About
My Testimony
I am a Work-In-Progress
The Lord led me to write my testimony during Church Service this morning (2/21/2016). I don't know where to begin, but I'll do my best.
I was raised in the church as a Methodist, and went to church regularly until I moved from living with my mother on the West Coast, to living with my Father on the East Coast at age 14. When living with my Father, we didn't go to church regularly (maybe 3 or 4 times). It wasn't until I met my best friend in High School that I started going to church with her family. They were Episcopalian and their church was in the local community center. I believe I went their with them for almost 2 years until the church closed and merged with their main church. From there I really didn't go back to church until after I graduated High School and moved back to the west coast. I tried to go back to my old Methodist church, but when talking with the Minister that had taken over from the previous minister that I knew, I tried to talk to him about some important life decisions I was faced with and needing to make. Rather than taking the time to council me, he looked at me, and then turned his back on me and walked off. I never felt more abandoned by what I thought was God, at the time, then at that moment. For the next 18 years, I took on the life-motto...”he helps those who help themselves”, and I turned away from my faith (not completely, but I did not trust or depend on my faith anymore.)
In those 18 years, the life decisions I needed to make ended up having me and my High School sweetheart breaking up, me getting into an abusive relationship with another boyfriend, Meeting another man, who helped me get out of that relationship, and ended up getting married to him.
Fast-forward to the year 2000, I'm married, have two children, and I wanted my children to grow up “right”, if you know what I mean. Just because Christ wasn't there for me, I thought, doesn't mean he won't be there for my children. So the first chance I got, (after a job change) I started looking for a church to take my children to. I wasn't going for myself, but wanted to find a place where my children would be accepted and welcome. My husband wouldn't go, but he didn't discourage me from taking them, because he knew that they could grow up having better morals going to church. Well the first Sunday search was after Thanksgiving, we went to this church, Manassas St. Thomas United Methodist Church. We entered in the lower Children's Sunday School Entrance and was warmly welcomed by this angel, who was the head of the Children's Ministries at the time, Leslie. She made us feel so at home, that we never continued looking at other churches. This was where God wanted us... ALL of us.
That first week I just sat outside the kid's classrooms and waited for them to finish, then the next week Miss Leslie talked me into going up to Service, where I was introduced to more God-loving people, who welcomed me with open arms. Soon I was encouraged to go to an ALPHA Course to learn more about my Christian Faith. As time went by, I got more involved with the Church and started opening up and accepting Christ again, but I still had my reservations. I was afraid of getting hurt again and having the Lord turn his back on me once more... but with much help and a lot of patience, my Church Family helped me figure out it wasn't the Lord who turned away, but the devil who got in the way. By 2003, I finally became an active member of the church.
I became an active volunteer for the Kitchen Ministries, I went on “The Walk to Emmaus” in the spring of 2004, and was a team member for “Chyrsalis” (Teen and young Adult version of Emmaus) in the Summer of 2005. All this time re-strengthening my faith.
Unfortunately, all was not going well at home, by this time. My husband, I believe, felt that since I found the Lord again, I didn't need him anymore, and he started distancing himself from me and the kids. I won't go into details about the next few years, as to what happened, but he and I separated as he found someone he felt that needed him more. We formally separated the spring of 2006, and the Divorce was final the summer of 2007. But during the time between separation and divorce, the Lord had other plans for me. He decided that it was time for my high school sweetheart and I should reunite and try to rekindle our friendship again. In August of 2006, my high school sweetheart was coming out of the end of a marriage with the same problems I had, and through a series of little incidences, the Lord got us to meet up, and repair each others broken hearts ( this is an Adventure story in itself... for another time). Almost 2 years later, in the Spring of 2008, with the help of my church family, we were finally married. With the Lords help, we worked out our problems that had us breaking up in the first place, and found that the main problems were a lack of communication and “friend” interference.
Move ahead two more years to 2010, and a traumatic event happened in our lives and marriage, which forced us to move 400+ miles away from our home and start over again. My husband and I had to live apart for a time, but the Lord was with us and kept us “together”, giving us things to strengthen our relationship with Him. We were soon re-united as the events were taken care of. My husband, with God's help, took care of protecting my family from a bad situation. This event took me years to get over, but the Lord has been standing by my side and helping my husband to help me to learn to give ALL my problems to Him.
I will be honest, I am still not as strong in my faith as I was as a child, but it is a more deeper faith, and I see the miraculous works He does for my family and I on nearly a daily basis. I still fight with the fact that “He would die even if it was just to save me”. And I have to scold myself for thinking that I am not worthy of His Mercy and Grace. I'm not,... but that is like giving Him a slap in the face for not accepting His gift.... am I right? The Lord is my Shepherd and I am his sheep, He is the Bride Groom and I am His bride. The more I place in His hands, the less I worry.
Yes, I am a Work in Progress, and I pray that one day my faith will be fully restored and as strong as it is deep. I just need to continue to remember to “Let go and Let God”
Renee L. Davidson (2-21-2016)
AS FOR FACEBOOK VIDEO GAMES:
I have pretty much banished myself from playing the Apps on this sight, as I have addictions and Facebook is one of the worst. I choose to stay off of it, so that I give the appropriate time to our Lord. I wasn't doing that before. I do visit my page once or twice a week to find old friends and new, but NO Apps!!! Please don't hate me because I won't gift you anymore, I can't focus on the important things if I'm worried about feeding my fish or planting my crops and getting them harvested before they wither. If you wish to send me a message through Facebook or comment on my wall, I will receive it and reply to you. I always love finding new and old friends and family. Your Sister In Christ, Renee
I am a Work-In-Progress
The Lord led me to write my testimony during Church Service this morning (2/21/2016). I don't know where to begin, but I'll do my best.
I was raised in the church as a Methodist, and went to church regularly until I moved from living with my mother on the West Coast, to living with my Father on the East Coast at age 14. When living with my Father, we didn't go to church regularly (maybe 3 or 4 times). It wasn't until I met my best friend in High School that I started going to church with her family. They were Episcopalian and their church was in the local community center. I believe I went their with them for almost 2 years until the church closed and merged with their main church. From there I really didn't go back to church until after I graduated High School and moved back to the west coast. I tried to go back to my old Methodist church, but when talking with the Minister that had taken over from the previous minister that I knew, I tried to talk to him about some important life decisions I was faced with and needing to make. Rather than taking the time to council me, he looked at me, and then turned his back on me and walked off. I never felt more abandoned by what I thought was God, at the time, then at that moment. For the next 18 years, I took on the life-motto...”he helps those who help themselves”, and I turned away from my faith (not completely, but I did not trust or depend on my faith anymore.)
In those 18 years, the life decisions I needed to make ended up having me and my High School sweetheart breaking up, me getting into an abusive relationship with another boyfriend, Meeting another man, who helped me get out of that relationship, and ended up getting married to him.
Fast-forward to the year 2000, I'm married, have two children, and I wanted my children to grow up “right”, if you know what I mean. Just because Christ wasn't there for me, I thought, doesn't mean he won't be there for my children. So the first chance I got, (after a job change) I started looking for a church to take my children to. I wasn't going for myself, but wanted to find a place where my children would be accepted and welcome. My husband wouldn't go, but he didn't discourage me from taking them, because he knew that they could grow up having better morals going to church. Well the first Sunday search was after Thanksgiving, we went to this church, Manassas St. Thomas United Methodist Church. We entered in the lower Children's Sunday School Entrance and was warmly welcomed by this angel, who was the head of the Children's Ministries at the time, Leslie. She made us feel so at home, that we never continued looking at other churches. This was where God wanted us... ALL of us.
That first week I just sat outside the kid's classrooms and waited for them to finish, then the next week Miss Leslie talked me into going up to Service, where I was introduced to more God-loving people, who welcomed me with open arms. Soon I was encouraged to go to an ALPHA Course to learn more about my Christian Faith. As time went by, I got more involved with the Church and started opening up and accepting Christ again, but I still had my reservations. I was afraid of getting hurt again and having the Lord turn his back on me once more... but with much help and a lot of patience, my Church Family helped me figure out it wasn't the Lord who turned away, but the devil who got in the way. By 2003, I finally became an active member of the church.
I became an active volunteer for the Kitchen Ministries, I went on “The Walk to Emmaus” in the spring of 2004, and was a team member for “Chyrsalis” (Teen and young Adult version of Emmaus) in the Summer of 2005. All this time re-strengthening my faith.
Unfortunately, all was not going well at home, by this time. My husband, I believe, felt that since I found the Lord again, I didn't need him anymore, and he started distancing himself from me and the kids. I won't go into details about the next few years, as to what happened, but he and I separated as he found someone he felt that needed him more. We formally separated the spring of 2006, and the Divorce was final the summer of 2007. But during the time between separation and divorce, the Lord had other plans for me. He decided that it was time for my high school sweetheart and I should reunite and try to rekindle our friendship again. In August of 2006, my high school sweetheart was coming out of the end of a marriage with the same problems I had, and through a series of little incidences, the Lord got us to meet up, and repair each others broken hearts ( this is an Adventure story in itself... for another time). Almost 2 years later, in the Spring of 2008, with the help of my church family, we were finally married. With the Lords help, we worked out our problems that had us breaking up in the first place, and found that the main problems were a lack of communication and “friend” interference.
Move ahead two more years to 2010, and a traumatic event happened in our lives and marriage, which forced us to move 400+ miles away from our home and start over again. My husband and I had to live apart for a time, but the Lord was with us and kept us “together”, giving us things to strengthen our relationship with Him. We were soon re-united as the events were taken care of. My husband, with God's help, took care of protecting my family from a bad situation. This event took me years to get over, but the Lord has been standing by my side and helping my husband to help me to learn to give ALL my problems to Him.
I will be honest, I am still not as strong in my faith as I was as a child, but it is a more deeper faith, and I see the miraculous works He does for my family and I on nearly a daily basis. I still fight with the fact that “He would die even if it was just to save me”. And I have to scold myself for thinking that I am not worthy of His Mercy and Grace. I'm not,... but that is like giving Him a slap in the face for not accepting His gift.... am I right? The Lord is my Shepherd and I am his sheep, He is the Bride Groom and I am His bride. The more I place in His hands, the less I worry.
Yes, I am a Work in Progress, and I pray that one day my faith will be fully restored and as strong as it is deep. I just need to continue to remember to “Let go and Let God”
Renee L. Davidson (2-21-2016)
AS FOR FACEBOOK VIDEO GAMES:
I have pretty much banished myself from playing the Apps on this sight, as I have addictions and Facebook is one of the worst. I choose to stay off of it, so that I give the appropriate time to our Lord. I wasn't doing that before. I do visit my page once or twice a week to find old friends and new, but NO Apps!!! Please don't hate me because I won't gift you anymore, I can't focus on the important things if I'm worried about feeding my fish or planting my crops and getting them harvested before they wither. If you wish to send me a message through Facebook or comment on my wall, I will receive it and reply to you. I always love finding new and old friends and family. Your Sister In Christ, Renee
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