My Story

I want to take the time just to share a little bit about myself with those of you who don't know me well. I grew up in a Christian family just outside of Charleston, WV. I am the youngest of three children born to my incredibly loving and faithful parents. I had a great childhood growing up in a loving home and blessed with the opportunity to be in church every time the doors were open. My parents also sacrificed to keep us in a Christian school. Being introduced to the Gospel at a young age, I accepted Christ as soon as I was able to make that decision on my own. I owe a lot of my faith to the church I grew up in which my parents still attend. They taught me so very much and instilled into me the important things I would need to live a Christian life. Growing up in such a way also had its downfalls as I often allowed my walk with Christ to become nonchalant and practically nonexistent. But, because of God's faithfulness, He always brought me back into a right relationship with Him. During my senior year of high school God began to show me that He had big plans for my life. As a child I had felt the call of God on my life, but had allowed that to slip into the back of my mind. During my junior year of high school I was privileged to take a trip to Jamaica where I can still picture the emptiness in the eyes of the people we met. That experience was engrained in my memory and would later play a major role in my surrendering to God's call on my life. But, it was during my senior year that I began to give over sins in my life and as I did, the walls of my heart came crashing down. I then attended Tennessee Temple University as an elementary education major where I met and fell in love with my very best friend. He was a youth ministries major and it was obvious that God was leading us to a small church plant in Beckley, WV. Reluctantly, I followed, because as with every time God has pricked my heart and spoken to me, I have had the exact same feeling and knew it was the Holy Spirit. After 4 & 1/2 years in WV it became obvious that God was calling us elsewhere. We had fallen in love with our home and our church, but we knew we had to follow. Looking back, each step of the way was leading us to take the step of faith that we are taking right now. After visiting many churches, we drove the 2 hours to a church in Roanoke, VA and fell in love immediately. We knew that very day that this would be home. I can say with all of my heart that I have never been happier than I am in this very place. Every. Single. Detail. of my life is as close to perfection as I can imagine it being on this earth. But, God has bigger plans and His way is always higher than our ways. Over the past year, He has been moving in great and mighty ways in the hearts of myself & Jason. It became very clear in the spring of 2011 that we were to leave our dream world for a world of the unknown. Somehow, by God's grace, the hardest decision of our lives has been the easiest decision. Simply because we KNOW it is God's plan and we must follow Him! My life passage right now is Philippians 3 as I am reminded that my only goal must be to know God, including His sufferings. I desire with all that is in me to be pleasing in His sight, to see lost souls won for Him, and to raise my two most prized possessions to love God and to love others.