Matthew 11:28, New International Version

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Conquering Chaos: Finding Peace in Christ (Part One)

To begin, I will tell you who I am. Who I am was the easy part of this, or so I thought - until my Sunday church Pastor, Pastor Ted, who preached about identity in Christ from Ephesians 1:1-6. I thought I had this part down – I am Cameron’s wife, I am a mother to our precious blessing Leah Marie who was born in June, I am a radiation therapist- I work in cancer treatment. That’s part of who I am but really, what should be first when I think of who I am, is that I am a broken and insecure Christian. My heart is on fire for God, but my sinful nature overtakes that daily. Part of that brokenness is comparing myself to other Christian women, thinking, “I want to be like her, she is so faithful, she is so kind, she is so devoted to Christ...”

I always say becoming a Christian has been such a blessing, but also the hardest thing I have done because there’s this constant “Conscious” aka - The Holy Spirit. 

At last year's conference I felt called to share my testimony, but I didn’t know when I was supposed to. I prayed about it, and I have sat down to type my testimony four times since I have become a Christian and it just never worked out. I stood here at the conference because the Lord made it apparent that I needed to share my testimony this year when M.J., who is the wife of Pastor Ted said to me “We have been praying over women to speak at the conference this year, and your name came up to share a testimony. Take some time and pray about it if you feel called to do it.” And I said, “Well M.J., I guess the Lord just gave me my sign.” God wants me to speak at this conference. 

One of the issues I had when I wrote my testimony was where to begin. That year's theme for the conference is “Conquering Chaos: Finding peace in Christ.” and that pointed me in the exact right direction. 

This is my journey to becoming a Christian and the two instances in my life where the Lord brought calm among the chaos.

My testimony began when I was twenty-one. I was not saved, I knew of God but had no relationship with Him, I didn’t even own a Bible. I was living with my boyfriend at the time, we mutually decided we didn’t want to be together anymore. That’s where my relationship with God began. After our breakup I knew I wanted to be with a man who did something with God, I wasn’t sure what, but I knew that was a priority for me, a man of God. I found this desire odd since I had no relationship with the Lord, but He laid that on my heart. After that breakup - I laid eyes on my husband - I fell in love with him the very moment I saw him - I was so sure he was the man for me that I told the girl sitting with me, “That’s my husband right there,” and I called my mom and told her I just met my husband.

I was so serious about finding a man who loved God, that on our first date I told Cameron I wanted to go to church and become a Christian - I had it made up in my head that if he wasn’t okay with that, that would have been our last first date - I wanted a man of God and that was that. So, Cameron wasn’t only a Christian, but also the worship leader of this church. And man, did I fall in love with him even more! I had this overwhelming feeling. God put him in my life at the right time, and he has had such an important impact on my journey to becoming saved. 

Please come back next week to read, “Conquering Chaos: Finding Peace in Christ” (Part Two)