I was very fortunate to have grown up in a home with a mom and a dad who loved me and my three brothers and sister.  We didn’t have a lot in the way of material things, but we had a roof over our heads and food on our table.

My parents never talked about their faith.  We moved around a lot and we did not go to church regularly.  Since my Dad worked shifts that would change frequently and his sleep schedule was unpredictable, it was hard for him to take us to church.  Usually my parents would send us to church and not go with us.  By the time I was 13 years old, we were attending an Episcopal Church in our neighborhood and my brother and I were old enough to be confirmed.  We had to be baptized before we were confirmed, so the minister scheduled our baptism one week prior to our confirmation on Feb 1, 1959.

I do not know how to put into words how I felt that day.  It was pure joy – one the best feelings I’ve ever felt in my life.  In hindsight, I realize that joy was the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It was in the late 60’s and early 70’s when the “born again” craze was popular.  You see, I knew that I believed in God, but I was never told that I had to ask Him to come into my heart.  I was watching the 700 Club when Pat Robertson said “that you had to repent of your sins and ask Jesus to come into your heart and be saved.”  I don’t remember what date that was exactly, but it was sometime in 1972 or 1973.  I could not believe that in all the churches I attended at that point in my life, not one of them taught me how to be saved.  On August 10, 1981 after my husband Rich got saved, the minister of the church (Faith Community Church) invited us to his house where he had a pool in his back yard, to be baptized.  So Rich and I were baptized again together.

I look back on my life and think about the many times that the Lord protected me from real trouble.  I still find a mystery and a blessing that God can love me so much even when I don’t please Him.

Ginger