The Place Where it All Began....

I'm gonna party like its 1999.... Actually 1999 was the year all the parties stopped for me.  I started a new journey that led me directly to this life that I am living today. 14 years ago Jesus found me sitting alone in my dorm room at the very bottom of my barrel.  He rescued me from a dark place and changed to course of my life forever.  That night was in November of 1998 and by January i was sitting in a very different type of dorm room in Ocala, Fl at Impact Bible College.  I spent 6 months at Impact and I became new person, literally.  All the old things in me had passed away and Jesus made me new.  

I came to Spirit Life Church a very blank slate, for all my years of being in church I didn't have a clue.  I didn't really know much of anything.  The Pastors and leaders here thought I was a little on the crazy side coming in and my poor roommates were a little afraid.  Slowly but surely the word of God began to come alive in me.  It began to challenge the way I thought and acted and worked itself out in my life.  I fell in love with Jesus there in Ocala.  It was a refuge for me, a safe place where God could reveal the deepest parts of me and the people there loved me and encouraged me every step of the way.  There was never any judgement or harsh words, it was as if God had me wrapped up in a cacoon to shift things around and teach me He ways until I was ready to be released into this new life.  

Earlier this year when I was planning for our 2 week baseball extravaganza I realized our drive from Orlando to Orange Beach would take us right though Ocala on Sunday morning.  I told Matt that I would love to go to church at Spirit Life.  So yesterday we packed up our Jeep and loaded up all our kids and headed for church.   A lot about the Church has changed but as soon as I walked in I felt the safety of being somewhere that Jesus is.  There were still a lot of familiar faces which to me says a great deal about the leadership of Pastor Richard and Gail Perinchief.  We were welcomed with love and I can honestly say I think we would have been regardless of my attending Bible school or not.  

As I stood in worship I could remember exactly what it felt like to come in there for the first day of class and the feelings that I had when our teachers would teach us the word of God in a way I had never experienced.  There was a deposit taking place and a foundation being built in my life that has never been shaken.  God built me in this place and it was powerful for me to be there again.  It was wonderful for me to share this experience with Matt and the kids.  

I am so encouraged in remember that God took time to work in me then and I know that god is continuing to work in me today.  He was faithful to shape my life into what He wanted it to be and he set my feet on the path he determined for me.  That path has led me here today.  I can't help but feel that this was a reminder to me that he is in control and he has a plan, he is building a foundation for the next season of our lives and all I have to do is submit to his plan and start moving forward.  

Thank you Spirit Life Church for your faithfulness 14 years ago.  Thank you for not giving up and a crazy 18 year old who didn't know a thing.  I hope that my faithfulness to God can impact lives the way that yours had impacted mine.  

2 Corinthian 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new"