I owe it all to Him ~By Casey Daniel

My name is Casey and this is my Testimony~

I grew up in the Catholic Church, but never felt connected to God. Church was something I had to go to every Sunday because my mom told me I had to. I always put up a fight and argued about going. It was during my sophomore year of high school that my friends and I started to drink, smoke, use drugs, and have sex. I still went to church, but it was meaningless.  After I graduated from high school I stopped going to church at all. I began to date someone that was not good for me and it took me down a road of nothing but parties, drinking, and drugs. I stayed in this lifestyle and this relationship for 3 years until one day I woke up and I was done. I was done with the lies, cheating, and all of the other exhausting things that came with it.

About 3 months later I was diagnosed with cancer. Young, vibrant, full of life...then cancer.   I was not supposed to live; my oncologist prepared my family for the worst.  That was when I started to question ‘why me?’ And ‘what have I done so wrong in my life to deserve this?’ The first book I read was given to me and it is called, “Why?” It was a small book so I finished it in a day; I had lots of time on my hands at this point because all I could do was lay in bed. This book changed my life. It was about asking God, ‘why?’, but not the martyr version, ‘why me?’ It was more about, why had God allowed me to go through this? What was He trying to teach me? This little book shifted my thinking to: God does not put anything in our lives that we cannot handle. Ok, great, now what am I supposed to do with this?

I was lucky to have a friend who went to a Christian church close to my house. After getting doctor approval I was allowed to go to church one Sunday. It was not like anything I had ever experienced before. It was a non-denominational Christian church, there was a band on stage and people were really into the music and praying to God. I was totally out of my comfort zone but I thought 'this isn't so bad'.

While I was going through chemotherapy I went back a few times. I was not allowed to go all the time because the doctors were afraid that I would get sick and it would kill me. After chemo I moved up to Bellingham.  I needed out of my hometown for a while. I needed to be on my own after a year of being totally dependant on other people. The doctor said that I was healthy enough to be on my own as long as I checked in all the time. I was ok with that, anything was better than having people watching my every move every second of the day.

Now I, few years out of it, I understand and appreciate the concern and attention that was given to me, but at the time I wanted some freedom and alone time. It was in Bellingham I met my neighbors. We all became great friends but there was one small thing, they were moving back down south to the Lynnwood area in a few months.

For those of you who do not know Washington geography; Bellingham is up by the Canadian border.  Lynnwood is about 2.5-3 hours south from there, and about 20 minutes north of Seattle (and about 20 minutes from where I had just moved from!)

So after 9 months in Bellingham I decided to move back down with them to Lynnwood. Three of us moved into an apartment together and one day one of my roommates made the suggestion that we should find a church nearby. Her mom asked her pastor if he knew of any churches close to our apartment and he suggested a church called Canyon Creek Church. It was a Sunday in October that we showed up at CCC and that is really when Jesus grabbed a hold of my heart. The people were so friendly and welcoming. I had a great time and could not wait until the next Sunday. This Fall it will be 3 years that I have been at Canyon Creek Church. God has opened my eyes to amazing things.

My life is totally different than I ever thought it would be. I have wonderful friends who I know will always be there, I met the man of my dreams and married him; I have been shown my purpose in this life and have a direction, all because of Jesus. I owe it all to Him.

~Note from Ronda~

Casey, my sweet little bundle of joy Casey!  What a wonderful woman of God she has become.  I met Casey at Michael's Toyota of Bellevue, where she was an employee of Sam's in the Scion department that he managed at the time.  She was young, fresh out of high school, and craving independence.  We took her under our wing and she moved into our house on the outskirts of Bellevue and Sammamish, in Washington, and she was part of our little family of friends we had created.  At that time we were definitely not living for God, so Casey, I apologize for any misleading we did in your life.  I am so grateful that you have been found, and that you are whole, and that you are living your life for God.  We are so stinkin proud of you!

xoxo

Ronda