I believe:

My Testimony.

I wasn’t raised in the church – in fact, I don’t remember setting foot in a church at any point growing up. My dad has a lot of faith, so I knew who Christ was, but I didn’t have a personal relationship with Him. We would pray over dinner when we went to my grandparents’ home for holidays, but that’s the extent of it for me.

When I met my now husband, he was what is called a “Jack Mormon.” He was raised in the LDS religion, but he wasn’t a practicing member at the time.

We got married when I was 18 years old, just a month after I graduated high school. Crazy, I know. Everyone else thought so too. But we got married, and we moved about two-and-a-half hours away from our families so I could go to college.

Once in our new home together, the Mormon missionaries came by. We started taking the LDS lessons together, and we started attending an LDS church. After a few months, I was baptized into the LDS religion. When I had my baptism interview, they asked if I believed that Joseph Smith had restored the one true church – I honestly told them that I wasn’t sure, but that the missionaries assured me that I would believe if I stayed on this path. That apparently was good enough for them, and I was approved for baptism.

After just a few more months, I started to learn more about LDS requirements and the Temple, and I did not feel comfortable with what I was learning, so we stopped attending. Aside from one Sunday with a friend a few years later, we didn’t attend any church for the next eight years or so.

Fast forward to a very difficult time in our marriage. I heard God tell me that this happened because He wanted us to be closer to Him. The next day, my husband told me that he thought we should go to church. God had come to both of us, calling us to Him during this difficult season.

My husband shared what was going on with a friend, and he invited us to go to church with his family. My husband and I both didn’t want to attend an LDS church again, so we started to attend a contemporary Christian church with these good friends who invited us.

While we loved attending that church, it was a bit of a drive for us, so we started attending a different but similar denomination closer to home.

In the beginning, I really struggled with what I believed and what God wanted me to do. The only experience I had with religion was the LDS church, so I was constantly comparing what I was hearing during our sermons to what I had learned in our LDS lessons. God was so faithful with me during this time – it seemed that every time we would head to church, I would have questions about one thing or another and my husband and I would talk about them on our way in. And almost without fail, those questions would be addressed/answered during that week’s sermon. God was talking directly to me, answering my doubts and fears and questions.

We then started attending a small group, which offered a safe space for us to meet people and learn and grow in our faith. In 2016 I was baptized at the church we were attending, and then shortly after I started volunteering with the mom’s ministry that the church hosted. A lot has happened since then to grow my faith, and my relationship with Christ has continued to deepen and strengthen. With the Holy Spirit’s guidance, I strive to answer God’s calling on my life, and I know that as long as I’m in His will, I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

Blessings Friend.

-Jennifer