Throughout 2024, the feature articles are devoted to hearing stories of God’s redemption within our Rosedale Network churches. We pray these stories fuel your love for the Lord and lead you to greater service in His Church.
~Kelsey Jurkovich, Publication & Literature Committee
Hearing the Message of God
Growing up in a small town in northeastern Ohio as a non-believer, I never understood what it was like to have God in my life. Sure, I had friends who were believers and they always invited me to join them in their youth group activities. While attending these events, I was exposed to learning about God in a non-church environment. This provided an insight for me as to who God was, though I never heard or grasped the meaning of having a personal relationship with Him.
As I grew up, I realized that going to college right out of high school was not for me. I decided early on that I would go into the US Navy as soon as I graduated to mature a little while saving the incentives offered to help pay for my college once I was finished.
…God was speaking to me directly about who I currently was, who I needed to become, and that He had been with me the whole time.
While in basic training, we had two options on Sundays: we were allowed to either attend the church services or stay in the barracks and clean. Knowing the church was air-conditioned, I figured that was all for me. Again, this was another example of hearing the message while never really hearing the message.
While deployed, I worked with and became good friends with an enthusiastic believer. As we were preparing to pull into Israel, I had a conversation with him about his excitement to be re-baptized in the Jordan River. He told me that whether you are a believer or not, God is always with you—you just need to accept Him. He encouraged me to take the trip to Jerusalem since we were there. This is when the seed was initially planted.
After leaving the Navy, I still did not have an understanding or desire to have a personal relationship with God. I knew a higher power existed, but I was not ready to acknowledge it as God. I had met a wonderful woman whom I was convinced was the one for me. At one point in our relationship, we had a conversation about my faith, and she had mentioned her friend’s husband was preaching on Sunday at Agape Community Fellowship and that we were going. I was amazed by the overwhelming feeling of acceptance from people that I had never met before. I remember the sermon still to this day; the message was from Matthew 13, the Parable of the Sower. While listening to the message, I felt like I actually listened, and that God was speaking to me directly about who I currently was, who I needed to become, and that He had been with me the whole time. What I initially believed as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, occurred when leaving church one Sunday—we were approached to help with VBS as group leaders. We agreed, and while volunteering and listening to everything that was presented that week, I decided that while the children in my group were acknowledging Jesus in their lives, I was going to as well.
Being a part of Agape and a member of a home group, and later being asked to lead one, has immensely helped me with my personal walk. Being surrounded by people who accept me for who I am, and whom I can count on to assist in my daily struggles, as well as being there to serve and help them when needed, has helped propel my spiritual growth. Throughout my journey, I always come back to Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (NIV).
