Fanegie's Story
Fanegie, now 24, was born in Queens, NY. When she was 10, she moved to Elmont, Long Island with her mother, grandmother, and uncle. She went to Elmont Memorial High School and graduated with honors, ranking 22nd in her graduating class. She went to college at Hofstra University and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. She has always loved working with children, and now works as a Case Manager for children with emotional disturbances. Fanegie is planning on becoming a therapist in the future and is currently in Graduate school, majoring in Mental Health Counseling.
Fanegie says that if she wasn't working with mentally ill children, she would be painting, crocheting, knitting, and creating pottery. Since she minored in Fine Arts, this is where her heart would be.
She also has a cutie-patootie rabbit named Sydney! He is three years old, and has lots of character!
One thing that had the greatest effect on Fanegie's life was meeting Michael. She met Michael in March of 2004 at the park across from Shea Stadium, and he used his clever wit and sweet smile to sweep her off her feet. After dating for 2 1/2 years, Michael proposed to Fanegie at Rockefellar Center. Fanegie and Michael plan to live in Queens, NY after they get married. Fanegie is looking forward to starting a family as soon as possible. She has always wanted a large family. She says that she has enough love for 4 little ones, but we'll see!
My Testimony
How It Began
My story isn't like many others. I didn't get saved at an alter. I wasn't in church with 100 people praying around me. I was in my upstairs bathroom. That simple. And the Lord touched my life in a way that changed it completely.
All my life I considered myself a Catholic. The Lord was a part of my upbringing, but Catholicism was so legalistic that I never felt comfortable. I always had somewhat of a relationship with God, would pray to him occasionally, but I never really outwardly lived the life of a Christian. I enjoyed going to clubs and hanging out with friends who drank and smoked weed. All for the sake of "fun". My best friend, Veronica, was a Christian, and would invite me to her church but I was too nervous. What was all that stuff I heard about "speaking in tongues" and worshipping aloud? I was not used to that. That was foreign to me.
Each time I went to her church, I enjoyed the service, but I was very shy and scared. For what, I don't know. Its a fear of the unknown. A fear of leaving your comfort zone. And up until at that point, my comfort zone was a solemn, 45 minute mass at the Catholic church down the street once or twice a month. One evening in November of 2003, Veronica invited me to her church's prayer meeting. I was still nervous and I was asking her tons of questions, but I decided to go anyway. Well, needless to say, the service was very overwhelming and when she prayed with me, I began to cry. I had no idea why I was crying but I felt embarrassed about it. Veronica tried to explain to me that it was God. That His spirit was touching me but I just wanted to head for the hills!
When I got home, I vowed to never return to that church again. I couldn't explain the emotions I felt and I was too scared to feel them again. Throughout all of this, I was very down because I felt like my life didn't really have meaning. I was going to college, I had a loving family and great friends, however, I just wasn't happy. Things didn't seem right. I also had issues with my dad not being around, which not many people knew affected me. Many times, I felt that God was trying to get my attention, but I would brush it off. I wanted to do things on my terms. I'm a strong believer in education and facts, so that is what I based my life on; what I could see, hear, touch, etc. I didn't want to depend on anyone else but myself.
The Turning Point
One night, I went out with a friend. The friendship I had with this person was poisonous. We both brought the worst out of each other. Whenever we fought, we would be so nasty towards one another that it would always end in tears. I always wanted to be right. I always wanted to have the last word. That night, we got into a huge fight and he screamed at me and called me terrible names. When I came home, I was furious. I kept trying to find ways to get back at him. I wanted revenge. But all the while, God kept telling me to turn to Him. I can't explain what happened or why it happened, but I felt more distraught than I had ever felt before. I ended up in my bathroom, trying to get myself together, trying to "handle" the situation like I always did, but instead, I started bawling. That is when I cried out to the Lord, right there on the linoleum floor, and begged Him to come into my life. I officially accepted Jesus into my life for the very first time. I admitted that I couldn't do anything
without Him and needed Him to change things in my life. I needed His comfort and love more than anything.
After that night, I knew that I had to start getting rid of certain things in my life. I stopped speaking with the poisonous friend. Although he was the final catalyst that pushed me into the Lord's arms, I knew that he would just bring me down. I stopped going out to clubs. I started reading the Bible regularly. I also read books like "Let Me Be a Woman" by Elisabeth Elliot that discussed the true meaning of being a Christian woman. I also started listening to Christian music. I started to change the things I did on the outside, to match the change that happened on the inside. A year later, I gave my life to Jesus all over again at an alter call at the church that I go to now. But where it all started, where the Lord first took hold of my heart, was in my upstairs bathroom, on that linoleum floor.
How God led me to Mike
Before I got saved, I wanted to find true love so badly. I would go to these clubs and parties, hoping to meet someone that I could have a meaningful relationship with. What ended up happening was that instead of finding Mr. Right, I was settling for Mr. Right Now. I dated guys that didn't hold the same views as I did, or who had bad habits like smoking, drinking, etc. I just wanted to be in a relationship so I ignored warning signs that I saw early on.
After I got saved, I decided that I needed to completely focus on the Lord. I kept a journal that I wrote verses from the Bible in. I also wrote about what God was teaching me, I wrote down my worries, fears, my prayers, etc. My motto became "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33) I had faith that God would reveal my husband to me when the time was right. Veronica once suggested to me to pray for my husband even though I didn't know him yet. What a thought! My husband was somewhere out there, and I could start praying for him right this moment! I started to exercise faith. Yes, I still had guys that I thought were cute and I prayed about, but the major difference was that now they were Christians, and my prayers were not the oh so childish, "Lord please let so and so ask me out!" They became, "Lord if its Your Will for this to happen, then it'll happen." A couple of months later, I met Mike!
I met Mike at the park across from Shea Stadium in Queens, NY. Even though Mike was cute, and funny, and most importantly a Christian, I still was very careful about the situation. The beginning of our friendship was mostly through e-mail and phone calls because he actually lived in Virginia at the time. He had just gotten out of the Navy and that was where he was stationed. Many people would have just thrown in the towel due to the distance, but I left it in the Lord's hands. I prayed about it and said that I was going to be patient and see where God led us. After seeing each other a handful of times and having a lot of phone conversations, Mike told me that he was going to move back with his family in Connecticut. That is where he grew up. This would make things a lot easier on us since CT was 2 hours away from Long Island as opposed to the 8 hours. Still, I left it up to the Lord. I would always pray that the next person that I put time, effort, and prayer into, would be my husband. Once Mike moved to CT, we started to date.
Let me tell you, God brought Mike into my life at the perfect time. At that time, I needed someone to push me into the right direction spiritually. I had gotten saved months before, but after the initial emotion and excitement wore off, I was left not knowing what to do next. I didn't have a home church, and I was kind of at a stand-still spiritually. We would speak for hours on the phone and he always made sure that the Lord led our conversations. He would suggest reading the Bible together and learning memory verses. He bought me a workbook for new Christians to keep me on the right track. He even got off the phone with me a couple of times if I hadn't read the Bible for that day yet! I don't want to come between you and Jesus, he would say. He challenged me in ways that I never had been challenged before. He also encouraged me to find a home church. I was still occassionally going to Veronica's church, but I wanted to go to a smaller, more intimate church. After praying, and asking around, God led me to a wonderful little church that we now attend regularly. This is the church that we're getting married in!
Needless to say, Mike and I fell in love. Our relationship wasn't always peaches and cream. We had issues like any other couple, however, having the Lord at the center of our relationship put us at a major advantage. There are things that we as humans just can't fix. But Jesus can. Yes there were even times that the roles were reversed and I was the one who had to lift Mike up in prayer and encouragement when he was going through tough times. But the Lord was always there with us. And that's what love is all about.
My Advice to Anyone Who is Looking For Love
First seek the love of Jesus. Fix your relationship with the Lord. Mike once told me to be careful what you put all of your attention on because God has a way of removing that thing if it comes between you and Him. Focus on God and enjoy your singleness and quiet time with the Lord. Don't worry so much about finding your match! God knows the desires of your heart. If its God's Will, He will lead you to the person that's meant for you. :)