How a psychologist came to Christ

I’m excited to share this testimony of my my friend Jodie Schultz. Through the Words of Scripture God transformed Jodie’s life. It is reminder to all of us to never underestimate the transforming power of God’s written Word.

My whole life I have been waiting for something profoundly wonderful to happen. As a child; that my parents would change from their bitter and discontent state into the loving and satisfied parents I needed them to be.  I tried hard to make that happen time and again. Despite my best efforts it did not happen.  As an adult, I dreamed the something wonderful would be to marry a man whose faithful heart and mind were filled with love and kindness.  I tried hard to find him time and again.  Despite my best efforts, I did not find him.

What I found time and again were men who exploited my desires and efforts to their personal gain.  Sadly, this is to account for much of the depression and anxiety that plagued me all my life.  The last such romantic relationship ended rather violently in July 2012 when he, in a humiliating fashion, abruptly discarded me after many years of patient and devoted waiting for promised commitment that never came to pass.  My heart experienced the fatal blow.  I was broken; my heart and spirit defeated.  I had given all I had and it wasn’t enough.  I had nothing more to give.   Accepting defeat, I cried…….. and cried,……. cried……… and cried for months.  For the first several weeks, in my emotional overwhelm, I hated him and even wished him dead; God forgive me.  He’s a wolf in sheepskin! I said.  I had been fooled by his clever deceit.  More painfully, I felt like a fool.  I cried out to God in my confusion, “Why?”  “I don’t understand.”  “What had I done wrong?”  “Why is good repaid with evil?”  “Isn’t the human heart essentially good and irresistibly drawn to goodness and love?”

Call unto me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

-Jeremiah 33:3 KJV (all biblical references are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible)

I was greatly distressed by the darkness I saw in my own heart.  I had never felt such hatred before.  I wished someone I claimed to love, dead.  Is that love?  What is that?!  To my alarm, I wondered if there were essentially no difference between he and I except in degree of selfishness.   That autumn of 2012, I became aware of a choice I needed to make:  Hate people or Love people no matter how they treat me.  Honestly, for a period of time, I entertained the idea of turning myself over to hate and using others the way I had been used.  Never before had I considered such a thing.  The alternative; Love, would require something more than I was capable of and I didn’t know what that was or where to find it.

Having been raised in a home filled with conflict and discord with no spiritual affiliation or guidance, and having never read the Bible, On January 1, 2013, I resolved to read the Bible from cover to cover to see what it had to say about life and love.  In particular, I wanted to understand human behavior.  It seemed like the only book on the subject I hadn’t read.

When I got to the book of Jeremiah, God answered my distressed questions in one verse with 14 words:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it.

-Jeremiah 17:9.

That was my life changing verse.  It explained everything about human behavior that psychology had not.  I had believed the opposite: that the heart of man was essentially good.  That belief is a lie.  This error in my thinking about human nature was fueled by earning a master’s degree in counseling psychology that taught me to view man and man’s problems from man’s perspective and to design solutions from that perspective.  Yikes! Inherently short sighted! (I now see) Not to mention motivated by prideful arrogance to see the self as essentially good and the only source of all answers and wisdom.  My careful reading and study of the Bible has explained everything about human nature/behavior that psychology did not and cannot.  I now see and understand that man’s essential nature is prideful self-sufficiency that has great difficulty acknowledging an authority superior to itself.  The truth is that the heart of man is essentially sinful; rebellious against God.  I reflected deeply on this new awareness as I continued to read the Bible daily.

Then that wonderful thing I had been waiting for happened.  I met Jesus.  It didn’t happen all at once; rather like a steady courtship that led to profound commitment starting the day I opened the Bible and began to read the story of God’s great love for me and for you.  God, through His son, Jesus Christ, was wooing me to Himself, and in 2014, Jesus won my heart.  I was in love.  Even as wonderful as that is, that wasn’t the profound part, the profound part was that He loved me and my heart knew it to be true.  He had loved me all along and before I loved Him.  He watched and waited patiently for me to turn from my determined search of all the wrong places for a love that heals and satisfies the heart.  In His great wisdom, God knew my heart needed to be devastated and fatally broken in order for me to surrender my stubborn search of the world for the love I longed for.  Jesus alone, who is seated in heaven, deserves my whole heart, my whole life, my deepest devotion.  And now He has it.  There is no other.  I am His and He is mine.  I have been born again of the Spirit by faith in Christ Jesus into God’s family filled with brothers and sisters in Christ, and God Himself is our loving Father who protects and provides.  At the moment of my salvation (second birth) in 2014, when I accepted God’s gift of His son Jesus, who paid the price for my sin and redeemed me, God gave me the Holy Spirit as an indwelling companion who comforts and guides me to all truth in my new life as a Christian.  He has promised to never leave or forsake me, and I believe Him.  God gave me the family I longed to be part of and the intimate relationship I searched for all my life.

In November 2013, at the invite of a new acquaintance, I began attending a local Bible believing, preaching and teaching church which I believe was the hand of God drawing me into a fuller relationship with Himself.

In preparation for my Believer’s Baptism by immersion that took place on October 19, 2014, I wrote my conversion story using scripture that summarizes all that I’ve stated above:

I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.  Song of Solomon 3.1

(My troubled search of the world for love)

When thou saidest, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.   Psalm 27:8

(God’s call to me and my answer)   

I found him whom my soul loveth…   Song of Solomon 3:4   (Our meeting)

Have mercy upon me, O God; wash me from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  Psalm 51:1

(My remorseful and ashamed heart asking for forgiveness for pursuing the affections of men while He waited patiently for me to turn from this idolatry.  I ask to be made clean and new in His sight.)

I will betroth thee unto me forever, yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness and in mercies.   Hosea 2:19

(He forgives and redeems me:  buys me back from the world I had sold myself to)

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you…. and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments….  Ezekiel 36:26-27

(My conversion/His promise/the new covenant.  He seals me as His own and sets me apart for Himself.)

One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.   John 9:25 (Amazing Grace)

And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.  Psalm 73:25 (Healed & Sealed; the search is over)

My New Life goals: Colossians 1:9-11

• To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all ways.
• To bear fruit in every good work.
• To increase in the knowledge of God.
• To joyously give thanks for all He has done for me.
• To faithfully do my part to win souls for Jesus; proclaiming liberty to the captives and binding up the brokenhearted by sharing the gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.   Isaiah 61:1   Romans 1:16  1 Peter 4:10-11  2 Corinthians 4:1-6

Regarding those who mistreated me, I have forgiven them and hold no grudge.  It is not I myself, but the Holy Spirit that has enabled me to forgive.  I pray they each come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as I have, and in recognizing their sinful nature turn to Jesus for the new life that our Father in heaven longs to give them.

Do good to them that mistreat you; love your enemies the Bible says, and bless them that curse you.

-Matthew 5:44

That’s true love.  That’s the love of God.

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Naomi

My name is Naomi Fata. I'm a sewing entrepreneur offering the local community bridal alterations and custom slipcovers, while teaching sewing as a life skill in the online space. In addition to sewing I write God’s Corner for the local newspaper and am passionate about inspiring others to find ways to use their God given gifts in their circle of influence. I am the author of Beyond Head Knowledge: Knowing Christ Who Satisfies Our Hearts and am the creator of two sewing themed journals. My husband and I reside in upstate New York, and homeschool their three children.

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