I was saved just a little over six years ago and the life and person he saved me from I will never be able to thank Him enough for. My life before Christ was full of emptiness, I used and drank alcohol from about the age of 17 and had become addicted to them. I was very depressed and really thought at one point that I would be doing everyone a favor if I ended my life. I had become a mother at the age of 19, I loved him very much but I was not the mother to him I should have been and I still felt even he would be better off without me. One night I had been out and had drank too much alcohol to the point I passed out in my car and I woke up in the hospital, God had allowed me to fall asleep in my car instead of driving because I know I would have died being as drunk as I was. I scared my family so badly that it was a wake up call for me and I saw how much of a problem I had. About a month later Jesus brought me a message through a friend of mine who had recently been saved. That message was of a Love beyond any I had ever known, that God loved me more than I could ever imagine, He had His son Jesus die for me and that He was willing to forgive *ME* with all that I had done and that He loved me even though I had done all the horrible things I had and He wanted to forgive me, He had a plan for me and I was important to Him. That night I prayed with all my heart to receive His forgiveness and ask Jesus to live in my heart and He did just that. God is an awesome God and He loves us all even if we have done unspeakable things, He wants to forgive us and live within our hearts if we will truly repent of our sins (we are all sinners) and we believe that Jesus died for us and wants to live within our hearts. God has done so much in my life and I don't want to live without Him being in control, without obeying Him, without His love and without that wonderful relationship I can have and that He desires from all of His children. I have gone where I didn't surrender myself to Him and wanted to go about it my way, but I was miserable. There is no joy, no peace, no true meaning of what life is for without God being in control. I have learned that I can do nothing on my own I have to give it to Him and He is so trustworthy. When you put your relationship with God on your own shoulders you will fail but when you just give it to Him and admit you can't do it and give Him complete surrender then you will know what life is all for......* it is for HIM!* When you completely rely on God in everything, giving your all to Him he will give His all to you and you will not want anything else. God is growing me in my faith, He has brought me and my family to a complete reliance on Him where we are dependent on Him even for our next meal, but I don't want it any other way for there is great joy when *GOD *is in control and you are not concentrating on self but on God's kingdom and His plan and purpose for your life, worry isn't there just faith in an awesome God! I look forward to growing in the knowledge of Him and in my relationship with Him, I want to love Him more than my next breath and have faith that moves mountains. I am so excited to see God's hand in my life, to see His hand moving in the church, in other peoples lives and in this new ministry. I am also happy and excited to start growing new relationships with other women and also to continue growing with the relationships that have already began to form. T