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Merry Christmas friends!

I hope that this finds you happy and healthy…enjoying the holiday with your loved ones.

My family and I are experiencing a very non-traditional Christmas this year in Las Vegas, NV. My parents have been traveling in their motor home this winter and have flown my siblings and me out to meet them in  Las Vegas for the holidays.

I will actually be here for New Year’s and my 40th birthday as well. 🙂

So, I thought it would be appropriate to talk just a bit about my faith today because as a Christian today is the day that I celebrate the birth of Jesus. I will admit that I am not positive that there will even be a church service attended today but my faith to me is not just about religion and the experience of attending church services.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I was raise Lutheran and had a solid bible education as a child. This picture to the right is of my confirmation which is the result of attending 2 years of classes. I was also baptized and as infant which would be typical in the Lutheran faith.

I wrote in my post on solitude about how I felt the presence of God when I would climb the hill behind my home in our small town.

I also had written about a very intense moment in the hospital after I had broken my neck in a car accident when I was sixteen. This was a moment when I felt God’s presence with a certainty that I had not known before.

Later God would bring these moments clearly back to my memory and confirm with me that it was in fact His voice that I had heard so long ago.

After I moved to CA to begin my many years of a nanny career, it seems I would go to extremes when it came to my spiritual life. For a period of time, I really did not do much in the way of seeking at all.

Then, while attending San Francisco State University and taking different Philosophy and Social Science classes, I gravitated towards teachings of what I would label “New Age”. At this point, I did find myself seeking again and for a period I almost would have called myself an atheist or possibly agnostic.

I felt at this time that maybe I had only believed in God because it was what I had been taught my whole life.

Then I attended Hosanna Celebration Center in San Francisco and my life would never be the same.

This was a Four Square Gospel Church and what I experienced here was unlike any service I had ever been to. They worshiped in a way that spoke right to me and it seemed to stir something within my heart.

Emotions were so raw and real here and they spoke about accepting Christ as your Savior and having a relationship with Jesus. This was not something that I had known before…not really.

I was skeptical and anxious at first. I would sit in the back so I could skip out if I wanted to…yet I kept coming back!

Fast forward years later after I did officially (in my heart) accept Christ I was still attending this sweet little church that I had come to love so much.

I had chosen baptism as an adult – a proclamation of my faith and what/who I was living for.

I no longer sat in the back of the church. In fact, I was very much involved and even played the keyboard and sang vocals in the worship team…something I loved!

There have been many ups and downs in my life for sure. In fact, one could call this point of unexpected job loss a “down time” for me now.

It is my faith that keeps me strong and the knowledge that God has a plan and a purpose for my life.

I believe with all my heart that regardless of what your spiritual beliefs are (and I am NOT one to judge…believe me!) Jesus wants a relationship with YOU!

I do not consider myself to be “preachy” and I would hope to never be judged as such. I do hope that my life is a testimony of everything that God has done for me and who He is in my life.

Amen! God Bless and Merry Christmas!

P.S. Thank you for allowing me to share with you. 😉