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Clara Riggle
 I grew up going to church, mostly Baptist
churches. My parents were spiritual people and
although they didn’t attend church with us very
often they encouraged us to go with our friends
and neighbors growing up. I was saved as a
child but never baptized.
I understood baptism as a way to become a member
of a church and the idea of picking the wrong
church scared me. By the time I was in high
school I had stopped going to church.
Before my husband and I decided to get married
he was moved by the military to Italy. God had
never had a role in our relationship. Before I
joined him in Italy I considered joining the
Mormon church. I had a spiritual void and the
LDS church seemed to be a good fit. I realized
that if I was ever going to marry my husband the
LDS church would not be the answer I needed so I
again stopped going to church altogether.
When my son was about 3 he started asking
questions about God that I couldn’t answer. I
knew very little about the Bible and only a few
basics about Christianity. So I started talking
to my husband about going to church and found
out that he had no interest in attending
church. So, I had to motivate myself to get me
and my son into church. I made my New Year's
resolution of 2006 to find and start going to a
church. Once I found out I was pregnant in
March I knew I needed to start going before my
second child was born but I had no idea where to
start. I didn’t want to go back to a Baptist
church and was overwhelmed by the other options
of churches. So, I did nothing. In June I
started working at a clinic up the road and
would drive past the readerboard out front every
day for a couple of months. I loved what it
what it would say but never paid attention to
what it was for. One day I checked it out and
realized that there was a church here. I
realized that over half of the year had gone by
and I still wasn’t attending church. So I
started the first of many baby steps. I got
online after thinking about it for weeks and
wrote a letter to the church asking some very
specific questions about acceptance. I decided
to pick a couple of hot button topics – abortion
and homosexuality to see what the church’s views
were about how people in these situations
deserved to be treated. The e-mail got passed
on to Pastor Peter and because of his answers I
decided to check it out. In October, almost at
the end of the year and only a month before my
daughter was born I finally started attending
church.
I kept taking baby steps but after a year of
attending most Sundays I realized that I wasn’t
growing spiritually and didn’t know anybody. I
knew I needed to join a small group but didn’t
want to create tension at home working it out so
I didn’t join one or even try talking to my
husband about it. Last September the church did
the 40 days “Get out of the boat” thing. I
decided that if the church was going to get out
of the boat, I would too. So I picked a small
group on Wednesday nights so that my son could
go to Royal Rangers and my daughter could be in
the nursery creating almost no tension at home
provided I didn’t ask my husband to
participate.
I had been going to a small group for a few
weeks when on Monday, October 7 last year I got
a phone call from a friend of mine. She was
calling to let me know that our friend Casey was
on a plane that had lost signal near White Pass
and had probably crashed. I had been friends
with Casey since high school. He was one those
guys that is larger than life and you couldn’t
help but be in a good mood when you were around
him. Since the plane hadn’t been found my
husband and I drove up to White Pass so that he
could assist in the search and rescue and I
could be supportive for my friends.
As soon as we arrived we got the official news.
A search and rescue team had smelled fuel and
followed the smell to the crash site. The word
used to describe the crash was “horrific” and
there were no survivors. Casey along with 9
other passengers died that day on their way home
from a skydiving event in Idaho. Everybody in
that room was absolutely heartbroken.
Spiritually I found myself torn. On one hand I
was mad. I wondered how God could take someone
like Casey by letting something this tragic
happen. The other side of me needed God’s
comfort and guidance. I finally came to terms
that God didn’t let this happen; it just
happened and as soon as I had the chance I got
on my knees and prayed.
The next morning my husband joined the search
and rescue group to see if he could help. It
was heart breaking for me to watch him start the
hike up the mountain knowing that he would see
things that I couldn’t even imagine. As I
watched him head off I grabbed my sister’s hand
and asked her to pray with me. My husband may
not believe in God but I know God believes in
him. I found out only recently that he decided
to keep from me the things he saw up there and I
know only God could have helped him deal with
that experience on his own.
The day after I got back I was still feeling
very raw but I really wanted to attend my small
group. I knew the group would pray and care
about me. What I didn’t realize is that they
not only prayed for me but for everyone else
affected by this crash. Friends, families,
people they didn’t even know and it meant so
much to me. For at least the next few weeks I
had very little to talk about besides the crash
and they understood and were supportive. They
never seemed annoyed and were always
supportive. These people were strangers to me
until only a few weeks before and yet I needed
their friendship and prayers and looked forward
to Wednesday nights.
This plane crash started something in me
spiritually. Everything spiritual in my life
started growing and needing more. I wanted to
start truly growing in God and stop taking baby
steps. I needed to start leaping. I don’t want
to find myself with only a few minutes to get
everything straight with God. I started paying
attention to the things God was saying to me.
My first big step was getting baptized. My fear
of baptism started melting away as I realized
that baptism was about me and God; NOT about me
and the church. I was baptized this past
January with the support of my family, including
my husband. After being baptized my husband and
I came to a point of mutual understanding. He
was finally able to see how important this part
of my life was to me and we both saw the effect
the tension of different beliefs was having in
our house. So we came a point where we could
respect our differences.
Things have started coming together for me
spiritually. I have been able to share the
comfort God gives me with other people and that
no matter how difficult life is God is always
with us and wanting to help us through the hard
days. We just have to ask.
I am by no means a “super-Christian” as I have
learned doesn’t really exist. I just keep
listening for God to direct me and do the best I
can.
At Faith Assembly of Lacey, we celebrate the
work that God is doing in the lives of the
people of our church.
That’s why we’d love to hear
your
story! Don’t feel like you have to follow a set
format or be an accomplished writer to tell your
story. Instead, just let us know how God is
working in your life, helping you grow closer to
Him — no matter where you are on your spiritual
journey.
Click here to send an email with your
story. It will be an encouragement to staff and
volunteers at FAL. And you may even find
yourself on FAL's website one day! |
