We met when we were 16. We were sophomores in high school and dated for a few years. We decided to get married when we were 19 and even though we hadn't been going to church, we both felt that we wanted to get married in a church.

Before we started attending Door Creek Church, we attended a smaller church. Outside of Sunday service, we never really got involved and that was something we were really looking for. 

I think the turning point for us was when we had our son, Andrew. We both just felt like we wanted it to be different for him. We wanted him to grow up in a Christian home and know Jesus right from the start. We just didn't want him to miss that opportunity to have a personal relationship with Him, something we just recently started having as adults.

We were sort of talking about it with our neighbor and she's the one that suggested we check out Door Creek Church. We kind of thought about it and we decided to give it a try. Pastor Marc's teaching just really spoke to us. It was really personable, and he taught in a way where it felt like he was talking to us and our lives and we could really see the way that the gospel was applied to our lives. 

We got involved in a small group and Alpha course and did some more diving in and tried to broaden our relationship and that was huge for us.

Even though we were going to church on Sundays that was sort of the extent of it. We didn't really talk about it outside of Sundays. It didn't come up in conversations with our friends or even our family. But we've been studying the Bible more on our own, which is something we'd never done before, and praying together, as a family and with our kids.

I don't think I've ever prayed out loud before until somewhat recently when we started praying with the kids and now every night, our four-year-old son Andrew says, "We can't forget to pray!" He reminds us every night.

I think as I've grown closer to Jesus, and learned more about the gospel and what he has done for me, it's really changed my attitude as I view other people or situations. I've just found myself being much more more compassionate and more loving.

Realizing too that I'm not in control of my life, God's in control of it.  Before I would think, "there's this thing going on, I have to figure it out on my own. What are we going to do about this?" Now I'm starting to see I can give that back to Jesus and ask for His help and just know God has it worked out already and I don't need to be worrying about it or trying to do it on my own. I'm not alone.