Lost and Found by Dodie Gregory

Possibly my story may have a familiar ring to some reading this………………..or not.

Due to a devoted mother I was raised in the church through childhood.  I even have a perfect attendance Sunday school sticker book.  I was baptized at 8 years of age and proceeded to embarrass my mom with my giggle attack during confirmation.  After graduating from high school and going off to nursing school, where I had no RLDS classmates and worked weekends, I slowly slipped away.  I married a Lutheran and neither of us pursued a spiritual path.  We had 2 children and occasionally took them to church. The effort was small.

Not to say I didn’t continue to recognize God in my life—there were just other distractions.  Actually I carried guilt along the way.  I drove by our church everyday going to and from work, but couldn’t bring myself to even look at it.

Brothers and Sisters from church extended an invite for years, as did my Mom, but of course I had other things to do.

OH! And I kept promising God I would be back but right then wasn’t a good time for me. By then the guilt was so strong that I felt ashamed to face my congregation.

So if all this applies to you, then you too have been found or else you wouldn’t be reading this.

SOOOO….finally God had enough of my excuses.  This is how it went down.

I’m just minding my own business one Saturday morning and out of nowhere I hear a voice saying “YOU ARE GOING TO CHURCH TOMORROW”.  That was it, no angels singing, no brilliant white blinding lights, no euphoria.  I looked around, no one there, and again, “YOU ARE GOING TO CHURCH TOMORROW”.  Having been steeped in being obedient, I went to the phone called my mother and asked her if she was going to church tomorrow?  She said, “Are you?” Me, ”yes, I’ll pick you up”.  And my life changed.

The congregation was awesome, no judging, no condemnation.  Just loving. I tease them to this day when I tell them I didn’t feel worthy to be in their presence but found out they are sinners just like me.

It’s been a journey but since we are human and live on earth, there are still ups and downs, challenges and rewards.   I’m no different than any of you but am blessed that God loved me so much that he gave me that extra nudge one Saturday morning.

Forever blessed and loved