Welcome Darlene!

The Lord continues to add to our Team.  May this blog and we, as a group of ladies, lift high the Name of Jesus with each interaction.  It is the biggest thrill for me to watch you encourage and sharpen and love each other!


This is my friend, Darlene.  She and I have known each other for four years and let me tell you...she loves Jesus!  You have a godly woman before you.  We have had the privilege of serving in ministry together in our hometown of Fresno for over three years and even got to hike through Israel together last June.  (I thought it would be fun to share the connection of how each lady wound up on our Memory Team.)


I asked D to share about herself:



Summary of my life:
I was born into a Christian family and raised knowing who God was and what Christ did on the cross.  We went to church faithfully and because of my particular background, we did Shabot very carefully from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown with worship to usher in the Sabbath and worship to usher out the Sabbath.  Family time was of utmost importance on Sabbath.  The focus was on learning the Bible stories and learning scripture.  Because I went to Christian schools my whole life, I learned a lot of scripture when I was in grade school.  Bible was always one of our subjects.  What I lacked (I realized as I got older) was how to apply what I was learning to my life.  It seemed to me like a bunch of rules . . . which I had no problem following, but as I got older it felt so empty.


As I was finishing my BS degree in nursing, I really began to question some of the issues I saw with certain doctrines/rules/ideas that I had been taught; many of them solid, some not so solid and based on poor hermeneutics.  It took me several years to process out of what I have now come to see as a works/rules based life to life in Christ.  Eventually, as my husband and I were considering how to raise our children, I began to search for what it truly means to abide in Christ and to understand He was the finished work for my salvation.  Funny how the responsibility of training your children forces you to deal with stuff!!  I began to realize that nothing I could ever do would be enough work to gain my own salvation.  But I needed a way to learn.  I am thankful for an older, wiser woman who encouraged me to try out this study called Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) 
I started going to BSF in September of 1993 (I think it was that year).  During that time, I began to grow in understand about what it means to truly abide in Christ.  I began to learn how to apply Biblical truths to my life.  As I began to grow, slowly the scripture began to work its way from my head to my heart.   I became more and more aware of who Christ was and began to see more opportunity to share and discuss who Christ is through mentoring other young women and through leading life groups. 
Currently, I am looking forward to celebrating 30 years of marriage in August with the love of my life, Eric.   We have two daughters, one who is 28 and lives in Malibu and one who is 26, married and lives here in Fresno.  She and her husband have one son and one on the way (not sure yet of the sex).  I love being a grandma!! 


Lastly, I am still amazed and humbled by the ebbs and flows of my life.  It's hard to admit that sometimes I am fully engaged and abiding in Christ, and sometimes (I have to be honest) I have taken control and am doing it myself, without the power of Christ.  One of the blessing of doing life with other Christ followers is the ability to speak into each other's lives and call each other out of "self" and back into abiding in Christ.  I love and need that accountability and prayer.


Looking forward to memorizing with you all!

Let's welcome Darlene!