Renee's Testimony

This is the testimony of Renee Richmond

I went to a Baptist church from 4th grade until 10th grade with my Grandma. I knew the gospel and how to be saved, but somehow it never reached my heart. I did learn a lot of scripture there though. Well, when I was 14-18 years old (I am 48 now), I quit going to church and became a typical product of the 70’s. My mom loved me a lot I know, but my dad, who had a serious mental illness, distracted her. He tried to commit suicide at least 6 times. It took all her time and energy to keep up with him, so I was pretty much on my own. I had no brothers or sisters. I had no rules. Sometimes I was very happy and having a lot of fun, other times I was not so happy. I started standing at parties observing how dumb we all were, but I couldn’t break away yet as these were my friends and the only people I had in the world. I would think quite often, "There has to be a better way to live". I am grateful that the Lord protected me from a lot of harm that could have come my way during this time.

Then during my senior year of high school, there was a Christian girl named Grace in ALL my classes. She was nice and funny and we got to be friends. She invited me to church every week, but I always said no for one reason or another. She told me how I needed to be saved from my sin by Christ. I knew what she was saying was true, but I knew I’d have to give up all my friends. We graduated in June of 1976, and I still hadn’t gone to church with her after about 30 invitations.

I started classes at the University of Akron in the fall. On Halloween night of 1976, a friend and I went cruising, and we stopped on an impulse at the house of a guy I really liked. This guy had been my date for senior prom, but I hadn’t heard from him since then. Imagine my surprise to find a huge Halloween party going on with almost every friend I had in the world in attendance. I had not been invited! I walked right in and found Bill with my best friend Jan. (They were in costume as a witch and Count Dracula which seemed fitting.J) I found out they had been dating all summer - during which time I had asked Jan often if she knew what could have happened to Bill, and she had sympathized deeply with me that he was probably just busy. Well, she sure knew what happened to him! I felt so betrayed. All my other friends knew about it too, but didn’t want to tell me. At this point I felt totally alone in the world. No one cared about me. (This experience would later make the song, "No One Ever Cared for me Like Jesus" my favorite and one that I sang night and day for awhile.) I suddenly knew I wanted Christ as my best friend, and I wanted to turn from the life I was living no matter what the cost. I went home and called Grace and asked if I could come to church with her the next day. I went three weeks and the Lord Jesus Christ saved me on November 21, 1976. I was baptized on December 5th, 1976. My mom came to church to see my baptism, and in another year she also was gloriously saved.

As a brand new baby Christian, I found myself distressed and confused by my teachers at the University of Akron. One used bad language in the classroom, one was a Marxist communist. I myself had become a strong feminist in high school and subscribed to "Ms." magazine. When I asked a "preacher boy" (who was home on Christmas break from Bob Jones University) if it was okay to be a Baptist AND a Communist, he informed me I needed to go to a Christian college.J Just eight months later I found myself a student at Bob Jones University. A lot of students were whining about the rules there, but I LOVED the rules – I’d never had any before. They were comforting to me. I learned a lot about the Bible in my 3 years there, and by the time I graduated I thought marriage might not be degrading after all, but children were still out of the question. They would mess up my career in accounting.

To make a long story short, I married a great Christian man and have two wonderful daughters that I stayed home with and home schooled all the way through high school! Sometimes I look at my life now and have to laugh at the change in my thinking Christ has made. I am living what might be considered a boring life by some, but I am never bored. I have peace in my heart. This isn’t to say I never have problems (the death of both my parents), but I have a peace because it is Christ’s righteousness and not my works that has saved me, and I know He will never change or forsake me. What a relief!

This November 21st will mark 30 years I’ve been in the Lord, and He has kept me in the palm of his hand the whole time and not let me go. What a miracle that He should love a soul like mine!

Here are a couple of my favorite verses from the Bible – I write these on just about every graduation or wedding card I ever send out as this prayer includes just about everything – God is our peace by reconciling us, Christ’s resurrection, Christ as my shepherd, Christ’s blood, and Christ doing the work of sanctifying me not just saving me. What a blessing the gospel is every day of my life!

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20-21