Kelly Jo’s Story

It was a typical morning. My brother wanted to fish with his best friend, and my mom knew there was a thunderstorm coming. “Please, Mommy! Please, Mommy! Let me go fishing with Russ.” Finally, my mom said yes. And in those 30 minutes, she heard sirens, not knowing that those were the sirens of her son who had just been hit by a truck. En route to the hospital, he had coded three times. By the time he arrived at the hospital, he arrived DOA.

My memories were very much a household of being angry at God. From that day forward, we did not step foot in a church as a family. I didn’t know where God fit into my adult life. We did not go to church, and my children grew up young not having those early years of knowing God like I did.

God is at Work

My daughter came to find a relationship with God right into high school. She was hanging around some really good girls, and they invited her to the youth ministry. She was all in. I was in awe of her faith. She was super involved. I did talk faith with her. I was curious. But I still wasn’t ready to let God in.

My mom, approximately after 25 years, came to peace with her Lord and Savior. I really realized then that my mom did have eternal life. I needed to start thinking about eternal life, being baptized, and asking Jesus into my heart. On December 24, 2018, The Church at Nolensville held their service at Mint Springs that year, and it was at that time I gave my life to the Lord.

A Legacy of Faith

I was talking to Shauna a lot about getting baptized, that I was ready. And in our conversation, my daughter expressed to me that my granddaughter was expressing to her at the same time that she wanted to be baptized. So I mentioned to Shauna, “Do you think that Pastor John could baptize me and Aleigh together at The Church at Nolensville?”

Coincidentally enough, Pastor Walker was the youth minister at our local Baptist church in our town in Florida, and he did baptize her. How cool would it be to have a generational baptism? And on August 1, John baptized me and Aleigh.

It is All in God’s Timing

I was freed of all the demons that I had suffered through my childhood. Now I feel more relieved and closer to God than ever. He had lifted my burdens. He saved me, and I was free. What I really want people to walk away with my story is that it is all in God’s timing.

Fifty years have passed since my brother died. Life isn’t about the good or the tragic things that happen in our lives. But it is all within God’s plan.