I am a new Christian. I know that I have mentioned in past posts that I grew up Catholic but floundered on religion for quite some time as a late teen and early adult. As a result, I did not really know God. I knew of Him, I knew of his powerful rage and the punishments that can come from disobedience, but I did not know about the unfailing love God has for me. When we were first married, my husband and I struggled with fertility, by 2020 I had given up hope of ever having a child. I began to lose hope in God, and if God existed, he hated me. I felt like I was being punished for something that I did in my entire life thus far. My feelings towards God changed with much prayer from my husband, my mother-in-love, and their church family. A year later, I was being baptized while pregnant with our daughter. How did this happen? Faith grew. I started with small prayers that felt awkward at first. I was not sure what I was supposed to say to God, so I started with an introduction. Hi God, my name is Sharon. I know that sounds odd because He is the creator of heaven and earth, so of course God knew my name. Somehow, the introduction made it feel less weird. I started off talking about what I was thinking. I would talk about how the weather was suiting me, I would ask questions about my life like why I can’t seem to have a baby. I also tried bargaining but never had much luck with that. Although I never received an audible response, I did have answers from God. The answers came through His word. It is amazing to me how all of life’s problems could be answered while reading through the Bible. Until I became a Christian, I never read through the Bible. The Bible is truly a guide on how to live well and follow God. If you have not opened your Bible lately, 10/10 recommend. So armed with my Bible, and conversational skills, I started to talk more about what God has done for me to others. I became the person that I used to judge, I started sharing the good news of God. I began to write about his love for me and others. I started to write for fellow military wives and joined the Homefront Heros ministry (shameless plug for how much I love these women and the outreach they provide) and joined the prayer team at our church. I went, in the span of two years, from believing God hates me to knowing his never-ending love for me. If he can love me, with all my flaws, he sure can love you too. If you ever question your self-worth, the possibility of being loved, what life really means, or need to read a beautiful love story……open up your Bible and read through the countless broken people that were redeemed and used for God’s glory. These words have the ability to pour love into you when you are empty. I’m praying for you and hope you will introduce yourself to God with a hi, my name is.