We are sharing our testimonies with each other in our Young Marrieds group, and I just thought that I would share it on here as well. Enjoy...
I have lived in a Christian home my entire life. At the young age of 4, I became a Christian. According to my mom, I prayed to Jesus and asked him to make me "clean, and as white as snow..." because that's what the pastor had talked about in church earlier that day.
Time goes on...
12 years old. I attended Bible Camp for the first time - which was a big milestone for me as I was a BIG mama's girl and could hardly even stand to be away from home for even one night - I hated sleepovers as a kid. I would always come up with a good ol' stomach ache and have to go home. My best friend always went to camp, and she was going to be there, so I decided that I would go as well.
So, that summer, I attended Riverside Bible Camp in northern Alberta.
I knew that I had technically been a Christian since I was 4 years old, but I didn't really remember it - except for whatever my mom had told me. During the famous "altar call" service during chapel one evening, I re-dedicated my life to God. That was an amazing experience.
Fast forward...
I was baptized when I was 16 at the Southland Community Church in Steinbach.
Also, not too long after I turned 16, I started dating. My first boyfriend was 9 months younger than me, and a whole year behind me in school. I was in Grade 11 and he was in Grade 10. We dated for almost 3 years - and, looking back, I can see that I wasn't treated like I SHOULD have been treated. He would tell me that he wanted to marry me...eventually...only after he had done everything he wanted to accomplish in his life - I was basically an afterthought. He would tear me down telling me that I was never going to amount to anything unless I went to University. As a result, I lost my self-esteem and began believing that I really was going to be a "nobody" if I didn't do what he said. Eventually I worked up the courage, and gave him an ultimatum: Who do you love more? Me, or your music. (Music is what he was majoring in, in University). He said that he didn't know and that he would phone me the next day. He did phone, and said that he would have to choose music. I was crushed. I thought for sure that God was punishing me for something, only I couldn't figure out what I could have possibly done. Whatever self-esteem and self-worth I had left was slowly being flushed down the toilet.
THEN: (fast forward again) almost a year later, I met Rob.
I had gone with some friends to Grunthal to see the Fair Fireworks. This would be the summer of 2006. We went to a friends place afterwords - and little did I know that ROb actually lived there. I didn't talk to him at all that night (truth is, I actually had a crush on someone else at the time and HE was there) but I thought he was incredibly hilarious with his dance moves and velocoraptor impressions. HAHA.
We found each other on MySpace (I know...lame) the next day and started talking to each other. The following Saturday I found myself on a date with him and I had never ever been treated so well. I had no idea that it was normal for guys to open the door and that it was normal for them to pay for everything! I was not used to that, having never received that treatment before. After our second date, we decided to make ourselves "official".
Halfway through our dating relationship, Rob's mom got very sick. Her cancer had spread and started to take over her body. Rob and I spent countless hours in the hospital with the family. At first, I thought that it would tear us apart - but the exact opposite happened - it brought us closer together. Being able to go through that with Rob really strengthened our relationship and we grew a lot together during that time.
Barb passed away April 9, 2007, with all of us as family, by her side. It was very hard to see Rob go through that. At the same time, I felt very very honored that the family wanted me to be there - someone who had only been a part of the family for a mere 6 months.
June 2nd 2007, Rob asked me to marry him. Obviously, I said yes, and we were married on October 6, 2007 - one year and one month after we met!
I had been diagnosed with mono 3 weeks before our wedding, which made me very sick for a very long time (yes, even on our wedding day), but we got through it.
Finally, things were getting back to normal and we thought the mono was finally gone....and I started feeling sick again. I was soooo tired.
....And then I found out I was pregnant!!
In November of 2008 we purchased our first house at 49 Pine Street in Grunthal and welcomed little (or big?) Isaiah Robert Friesen into the world on January 1, 2009.
Life has been so great and I have been so incredibly blessed!
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