Finding My Faith Again

I have had the most wonderfully awesome experience ever! I discovered that, although we get lost and sometimes forget about God, God is never lost. He's always right where we left him. What brought about this experience? I'll have to admit, I wasn't willing to admit that I'd left God behind years ago... But there it was again, staring me right in the face. I went to a Christian Women's Conference in my hometown, and what an awesome, uplifting and faith-building experience!

The speakers were mostly women, and all of them had such powerful stories to share! I truly felt connected, for once, to others like me, who had lost their way and then found their way back. I took away at least one thing from each speaker, and in the process, began finding again, what I thought had been lost so many years ago. My faith in God has been found and restored. I have finally become at peace with myself and with my life, and am now quite certain that God has a plan for my life!

I was raised in the Church, the Southern Baptist Church, to be exact. And, for many years as a child, was completely certain that there WAS a God and that Jesus had died on the cross so that we, as sinners, could be saved. I was baptized at the age of 11, and I tried really hard to walk in faith and stay close to God. However, due to things I wasn't equipped to handle emotionally, and many things that caused me to question my faith and God, I ended up walking away from God. But I thought He'd walked away from me! What a bitter, lonely soul I became!

I tried for many years to try to do it all on my own. Two failed marriages and many heartaches later, I have become ready to admit I couldn't do it on my own, because I didn't know how. I needed guidance. I have had no idea, all this time, how to go about finding that guidance and unconditional love I needed so desperately, and no idea how to find it in the right place. All of that changed whenever I went to the Women Of Faith: Amazing Freedom women's conference!

I am not suggesting that everyone has to go to these conferences to find their faith in God again, but that is what helped me! I discovered that God loves me unconditionally, God will never let me down, and all this time, God has been waiting on me to turn to Him and ask Him what His plan is for my life. God never left me or turned his back on me, He's been right there, in the same place, all this time. All He's wanted is for me to admit to Him that I couldn't do it alone, and to surrender my will back over to him. That's *all* he was waiting on. What an amazing thought! What wonderful unconditional love! What freedom in knowing that there is a love out there that is truly unconditional!

It was very uncomfortable having to admit that I've been so stubborn and willful, trying to do things my "own" way, that I have indeed made a mess of my life. But, in order to find freedom and peace in God's love... I have had to admit my sins and my wrongs, and I have had to ask God's help. I have found a new peace like none I've ever experienced! I am truly thankful that there is a God out there, that He sent His only Son to die for my sins, and that through His blood, I am saved. I am at peace, for once in my life, with myself and my life... and I *know* that God has a plan for me and my life!

What an amazing sense of freedom in knowing that He's never left me, that He's been there all this time, and that He loves me no matter what! I am finally free of the chains that my sins and pain had placed around me, and my life can only get better from here! I don't expect things to be perfect or for God to do it all for me, but I am finally free of my hurt and pain, and I am free of the burden of emotional pain. Thank-you Jesus! Thank-you Lord!

Finding myself in the place I'd only hoped to be years ago, surrounded by His love and forgiveness, I am finally free! It's a wonderful place to be!