Hi, my name is Ginny Piotti. I’ve been coming to Covenant Fellowship for about 18 years now.
When I was asked to write a short post on how I came to the Lord, I immediately thought there was no way I could keep it short. There have been so many circumstances in my life that God has used to direct me to himself.
So let’s begin. I grew up in a Catholic family, went to Catholic school, and had an aunt who was a nun. Sounds like I was religious, right? No! My parents didn’t go to church and they used to lie to my grandmother every Sunday about what mass they went to. My dad would wink at me while he was telling her he went to the 6 a.m. mass. As a result, though I had learned about religion, I never learned about the significance of church or a relationship with Jesus.
While going through my teens and twenties, let’s just say I worshiped just about every idol out there. I felt really angry at God. It seemed he never answered my prayers the way I wanted.
I got clean and sober at 28 years old, and it took a while to rebuild my life—it was shaky at best. I was left with a hole inside I didn’t know what to do with. So I thought, why not fill it with a really unhealthy relationship, which I spent 15 years pursuing. My parents’ divorce and my mom’s resulting bitterness left my relationship with her very strained. It was a very stressful time.
When my relationship ended (by the grace of God), I moved home. Within that year, my relationship with my mom got a little better, not 100%, but we were getting there. Then the unthinkable happened. She died. Massive heart attack with no warning. She was 63 years old.
I seriously thought it was going to kill me. I was so angry at God. But something happened that was pretty amazing: as angry as I was, I believed for the first time that he was in control. I didn’t doubt him at all. I spent the next few months in a fog though.
My mom passed away in April 2003. I met my now-husband (Louis) in February 2004. He suggested the Bridge Course, and I attended in September 2004. This was life changing. I now had tangible evidence that there was a God, and he was for me and not against me. It took a while for me to feel worthy of that love, but the Lord never gave up on me.
I joined the church and a community group, and I kept learning more. The people I have met have been so supportive and kind. We have also enjoyed a lot of laughs together. I’m now a member of the usher team and a leader of Celebrate Recovery, which is a new ministry of the church. It is designed to help people with all habits, hurts, and hang-ups. It is such a rewarding opportunity to be able to serve in this capacity.
The process has been fun and insightful, and most of all, the peace of the Lord is with me.
My husband and I married in 2011. I am so grateful that the Lord used Louis to help bring me to himself. We will always have him to keep strengthening us.
All the glory goes to God!
