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A young mother is transformed when she reads the Bible

My name is Julie Morano and I live in the Salt Lake City, Utah area with my husband, Aaron, and our children, Skyler, who is from my previous marriage, and Sasha. I was born in Canada and raised in the Latter Day Saints church. My family moved to Utah when I was 12 and when I was 15 my parents divorced. The divorce tore our family apart. My mom was caught up in her grief, my Dad loved his new single life, and I was left to my own defenses. I stopped attending church and began making some really bad choices. I felt alone in the world so I turned to men, drugs and alcohol—anything to fill the void. I married someone who was not kind to me just so I wouldn’t be alone anymore. That marriage ended, and still I did not have peace.

In 2003 Aaron and I had a baby that died shortly after he was born. This turned our lives upside down. I was desperate for anything to make the pain go away. The LDS faith was all I knew so that was what I turned to. Aaron was baptized LDS in 2006, and I thought this would unify our family.

Living with doubts

In February 2007 I started to have a lot of questions and doubts about the doctrines of the LDS church. I prayed, fasted and studied the scriptures, but did not receive an answer. For the first time in my life I started reading the Bible and really studying it. I continued to attend the LDS church but I hated being there.

In July I learned that Aaron was having doubts too. We talked to our LDS bishop who told us that if we read the scriptures for two weeks straight we would receive our answer.

In the meantime we decided to try coming to Shadow Mountain, a Mennonite Brethren congregation in West Jordan, Utah. The first service we came to was awesome. We really enjoyed the message and felt right at home.

The second time we attended Shadow Mountain, Pastor Cory Anderson started a series of sermons on the Trinity. It was so hard for me to hear, and it made me angry because it was opposite of what I had learned in the past. I just wanted to run out of the building.

Looking for answers

I spent a lot of time that week crying and venting at my husband. I told him we were never going back. As I continued to study the Bible over the next week and a half I began to discover a lot of things that were contradictory to the teachings I grew up with. My husband spent a lot of time e-mailing Pastor Todd McCall and Pastor Cory with the questions I had and was more than patient with me.

My sister-in-law and I met for a Jamba Juice, and we talked for a while about the things I was struggling with as well as her beliefs. One thing she said hit me hard. She shared with me some of her struggles and experiences before becoming a Christian and said that she had to let go of everything she thought she knew and believed and let God in to speak truth.

I went home and prayed like never before. I prayed for God to help me let go and be open to his truth. To let me know what direction my life should take from here and that if the Trinity was truth God would open my heart and mind to understand it.

”In plain sight”

I opened my Bible and every passage I read spoke to my heart. There it was in plain sight that Jesus is not only my Savior but he is God. I promised that I would follow him and asked Jesus to come into my heart and forgive my sins. At that moment Jesus forgave me of all my sins. The guilt and shame I had felt for all those years was taken from me.

I thank God that his mercy is new everyday because I know that I make a lot of mistakes. After I gave my life to Christ, the next service I attended started to make sense to me.

I read and study the Bible, and I am learning that everything I need to live a godly life is all found there. Whenever I have a question or if something doesn’t make sense to me, the Bible is where I turn first. I have peace in my life now that was always missing because I didn’t have Jesus. I love learning about him and loving him more each day.

I have turned my life over to God and know that I am never alone, no matter what. I want to be baptized to show Jesus my love and commitment for him. It is the smallest token I can give back for something I can never repay. I am thankful for all of those who prayed on my behalf. I know first hand that God answered those prayers.

Julie Morano shared this testimony with the Shadow Mountain congregation prior to her baptism.

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