What Makes Me Happy
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Mary Christmas: So sometimes people, it’ll pop up “Mary Christmas” on the Uber app or on a phone call, and people get really quiet. They don’t know if I’m a real person sometimes. So I have to say, I am a real person. My real name is Mary. You can pick me up. So once we get in the car they’ll be like, “Mary Christmas?” And I’ll be like, “And I don’t even celebrate Christmas.” And then I start the whole conversation from there.
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Mary Christmas: My name is Mary Christmas. I am 39 years old, I was born in New Jersey and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Questioned God’s Existence
The first time I can remember my dad hitting me—six or seven. It was over something that was missing from the kitchen. And nobody wanted to confess that they took it. In my childhood, I did question God’s existence because if I was this miserable in my family, going to church every Sunday and receiving all the sacraments and doing what I was supposed to be doing in [the Catholic] church, I don’t understand how I could be so miserable in life.
A Mystery
When I was in the Catholic church we did have questions like during catechism or stuff like that, but they were never answered. It was just it’s a mystery. And I’m supposed to trust that they’re giving me the information that I need.
Left God Out Of My Life
I was first introduced to the Church [Of Christ], through my husband, Rashad. He was doing bible studies at the time. And I honestly wanted no part. I told him to never mention the Church [Of Christ] and never to mention the Bible to me ever again. I correlated everything with the Bible to Catholicism at the time. I was not practicing anything at that time. I had completely left God out of my life.
Partied With My Friends
One night, I partied with my friends, and I decided I wanted to go home. And I decided to get in my car and drive, and a police officer pulled me over. And I got arrested for a D.U.I. [Driving Under the Influence]. During my D.U.I. charge, I had to spend some time in prison as a result. It was only three days, which is not a lot, but three days was enough. Three days was enough to make me think. And that’s when I started talking about the Bible again.
My Questions Were Answered
When I finally told Rashad that I was interested in doing the Bible studies, I believe he started crying. It was on the way home from jail, and I told him that he had to call Brother Mike [minister] immediately. And we had to set [Bible studies] up. The first Bible lesson, I heard things I’ve never heard from the Bible before. I’ve heard it put in a way that could be understood. And with Catholicism it was just always, it’s a mystery and you’ll never really know. So the first Bible study lesson, I was very intrigued, I took notes. I still have my notebook at my house. So I can look back. Every question I had, every single question that popped up in my brain, Brother Mike answered in the next breath. In the next breath, my questions were answered. And I was trying to write them down, and I had to cross them off every time because he answered them with the lessons.
A Relationship With God
In order to obtain salvation, you have to know who the only true God is. And if you don’t know, and you misplace all your trust— God doesn’t, God doesn’t appreciate that. So knowing who the true God is and knowing who Jesus is— is the most important thing that I learned.
My view of the world today is just as it was years ago. It is a crazy mixed-up place with a lot of vices. A lot of things that make you feel okay for a few minutes. But nothing to make you feel good indefinitely. The only thing on this earth that’s worth it is my relationship with God. Everything else takes a backseat.
God Has The Answers
You should seek Him out. He can help you in any situation that you have. You’re feeling low, sad, depressed— God has the answers for you. He has them. He’s waiting to give them to you.
Never Thought I Would Say
It’s funny, I never thought that I would say that God makes me happy. If you knew me three years, four years ago, I would have said, drinking makes me happy. I would have said partying makes me happy. I would have said less responsibility makes me happy. But today, being in the Church [Of Christ], joining in the activities, becoming an officer in the Church [Of Christ], bringing my children to Church, growing up in the Church [Of Christ], —my daughter will grow in now. She’s going to grow up in the Church [Of Christ] and she’s going to be awesome.
So sometimes people, it’ll pop up “Mary Christmas” on the Uber app or on a phone call, and people get really quiet. They don’t know if I’m a real person sometimes. So I have to say, I am a real person. My real name is Mary. You can pick me up. So once we get in the car they’ll be like, “Mary Christmas?” And I’ll be like, “And I don’t even celebrate Christmas.” And then I start the whole conversation from there.
I share my faith online often. Loudly. Proudly. Daily. I make videos about going to worship service, dressing up for worship service. My social media is completely covered in God. I post Him so much because I have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of time to make up for doing the wrong things. And it’s time to do the right thing now. So we do share the INC media videos a lot Especially on my page I share it a lot. I do a lot of videos. Sometimes it’s just a snippet. But we do send incmedia.org to people out there so they can watch the video. You can watch it while you’re cleaning, like I do.
New Lease On Life
My life would probably be exactly the same— sad and lonely and depressed— if it wasn’t for the Church of Christ. Because the Church gave me a whole new meaning and a whole new lease on life, and it taught me what I should be doing and what I should not be doing.
What I do to please God is I follow His commands. God says, if you love Him, that you’ll obey His commands. So I love God. And I want him to know that I love Him. So I do my best to obey everything He says.
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