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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Home (01/09/06)
To outsiders, I was the model teenager. I did not drink, do drugs, or party. I respected my parents. My grades were not stellar, but they were decent. All my friends were considered "good" kids. Like most teens, though, I did feel the urge to rebel, and so I did. I stopped going to church. This made my mother extremely anxious, but my father reassured her that I would find my back eventually.

Years passed and I found myself in college. While drugs never entered the picture, alcohol and partying did. My grades were no longer considered decent, and some of my friends were now "questionable". Something had to be done. I returned to church. Bit by bit my life started changing. My grades improved as I began losing interest in partying, alcohol, and most of my so called friends. Life was good.

Then suddenly everything changed with the words, "Your dad was murdered." I became angry and disillusioned with God. I stopped going to church.

I got married, moved away, and started a career. Life was good, or so I wanted to believe. I was lonely all the time. There was a definite void, but I couldn't understand why.

One day while on a walk, I noticed a sign for a local church. I tried to ignore it, but I kept thinking about that church. Where was it? Was it a small or large congregation? What were the people like? Then one day I noticed an add for that same church in a paper I was reading. There was a number at the bottom of the advertisement, so I called. The pastor sounded friendly and invited my husband and me to attend services that coming Sunday.

Figuring that we had nothing to lose but a few hours of sleep, we decided to go to church. Neither of us had had any desire to go to church in the past few years, so we went with some reservations. All our doubts were washed away the moment we opened the door. The congregation welcomed us with open arms. As I sat listening to the service, a tear slid down my face. A voice whispered in my ear, "Welcome home."

After years of doing things my way and feeling miserable, I had finally swallowed my pride and come home. I realized that on my own I am nothing, but with God I am a part of something much larger than my limited mind can imagine. I am part of a family, God's family. I have a permanent home with Him. It's a home that's always open and filled with love. I am always welcomed regardless of my mistakes. It may not have walls or a roof, but it is always warm and inviting. It is a place where I feel safe and protected. It is a place of refuge in times of sorrow and a place of celebration in times of joy. It is my Father's house; it is my home.
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This article has been read 903 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Jan Ackerson
01/17/06
What a marvelous testimony! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

You might consider ending with your next-to-last paragraph, as that's when the "oomph" moment is.

Good job!
terri tiffany
01/17/06
THis was an excellent testimony! I agree about the ending too..stopping it without the last paragraph. I think also you could expand more on this sometime as it seems like there was a wealth of information and emotions ...like your dad being murdered...and how you moved on with it...to really develop.
Michael Wilmot 
01/19/06
I liked this piece. It captures, I think, the spirit of the topic very well. I like it mostly because it it YOUR story, which is always one worth sharing. It is hard to place as much content as you show here with the word limit on these Challenges. It raising those questions, "What to cut, what to keep"

I think you kept good stuff.

Well done.
Pat Guy
01/21/06
A testimony worth sharing and you did a good job of taking us along your life. Expanding on specific times in your life could add that much more for the reader to relate to, and bravo to you for taking us on this personal and painful way back Home.
Alexandra Wilkin
01/22/06
Powerful testamony written well - a little polishing needed here and there, but very
moving. God bless.