Testimony of Luann Nappi

Luann Nappi's Testimony

I was not raised in church environment. I was baptized Episcopalian at the age of 4 months and I thought I was Christian because I was not a Muslim or a Jew. My family did celebrate Christmas and Easter, but of course it was for Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. I knew these holidays had something to do with Jesus and I knew He took away the sin of the world, but I did not know what that meant.

From a very early age I was looking for truth, I was what you would call a "truth seeker." My search brought me to some crazy places: I had Bible studies with Jehovah's Witnesses and I was a card carrying member of the New Age Movement. That in itself brought me some pretty crazy experiences!!

When my daughter, Lauren, was 8 and my son Nicholas was 3, my family and I were watching, "The 10 Commandments." It was very clear that during the movie that Lauren did not know who the key characters in the movie were. That disturbed me because I thought she should at least have a foundation. I remember thinking at the time, I don't care how she decides to worship God in the future because I falsely believed that all paths lead to God, but she should at least have a foundation. I now know how wrong that thinking was. The following Sunday my family and I went to an Episcopal church where we became involved with the ministries there for many years.

After several years of attending the Episcopal Church, I started to have a strong feeling that the world would be much better off if I was not part of it. I also kept feeling that I was a terrible person and a bad mother and wife. These feelings lasted for a long time. Around the same time new neighbors moved across the hall from me. They were born again Christians. I remember thinking that they would try to convert me or something. To say that I was suspicious was an understatement! After a few days, my new neighbors and I met and got along well. I was invited to their family parties and Nick played with their son. All this time I was still going to church and I even started to take a lay reader's course. One of the first assignments was to think of a difficult time in your life and apply a Biblical story or situation to it. I didn't know the Bible very well, but my neighbor across the hall did, so I asked if we could meet and go over my assignment. Of course Ray agreed and the next day after we put the boys on the bus, we discussed my assignment. After I told Ray my story, it only took a few minutes to come up with the Bible story. Ray then told me that God loved me and I told him he was wrong. I said if God loves me so much, then why does He keep telling me that I'm a bad person and that the world would be better off without me? Ray told me that that was not from God, and I asked, if not God, then who? It was at that moment that I realized that I was being fed all this from Satan and not God. Of course I started crying and Ray asked me if I wanted to accept Jesus into my heart, and I said YES!! Ray explained that I was a sinner from birth and that only Jesus could take away my sin. He paid the ultimate price for me!!

After that day, I would have Bible studies with Ray and Glenda (Ray's wife) and I was still attending church with my family. On my way to work, I'd have to pass by Grace Bible Church and the sayings on the board always caught my eye. I remember thinking what goes on in that church? Certainly Grace Bible Church stood out. After a series of events I started to attend Grace Bible Church and the rest is history. Since I accepted Christ into my life, I know that the Holy Spirit is working to conform me into the image of Christ. The things that I thought were important were not, and when I sin I am out of sync with God and I want to get right with Him. I know that I am a sinner and I always will be this side of Heaven, but I also know that the Lord is working on my heart to change me into His image