It wasn’t until I was 17 years old that I learned my father had been raised in an Adventist home and that his father (my grandfather) was a minister. Through a series of unexpected events, and my father acquiring a broken leg, he began reading through The Great Controversy—a book that his father had given him many years ago. After completing the book, he decided to visit an Adventist church, and as a family we started attending each week.

Oh the prayers of grandparents! Later on I learned that they had faithfully prayed for each one in my family, by name, every single day for 19 years.

I was just sort of thrown into the “church scene” without giving it much thought, but was glad to finally have answers to the things I’d questioned since my early childhood. Since I hadn’t had previous experience with any type religion, I didn’t have any preconceived ideas. I readily accepted whatever I was taught, and eventually I was baptized into the SDA church in the Fall of 1999.

After my baptism, though, I realized that even though I knew some things about God, I still didn’t really know who God was. So I began reading through my Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy on my own to figure it out. It doing so, I became somewhat distraught that much of what I was reading wasn’t what was being taught by the leaders in my church. I started noticing many inconsistencies, but didn’t really know what to do about them. I brought some of the issues (with regard to Sabbathkeeping, praying, vegetarianism, and mixing the sacred and common) to the leaders who oversaw our church and was simply told that I shouldn’t get too excited about things. Although I outwardly accepted this response, my insides were still churning because I knew God couldn’t possibly be pleased with complacency in these important matters.

One Sabbath, another member in our church gave my family a copy of the Sabbath Bible Lessons from the SDA Reform Movement. This member had been receiving a free subscription to these lessons for years. Upon handing it to our family, he gave us the warning that while the SDARM reading material is good, the people in the church are not, so we shouldn’t visit any of their churches. After looking over the Sabbath Bible Lessons quarterly and seeing it was only Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and really enjoying its contents, one Sabbath our family traveled 2½? hours to the SDARM General Conference church in Roanoke, Virginia. Something that really left an impression on me as a young person was how the members there seemed to actually want to be around each other and would stay in the afternoon and eat lunch together. As our family would drive away at the end of the day, they would all come out and wave goodbye to us. This was very different from what I had been accustomed to in my church, and naturally we became closer to those of like mind who we were able to spend more time with. I really enjoyed listening to the older brethren tell about their experiences with God during lunch. Someone always had a story for us with a good lesson in it! As I learned more of the truth through these visits, my enthusiasm to study grew even more. It wasn’t too long after that I learned of Alcovy Bible Institute (a two-year missionary seminar program of the SDARM) and decided to attend. My parents were reluctant to send my sister and me to the school, because it was during this time that they were finding the truth of the narrow road distasteful to the carnal nature and had stopped following the Lord altogether. God was faithful however, and made the way for my sister and me to attend the classes. I really looked forward to these 10-day seminars that came once a quarter, and remained at the top of my class for the first year.

Home life became very difficult as there was now a division in my family, but again, God was faithful and gave me the strength day by day to endure whatever difficulties came my way. It was during this trying time that I learned to pray! Eventually, the day came that my father informed me that I couldn’t stay in our home any longer because he and my mother feared I would have a Christian influence over my siblings. And so, at 19 years of age I moved away, and a few months later, in December 2001, I was baptized into the SDARM.

Unfortunately, Satan worked harder than ever after my baptism, and I floundered around for a period of time. I was losing my way because I was forgetting the way God had led me, and in my wrongdoing, I lost the peace that only comes from loving, serving, and obeying God.

However, I never forgot Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

I knew that God hadn’t ceased to be interested in my soul. I had lots of head knowledge, but the condition of my heart was stony. I needed to be broken. It was at an International Youth Convention in Romania that I was urged to really consider the condition of my heart in a study taken from Ezekiel 36. God wanted to do so much good with my life, but couldn’t as long as I was content to sit in the muck and mire of my own ways. Then the speaker read Psalm 27:10, “ When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” I had read this verse before, but for some reason, I heard it that day as if I never had. I became overwhelmed with the realization of how much God loves me. EVEN ME! In 2004 I rededicated my life to the Lord, committing to follow wherever He would lead. After marrying in 2010 and now having a fourth child on the way, I have a deeper and more personal understanding of God as my Father. As I daily relate to my children, I am able to realize how God loves us unconditionally. It doesn’t matter how stubborn or wayward we may be, He still wants what is best for us and works untiringly for our souls. He doesn’t give up on us and He is worthy of our trust!