Hi there! My name is Melissa and I am so glad God led you here!
I am a born-again Christ-follower living in the United States with my best friend and husband of 30 years (Mike). We are empty-nesters with 3 adults sons (Jacob, Nicholas, and Gabriel), one beautiful daughter-in-law (Chelsey), and two of the most precious grandsons ever (Elijah and Malakai).
Mike and I became born-again Christians about a year into our marriage. Like all couples and families, we have had many ups and downs but we have consistently held onto our faith in Jesus Christ.
NEW CREATION IN CHRIST JESUS
When I became a Christian, I thought life would be smooth sailing from then on. Boy was I wrong! My thought-life was still a mess. Even though I was told I was a new creation in Christ, I still felt the same and still made many of the same mistakes (sins).
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out this Christian thing. I tried doing everything right but still struggled and couldn’t figure out why everyone but me seemed to have it together. On top of those mental strongholds, I was suffering from chronic illness (this was evidence in my mind that I wasn’t worthy of God’s attention), which made life a constant battle.
DID I WAIT TOO LONG AND MISS GOD?
Life continued. But instead of this golden life I thought Christians had, my life seemed to be filled with change, uncertainty, and confusion. Nothing seemed to be going right. In fact, things seemed to get worse after giving my life to Jesus. The enemy whispered lie upon lie. He was relentless. I was positive I had missed God and my purpose was lost. There is nothing worse than feeling like you have been drifting along aimlessly with nothing to contribute or add to humanity.
Those were some dark, hard years.
Not knowing what else to do while I waited for God to “fix me”, I buried myself in my Bible. Slowly but surely I began to notice an intense hunger and thirst growing for Jesus and his Word. My focus began to turn from wanting to be fixed by the ultimate Healer to wanting to know Jesus.
One day, in a way I could never have imagined, Jesus showed up in a vision and ministered to me. He made it clear that this was not the end of my story because He wasn’t done with me yet! He made it clear that He loved me for me. But, like Moses, He had to do a mighty work in me. I needed to see myself the way He saw me so that He could use me to minister to others. This Jesus-encounter was life-changing. I went from a worn-out and stuck Christian going through the motions to an on-fire to know and share my Jesus. In that moment, He became the center of my world.
STILL GROWING AND LEARNING
It was during this time that the seeds of Cups to Crowns began to grow and eventually break the surface. Starting a blog was a step of faith I had not planned for myself.
As you will be able to tell from my writing, I am not an English major and writing does not come easily to me. But you know what? My weaknesses do not matter. God guides me.
I tend to write about the things I have gone through and learned from. That doesn't mean I have somehow mastered this Christian walk or that I know more than the next person. I struggle every day to align my thoughts and actions with the Bible just as everyone else does. Daily I fight my flesh just as everyone else does. Some days I do a better job than others. But always I do my best to turn to Jesus and keep Him as my anchor.
There is so much I have yet to learn. But my heart desires to share with you all that I have been learning. We can’t do life isolated. We need to stop trying to pretend our lives are perfect. We need each other and we need the ultimate teacher, precious Holy Spirit, to guide us along the way until we reach that moment when we hear, “well done, my good and faithful servant!”
I pray that you will join me as we learn how to fill our cup by applying the Bible to our lives so that we can pour into (bless) others.