How Tasha came to faith in Christ

What is the story of your coming to faith in Jesus Christ?
The process of becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ has been a long one. I believe God has been pursuing me for a long time. I grew up with my mom and my sister (three years younger). We did not talk about God in our household. We went to a couple churches occasionally, one Quaker and the other Methodist, but nothing that affected my life drastically. My dad left our family when I was in third grade and I had a lot of hurt from that. When I was in eighth grade I met a good friend named Kate Holler. Her father was the pastor of a local church. I began spending time with her family, learning more about her beliefs. I was completely intrigued. Kate's older sister attended a group called Young Life, a Christian outreach to high school students. As we were coming into our freshman year, she recruited us to come out to Young Life. I began attending regularly and forming relationships with amazing leaders that I still am very close with today. I decided to go to a "Winter Weekend" retreat. This was the first time I had heard the story of what Jesus did for us. I saw a video of Him walking to His crucifixion and felt touched to the very depths of my soul. I began crying- the kind of crying in which snot pours out of your nose and you are making weird noises. My leaders were on either side of me praying and comforting. I consider this point to be my "ah ha" moment. I got it. This was not the end of the story, however. Since then I have been slllloooooowwwwllllyyy giving over things to God- letting Him take more and more control of my life. In high school I was still battling with how much I was going to let God take over. I continued to go to Young Life, however pulled away when it came to making any big changes for Jesus. I drank with my friends, concerned myself with boys, etc. My senior year was a low point. I realized that we were leaving high school soon and wanted to be part of the parties, etc. I met my husband that year as well. I fell head over heels. He was not in a committed relationship with Jesus at this time, however truly seeking. Adam and I were talking about our spiritual questions. I was able to guide him to a tape series from our church that talked a lot about his fundamental questions. We began attending Valley View together regularly. We continued to give things up to God in our relationship. That summer I was baptized. I was able to get up in front of my community and let them know that I loved Jesus and I wanted Him to have my life. I left for college that year and continued to grow in my relationship with God. I spent time with Him, learning more about Him and trusting Him more. The next summer I was feeling an uneasiness in my soul concerning my relationship with Adam. I was concerned that Adam was relying on me too much for his relationship with Jesus. After talking to Adam about this we decided to take a break. I was devastated. I wondered why God was doing this but decided to put all of my trust in Him. During that time amazing things happened. Adam had a profound experience with God at Creation, a Christian type woodstock, which I am sure he will share in his application. I continued to pray through this painful time. God called us to get back together. I believe Adam needed to have this experience and couldn't have it with me by his side because his focus would have been on me. My relationship with Adam took on a new level at that point. We understood that God was the most important thing. The experience taught me that I could trust God- His ways are higher than my own. I was also given the opportunity to give up the most important thing or person (Adam) to me for God, in which I did and He blessed me for it. Since that summer, I consider myself fully devoted to Christ. He is my all. I love Him; I want to serve Him with my life. He has access to all parts of my life. He has healed me from deep emotional scars particularly my father's desertion. He has taken away sadness and bitterness and replaced it with joy and thanksgiving. He is a God to be trusted and my reason for living.