I was brought up in a Baptist home in southeast Missouri. Went to church every Sunday and Wednesday. I started going to church camp when I was eight. My second year at church camp I said the sinners prayer. I truly believed I was saved.
When I was 12 my sister decided she wanted to be baptized. I remember thinking, “if she’s going to be baptized, I want to be baptized too!” I then became a member of the Baptist Church.
I went through a life of doing pretty much whatever I wanted to, because I was “saved.” I moved to Tennessee when I was 18. I met the love of my life. We were married the following year. We had our first and only child when I was 21. I wanted to get back into church for my son. I wanted him to have a Christian upbringing. We started going to a Baptist Church.
It seemed like life was looking up. I got a promotion at work. We moved to Harrisburg, Illinois, where I took over managing a Sonic there. I quit going to church. Things feel apart and we moved back to Tennessee. I still wasn’t going to church. That’s when I met the guy who ultimately changed my life!
He worked with my husband. He told me about a book that he wanted me to read. He said I would either love it and not want to put it down, or I would hate it. After seeing him a couple times after he told me about it, and not bringing it to me, I told him I wanted to read it. So the next day he stopped by to bring it to me. The book was Muscle and a Shovel by Michael Shank.
I didn’t know how blind I had been. I’m just so thankful that someone could love my soul enough to share this book with me! I finished the book about 3 a.m. one morning. I thought it was a little late to call him, so I sent him a text telling him I finished the book and for him to call me when he got my message. I knew he had church that morning, so I expected his call that afternoon.
When he called I told him I knew I needed to obey the gospel. I knew what I had to do to be a Christian! He contacted an evangelist at the Greenfield church of Christ. I was baptized September 2, 2013!
I would just like to thank you again! Without your story I would have never found the truth that I have been searching for all this time! I would still be in the dark. I know where I stand now. And now I fear nothing in front of me! Thanks again, Michael Shank!
Melissa Rachels
(Melissa, thanks so very much, but we’ll give God the thanks! God bless you!)
