Well I have to start out by saying I whole heartily agree that Michael Jordan was the best basketball player around!! Honestly since his time of playing has come to an end I have kinda lost the interest in the sport.

So now back to the subject. So funny, today I was thinking of blogging about my journey to God.So I feel God wants me to tell the story.

I’m gonna go back to the time in my life when I needed God the most. September of 2000. That was the year my life was about to change forever. My mom Mary Lou Leslie was diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer. After receiving the news and learning the approach the doctors had we told our friends and family. Through the next six months we had a lot of support from friends and family ( Prayers) which I appreciated but never once did myself.After a lot of suffering and hospital stays my mom had passed.( April 24 2001) The doctors had given her exactly 6 mths.

After my mom had passed that’s when I realized what my family and I just went through.My heartache began.Trying to deal with losing my mom and help my dad at the same time was emotionally devastating.

With religion not being a part of my life I turned to the wrong things for support.I began to drink. Alcohol was never a thing in my family, but being 26 at that time having money, and a lot of ” friends” who liked to party that’s what took my pain away. Or so I thought. After about two months to the day my father died of what they called a broken heart. My father loved my mom so much he didn’t want to live without her. And I knew this. He told me the day she passed.

After a few years had passed Ken and I married ( October 9th 2004) best day of our lives. Big wedding one heck of a reception.It was all just as “we” wanted it. We even went as far as to ask that God not be mentioned in our ceremony! So our life as two began.

We soon moved to Lancaster and pretty much settled happily here. We lived a “normal” life but Godless. After looking back our life revolved around us, our friends and partying. Which to most sounds pretty good, but it can be a lonely place. I soon started wanting more in our life. I met someone at work who was a believer. He talked to me a lot about God and praying.

I believe this is when God knew I was ready to let Him in. I started praying often. I at this point didn’t feel much. As in, was He there? Is He real? But soon it hit me. Ken had been going through job after job. Which caused a lot of problems. We sometimes did not know if our marriage would make it. But within time he applied at High Steel. He got the job and soon things got better for us. After about a year and a half we started to want some changes in our lives.

On a summer evening sitting outside having a nice dinner and wine. We began talking about kids and the fun things we would do as parents. We decided at that time to “see if it would happen” but God was listening and it was His opportunity and the right timing to bring the change we needed. So nevertheless about a month later something changed.

I was Pregnant!! That’s the moment I knew God was there. May sound silly but, looking back He was there. I just didn’t acknowledge Him. At this point I started sharing my thoughts about God to ken. We cried a lot , mostly happy tears as we were preparing for our son. About a month before I was due ken discovered Faith Church. We agreed this would be good to check out.

About a week before my due date we entered Faith Church for the First time. Feeling very nervous and apprehensive, we were welcomed with open arms. So after Tristan was born we returned. Thinking this is good for him. Only to soon realize it was our journey to Him. After spending the first year at Faith we soon could see ourselves growing in the Lord. Everything we did was based on God’s plan for us as a family.

We soon had a second addition Addison. Our family was complete. God gave us our children as a symbol of Him. It was His way of leading us in His direction, all when we were ready to allow Him in our life. God is there. All we have to do is acknowledge Him.

Thank you Faith Church for being the unity that saved us. And the guidance that has helped my family grow closer to God.

From the bottom of my heart,
Sherri Patton