An Early Firm Foundation

From the Archives: Winter 2007

By Diane Coffey

I was raised in a Christian home and I’m so grateful that many of my relatives were sincere Christians.   Because of their positive influence, I began to seek answers at an early age and asked my parents lots of questions about what it meant to be a Christian.  When I was nine years old, at my church’s Vacation Bible School, lots of things became clear to me.  At this point I wanted to make a public profession of my faith in Christ, but my pastor wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing.  Once a week for several months he met with me and some others to teach us the Bible.  After this, I was baptized and I’m grateful for the firm foundation I received at that early age.

Though I had a time of straying in my teen years and did some things that grieved my parents, I credited the strong Christian influence from my family and church up-bringing in helping me come back to my senses.  Shortly after I was married I made a strong private rededication of my life to Christ and determined to go back to church. I entered into a discipleship relationship with a woman in the church and really got my life back on track with God.  Because of what God did in me at that time, my marriage was strengthened and my husband and I began to attend church together. 

I know that without God we would not have made it the twenty years we have been married.  I also don’t know how I could have made it through the traumatic health problems I’ve had for the last seven years.  For six of the years I’ve been sick, I’ve had all kinds of misdiagnoses and serious symptoms which come and go.  Without going into detail, suffice it to say, there is no way I would have been able to cope with all I’ve been through without God’s help.  Truly His strength has been perfected in my weakness and He has used what I’ve been through to give me tremendous compassion for others who suffer.  I feel like I’ve been able to help people in ways others couldn’t because of the suffering I’ve endured.  I’ve also been able to be there as a primary care-giver to my granddad through his last years.  I have been available to other relatives as well.  Being able to do this has been gratifying to me and would have been impossible to do had I not gotten sick.  My favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 40:8 which says, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever.”  I like it because it reminds me that no matter what I face, God’s word will see me through.