Faith

Hi again! I am so excited about this blog-topic!! It is all about sharing our faith, and I am so humbled to be able to tell everyone how Jesus saved me and overwhelms me with His love. As an Air Force brat, my family found ourselves living in a small town in South Dakota. Belle Fourche, South Dakota is a small town just off the military base that at the time had two main churches, a Lutheran and a Catholic church. My dad was raised Catholic, so we found our way to Mass every Sunday. I had my very first rosary and everything. When we moved back to Tennessee, we started attending First Baptist Church, Fall Branch, and I can distinctly remember asking my parents about salvation. I was probably seven or eight years old. My parents decided to take me to our pastor's house, Pastor Vic Wallace, who was and is a great man of God. In his living room, I told him I wanted to be saved, mostly because I didn't want to die and go to Hell, and he led me through the sinners prayer. Growing up I was a good girl, who loved the Lord and tried my best to keep His commandments. I know I failed Him often, but I also knew I was loved and saved because of Jesus. Well, when I was in the 6th grade, I went with the church to Higher Ground Baptist Church for their annual Judgment House drama, and were my eyes ever opened!! That night I saw what my sin, even though small by earthly standards, had caused Christ to suffer and ultimately die.  That night I rededicated my life to Christ because I was no longer wanting salvation to avoid Hell, but I was so very sorry and ashamed that my sins had hurt my Savior.
I was led to Christ as a very young person, not fully understanding sin, but even now as an adult, I am still learning every day about my sin. Have I failed Him or sinned against Him? Sure, every day actually, but when I confess and truly repent of my sin, He is so quick to forgive and forget my sin. While on the cross, Christ, who was sinless, took on all the sins of mankind. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." For example, Christ, 2000 years ago, knew I would covet, lie, doubt, have a temper, and so on, and He paid my sin debt, which I never could afford. I could never do enough in this life to earn my salvation, but He made the way!!
I am so ashamed of how I let God down daily, but He is quick to remind me of how he wiped my sins away. I have had stuck in my head for the past week the line, "Oh, praise the One Who paid my debt, and raised this life up from the dead." Hallelujah, I am alive because He died for me and my sin debt!!

FAMILY

Hi! I am Brittany Hensley, and I am the oldest of two daughters to Karl & Christy Vogelsberg. (Say that name ten times fast!) I am 27 years old, and I've been married to my wonderful husband, Joseph, for a little over six years now. Growing up I was a child who loved learning, laughing and a little bit prissy. My Disney role model was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I am very proud to say that my dad served in the United States Air Force, and by the age of four, I had lived in four different states. (Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas, & South Dakota.) We decided to move back to Tennessee just before my 2nd grade year started, and we lived near my grandparents on their farm. On the farm we had cows, chickens, goats, sheep, ducks, dogs, cats, donkeys and horses at one time or another, and I'm sure I've missed a couple. (E-I-E-I-O) I went to Daniel Boone High School and our rival was Davy Crocket High School, where we played the annual Musket Bowl. If your school won three years in a row, your school earned a musket to display! I started college at the University of Tennessee, and I loved everything about college until I went home for summer break. I value the little things, and telling a boy that I loved him was one of them. Joseph Hensley is my first and only true love. Eighteen months later we got married in Chinquapin Grove, TN on January 7, 2006. In six years we have moved three times, lived in two states, been blessed with two amazing boys, and made countless friends.
Our Boys:
When I think of Stephen Karl, my first born, John 3:16 comes to mind. God gave His one and only son for sinners like me?! WOW!! I never knew I was missing something until I saw Stephen. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and he was all mine!! Then 21 months later, I met Carson Joseph. Ah! I had never felt my heart grow until that moment when I held him after delivery. Needless to say I was wrapped because of those big, beautiful brown eyes. I have been blessed more that I have ever deserved. Recently my husband, a Southern Baptist pastor, preached a message from John 1, and verse 16 has just been stuck on my life. "Indeed we all have received grace after grace." The word picture is that God heaps piles of grace upon us and then heaps more grace on top of that. In my life, I can definitely see where that "grace after grace" has been given.