So who is Lady Mommy anyway?

If you are going to read what I have to say, you might as well know who I am, so here goes.

I was born in March in Snow Country, USA almost a quarter of a century ago. I was baptized (sprinkled) in the Methodist church when I was 2 weeks old and rarely since have I missed a Sunday of church. With the exception of college, but I’ll get to that later.

In my third grade Sunday School class, my teacher told us we could never meet God in heaven unless we let Jesus into our hearts. I complied and then told everyone in the third grade at school the next day that they needed Jesus to go into their hearts too, but not many people agreed with me.

At 12 years old I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and was the second in my family to have my own prayer language. Soon after my dad also accepted Christ. I was also baptized by immersion, in a very, very cold river. I lived every minute for Jesus, wanting more and more of him. Until I found boys.

I was boy crazy. More like boy psychotic. Because of that, I believe I made some very stupid decisions. Ok well maybe a lot more than some. I walked away from my faith and turned my back on my savior. During that time, I experienced some of the darkest days of my life. I made mistakes I could never take back and broke hearts I could never repair.

I spent my high school days getting good grades, swimming, weight lifting, and running track. I was even inducted into the honor society, earned a couple scholarships for college, and aced a few state exams. I completed a cosmetology course and passed my state boards earning my license in cosmetology. I did everything right, except spend time with God.

Then, I went to college to become a Massage Therapist. I experienced a life further from God than I had ever been since that day in third grade Sunday School. I hung out with the wrong people, made some more mistakes, and some how ended up in a sinful relationship with a Satanist. When I visited home, I went to church, even the Satanist came to church with me, but I had no relationship with God at all. That was until the conference.

Early on in my college experience, my mom and my pastor advised me to find a Christian club on campus. That very day I spotted a flyer for “BASIC” and read briefly that they held Bible study weekly. So, I went. And, I got nothing out of it. When spring came around, they started talking about some conference. I had been to youth conferences before, they were no big deal. But, I decided to save up the money and come along anyway. I figured it was a nice break from school and I could skip a class or two in the process.

Something about a room full of people serious about their walk with Christ had a bit of an impact on me. Really, it changed my entire life. All along, I thought the people who worshipped on Sundays and sinned on Mondays were the hypocrites. In reality, it was I who was a hypocrite, a person who called myself a Christian but gave no thought to my relationship with God. I was messed up, and I needed God’s help. And, a lot of counseling. My BASIC leader offered that I meet with her and her mother (the pastor’s wife of their church) but only if I ditched the Satanist. It was unfortunate, but I agreed to it half heartedly. After all, we hadn’t been together very long and I never intended to have a serious relationship with a non-Christian.

I came back from the conference on a Saturday night and spoke briefly with the Satanist before going to bed. The next day, I went to a party. At that party, I passed out on top of some random creepy guy while the Satanist was in the other room. That was the end of the line for me. I was sick of the nasty sin I was in, and willing to do whatever it took to get right with God. The Satanist had to go.

After my BASIC meeting on Wednesday I spoke with my leader and told her that I was going to break it off that night. We prayed together and I trudged back to my dorm. I talked to my mom on the phone, terrified; convinced the Satanist would kill me or something when I told him. She didn’t seem too concerned. I got my wits together and knocked on the Satanist’s door. He let me in and I broke the news to him. But he didn’t react as I suspected. Instead he started sobbing. I thought to myself “Come on buddy, we haven’t been together THAT long.” Little did I know it wasn’t me he was pining for. In the end I didn’t totally break it off, but decided we could continue the relationship until my meeting with the pastor’s wife 2 weeks later. In the meantime, he decided to visit my house for the weekend, it was Easter after all.

That Easter Sunday the Satanist accepted Christ. It turns out that the light of Christ emanated through me that Saturday night when I returned from the conference. He wanted whatever it was that I had. When I told him it was over, he had lost all hope. Coming with me that Sunday he found what he searched for his entire life. The BASIC leader didn’t believe a word of it but the following Sunday he met with her father, the pastor, and was never the same again.

Over the summer we were both baptized, he for the first time, me as a rededication of myself to Christ. That September we got engaged. We struggled through many difficulties as we tried to find our place as Christ’s servants. That November he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He began to play on the worship team at both the church my BASIC leader attended as well as the church we were both members of back home, where my mother is an executive pastor. Another year of struggles went by and I completed college. He still had a semester left so I got an apartment and a job at home while he stayed in school 2 hours away.

One weekend when he visited he heard the clear voice of God tell him we were to marry December 17th, only 2 weeks away! Many were in agreement with us, many were not, but we followed God’s voice and married on a beautiful winter’s evening.

2 weeks later, we conceived Princess Pie. We also adopted a group of renegade teens, the church youth group, as we agreed to become their youth leaders. In October, after 23 hours of labor, Princess Pie was born and we officially became her Lady Mommy and Sir Daya. We began attending a 2-year ministerial school through our church, which challenged us and changed our lives. While we struggled to understand the truths of the Bible, we were also learning what it took to make our marriage work and at the same time parent our colicky baby. Those were very trying times for us, but unbelievably life changing.

The morning of our graduation I took a pregnancy test and discovered that I was carrying Prince Little Man. I announced it at church, making it a very memorable day for us, our families, and the other graduates of our class. At 20 weeks, the sonogram revealed choroid plexus cysts on our son’s brain, but we trusted God for his complete healing. A few sonograms later showed they were gone completely. We were elated that God had chosen to heal our son and make him whole. After an easy pregnancy, and not so easy labor, Prince Little Man was born on a snowy February day.

That brings me to today. A wife and mother of two children struggling to figure out all there is to this life and how to live God’s way. I am eternally grateful for His grace and blessings he pours out on me daily, without Him I would be lost. I just pray that the day I see His glorious face I will be called a “good and faithful servant.”