Karen/Irritable Mother Shares Her Story

It's day number NINE out of eleven salvation testimonies to be shared on Selah the days leading up to and just after Easter. I can't think of a better way to celebrate His resurrection than hearing God-stories of souls raised from death to life. So pause. Ponder what He has done. Then praise Him!!!!

I was excited when Karen offered up her salvation testimony, first of all because I thought it was AWESOME to have a story from someone whose profile name was "Irritable Mother," lol (later to find out that she has a book with that in the title), but mainly because I think there are many people out there who think they believe who haven't truly started a relationship with Jesus Christ. I'll zip my lips now, and let Karen tell her story. I was blessed.


My Love Story
by Karen Hossink
I grew up in the church. Attended worship services most Sundays (Except when I could convince my mom I was just too tired to get up), participated in the youth choirs, went to summer church camp seven years in a row, and was active in the youth group. Somehow, though, I missed the memo that I needed to receive Jesus personally.

I knew the Christmas and Easter stories. I understood that Jesus came to earth to be the Savior of the world and that He died to pay the price for our sins. I believed He was resurrected on the third day and later ascended into heaven. I "got" all that. And I thought that was enough. Thought I was covered and good to go, because Jesus did what He needed to do.

And that is all Jesus meant to me for the first 18 years of my life.

He was God and He was Man. He was the Savior of the world, even. But to me, there was nothing personal about Him at all. Jesus was more like a fact of history to me. Someone who lived long ago and did a wonderful thing, but who really wasn't relevant to my life "today."

Oh, there were times when I paid more attention to Him. Like when I had a couple different boyfriends in high school. One was a pastor's kid and another was a nice "church boy." And when I was going out with those guys I certainly had a greater interest in God things.

With the pastor's kid, I learned lots of nice Christian songs and went with him to a senior center to sing them. We did stuff with his youth group and I was happy to sit and listen to the leader's talk about God. When I was seeing the church boy, I went with him to his church and Sunday school. I talked the talk, and thought I was a nice church girl, too.

But when those relationships ended, so did my attention to "God." (I put His name in quotes, because now I know I wasn't truly paying attention to Him.)

Then I went to college.
And I met a guy.
And he was cute.

He asked me if I went to church and, of course, I said yes. OK, so I hadn't been to church since college started, but that wasn't what he asked. And when he asked if I would like to go with him sometime, of course I said I would love to. I mean, he was cute, and I'd been through that drill a couple times before. The guy likes God, so you do church things with him, and everyone is happy.

I had no idea my life was about to turn around.

This guy wasn't like the others. He didn't just "go" to church. He talked about why he went. He asked me questions about why I attended church. He read the Bible with me. And talked about it. I had no idea you could have a conversation about what the Bible says!

And this is the part that really threw me for a loop. This guy seemed more interested in me - I mean, Karen. The person inside my body. - than in this cute little body I was walking around in. (Trust me, it was cuter 19 years and three kids ago!) So there I was, blown away by this guy who seemed to really believe in God. Whose faith in God mattered outside of Sunday morning. And who looked at me differently than any other guy I'd ever known. I was falling in love with him, and I wanted to hear what he had to say about this church thing.

As I listened, I came to understand I was missing something. While it was true that what Jesus did on the cross was "enough," I finally realized there was something I needed to do. I needed to respond. I needed to confess my sin and admit my need for a Savior. And I needed to receive Jesus into my life as that Savior. I already knew He was the Savior of the world. Now I needed to accept Him as my Savior.

And this is where I like to say the love of my life introduced me to an even Greater Love.

But remember? I had been through the drill before. Like the guy, like his God. But when you break up, so goes the God thing?

Not this time.

Several months - maybe a year - later the thought occurred to me, Even if he and I break up, this relationship I have with God through Jesus is not going to end! Our relationship was personal. He was finally real to me. I cannot describe the joy that understanding brought to my heart.

In the end, breaking up wasn't an issue, anyway. I married that "guy."

And so my love story continues...

When she isn't dealing with pre-teen drama, looking for lost socks, or solving third-grade math problems, Karen Hossink likes to spend time speaking and writing. Karen's quirky sense of humor, life experiences, and honest confessions - combined with the goodness of God – have been encouraging audiences since 2005. Whether you're reading her books or her blog, or listening to her speak, after spending time with Karen you will be assured of two things: You are not alone, and God is good!

Josh Janoski Shares His Story

It's number THREE out of eleven salvation testimonies to be shared on Selah the days leading up to and just after Easter. I can't think of a better way to celebrate His resurrection than hearing God-stories of souls raised from death to life. So pause. Ponder what He has done. Then praise Him!!!!

I know you'll enjoy hearing from my friend, Josh. God's really gifted him not only as a writer, but also as an authentic communicator. I pray his testimony reaches one who is lost, letdown or looking today.

***

What is my testimony?

This is a question I used to ask myself. I never really felt like I had much of a testimony to share with people. I hadn’t been addicted to drugs. I wasn’t a recovering alcoholic. I never found myself in jail or hanging with the wrong crowds. I guess you could say that I was pretty “straight-laced” growing up. I was the shy, timid boy who was afraid to say much to anyone, let alone go out and get myself in to a bunch of trouble. I didn’t seem to have found my salvation. It sort of found me, or at least I thought that was the case.

I grew up with Godly parents that taught me about Jesus from birth. My mother has a cassette tape of me singing Jesus loves me when I was one and a half years old. I attended a private Christian elementary school, and I had first accepted Jesus Christ into my heart at the age of 6. I was then baptized in water at age 10. Nothing exciting about my walk with the Lord, it was all pretty straightforward and boring, right?

That all changed when I entered the 7th grade. I began experiencing a fear and terror unlike anything I had ever faced before. The internal scare was accompanied by physical symptoms of hyperventilating, shakiness, and dry mouth. At age 13, I was experiencing anxiety and “panic attacks.” They were something my dad had struggled with for years, and I had never understood them. I still didn’t understand them, and neither did my teachers or principal. They thought I was just a clever kid who was finding a way out of having to go to school. They didn’t know me and how much I loved academics. They didn’t realize that I thrived on going to school and learning new things. This was not a ploy to get to go home and have fun. This was a battle within my mind.

For several months I struggled with sitting in the car every morning, ducked down and sobbing uncontrollably, afraid to enter the school building. The principal decided to let me try half days to see if that would work better for me. It did for a short while, but then I began to be plagued again by the symptoms. Finally, my parents gave up and pulled me out of public school to homeschool me.

I was a failure. There was no hope for me. God had abandoned me. The Savior that I grew up praising had left me. I sat in darkness for a period of time until I finally hit rock bottom. It was at this point that I realized I needed to renew my commitment to the Lord. I asked Him into my heart for a second time, but the second time felt like the first as I had now matured enough to know what having a relationship with Him truly meant. I now realized what salvation in Him was, and for the first time, I truly felt saved. I made up my mind that I was going to get things turned around in my life. I graduated high school and decided to go on to college.

The symptoms began to hit me again during my first semester of college. I started to cower down in fear, but I heard that beautiful, still-soft voice speak into my ear “Remember 7th grade. How long will you keep running from this? Be strong because I am with you through every step of this journey.”

I now have my Bachelor’s Degree. I now have a good paying job and a lovely fiancé. Most of all, I now have my testimony and my assurance of who I am in Jesus Christ because of what He has brought me through. My salvation is in Him alone, and I cannot thank Him enough for loving me.

Josh is a 26 year old Network Administrator living in the beautiful mountain state of Colorado. When he's not tinkering with technology, Josh likes to read, exercise, play games, surf the Internet, and of course - write. He sees his writing as a ministry, given to him by God to help encourage people and lead them to the hope that is Jesus Christ. Whether it be through humor, fictional Biblical re-tellings, or non-fiction confessionals, Josh's goal is to put a smile on people's face and remind them of the love that God has for them. Please take time to visit his ministry website: Uplifting Words or his personal blog at Just Joshing.

Who Am I?

Chelsey at Joyfully Living for His Glory is hosting this week, and she wants us to take the time to tell about ourselves. So it's gonna be LOUD! And I'm so excited to know my sisters better. I wish I had more time to put this post together and organize it well, but I'm extremely limited on time right now, so I'll speak off the cuff. Hey, at least I have the backspace key in this conversation. Too bad we don't have them in real life discussions, right?

Wellza (pun intended), here is my story, at least part of it:

Today:
Brian and I have been married for almost 19 years. He's a blessing to me, and I can say honestly that our love has grown deeper and more unselfish over the years. (thank goodness!) Our kids are known as the "A Team," seeing as all their names start with "A"s. Austin is 13, AnaLee is 10, and Allison is 8. And Allison would have a heart attack if I didn't mention that Abby, our 8-year-old Toy Manchester Terrier is also part of those "A"s.

I've entered a new season of parenting--one where the titles of taxi driver, counselor, teacher, friend, intercessor, manager, director and social coordinator all fall under the same hat. Life never gets dull, and my kids make the season fun and laughter-filled. Wouldn't be completely real, though, if I didn't mention that, with the way I'm wired, this is a tough season for me. It's easy on the discipling, shepherding front. Tough on the hectic pace, juggling, and constant "with-it-ness" that it takes to stay on top of all the physical and emotional issues. It keeps me on my knees!

My past:
Would take me a novel, so the nutshell version is, it was tough, but God faithfully provided beauty in midst of the pain. Though dysfunction, abuse and tragedy lined the walls of my childhood home, I refuse to allow those to define me. I am not a victim, I am an overcomer in Christ.

I grew up in an itty bitty town (3200 people) in southern Illinois with only a few stoplights in the town square. Everybody knew everybody else, and it was kind of neat that way. Most of my mom's family lived around us, so my life was full of time with family--grandma and grandpa, aunts and cousins.

My personality as a young girl was always a bit offbeat. I yakked off the ears of strangers and would pretend with Barbies and dolls in my bedroom for hours at a time. As I grew up, I often role-played what I was going to be when I grew up. I started off as a fast food window clerk, got promoted to television anchor woman, then ended up a famous Christian singer. Quite the imagination I had.

The First Baptist Church of my town meant the world to me. I was saved there at 6 years old and married there almost 14 years later. The people in that Body cared for our family through the most difficult of times.

It makes me tired remembering all the activities I dove into as a youth. Almost everything that was offered. In retrospect, I know that was because I needed an escape from my home life, but at the time, I just thought I needed to do it all. My favorite, though, was singing and acting. When I left home after high school, I moved to Texas to go to college on a music scholarship, and I was able to do so because my only sister (and best friend) and her husband took me into their home to live.

I had only been in Texas a few months when I met Brian, and two years later, we were married. Wowzer, did he swoop me off my feet. As a matter of fact, he still is. We've had a rough three years, full of loss and taking care of others, and I can't imagine anyone else I'd rather walk through it with than Brian. We lost his dad to a brain tumor (which was a long suffering death), had his granddad live in our home for a few years and pass away in Brian's arms in our house, and we lost my mom in the midst of taking care of both of them. All of the suffering and pain has brought us to this new normal, this strange new place of figuring out what God wants us to do as a family. It's brought us to a place where we've had to seek Him with open hearts about how He wants us to spend our time, our money, our passions, our ministry. We're still working through it.

While I'm pretty sure everyone in the blogosphere has read it, because it has had the most reads and posts of any I've written, one story in particular that I wrote tells a great deal about who I am and where I've come from. It has some pics as well. If the Lord leads you, give it a read when you have some spare time. It's called Remember Glory.

My life Scripture verse is Psalm 118:14 (NIV):
"The LORD is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation."

I picked this verse a few years back, because I realized then that through all of the hardships I face, He has become my strength. With all of the voices from the past that try to throw me into depression and despair, He has become my song. With all of the strongholds I discover that I need freeing from, HE has become my salvation.

The Lord has been, is and will continue to be so very faithful. I'm blessed to have my husband, my kids, my best friend and sister, a brother-in-law that is just like my brother, my precious nieces and nephews, a few very close friends, and a bundle of faithful, fun friends and ministry partners. Above all, I have a faith that will not be shaken because of a God that loved me enough to send His one and only Son to die for me. My future, though unwritten here on earth, is written in permanent ink in Heaven, and that defines my life above all.

In the Key of HE,

Women of Passions

I'm so excited!

I'm going to be a contributing author to an awesome project!  The book pictured above should be released in July...the proceeds will go to a ministry that reaches lives all around the world--The Heart of God International.

If you would like to know more about this book or would like to order a copy when it is released, please click here:

http://womenofpassions.net/Authors/tabid/1623/Default.aspx

So many incredible writers and authors contributing to this. I can't believe they chose me to be in print beside them, but then again, God has His own way and time, doesn't He?