General Life Change

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians that if anyone is in Christ they are a new creation. God takes the broken pieces of our life and uses them to build a new foundation that is built on Him.

Read through these stories of lives that have been changed through the power of Jesus!

I am going to make a long story short. Since the beginning of this year, my life has been turned upside down. I went through 2 major surgeries. I thought I could handle anything that happened to me. I had a "I got this" attitude, boy was I wrong. I first got brought to Life Change Church by my wife, who in turn was brought the week before by my son in law. I really didn't want to go, but I did. Once I did, it was a spiritual awakening. I could feel the power over me. After the sermon I got to my car and i couldn't wait to come back! As the weeks followed more and more I felt like I had a place where I could grow. After a little while I gave myself to the Lord and was soon baptized. But after a short time, I had the test of all tests, not just for me, but also for my wife. I was admitted to the hospital, not knowing what was to follow. Soon enough I found out that I had to have open heart surgery. Through it all, I started thinking that I have not prayed for myself, just the ones around me. I remember laying in the hospital bed before surgery thinking to myself, why me. But in all reality it was not just me. My wife, my kids, and my family were affected. Then 2 gentlemen from church came to the hospital to see me. While they were there, they prayed over me, I felt a tear roll down my face and from that moment t on I knew that myself and my family were in great hands, and that God would take care of us. And through His grace my family and I made it through. It is through God that I realize that he will test you, but is always with you.

I started going to Life Change Church in 2018. Since I started coming my life has taken some major turns. My story begins January 7th, 2017. January 7th, 2017 my 5 year old had a seizure at home for no apparent reason. The seizure lasted 35 minutes. The longest 35 minutes of my life. It required emergency rescue medication and she was taken via ambulance to the local hospital. For 5 years my life was normal, until that one day. The truth is...we are all just one phone call away from being dropped to our knees. The only difference between you and me...is really just luck. 2017 was the year my daughter was officially diagnosed with Epilepsy (a seizure disorder). 2018 I joined Life Change Church. When I joined...I was scared, alone, broken, and fighting for my daughter's life with no direction and no answers to what was happening. I also become a single mom to my 2 little girls...and was trying to keep my head above water. For the first time in my life I felt like I had zero control over what was happening. You see with seizures...they are 100% unpredictable. I couldn't stop the seizures, I could't fix this. Everything was broken beyond repair. When a problem/illness doesn't have a solution/cure, you realize quickly you aren't in control... God is. You take your hands off the wheel and say "God I need you to drive" and you move over into the passenger seat. I would come into church and just cry every Sunday. I went to the altar every single time. On my knees...a pain I wish upon no one. A desperate cry for help. No I needed more than help. I needed a miracle. I needed answers....even if I didn't like the answer...I begged for just that. 2018-2019 I felt I had found my church at Life change. My girls would come with me as often as we could. My children and I were baptized in the church. I would leave it all on the altar...a safe place I could cry (not in front of my kids)...a place I could be vulnerable and broken. As a result my faith strengthen. I had to believe that everything was going to be O.K. I had to believe that God had a plan...a really good plan....and I had to TRUST this journey. I felt alone...but I know I was never alone. He was there, and still is, every single step of the way. 2018-2019 Lily's seizures got worse. I thought several times I was going to lose my child. 2019 I got the answer I had been praying so long for. It just wasn't really the answer I wanted to hear. I was told by Lily's doctors at Devos that unfortunately Lily's seizures were not controlled by any medications and her quality of life is the best it will be right now...because the seizures were slowly going to damage the rest of her brain. They said the "Good" news was that Lily was a candidate for brain surgery. They would remove her entire left occipital lobe (responsible for vision) since this is where her seizures originated from. I was told that there was a 60% chance it would work and Lily would become seizure free for the rest of her life, and a 40% chance it wouldn't. Regardless of the outcome...Lily was guaranteed to lose 50% of her peripheral vision in both eyes (making her legally blind and never able to drive). Where do you go from there?!?! I..... went back to that altar. I made my bargains with God. I would trade her vision for seizure freedom...but I needed to trust that God wouldn't fail me. If HE brought me to this....HE HAD to bring me through this. I accepted what I didn't want to accept...I put 100% trust in God, and I scheduled her surgery. It was 4 weeks away. I felt like I was on a train going 1,000 miles an hour heading for a brick wall....and I could t stop it...I couldn't get off. April 25 2019 - Lily underwent 9 hours of brain surgery. I prayed....A LOT!!!!! and waited. Lily was discharged from the hospital 48 hours later! (48 hours?!?! WAIT...What???) Pain management was children's Tylenol and ibuprofen!. (That's CRAZY!!!!) She returned back to school 2 weeks later! She did have the vision loss as stated before, and doctors were amazed at how suddenly she adjusted to it with little complications to daily life. August 25th 2019 Lily was 4 months seizure free. We began to take Lily off all her seizure medications slowly. It took 15 weeks total. There was a 80% she could have a seizure at this time. December 25th 2019 - I got my miracle....my answered prayer. April 25th (surgery) - Dec 25th (Christmas) Lily was 8 months seizure free and 100% off all medications. I am blessed. I am forever grateful. I am a firm believer that God was always in control especially when I felt like everything was out of control. I am here to tell you to never lose hope, never lose faith, never think you walk alone. Today I walk into church...and I still cry. But this time its different. They are tears full of happiness instead of sorrow. He brought me through it!!!! I'm here...standing....and I'm pretty darn proud of that! It could be days, weeks, or even months until something else brings me to my knees again...bringing me in front of that altar. I have no control over that....this is life. Life happens. But I can promise you that altar can change your life. Open your heart, trust in something so much greater than your wildest dreams, stop dwelling over the worst case scenario...silence your mind and listen to your soul. And then JUMP into the unknown with faith. He wants to catch you. He wants to drive....you just have to ask him to! Let go and Let God. ** To watch VIDEO of #TeamBug (Lily Bug) and a very special thank you to the hundreds of people/church's across the states that prayed for my daughter.... Copy and paste the link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlBVArqTBvI or search #TeamBug on www.youtube.com Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you!

It's been a while since we were able to make it to church but today was the day!! My boss tried to call me in at 6am but NOTHING was stopping me today!! I've missed attending church so much. I could tell there was something missing for sure, I was starting to settle, I was letting myself sink in a hole but let me tell you, the second I was on church property I knew I was where I belong!!! As always we were welcomed with smiles and a hug at the door...I could breathe!!! I took a deep breath!!! There's no better way to start out the year than to spend it at Life Change!! Some of you know my story with overcoming addiction. I had such a drive the last two years to become a recovery coach and help people with addiction. The last month i was actually thinking about not doing it anymore....like ..WHAT?!?! That's how I knew something wasn't right!! I've also been struggling with reaching out to my dad. Today I got my "drive" back...I want to say THANK YOU to Rita for introducing me to Becky that will be leading Celebrate Recovery, I'll be joining that small group for sure!! Tell me God doesn't work in crazy ways?!? I've also decided I'm going to be calling my dad. If things don't go the way I'd like it's all part of God's plan and at least he will know I love him before it's too late. I'm so grateful for our church.....I'm so grateful for my relationship with our father, what a great "dad"we have ❤️

Before I started going to Life Change Church, I was always searching for a place to call home. After years of growing up in a broken home, I experienced every kind of abuse a person should never have to go through. I turned to any source of excitement that could block out the pain. In this behavior, I continued to live a dysfunctional life. That changed after my son started praying for me. He prayed that I would go to church with him and he finally talked me into it. I immediately fell in love with the energy of the church and the power of the message and how you can actually feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. I recommitted my life to Christ and was baptized. Since I have done this, my heart has softened. I have an awesome home and family at Life Change. God is always part of my healing. I know I wouldn’t be making it to my 5-year Survivor status and being able to function as well as I do with all of the things I’ve been diagnosed with. I am thankful to have God, my family, work people, and my church family around me.

As a working wife & mother of 5 beautiful, busy children there have been many ups and downs in our lives. I came to the church a stressed, exhausted mama constantly snapping at my children and others, taking several medications to "deal" and constantly stressing and worried for the next second. It was no way to live. 

I came to church in my perfect package front, ready to check another box in life's to-dos. This church is real. It has helped me to learn and feel confident and secure in motherhood, adulthood and marriage. Life isn't easy. How you deal with it is what defines you as a person. I now know, med-free and thriving, that it isn't done perfectly nor is it done alone. I love coming and feeling like I truly belong and my family is welcome! I thank Life Change Church for helping to show me I wasn’t lacking but that I just needed to see what was there.

I went to Encounter tonight. When it was over, I was speaking with a friend about life events and she wrapped her arms around me and started to pray. We declared in Jesus name. And at that exact moment I received a message that God worked our prayers were answered! God is so good

Alright church family, I've gotta share!!! I've been unemployed since the end of June and looking for work since then. I found myself getting frustrated and feeling down. I started praying and reading plans more and more and it brought me peace. I realized I wasn't in charge. Things happen according to God's plan and his timing, not mine!! Well, today I had the most amazing interview and was offered a spot on a team of two other managers. I'm sitting down Monday to talk about wages, benefits and sign all paperwork. As soon as I gave it all to God, and left him in charge, stopped worrying, everything fell into place.....THANK YOU GOD!

Wow! What an especially CRAZY week it was for me. When Jenna, our worship director at church, says sometimes that some weeks we're riding the upside of the roller coaster of life, and others we're trying to hold on desperately on the flip side.... This week was my flip side. Really threw me for a loop there, but God must have a plan to push me out of my comfort zone and challenge my faith to grow. Because even though I'm still in it, God has already touched my heart and shown me His loving hand, taking the wheel of my life, and making things work for His precious child who desires to obey Him (that's me)! It started off with last Sunday, learning to proclaim His promises, making DECLARATIONS for things expected but not yet to come! Before I even heard that message Pastor Ron preached last week, the enemy started ruining my week already with bad news. Our truck was making an awful sound when my hubby tried to drive it to church, so I turned around halfway to church, drove home to pick him up. I have been using his truck to get to work because it needed some mechanical TLC, and my drive to work was shorter than Derek's. So that news to me meant that I have no reliable vehicle to go to work in the next day. Right off the bat, I had to start declaring that "God, YOU ARE OUR PROVIDER! And I am a child of Yours, You have not forsaken me, and I know Your plan for us is coming right around the corner!!!!" I believe sometimes, I'm declaring things loudly because my spirit is struggling to believe it, but deep deep down, my faith is clinging onto all that God says in His word. Monday comes around. I drive to work thankfully and anxiously in my mother-in-law's van, which also isn't the most reliable. This was all added to a Monday that I knew was going to be stressful at work because 1. Summer is our busy season at work and 2. We are currently in need of more help staff-wise at work. 3. Monday is a mad-house because it's the day after a weekend. Thankfully, the car shifted fine and I got to work on time, not without having praise music blasting through my whole drive to work. Work was challenging and very tiring, but I got through it all just fine, thanks to our heavenly Father. But then came more bad news…. The next morning I was told we were gonna be down 1 staff member, which puts the 2 coworkers that I worked with yesterday, and myself, in a very very very stressful situation. So I mentally prepared myself for that before getting into work. The van stalled for 20 mins as I tried desperately to get to work, so I was late and made the start to my day even WORSE. In the words of that cute, 2014 family comedy movie, it was Jackie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Tuesday. I didn't leave work until past 7pm, which I have never done before in my life, and lingering in the back of my mind, I knew I possibly had to work an extra day this week because my coworker than called in that day was injured. On my drive home I sang the song "Yes I Will" by Vertical Worship, and that will now be my anthem for the rest of the year. I will be honest, I broke down when I got home that day. I cried because all my personal problems, ongoing vehicle problems and work problems all seemed to weigh down on me all at once, and I thought to myself, "God… I really need you to show up, because I'm at the end of my rope here. I can't do it. I know I've needed you everyday since I became a mom… but right now is do or die, and if you don't help me, I'm gonna sink. I'm not coming up for air, and if I was drowning, this is the part where the tippy top of my longest finger is the only thing you can see left of me that's above water, reaching up for help. So WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW? I FEEL SO ALONE, YOU NEED TO BE HERE!!! Because I'm not moving forward until You show up. You are going to be bigger than my problems God. I KNOW YOU'RE BIGGER!!! Please please please, show Yourself to be. I BEEGGGG YOU!!! Please be bigger than my circumstances and show me Your ways and Your goodness and that You are in control." The next day I took it easy. It was an atypical day off with my littles because we didn't have a dependable vehicle, and even less dependable bank account. Regardless of that, I made the best of things. My MIL graciously helped me out with the kids so I could run some errands and pick up a few necessities for life… like diapers. I managed to sign my son up for fall soccer and take Kaiya's 9 month pictures so there's my silver lining for the week so far. And at the end of the day I was asked to work the extra day that I had anticipated (but hoped it wouldn't happen). My MIL graciously agreed to watch my kids that day for me too, even though she was probably exhausted from life as well. Any day that I don't have off, she doesn't either, so I try my hardest to not work when I don't have to, because that means she has to deal with my munchkins all day, for 12 hours almost. The next day (we're on Thursday now), I texted my friend/coworker that if she doesn't see me at work on time it's because my vehicle is stalling and I'm just waiting for the gears to shift over so I can get to work. I prayed for a minute right before getting out of my driveway that God will take care of me today, that no matter what happens, I know my heavenly Father sees me, He loves me, and He will make a way. The van didn't give me major problems and traffic did not work against me. I knew God was holding my van together and clearing my path to work. The radio station I listen to every time I drive started playing "Joy" by For King and Country, and tears just started pouring down my face. You bet I rolled down the windows, turned the volume all the way up, danced and sang my heart out as I drove to work. (Yes… I probably looked ridiculous, like I had ants in my pants, but I didn't care. God had given me joy and I just couldn't contain it!) The rest of the day at work was history, things went smoothly as we were fully staffed and many of my coworkers thanked me for filling in. I will like them to know now that whatever I do, I do into the Lord, and also because I truly cared about my team at work. By Friday, the van wasn't in any better condition than before, but God still got me to work on time, without any glitches, and throughout the entire week, He got me home just fine (with minimal stress to me). My injured coworker showed up to work unexpectedly and we all helped her so she didn't have to do anything strenuous at work. All in all, Friday went pretty well. I sang "Yes I Will" multiple times over the course of Thursday and Friday, and the Hillsong "I am who you say I am" song also came up here and there. On Thursday, God gave my friend a good medical report that she had been worried about, which made way for her to give me next Friday off, that my husband had wished I could take off work to spend more time with me. In her words, she said "it must be fate", and I said yes…. It had to be… because GOD! She had said that because a couple months ago, I gave her my Friday off so she could spend some time with her relative that she doesn't get to see very often. This week she's giving me her Friday off so I can spend it with my love one too! God is good, my friends. So so good, even in the midst of all the very very bad. And God hears and answers prayer, so never stop praying, never give up, and never stop believing even if believing is the hardest thing you could make yourself do. God can make beauty out of ashes.

I really enjoyed the service last week. It was my first time here and I will continue coming back because you make me feel at home. I also accepted Jesus.

I've shared a few times on how amazing our lives have been since we've given our lives to God. Two years ago we were addicted to heroin, getting evicted out of our homes, and on the verge of divorce. We've been completely clean for 18 months now, both have great jobs, our marriage is amazing, we were baptized and accepted God in our life, found Life Change church and since then our lives have taken off in the most amazing way. I never thought we would be where we are today. 

The place we've been living is extremely small, just a little kitchenette but we've made it work. We've been praying about getting a bigger place so our daughter could actually have her own room, we could have a full kitchen. Well after Easter service we noticed a little white house with a for rent sign. We started looking into it a little bit and Brian went to the owners and got an application from them. 

I stopped in the driveway after dropping off Brian this morning and prayed. I told God that yes I would love the house and if it doesn't happen that it's all part of His plan for us and it's not meant to be, that I wouldn't be upset. Brian called me at 5pm, sounded all sad and said that he talked to them. I asked what they said, he replied "We need to meet them at 6:15 to sign the lease!!!" PRAISE GOD!!! 

When we pulled in the driveway I started to cry....it hit me.....My life would be NOTHING it is today if it wasn't for God. All of this is because of accepting him as our Lord and savior!!!! How AWESOME is that?!?! I thought about where we were two years ago and where we are now and I am just so thankful. Just wanted to share our amazing blessing with you all. God is so good!!

Back in Nov of 2018 I walked into Life Change Church and heard the song “Who you say I am” by Hillsong Worshiping turned and looked at my daughter in law and said “I’ve found my church, this is it.” I went home and told my husband about my experience at church and how I was greeted by Brenda, Pastors wife and how she took time to show us around and made us feel right at home. I told my husband that I have found my church home. Over the next couple of months I would ask my husband to come to church with me and he would say things like “I’m busy” or “I have things to get done today” I finally stopped asking him to come to church. One Sunday I was talking to Rita about this and she said I should just pray on it, which I had been but I thought, yeah I really just need to keep praying, my husband will come to church in his own time. One Sunday I was getting ready to go to church and as I was putting on my coat my husband had starting turning off the kitchen lights and I asked him where he was going and he said “To church with you.” I was so excited but curbed my enthusiasm, maybe he wouldn’t like it here so I just silently prayed that he would love this church as I do. My husband has come to church every Sunday since, even on the day I couldn’t go because I was out of town, and he took his brother with him. Our GOD is an awesome GOD. Mark 11:24. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. All things in his time... never give up, HE won’t give up on you. Thank You Life Change for you support and guidance.

I moved to Michigan about 6 months ago from Kentucky. I was always involved in church growing up and was on fire for God. About 7 years ago my family went to a Church that over time became less centered on God. Over the course of two years several events unraveled and ended up tearing my family apart. I was angry and heartbroken at the same time. I turned away from God and I think I stepped foot back into a Church once or twice over the past 7 years. Moving 8 hours away from my family, friends, and the only place I’ve called home has been a challenge. I do have two beautiful children with my soon to be husband but I still felt so alone. So I started praying for God to bless my new life, to help me find peace and community. Then about 2 or 3 months ago my soon to be mother in law asked if I wanted to try a new church with her, and I hesitantly agreed. My son fell in love after the first visit and started a countdown for the following Sunday. About 3 weeks ago he asked if we could start praying before bed, and honestly it caught me off guard. I have never been one to pray out loud, but he is 6 so would he really know a good prayer from a bad one? So before bed we prayed and by the time I was done he was crying. My 6 year old was crying after my simple prayer. He said mommy that was such a beautiful prayer and that’s why I’m crying. He promised he wasn’t sad and that he was so happy we prayed together. Since that night we have been praying before bed, and now my 2 year old daughter also cuddles up and tries to repeat the prayer with us. I feel as though I have once again found my fire for God and I have found the Church I will call home. I want to thank everyone for being so wonderful and welcoming. I can’t wait to see God’s plan for my family.