Chuck and Barbara Sampson

My walk with Christ has been a very winding road. Growing up in a military family, with a father you did not question, I did not like going to church. I felt it was  repetitious and I was not learning anything anyway. I  wondered why I would need this in my life, but little did  I know God was building the foundation that I live by  even today. As a young man I found myself testing the  battlefield that God was putting in front of me. I was not  walking according to the Word of God.  I was failing at  everything I was trying to do. I put work before  everything and my family was falling apart. I was  living in a dark hole trying to fill it with anything that  I  thought would make me happy and complete.

In 2007, God finally got a hold of me. My wife, (before she became my wife), had been praying for a Man of God to come into her life.  She desired a man who would love Him before anything else and take care of her and her daughters. Little did I know that God was answering her prayers.  She asked Him to prepare her husband to be someone who was kind, loving, compassionate and supportive, but most of all put Him before everything.   In July of 2007, God began to bring us together. We had both worked for the same company for the last 19 years and had a close friend based relationship. At that point of my life I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and was as far from Him as anyone could be. I was many of the things she was asking for, but I did not know anything about what a personal relationship with Christ was. I wanted to do my own thing and think about how I was going to take the next step up in my career.

 I went to give her a hug, and as she had done for the last 5 years she asked: “when are we going out on a date?” My heart started pounding and I asked “where to?” and she said “to church.”  Disappointed, I politely declined and gave her another hug but this time she touched my arm and I felt a shot of electricity go through my body. I can not explain what happened, except the Holy Spirit finally touched me and was not letting go of me. From that moment on I felt like something had changed. We started talking more regularly and I listened as she would talk about God’s Word and how He had changed her life. How He helped her through a difficult time that she would not have gotten through if He had not been in her life.  God had taught her patience, forgiveness, and given her peace and love. We talked about opportunities and hopes in our lives; I listened like I had never listened before. She told me that she prayed that God would bring a man into her life that loved Him first and foremost. That she did not want to date anyone unless it was the man that God had prepared for her; I thought that could not be me, God would never forgive me for the things that I had done. But she told me He would. I was hesitating, remembering how I felt in the Catholic Church. But one thing I did not realize was that God’s plan is not our plan.

On August 12, 2007 we spent Sunday together. I even went to Cornerstone Church Service with her that morning for the first time and she asked me to go to the evening service as well, and I thought: “2 services in one day. What’s up with that?” I hoped she was not going to push. She went to change so we could watch TV together.  While she was gone, something in my heart told me I needed to go to that service.  I didn’t know why, but I changed my mind and told her I would go with her. That evening God spoke directly to me through Pastor Morroco from Hawaii about “DEFILEMENT”. I heard all the things that I had done and realized that God would forgive me! A light went off, I was ripping myself up inside and then the Pastor invited anyone who needed forgiveness to come up to the altar. I was nervous and shaking but I put my faith in Him and went up and it felt as though my whole body was going through an earthquake. I thought I was going to fall from just standing there. God’s mercy is good and His love endures all. That night I also gave my life to Christ and proclaimed Him my Lord and Savior. In Romans 10: 9 it says “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  My life has not been the same since!! Over the last 2 years God has blessed me in many ways. Barbara and I were married in September 2007 and now both serve as Cell Leaders in the Tribe of Asher. We look forward to serving you. Glory to God for His Awesome Blessings! 

God Bless You.

Chuck Sampson