My Testimony

Topic: My Story - How I Got Saved

Most of the time when I meet a fellow Christian and ask them about their faith journey, they remember the turning point in their life that led them to accept and follow Jesus, and it usually involves hitting rock bottom… My turning point is a little different than most because I wasn’t down and out or hurting. I was on top of the world… or so I thought.

Growing Up…

I was born and raised in a very devout Roman Catholic home. I grew up going to church every Sunday… every.single.Sunday. We literally never missed. Even when we went on our yearly family vacation to Ocean City, my Dad made it a point to find a Catholic church where we could attend mass so that we didn’t have to miss. I’ve come to understand that we did this more out of fear than a devotion to God. I grew up thinking that if I missed a Sunday mass and I died prior to going to confession, I was going to spend eternity in the pit of hell, when in reality the Bible doesn’t say that at all.

Growing up, most of my friends were Catholic too, but I had a few that were not. I remember asking my Dad what was going to happen to “so and so” because she wasn’t Catholic, and him telling me that basically she was in the “wrong religion” and for that she was doomed to hell. I also remember thinking, “Well thank goodness I’m in the right one!” Grateful to have been born into the “right” religion, I never really gave it much thought after that.

In school I was a good kid. I got straight A’s, was in all the right academic “clubs”, and even made it onto the cheerleading squad in 10th grade. The first time I drank alcohol I was 16 years old. Since all the “cool kids” I was around were starting to experiment with it, I just wanted to know what it felt like, but I didn’t really care for it, so for the most part I stayed away from the party scene after that… until my freshman year of college.

Penn State, a.k.a Happy Valley. What it really should be called is the devil’s playground because nothing remotely moral happens in Happy Valley, and just like everyone else, I got sucked into the drinking scene, and therefore I spent most of my Sunday mornings recovering from what I did to myself the night before, so church was no longer a priority for me. Because I didn’t really have a relationship with God, it was an easy justification to make. All I ever did while attending Sunday mass anyway was daydream. What was the point? Going to church was like punching a timecard. I went as a weekly ritual in exchange for the understanding that I wasn’t going to hell if something happened to me during the week. I found out later it doesn’t actually work like that.

The Transition…

The summer before I graduated from college, I signed an offer letter to take a job with a nuclear power plant in the Pittsburgh area. I had interned for them for the previous two summers and even though I had no clue what my daily life was going to look like after taking the job, the salary and the health benefits were quite appealing, so I signed on the dotted line with no regrets. Boy, my family thought I had struck gold… a young, beautiful mechanical engineer gets the perfect job right out of college. Everyone said I had it made… and for a brief period of time, I thought I did too.

But the corporate world wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I hated getting up early and sitting in traffic for an hour commute one way, only to turn around and do the exact same thing 8-10 hours later. As a female engineer, I was in the minority, but that didn’t really bother me. I experienced what I call reverse discrimination. I think I got the job because I was a woman rather than in spite of it. There were dozens of other interns who could’ve gotten that job offer. Most of them were men, but they gave it to me instead… it probably didn’t hurt that I was young and beautiful… 30 pounds lighter than what I am today and dressed like a hoochie on occasion.

What did bother me about the corporate life was spending the entire day having to act like you’re busy in order to earn your paycheck while stretching 2 hours of work into an 8-hour day just to look productive. Deep down I knew I was capable of doing something more, but I had no idea what “more” looked like, so I just started searching. I didn’t tell anyone I was searching. I knew better than to admit I was miserable because my family and friends would’ve said I was crazy, ungrateful, and selfish.

About a year later, the company I was working for offered me an opportunity that I didn’t really want to take, but it made no logical sense to turn down. Another nuclear power plant that First Energy owned in Ohio needed some temporary help for a 6 - 12 month assignment, and they put together a really sweet deal for anyone who wanted to go. In addition to my salary, I was offered a $200/day per diem bonus plus any overtime I could work. Basically what that meant was that every month I would be given an extra check for $6000 simply for my living expenses… compensation for the inconvenience I suppose. At the time, the average age of the workforce there was 47 and so most of the established engineers had families and the disruption to their lifestyle wasn’t worth it. Realizing this, upper management started targeting the newbies like me because they knew we weren’t tied down to anything. I remember going home to tell my mom and dad about the offer, and my dad basically telling me, “You’re going.” I wasn’t excited or happy about it, but I knew he was right. How could I pass this up? I was 22 years old and was offered the chance to bring in at least $60,000 in 6 months’ time. Logically, it was a no brainer.

In the meantime, I had become pretty good friends with a female co-worker who was also my age, and we decided to volunteer to go together. Somehow having someone else to go with made it more bearable, and I actually did start to look forward to it after I found a travel buddy. I made the move on Labor Day weekend of 2002… left the snazzy new apartment I had just found in Pittsburgh and moved into a hotel room in Port Clinton, Ohio. My friend Jami was only supposed to be a few weeks behind me, if that, and we decided to look for an apartment together for our temporary assignment.

However, after the first couple weeks had passed, Jami’s boss decided that he needed her back at our home plant and so he wasn’t willing to let her go. So much for the travel buddy idea. I remember being incredibly disappointed. Port Clinton is a resort town that is hopping during the summer break, but basically shuts down completely from Labor Day to Memorial Day, and of course that was the duration of my assignment there. So there I was in a deadbeat town, no friends or family to do anything with when I wasn’t working, but more money that I thought I could spend. I decided to buy a brand-new car in hopes that it would fill the void of emptiness I was feeling. It worked… briefly, just like everything else does when we attempt to fill a void with something of material value rather than purpose and meaning.

The Turning Point…

It was October 2002 and I was miserable, lonely, and had no clue how I was going to get through the next 6 months. Up to this point, Jami had been trying to set me up with all of her guy friends, but nothing really panned out. In fact, the last guy she tried to fix me up with prior to meeting my husband stood me up for our 2nd date. That felt good. Honestly, after experiencing so much disappointment with my love life or lack thereof, I had basically given up. I decided when I moved back to Pennsylvania that I was going to take all the money I banked, buy a nice home, and just become an old spinster. Hey, at least I had money and the freedom to make all my own choices. I thought I could find happiness in that.

It was early in the month when I got a phone call from one of her guy friends who went by the name “Shuppe”. Even though he was one of Jami’s best friends from college, she said he was the last one I should get involved with because he was the least “successful”. He had an engineering degree just like us, but he was still living at home with his parents after being out of school for a year. Supposedly, he couldn’t find a real job so he was just mowing grass and working part-time at Best Buy. She convinced me that he wasn’t a good choice, but he’d be fun to hang out with, so when he called me and asked if I wanted to go party with him at the University of Toledo for their homecoming weekend, I figured, why not? I didn’t have anything better to do. Looking back, that probably wasn’t the smartest decision I’d ever made… agreeing to spend an entire weekend with a random stranger who I’d never actually met… that could’ve been a total disaster. Thank goodness God had a plan for me before I even knew who He was.

Now, one would think that if you’re going to meet a girl for the first time who one of your closest friends has told you is pretty and single, you would at least shower after you mowed grass for 12 hours, but not this guy. When I opened the door, the first thing I remember thinking is, “Wow, he photographs well, and this is going to be a long weekend.” I didn’t find him the least bit attractive, but that could be because he was filthy dirty with an enormous head of frizzy hair covered in leaves and sticks. Nevertheless, it was too late to turn back, so we jumped in my brand-new Ford Escape, and headed to Toledo.

Once we arrived and got settled in at his friends’ townhouse where we would spend the weekend, he took a shower, and after he came downstairs, I was intrigued. He looked much more like the handsome man I had seen in the photograph Jami had shown me once. He cleaned up well… thank goodness. The next day we went to a tailgating party where I sat in the back of a red pick-up truck and drowned myself in Captain Morgan Spiced Rum and Diet Coke… my drink of choice for the 4 plus years I spent partying. That day was a game changer though.

Somewhere between the swigs of spiced rum and the football game, a guy named John came over to our tailgate area talking about some internet business he had started that was going extremely well and that he and his brother were planning to retire from their corporate jobs before they were 30.

Say what? Are you serious? How is that even possible?

Keep in mind this was late 2002 when internet shopping was in its infancy stage and people were still skeptical about putting their credit card online. To put it mildly, I was attentive. John was finishing up his Master’s Degree in mechanical engineering, and he was also doing an internship with Nasa which told me he was obviously an intelligent dude. Remarkably, he was way more excited about his side business than his engineering career, so I agreed to set up a time to meet with him that week to learn more about what he was doing.

After our meeting and doing my due diligence, I decided to get things up and running with my own online business venture. I was wildly excited about creating a different life for myself, one where I didn’t have to be chained to a desk and trade my time for a paycheck, but where I could actually build an asset in my spare time that if done properly could continue to pay me month after month, year after year. Through that process, John introduced me to a group of young, successful entrepreneurs who I was able to collaborate with. I started attending meetings and conferences on a regular basis and I fell in love with the people and the path they had chosen for their life.

A New Path…

Since I don’t really know how to do anything halfway, I went all in with this new venture. I put my party lifestyle on the back burner and started chasing a dream instead… a dream of creating financial independence and freedom. Shuppe was still in the picture, but as far as I was concerned he was “Mr. Okay For Right Now”… definitely not someone I was going to marry. He was too shy and quiet and we wanted different things. I also found out that spiritually he considered himself to be an agnostic. Even though I didn’t have a real relationship with Jesus yet, I certainly believed in God and wasn’t going to get involved with anyone who didn’t at least share that with me… another reason I kept him at “Mr. Okay For Right Now” status.

I was spending almost all of my spare time at business meetings and seminars, listening to podcasts, reading leadership books and people skills books, and since he wanted to date me, he was doing the same thing, but tagging along, not really engaging like I was. One thing we agreed on is he loved the people. The weekend conferences we attended started out with honoring our military, posting the colors, and that resonated with him. Most of the talks and podcasts we listened to had a faith element interwoven that didn’t make sense to either of us. I didn’t understand why people would use Bible stories in their motivational business talks… Isn’t that whole separation of church and state thing supposed to mean you can’t mix God with business? That was something we both agreed on.

Over time, the faith element grew on me and one weekend in the summer of 2003, I was given a chance to make a decision that would radically change everything about the way I lived. At that point, I had been in business for 9 months and hadn’t seen the fast success I thought I was destined to have, but I had seen enough success for others that I knew I could make it work. Still I was frustrated as I sat in my seat during the summer conference listening to all the speakers. The keynote speaker on Saturday night was insanely successful… multi-millionaire status and he didn’t even have a college degree. He wasn’t an overnight wonder either, and he was hilarious to listen to… something about this guy just captivated me, and before he closed his speech, he said if you wanted to know the real secret to his success, he was going to be sharing it the following morning at a non-denominational worship service and he invited everyone in the coliseum to attend.

I remember asking Shuppe if he wanted to come to the service with me and he said, “Sure.” So the next morning we went. As I sat and listened to this man’s testimony, for the first time ever I understood what Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross really meant. All my life prior to this point I thought, “What is the big deal that he died for our sins? He was God. How hard could that have been?’ I never connected the fact that Jesus was fully human and fully God, but because he was human he experienced all the same temptations that we go through every day, but He CHOSE not to sin. He CHOSE to put himself through that horrific beating and ultimately the crucifixion so that He could pay the penalty for my sin… and yours. And all of a sudden, it clicked.

When he was done with his testimony, he invited anyone who had never accepted Christ before to come to the front of the stage to pray. I was shaking and crying in my seat. I so didn’t want to get up in front of all those people. An intense game of mental ping pong ensued. I rationalized that I believed in Jesus and therefore there was no need to embarrass myself by getting up and walking down there. We were in a coliseum with over 5000 other people.

“I AM NOT going down there!”

More time was passing. Shuppe was sitting next to me on my left. I refused to even look in that direction. As I watched people pour out of the stands and go forward, I started wondering… “Should I just do it? No. It’s not necessary. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. I’m good.”

I can’t remember the moment I finally decided to get up, but I remember hiding my face with my hair so that the people next to me wouldn’t see me crying. It must have been the Holy Spirit moving because suddenly I thought, “I must be supposed to go down there or I wouldn’t be shaking like this.” So I stood up, climbed over Shuppe, and headed to the end of the row. There were quite a few steps I had to go down, and when I got to the bottom, I turned around and he was right behind me. It was in that moment I knew he was the man I was supposed to marry. Go figure. “Mr. Okay for Right Now” turns out to be “The One”.

We walked hand in hand to the front of the stage, crying the entire time, and said the sinner’s prayer with hundreds of other people. I remember wiping my tear soaked face on his shoulder, still not wanting to look at him. Today he jokes and tells people that he thought we were going for coffee… haha, very funny.

That was June 29th, 2003 and my life has never been the same. The 3.5 hour ride home was the most peaceful thing ever. That’s what I remember most about that day… experiencing an internal peace that is almost indescribable. Not a care in the world… just a constant reassurance that no matter what happens, everything is going to be okay.

Fast forward and lessons learned…

Life hasn’t been all roses and lilies since then, but I can’t imagine facing the struggles without knowing what Jesus did for me and having Him to lean on through it all. Our marriage is far from perfect, but it’s better than most and I attribute that to us getting saved and choosing to make Christ the center of our home… what a difference maker knowing Him is.

I look back. One, 24 hour period of time changed the course of my life forever… at a tailgating party of all places! That’s why I know God has a very specific plan for everyone, and He meets us exactly where we are. We’re given free will to make our own choices, and sometimes we choose wrong, but the GPS has the destination set so that no matter what detours we take, we’ll get to where we’re supposed to go eventually.

Me & the hubby - April 2022

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” NIV

I still have questions… lots of them. Why did I have to lose my dad when he was only 62? And we lost my mother law at 66… Why? She was an incredible woman and my kids won’t even remember her. It’s not fair, and I have questions, but I choose to put my faith in the One true God believing that His timing is perfect even when it doesn’t make sense to us and someday I’ll have all the answers to all my questions because the Bible says so and I choose to believe it. Until then, I’ll follow the path He has laid out for me in hopes of someday hearing, “Well done my good and faithful servant… “

Final thoughts…

Sometimes you don’t have to hit rock bottom to realize you’re lost. I’m thankful that I found God when life was good. It made rock bottom easier to climb out of when the storms of life came… and they will come no matter who you are. The Bible says that God knew you before he knitted you together in your mother’s womb and that every hair on your head is numbered. There is definitive evidence in my life to prove that, and I hang on to that promise daily.

I have no idea why this season of life has me in the political realm fighting some of the most depraved corruption that I never knew existed, but I wake up every day and put one foot in front of the other and try to slay whatever dragons are in my path for that 24-hour period of time.

No one knows what tomorrow holds. If you took your last breath today, do you know where you would spend eternity? If not, I encourage you to consider the story of the Savior. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one will spend eternity in heaven without first accepting the free gift of salvation. If you are ready to make that choice, click here:

I Want To Follow Jesus

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