began the long path to a seminary degree. I graduated in May, 2006, with a Masters of Arts in Christian Education at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

 

I wake up every morning excited that He has chosen to allow me to be a part of His work. My desire is to allow every child I encounter to see a glimpse of who Christ is. He is not their parent’s God, He is their God. They can know Him and depend on Him beginning now. They can learn now what it means to have their own relationship with Christ.