A Heart Surrendered to Christ

Renee’s shares her story of the moment she finally surrendered her heart to Christ. Share your story and what made you finally accept His invitation to a personal relationship.

It was December and the holidays were fast approaching. I was excited for the holidays because everything in my life seemed to be going well. In 2009 after my daughter was born I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and I just found out in August 2010 that I was cancer free. It was such a relief to not have to worry about that and I was finally feeling like myself after having my thyroid removed and being on synthroid. However, on December 11th I had a weird feeling in my gut and it was telling me to check my boyfriend of 7.5 years cell phone and I found multiple messages from his 20 year old co-worker that were inappropriate. I confronted him and he said he was hanging out with her.  I swear I felt and heard a crack at that moment when my world was torn apart.

The next four months were torturous as I tried to trust him that they were just friends but kept catching him in lies after lies. The pain and anxiety was tearing me apart and multiple times I actually just dropped to my knees after catching him in another lie unable to find the strength to just stand up. I was broken in every sense of the word.  Shortly, after I caught my boyfriend I started attending church again and every Sunday the sermons spoke to my heart and I felt refreshed. On February, 25, 2011 I met a friend from church for coffee and re-committed my heart to Christ inviting Him into my life for a personal relationship.

The months following my re-commitment to Christ weren't easy. By March I caught my boyfriend in another lie and he wasn't making any effort to try to save our relationship. I couldn't take anymore so I kicked him out, but because of my relationship with Christ I didn't fall apart when he left like the times before...I was stronger. I decided to move with my daughter 3.5 hours away from my family to Pittsburgh to start a Doctorate program for PT. It was not easy being in a new city away from family as a single mom but every time I felt like giving up I found strength in Christ. The Bible doesn't promise that when we accept Christ into our hearts it will be easy, but it promises that Christ will give us everything we will need and He has provided all I've needed and more the past couple of years... I'm excited to continue to grow in my relationship with Christ and to have more confidence in His plan for me.

I originally titled this blog thinking that I was learning to love again and trust other people so that someday maybe I would find a man who would want to love me back. But, just after the first two weeks of this bible study I realized the person I'm learning to love again is myself. This bible study is helping me learn to love myself again the way Christ loves me through all my flaws.