I went from knowing nothing about God or the Bible to discovering a new life with Jesus as my Savior.

My husband, Rene, and I were both unbelievers when we first met more than ten years ago. While we were both unbelievers, we were different in the fact that he was a somewhat experienced unbeliever and I was an ignorant one.

Living without Christ

Rene had grown up in various churches in his childhood, including the Mormon church, and visited Catholic churches with friends and family. These experiences led him to be a self-proclaimed atheist. I, on the other hand, never had any education in religion whatsoever. Until I was 31-years old, I couldn’t tell you the difference between a verse or a chapter, the Old Testament or the New Testament. I had no idea who God was or what being a Christian even meant. Neither of us had ever opened a Bible or attended a church in our adult years.

We met online—on Facebook, to be precise—and quickly began a relationship via telephone. Rene lived in Colorado and was a loner, firmly believing that he would never get married or have kids. He was okay living in the mountains for the rest of his life. I lived in Wisconsin and was a single parent, raising my son alone, searching for a better career, moving from one relationship to the next, and living an adulterous and promiscuous lifestyle.

Our relationship quickly advanced to Rene packing up his stuff and moving to Wisconsin to live with me. Within a month, I was pregnant, and we had our first child together the next year. Our relationship was filled with toxic fights often leading to the police being called, arrests, trauma and trust issues, infidelity on my part, and breaking up over and over. Eventually, we split permanently—or at least so we thought. Rene moved into his own apartment, we went through a difficult custody battle for our son, had a child support agreement, and were living our separate lives.

And then COVID-19 happened.

Learning about Jesus

When COVID-19 began, our son’s day care shut down. I felt that my life was over and I would lose my job, my home, and everything. Needing something fast, Rene and I called St. John’s Early Learning Center in Neillsville, Wis., to ask about our son attending the day care. After just a few short months of attending there, our son began doing things in our homes that shocked us unbelievers. At the young age of three, our son was singing “Jesus Loves Me” around the house and folding his hands to pray at bedtime or before he ate. This was something neither Rene nor I felt comfortable with at the time. We felt our son was being indoctrinated, and our sinful natures made us immediately reject what they were teaching him.

One day, Timothy Biebert, pastor at St. John’s, approached me during a childcare drop-off and asked if I wanted to learn more about what our son was being taught at the day care. Reluctantly, I agreed.

I had just lost my father a few months back and had some questions about what happens after someone dies. When I cleaned out my dad’s house, he had a Bible on his nightstand and a picture of Jesus hanging above his bed. I never in my life thought that he knew who Jesus was, so this intrigued me to learn more.

I attended weekly classes with Pastor Biebert as he led me through adult instruction class. I embarrassingly asked him to use a version of the instruction class that he would use for a kindergartener, since I knew absolutely nothing about Christianity. He was very patient and kind and never made me feel ignorant or elementary. I quickly loved learning about the Bible and started reading it on my own, listening to various podcasts, and even reading a children’s Bible at bedtime to my kids (the children’s version was much easier for me to understand at my level). Each week, I would come to class with a list of questions that popped into my head, and Pastor Biebert would take the time to answer each and every one.

I’ll never forget the moment I realized that God gave his Son for my salvation. I was sitting in a chair in the classroom where we held adult instruction class, and I was looking at a wooden cross on the wall while Pastor Biebert was explaining John 3:16. My heart was filled with the Holy Spirit, and tears welled up in my eyes. My heart felt like the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas when his heart grew three sizes. I’ll never forget it.

I have been made new through Jesus, and just like the woman at the well who was told, “Go and sin no more,” I have salvation, forgiveness, and new life.

I started attending church with Pastor Biebert’s wife, Linda, who knew I was anxious about stepping foot in a church. She helped ease my anxiety by meeting me at the door every Sunday morning and sitting next to me. I even recall the first Bible verse I heard during a service that spoke to me: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). I was riddled with high anxiety, causing me not to be able to sleep, to grind my teeth, and to cry randomly for no reason; it ruined my life every day. This was my first understanding of how God speaks to us through Scripture.

Shortly after, I was taught the Sacrament of Baptism. I had been baptized when I was a kid by a family member, but I never knew what it meant. My own kids had not been baptized at this point, and one of them was about to take a trip out west with his dad on an airplane. In February 2021, after learning about the importance of Baptism, I went home and baptized my two sons that very night as we prepared for bedtime.

Later that spring, we attended our first Easter service. Up until then, I thought Easter meant nothing more than a bunny hiding eggs. I was in awe at the beautiful decor and rejoicing during that Easter Sunday.

Sharing the message

While all these events were happening, Rene and I continued to live separately and co-parent our son according to the court-ordered custody agreement. As I learned more and more about the gospel, I shared little pieces with Rene. We would talk here and there, and I focused on telling him some of the awesome stories about Jesus, like his flipping of tables or how his first followers were fishermen. We used some of Jesus’ parables to navigate our own struggles with parenting or finances. Eventually, Rene’s heart was also pursued by Jesus, and we talked about if we could get back together again. But this time, we wanted to do things the right way, God’s way.

Rene started taking adult instruction class with Pastor Biebert. Since both of them were outdoorsmen and fly fishermen, Rene was much more open to talking with Pastor Biebert than the religious leaders he was introduced to as a child. Rene was baptized at the baptismal font in the school the night he learned about Baptism, and eventually we were married in the church one Sunday right after worship. Our loving congregation gave us a beautiful reception afterward.

For the first time in my whole life, I felt that I belonged to something, that I was loved, and that I had friends.

Doing things God’s way

Our lives have been exponentially better since the day we got married and the days we came to faith. All the toxic issues we had in the past were remedied by having a marriage centered around God. We saw amazing changes in our children when they started attending a Lutheran school. God blessed us with a baby girl, born in wedlock and baptized not long after.

Coming to faith also affected my career. I work as a mental health and addiction case manager, and I used to think that people’s problems stemmed from not having fathers in the home or being in poverty. I still feel those things affect mental health, but I’ve learned that their problem is that they don’t know their heavenly Father or the new life he gives.

Sometimes I look back and feel guilty for all the years we wasted trying to do things our way, instead of relinquishing control and doing things God’s way. Occasionally, I feel tremendous regret for the sinful things I had done, the turmoil I put Rene through in our early years, or the poor role model I was for my sons. But I quickly remember that I have been made new through Jesus, and just like the woman at the well who was told, “Go and sin no more,” I have salvation, forgiveness, and new life.

We are so grateful that the Lord decided to bring Pastor Biebert into our lives and bring us to faith when he did. Now our three children are being raised in a loving Christian home with the knowledge and the foundation of the gospel on which to build their lives.

Author: Skye Defourneaux
Volume 113, Number 1
Issue: January 2026