Life started out a little rocky for me, but as I look back, I can see God’s hand guiding every little detail of my life from the moment I was conceived.
My birth mother is the late Judy Battaglia. While she carried me to term in 1969, she sought refuge in a home for unwed mothers. It was a ministry of a church my great-uncle pastored in Palenville, New York. The day I was born, she left me in his care and stole away to a place where she could make a new start. I never had the chance to meet her, but I’ve always been grateful to her for being so brave and giving me a chance at life.
Right away, my uncle picked up the phone and called his niece Charlotte, and her husband Dennis to tell them about a baby girl who had been born. He asked them if they wanted her, and they quickly made plans to travel from their home in Connecticut to make me their daughter. They took me home when I was three days old, and I joined my new parents, brother, and sister in the Mattison family home in Milford. Two years later, their family would be complete with the birth of my younger sister.
We grew up going to church as a family, and I learned my religion well. I attended classes, memorized all the prayers, and earned all the gold stars. I knew Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world, but it would be many years before I would understand that I could actually have a relationship with Him. Growing up, I never heard this. Reading the Bible was discouraged which at the time was ok because I didn’t have one anyway.
During my childhood, English, reading, and writing came easy to me in school. I loved making up stories and earned good grades in these subjects. Don’t ask me to do math, but ask me how to spell something, and I’m your girl!
As a senior in high school, I enrolled in a journalism class and started writing for the school newspaper. I quickly developed a knack for telling other people’s stories and decided to go to college as a journalism major. At this time in my life, church attendance was no longer required in my family, so I just stopped going.
I spent all four years in college writing and editing for my campus newspaper The Southern News. I earned my bachelor’s degree from Southern Connecticut State University in 1991, and (mostly) enjoyed a 15-year career in secular journalism. I covered business, city government, neighborhood news and the occasional crime. I was glad to leave the traditional newsroom behind to freelance feature articles for several publications in the Louisville, Kentucky, market. I spent seven years as a freelance writer so I could work from home and enjoy time with my two young daughters while they were going through elementary school.
Along the way, my belief in God remained strong, and my desire to start attending church grew. I faced a lot of confusion about where to go. Which one was teaching the truth? I wanted my son and daughters to learn about Jesus and God’s love for them, but I was lost on where to take them.
Then one day, I met a woman at the library who had a child with the same name as my daughter’s. We instantly struck up a friendship that would change my life. She invited me to a Woman’s Day celebration at her church and then invited me to study the Bible with her. No one had ever invited me to do this before. I remember feeling nervous for some reason, but I heard myself tell her yes! She cared about me. She cared about my soul. That drew me in, and God knew I was ready to learn and understand what a relationship with Jesus was all about.
At the time, my marriage was in bad shape, and I had just been passed over for a full time editor’s job at a prestigious newspaper. They let me stay on staff, however, for another month while I trained the new guy – a veteran senior reporter who had been on staff for 27 years! This was all very humbling for me, but humble was where I needed to be. I had no pride left in my heart, and I was ready to hear from the Lord..
I was 32 years old at this time and figured I’d better buy myself a Bible. My friend introduced me to more ladies from her church who came to my home each week to dig into God’s Word together. It was such a sweet time getting to know them as they were helping me get to know Jesus. We read through the book of John, and when we reached the crucifixion, all I could see was me standing at the foot of the cross looking up at Jesus. It’s the first time in my life I took his death personally. He bled and died for me, and that affected me deeply. I didn’t deserve what He did for me, but I accepted the truth of it. I sobbed for many moments while my friends surrounded me. I confessed my lifetime of sin, asked Jesus to forgive all of it, accepted Him as my Lord and Savior, and carried Him in my heart ever since. The following Sunday at church, I was baptized, and when I came out of that water, I felt freer than I have ever felt. I couldn’t stop smiling.
God adopted me into His beautiful family that day. Six months later, my husband made the same decision. Once on the brink of divorce, our marriage began to heal. It truly was a miracle of God.
The church we had joined offered a spiritual gifts assessment so we could begin to learn about the gifts, skills, and talents God had woven into us while we were in our mother’s wombs. We wanted to use all of it to serve God and His church. It was really eye opening for me to see writing so clearly revealed. I prayed for God to bless that. I told Him, “Lord, if you gave writing to me, I want to give it back to You. So, can you give me a job where I can write for you and get paid.” God knew I needed to work and bring in an income, so He did indeed bless me with a job, and many jobs after that where I could tell His story and help bring others to a knowledge of His great love.
Since 2017, He has blessed me to publish GO! Christian Magazine. Since 2006 it has been my passion to tell faith testimonies about a real God, living through the lives of real people living real life. Aside from being a wife, mother and now Nana, it’s been the greatest honor and privilege of my life to serve Him in this way and help people come to understand His great love.
