I did not have the privilege of growing up in a Christian home. For nineteen
years of my life I was outwardly rebellious and hard-hearted. In the
sovereignty of God, He led me to obtain an internship while in college.
working with a devout born-again Christian. My other co-workers warned
me that I was sitting next to a Christian who was always attempting to convert
everyone. The first time he tried to witness to me, I told him I did not want to
hear about it. I praise God that he did not listen!
He faithfully used countless Scripture verses to
explain to me that I was a sinner, that I had violated
the law of God and was headed to hell to
pay for my sins. I needed to repent
and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Through the hearing of the word of
God, on October 4th 1998, broken
over my sin, I fell on the grace of God
and repented of my sin. I asked Christ to
be my Saviour and Lord and my life
changed forever.
While attending Bible school I was sitting
in a missions class when the teacher mentioned that he knew of no
missionaries to the country of Italy. This both intrigued and disturbed me. I
began researching missions in Italy and my heart was broken over the
spiritual condition of the country and the lack of laborers there. At night I
would cry thinking about God’s love for the Italian people and their spiritual
darkness. I knew God wanted me to surrender and go to Italy as a missionary,
however, regrettably, I tried to ignore the still, small voice. Not long
afterward, during a missions conference I heard a message entitled “The
Value of a Soul” by Billy Wood. It was through that message that the Lord
softened my heart and I surrendered to be an ambassador for Christ in Italy.
I was raised in a Christian home, regularly
attending church and actively being
involved in ministries since I was small.
As an eight-year-old child I attended a
Christian summer camp which is where
Christ did a work in my heart. When the
preacher offered for campers to stay
after chapel to ask questions about the
message he had preached, I excitedly met with
my counselor. It was there in the old chapel building that I understood I was
a sinner, repented of my sin, and called on Christ to save me. I believe that the
Lord Jesus had used my family and church to prepare my heart for His saving
knowledge, as I loved Christ long before.
While As a young teenage girl I struggled in my heart whenever I would hear
a message on missions. I would always end up telling God that I was willing
to be a missionary but that I would not go anywhere. I knew that this was not
complete surrendering to my Lord. When I was thirteen I attended a Bible
Conference where the preacher addressed the topic of complete surrendering
to Christ. It was that message that broke my heart and I gave my life to doing
the Lord’s work wherever He would have me. Ten years later God reminded
me of that commitment I made to Him when I spent time in Italy. There I
witnessed first-hand the most beautiful churches I had ever seen but also a
people who where so blind to the things of Christ. The spiritual desolation of
the Italian people would remain just that until someone would go and take
the Gospel to them. God used Jeremiah 12:11 to help me realize I was one of
the people who needed to go. “They have made it desolate, and being
desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no
man layeth it to heart.”