My Story: How I Found Jesus

Hello! If you don't know me, my name is Samantha, and I love to create recipes, sew items for my family, craft new things, sing worship songs, and learn new things in general.

I have recently found a new love for reading my Bible in the morning. However, no one is perfect, and I do sleep in sometimes. I have been reading the Gospels in the morning to start my day before my children wake up, and I’ve found that this sets the tone for the day. Whenever I start off by listening to or reading my Bible, my day usually goes way better than if I start rushed and running late.

This post is all about “How I Found Jesus,” but I want to give you a little background on where my faith started and how I got to where I am today. When I was younger, I was around a family that kept God front and center in their lives and would pray every day and spend their mornings with God. This was especially true of my great-grandmother, who, to this day (at age 85), fasts and prays every day. Growing up, I saw that and thought, “Wow! I want to have that relationship with God,” but I didn't know how to get there. As I continued to grow up, I stopped wanting to go to church and looked at it more as a chore. Eventually, when I graduated high school, I stopped going altogether.

This is where my husband comes into the story. When we met, I asked him, “Do you believe in God?” and his answer was “Yes,” and that was good enough for me. I was still a Christian and believed in God, but I didn't have any kind of relationship with Him. However, I knew I still wanted a partner who believed the same way I did. Fast forward about seven years into our relationship, we didn't really go to church, but my husband wanted to start going (our daughter was 2.5 at the time), and I reluctantly said, “Okay.” Why was I reluctant? Well, it had been YEARS since I stepped into a church, and committing to every Sunday felt like a chore. So, there were Sundays when my husband had to convince me to go. I know, it shouldn't be that way, but at the time it felt like a chore. I like to think of it as exercising for the first time in a while; you don't just get out there and commit to running a marathon after not running for years. It took time to build up a habit of going to church every Sunday for me to feel like, “Okay, I want to go to church today.” Honestly, that habit took a year and a half to build up. Yes, it took me a year and a half to finally say, “I want to go to church.” Now, I feel a little down or sad if I miss church (I know, it's a 180 from what I described a moment ago), but it's true!

So, what changed?! Well, for one, I went to church regularly, and it became a habit. Two, I started to meet people who were genuinely fun to hang out with and had kids the same age. We also found a church that worked for us. Churches are not a “one size fits all”; it’s more of a “keep trying until you find one you like” kind of thing. I had been to super small and very large churches before, and I found that I like a smaller church. It also depends on the pastor. Sometimes there are pastors who only read to you for their sermons, and sometimes there are ones who will read a little and then give you examples. To keep me engaged in the sermon, I like a little of both. Our pastor is GREAT, and I can always take something with me for the week ahead after listening to him preach. It helps that he is also in the same season of life that we are and is relatable for us. This is why I say that a church is not a “one size fits all,” and there will be some that just don't feel right, but please do not give up on them. It really is such a joy to find a place where you feel welcomed and connect with the people there. I am so glad that we found our church and the people in it and feel very blessed to have a community around us. Let me also say this: I am not an outgoing person, so when people would come up to greet me and ask me to go to a church function, my answer was not an easy, “Yes, that sounds fun!” It was more of a, “Yeah, I’ll get back to you.” To be honest, sometimes that's still my answer, but I know that it's not always easy for someone to go out of their way to welcome you into something new either. There is a fear of rejection on both sides. For me, it was the fear of, “What if I go and then I don't know what to say or who to talk to?” and for them, it’s, “What if I ask them to come to this thing and they say no?” But I have found that if you go out of your comfort zone, especially in church, you are unlikely to have a bad time. I have never agreed to go somewhere or do something with my church peers and had a “bad” time. Most of the time, I leave saying, “That was fun, I'm glad we went.”

After going to church for a year and a half and building up the habit, I felt called to get baptized. Fear had also kept me from getting baptized for so long. I had been feeling like I wanted to get baptized for a long, long while, but I didn't want to get up in front of everyone and be the center of attention (that's just not my personality). However, I still wanted to get baptized. My mother-in-law had said, “You should really think about getting baptized,” and I thought to myself, “Yeah, I would love to, but I don't want to get up in front of the 60 people in our church to do that.” So, what do you know, my best friend from childhood (friends for over 25 years) said to me a week later, “I am getting baptized next month,” and I said, “Oh, I have been wanting to do that!” She said to me, “Well, sign up with me!” So, I did! I not only got up in front of the whole church, but I got up in front of THOUSANDS of people within this church to get baptized! Do you want to know the funniest thing about that? I wasn't scared at all of the thousands of people watching me; I was excited!

So, today we are about a month after my baptism, and here I am writing to anyone who may feel the same way I did or anyone reading this story. I started this blog originally for my recipe creations, and then I started budget meal planning, but I wanted it to be more than that. I feel like I have so much that I am learning as a new Christian, and I know that there are others out there who may be struggling to get back into going to church or just going for the first time. I want to share my thoughts and experiences to help those people out!

I hope this resonated with someone out there and I look forward to sharing the resources that I am using to further my knowledge of the Bible and grow in my faith. I look forward to seeing where this journey takes me and whoever wants to follow along!

Feel free to also check out my recipes that I enjoy creating with the creative side of my brain!