As a Shadowlander

I don't hardly remember too much about my shadow-life before I was adopted from a Philippine orphanage (when I was 4-5 years old). My new parents were missionaries and I had a new sister. We came to the USA one year after my adoption. Thereafter, I basically grew up in a Protestant Christian home. Subsequently, the development of my faith in God is a lot like the experience of when I realized I was adopted and became a 'member' of the Stuart family. One day, I suppose, I had heard or realized that I use to be an orphan but then I was a Stuart family member. This occurred without really knowing or remembering the exact moment of that inkling. Similiarly, I became a Christian without knowing the manner of induction or when my transformation occurred--It just seemed like I had always believed in God/Holy Spirit and I knew I had asked Jesus into my heart sometime ago. As I recollect, there was a time when I was about 7-10 years old when, one day while I was washing the dishes in the sink, (*snap*) a thought 'hit' me. I was contemplating about God and deduced that I should believe in God because 1) If there wasn't a God and I did believe Him, then I risked nothing. But 2) If there was a God and I didn't believe in Him, then I would have risked everything (the benefits of that relationship with Him & the chance to go to heaven). I can't say, though, that this was the moment that I 'became' a Christian. There were things that led me to & nurtured that conclusion. And, there have been lots of things that have culminated from that moment that grew me into the Christian I am now & have yet become--God is still working on me and He's not done with me, yet.