testimony

this is the testimony of sweet natalie. i first talked to her in my isaiah class. very gentle, truthful, and so extremely full of joy. you would have to meet her to understand how incredible she is. we were talking about signs in isaiah one day and dr. luc brought up about praying "oh, Lord, if this person is "the one" have them sit next to me in class today" (or something like that) and how that is not what God means a lot of the time by giving us a sign. a few stories were shared though about God doing things very similar to that in people's lives and one of them was natalie's. i think everyone in class was laughing and crying by the time she finished. i don't have time to share that story with you but yesterday in chaplain's chapel to the women natalie shared a brief testimony. i'll let her tell you.

"Today I want to share with you two things that have been key for me in growing in my identity with Christ. Trusting in God's sovereignty has been so very important for me. When baby's are born doctors assign them a number based upon their overall health - the highest, I believe, is either a ten or an eleven. Well, I was an 11, a perfectly healthy baby. However, within thirty minutes, all that changed and they found me in my crib unattended and not breathing. As a result of a lack of oxygen, I live daily with speech difficulties, a different walk, and other difficulties. Girls, it is knowing in the depths of my soul that He was with me then, when I was alone and not breathing and that He is with me now that gives me the strength and joy in the midst of difficulty. Knowing that I am exactly how God needs me to be allows me to continue to walk into rooms of people who constantly measure each other on external realities. Knowing that God makes no mistakes gives me confidence in a world where I should have none.

The other key that has been crucial in developing my identity in Christ is believing that God is able to do anything! I came to CIU right after high school in 1999. That year our year verse was Eph. 3:20, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to this power that is at work within us." Every day I would walk into chapel, looking at that verse and believing that God was able to do the impossible in my life. One area that seemed so very impossible for me on many levels was marriage. God was able to do far beyond what I could imagine. This summer, Kevin, my husband and I celebrated five years of marriage. A marriage filled with closeness, safety, and laughter.

My tenth year high school reunion is fast approaching. I bet one thing that my classmates remember about me is that I used to cry a lot in school. I think partly due to my home, the cruelty of kids, and being overwhelmed physically. But here again, God has done the impossible. Girls, I am about to graduate with my master's in pastoral counseling. I want to giggle. God has taken me, who was labeled in second grade as socially inept, and is making me a counselor. God is taking my weakness and it is becoming strength in His hands.

In closing, I just want to say that finding my identity in Christ has been and will continue to be a process. What a sense of joy and freedom I have experienced in knowing that He will continue to grow and mold me until I see His face."