Gayle Richardson

Before Jesus Changed My Life

I grew up in a loving home. My parents did not take us to church on a regular basis, nor did they speak of their faith. I grew up learning about God and that Jesus was His Son. I do remember attending vacation Bible school as a child on occasion, but I would not have called myself a Christian back then, as I had not professed Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

When I was 22, I was diagnosed with Usher syndrome and was told that someday I could be blind. At that point, Mike and I had been engaged for six months, and I tried to call off the wedding because I didn’t want him to be “stuck with me,” but he said that didn’t change how he felt about me. Since I did not have a relationship with Christ, I threw myself into keeping busy with my career and starting a family. I did not know that there was more to life and that life could be even better with Christ at the center.

How Jesus Changed My Life

My husband and I attended a business conference, and on the Sunday morning after the conference, they provided a Sunday morning church service. We attended, heard, and believed the Gospel: that we were sinners and Jesus had died for our sin and rose again to give us new life. Both Mike and I felt the Holy Spirit move within us. We immediately stated that we needed to come home and find a church home. We realized that we needed a relationship with Christ, and we wanted to bring our kids up in the church.

We started attending a new church that was just opening up, as that is where Mike’s parents were going to attend. It was a Bible-believing church, and our faith grew very quickly. We were surrounded by many amazing couples who were much farther along in their walk with Christ, and they helped Mike and me get plugged in.

My Life After Jesus Saved Me

Upon becoming Christians, Mike and I changed our focus and priorities. We spent more time at church serving and in group studies as couples and individuals. We also taught Sunday school, and Mike served on the leadership team. We learned to trust in Christ, knowing that He would always be with us and take care of us.

After becoming Christians, we experienced me losing my job due to my vision loss, which was devastating, but we stayed the course and stayed faithful. God brought us through that hard time, and we have amazing stories of His faithfulness through that journey. The toughest time for us, though, was receiving Mike’s diagnosis of ALS. I do not even want to imagine what life would have been like without our strong faith at that time. God constantly reminded us that He would never leave us or forsake us. He surrounded us with amazing people who were always praying for us and helping in any way we needed.