"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye
shall search for me with all your heart."
Jeremiah 29:13

Hey! I'm Leah. I was born physically to my parents November 6, 1987, and on May 22, 1991 I was born spiritually into the kingdom of God! I enjoy spending time with my family, playing the violin, reading, sewing, and baby-sitting! I want to seek the Lord and put Him first in my life so that His love shines through me to lead others to Him! I love children, and want to be a godly wife and mother someday. Right now, I enjoy serving at home and with our family ministry. I enjoy taking pictures and hope to increase my photography skills in the next few years. I  am currently working on learning Spanish! I like animals and love taking care of my cat, Isabelle. If you would like, you can check out my personal blog at:

http://www.xanga.com/sing2thelord

Leah's Testimony

Eighteen years ago, on May 22, 1991, we were meeting for services in our sweet Church in my lovely hometown in North Carolina. Our Pastor had asked everyone to come to the front to pray for the salvation of a wayward teenage son. I remember distinctly kneeling beside my seat near our pew and bowing my head as I prayed for his son. As I knelt there, something amazing happened…..God spoke to my young heart and just as clearly as anything I’ve ever heard said….” Leah, why are you praying for this young man to be saved, when you haven’t been saved yourself!” Immediately, I knew that this was the moment I had been waiting for my whole short life! My loving parents had told me that this day would come and that I should listen for God’s voice speaking inside my heart and letting me know when I should call on Him for salvation. Right then, in my heart, I trusted completely in the God I’d been taught about and heard sung about all my life! I went to my parents and told them about God speaking to me and asked them to pray with me, but somehow, I knew in my heart that it was already alright…..I had trusted the God of the universe for my salvation! Not that I needed it because of all the terrible things I had done in my young life, but because I was born a sinner….born with a heart desiring to do wrong. Thank God that He has a plan of redemption for all sinners through His Son, Jesus Christ!!! I was redeemed! Maybe not from horrible sins I had already committed, but from a life of wandering aimlessly, struggling in my sinful self without God. I would never have to live another minute without Him! I was three and a half years old.
Because of my young age, I have always been reluctant to share my story of salvation. When I was younger, I loved to share my testimony and tell how Jesus had saved me, but as the years went by…..I received more and more skepticism about my young conversion and three and a half started looking younger and younger to me. As I grew and learned more and more about living the Christian life and heard probably hundreds of messages preached…..I became confused and a little disoriented with the joy and freedom I had found in Christ. Some preachers preached that you had to have been saved this way _____ or while feeling this way____ or that. Had I really known what I was doing at three and a half years old? Could God have really spoken to such a young heart? As I thought back to that day in May years ago, my heart would always find rest as I remembered God’s sweet and gentle voice speaking to me! Yet, all the same, doubts began to creep in……doubts of my genuine salvation, doubts about God’s love for me, and doubts about myself. Through my teen years, because of these doubts, I felt very unsettled and insecure. I struggled to accept God’s design for me and doubted His plan for my life. The devil knew that I was particularly vulnerable in this area and throughout my teen years I struggled with accepting myself and with trusting God. I knew He was there, but He often felt far away and this only caused my doubts and fears to grow. This led to my confusion about genuine salvation and many talks and prayers with my parents. (Thank God that they were always there to encourage me and point me to Scriptures that would comfort me!) Because of my doubts and confusion, I, at one time prayed to receive Jesus as my Savior again, hoping that this would bring peace, but afterwards I was still confused and my heart was far from peaceful. God, however was working and showed me through all of this that my whole problem was with trust. That one seemingly small aspect of my life. I simply wasn’t trusting Him…..or His plans, or His love for me. Through praying on my own and with my parents, I came to realize that my problems all started with believing the lies of Satan……about myself and about God. I was doubting my salvation and my God, because of MY failures and shortcomings. God worked in my life to show me that salvation is HIS work and His alone! It doesn’t depend on me or my feelings or my doubts or my faults…….Praise the Lord!!! It is all dependent on God and His plan of salvation in sending His Son, Jesus! God’s love for me won’t change because I have doubts…..there may be more to come…. His love for me won’t change because of my feelings of insecurity at times……there are days when I’ll still feel that way……God’s love for me doesn’t change when I fail Him by doing something wrong or by saying unkind things to those I love or by thinking things I shouldn’t. NO! God’s love for me is based on His love for His only Son! I’m loved exactly the same no matter what, because God’s Son, Jesus died for me, so that I may be loved and redeemed and accepted by God! He is faithful always and forever…..even when I fail Him! Once I truly began to realize this truth and let it wash over me……..I was once again filled with the joy and peace that had filled my heart many years ago when I simply took Him at His word and trusted. Thank God that He doesn’t give up and that His mercies are everlasting….. and brand new every morning!
As I look back on my years of doubt, fear and struggle, I can clearly see God’s loving hand working in my life and drawing me to Him! That doesn’t mean that there are never any hard days…..Some of the hardest I’ve faced have been in the last few years! Yet He taught me some valuable lessons and I know that whatever lies ahead…..He will be there to walk beside me and carry me when I can’t take another step! I know….because He’s proved this kind of love to me over and over again in recent days! Above all, I don’t want to sound like some perfect person who has it all together….. People like that are part of the reason for my years of discouragement. I simply want to share about the faithfulness of my God! I’m usually a more quiet person and tend to keep my deep feelings right where they are……in the deepest places of my heart, but I felt like God was prompting me to share my testimony of His love and faithfulness. I hope that by sharing some of my struggles you will be pointed to the Creator of all who knows each of us by name and cares about all of our fears! I’m glad that God does indeed speak to young hearts…..even those as young as three and a half….to draw them to Himself and protect them from a life of living for themselves only to end up disappointed and alone. As I look at my teen years of struggling…..I’m SO glad that God called me as a little child, before I was swayed by other people's thinking and hardened by the world!

“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Mark 10:15

“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3

“But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:14

You see, we all have to become like little children in order to believe on Jesus! It’s not a complicated…..”Do this or that, or feel this certain way”. Jesus said that we all have to come with childlike faith. Sometimes I wish I had more of the trust and faith that my young heart was so full of nineteen years ago! Thank you for taking the time to read my testimony of God’s faithfulness in my life! My prayer is that you will be pointed to trust in Him and lean on His wisdom and direction in your life! There are many more days that lie ahead of each of us….and I know that I will only make it by HIS grace and everlasting mercies! I want to be used by Him in whatever way He has planned for me that will reach the most people for His kingdom! The god of this world, Satan, still desires to entrap and discourage each person who is a child of God so that he can ruin their potential for God and their ability to lead others to Jesus, the way, the truth and the life. I want to purpose in my heart that I will not believe the lies of the devil, but will cling to the truth of God’s word…..always!