January 22, 2003
Angie- Shy bookworm found TRUE LOVE
My name is Angie. I live in Tennessee with my wonderful husband of 14 years and my 2 beautiful daughters. I am finishing up a computer science degree and work as a part-time computer tech on the campus of my school.
As a small child, I was always curious about spiritual things. My mom says I was always a serious child who had been a 30 year old in a 7 year olds body. I guess I began to really wonder what God was like around the age of 8. At the time we went to a really strict, legalistic church that had all of these outward rules and dress codes to abide by and yet something about the praise and worship even in the midst of that was resonating deep within my spirit and it felt so right.
When I was ten, in my fifth grade Sunday school class, my sweet, elderly teacher (or “Sister”) asked me if I knew that Jesus loved me so much that he died for all the bad things I had done and that he wanted to live inside of me and be with me forever. Well, I was so excited that he loved me and wanted to be with such a shy, not-very-pretty with Coke bottle glasses bookworm who tried to blend into the wall that I said “yes!” immediately. I remember bowing my head and praying a simple sincere prayer with her. I remember my heart feeling so light and at peace. I knew that all the turmoil going on at the time in our home and the loneliness and misery I felt at school couldn’t take away the peace I now had.
I was baptized that night and also baptized in the Holy Spirit, too, because I came up out of the water speaking in tongues! It startled both me and the Brother baptizing me! It became a great comfort to me later, though, as I prayed in bed at night as my parents fought. We eventually left that church and kind of wandered around aimlessly among a few different churches. Later, I went through my teen years, struggling with staying true to God and sharing my faith to my teenage friends when I desperately wanted their approval and acceptance but knowing He loved me and eventually tired of riding the fence between God and the world.
I told Him I wanted to follow Him alone and if it meant I was different, then so be it. As I went off to college, I met my husband, fell in love, got married, moved to Atlanta, found a wonderful church that was full of grace and love and sound biblical truth. I grew so much there just being in the presence of godly older women.
We had our daughter, Hailey, there and eventually moved to Knoxville. While there we had Ketney and God led us to another wonderful church where we sat under sound biblical teaching along with the wonderful heartfelt praise and worship I so loved as a child. In 1998, we moved to Johnson City, TN to be a part of a church plant. God has continued to reveal His awesome beauty and power in my life and set me free from doubt and fear and unbelief. I love being one who now nurtures new ones in the faith and I’m excited about all that God is doing!
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