How I Came to Christ.(Long sorry)

I was reading a blog http://thehungryone.wordpress.com/ and it got me to thinking of sharing my own story on how I came to Jesus. When I was growing up the only thing my parent's told me of Jesus and the Lord was that, there was a god and the reason why we celebrate Christmas and Easter. Not the full story but basically that Jesus was born and that's why we celebrate Christmas and then Jesus died for us and that's why we celebrate Easter. That was the extent of it. So I believed there was a god and I had even went to church a few times with some friends but never with my family.
So moving on when I was fifteen not only did my parents divorce but I wasn't getting along with my dad either for various reasons I won't get into right now. Then my mom moved my brother and I to here in Michigan. (My dad was in the army so we had moved around a lot prior to the divorce). A few month's later. I don't even believe it was a year later both my grandparents (my mom's parents) died within months of each other. Then a year after that I had an aunt die and then maybe a year or two after that my aunt's fiance' died. So I became hardened and I started to think there was no God because why would a God that is supposed to be loving let all this happen?
This was for many years and even to my adulthood. I remember being so angry and resentful of just about everything. I would have heated arguments with people who were Christ followers. Now I never did drugs or anything but I did hand around a not so good crowd but thankfully I was too strong willed to do a lot of what they did.(actually I believe now that even then God was protecting me).

I met my husband when I was a month shy of my seventeenth birthday. He was also taught there was a God and had even went to church but he really didn't know God either. So we dated and then married when we were twenty-two years old.(July 4, 1998). At that time hubby's dad had committed suicide and his mom was hiding because she had cancer and was with a man that wasn't good for her (Hubby's mom and dad divorced about a year after we started dating) and she didn't want anyone to know about any of it. So we ended up with custody with hubby's three teenage brothers. We had them for a year and then because of different reasons they went and lived with their step mom.

So it is now 1999 and hubby and I decide to try to have a baby. It didn't happen right away. So then at our one year anniversary we went on vacation/honeymoon and I became pregnant with my oldest. (took about 6 months of trying). Went through the whole pregnancy still not really being a believer though I had calmed a little with my anger issues from before but not completely and I hadn't talked to my dad for about 7 years at this point.

March 24, 2000 after being in the hospital since the 22ND trying to be induced and finally through a C-section we had my oldest, C. I held him in my arms and remember thinking wow he's so beautiful and my heart started to melt. I realized that Wow there is a God and he gave me this beautiful boy even though I had been so ungrateful before. But even then I didn't know God. But I did finally talk to my dad and forgiveness came into my heart and all that anger started melting away. I no longer held grudges.

Ok fast forward to 2001-2002. I was pregnant with my youngest J. and I was working at a store and I met a woman and became friends with her. She was a Christian woman. She never pushed anything on me which made me really like her. Soon I began to have questions for her and she would quote scripture and answer my questions and what not. So I got curious and I would read a Bible we had at home (was my husbands dad's really) and then I would start watching Joyce Myers (sorry spelling LOL). The woman at work later gave me a Bible of my own once she saw that I was coming around.

My husband was freaking out. He was like what the heck has happened to my wife who didn't believe in God and was so angry before? He thought I was nuts! Then we began to talk about things and I told him how I read in the Bible about being Baptized and I began reading scripture to him. I than also started to go to a church where my husbands step mom would go on Wednesday's. (didn't go on Sunday's just yet). So my husband said why don't we get baptized? So I took him and the boy's with us to this Church and we started to attended regularly. They started talking about doing a Baptism and if anyone was interested to sign up for the classes to learn what it means and then be baptized. So we took the class and got baptized! 7/21/02.

So as you can see it was a long road. I learned that God didn't make the bad things happen but he made the bad things good. I believe that if none of that bad stuff had happened I would have never met my husband (because we would be living in Arizona not Michigan because that's where my dad lives) and I may have never gotten to know the Lord! All those things combined helped open my heart and to that I am grateful! God is awesome God!! Ok I know this was a long post but I wanted to tell you my story.