He Found Me

Rough Beginnings

At birth, I was born with the umbilical cord around my neck, and I needed to be revived. The doctor gave up on me, but God had stepped in. I was revived by the nurse. I was underweight, needed a blood transfusion, had a viral infection, and needed to be life flighted to a bigger hospital, where I had to stay for a month, until I gained weight and recovered.
My childhood was far from easy, but God helped me through it all. My mother would bring my sisters and I to church, as she's a believer in Christ and I found out later in life, my dad walked away from Him. Unfortunately, nothing about church or God interested me at all. I'm very happy and blessed I finally realized Jesus Christ has always been there for me, and always will be.
During my childhood, I had dealt with illness and a lot of it. I wasn't very healthy, especially early childhood. I've experienced abuse, along with my other siblings, and my parents separated and the divorce was finalized when I was seven years old.
Shortly after, my dad remarried and my family grew. Before, he got remarried, everything was well. My dad and I were close, but shortly after the start of his second marriage, that all changed... drastically! It was like I didn't know who my dad was anymore. Verbal, physical, emotional, and psychological abuse continued for several years.
There was constant court battles due to ridiculous accusations against my mother, and this happened for several years. When I was fifteen, my dad and step mom would do all they could to prevent her from being in my life for 8 years. Even after I had turned eighteen they still wouldn't allow me to have anything to do with her.
During the court battles, we attended church. I didn't pay any attention then either, even though I was a bit older. I was still not interested in the Gospel, or anything to do with Christianity. I don't believe we were attending because we had faith in Jesus Christ. I believe the purpose of our attendance was to make a good impression for the court, just like Matthew 15:8. "These people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." It was one of those situations, unfortunately.
I do have other family members who are believers, but none as dedicated to Jesus Christ as my grandma. She was my mom's step mom. Unfortunately God called her home after she passed two years ago after a long battle with dementia that lasted for several years. She had a very strong and genuine faith in God. Her life was spent living for Jesus Christ and most of her family is the same way. As far as my grandpa having faith, I'm not sure. He passed away when I was six years old, less than a week before my seventh birthday. He had cancer, but died from a heart attack, so I didn't get to know him very well. My biological mom is a believer, but I don't think she has much of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.