Growing up at Calvary Temple

I am so very thankful to have grown up at Calvary Temple.
I came to Calvary Temple in 1981 with my Dad and 2 sisters. I was just a year old. I don’t remember much from when I was little, but remember the Word of God being taught to me. I remember faithful servants living the Word before me and requiring it of me. I attended Calvary Temple from Kindergarten thru 2nd grade. Being taught  the Word of God every day; I loved it. I don’t remember praying to ask Jesus in my heart (maybe I was too young to remember), but I remember loving Jesus and asking for His Holy Spirit to fill me. I was filled with the Holy Spirit when I was just 7 years old. I was young, but I remember the presence of God was surrounding me. It was an incredible experience.
When I was in 3rd grade I started going to public school. I viewed going there as an adventure. It was a new place and new people. I liked it. I continued in public school until the 6th grade. By that time I can say that I was no longer a Christian. I was a good kid, but definitely not a Christian. During this time, we still went to church at Calvary Temple and I enjoyed going, but I didn’t have the same longing to go that I had when I was younger. Being in public school had definitely vexed me. As a 3rd grader I started out telling everyone about Jesus. But then kids made fun of me, so I stopped. By 6th grade, I was just going through the motions of being a Christian (I did what I was told and I attending church, but didn’t love God anymore).
When I was about to go into 7th grade, my dad gave us the choice of going back to Calvary temple  or staying in public school. I wanted to go back to Calvary temple. I knew that’s where I needed to be. As I sat in Bible class every day and started reading the Word again, I started to hunger for it more. I knew the Word and I knew that I wasn’t right with God. I asked Jesus to come back into my life at the end of 7th grade.
I am so VERY thankful for the faithful men and women of God that consistently poured out their lives for me to make sure I knew the Word and lived it. Lives that have been a comfort to me or a jolt to get me back on the right path. And now, most of the same men and women that poured out their lives for me, are pouring out their lives on a daily basis for my kids.
Now as a grown woman, I am still in awe of the goodness of Father to place me at Calvary Temple.  This is where I met my husband. This is where hands were laid on me in the name of Jesus, I was healed and was able to have children after doctors told me I couldn’t. This is where my 2 daughters were dedicated to the Lord. This is where they are now being raised to love Jesus. This is my heritage. A heritage that I can share with my kids. It’s my prayer that they know Jesus and only Jesus for all their lives; that they too can have this as a heritage.
I am so thankful for what Calvary Temple is: Not just a building where I go to church, but a place I can go and be fed the Word of God. A place I can go and look at the leadership as examples of Jesus because they not only teach the Word, but they live it without compromise. A place that miracles of God happen. A place where the presence of God is. A place of comfort when times get hard. A place that has a family of believers that reprove, rebuke and exhort with the Word of God. A place that I now am able to teach the kids on Sunday Mornings and sow into their lives just as my life was sown in to. A place that I am blessed to have called home for the past 34 years and by the grace of God I can continue to call home.
“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord” Psalm 122:1
I am blessed and so incredibly thankful! To God be all the glory!!
~Gwen