The Personal Testimony of Kelly Roman (now McShaffrey)
I was raised in your average Roman Catholic family. We attended mass once a week, I went to private school, we fasted on Fridays during lent, and everything else we were supposed to do to be right with God.
Nevertheless, God was not real to me until I met a co-worker named Christian.
To be honest, the only reason I spent any time with this coworker was because I thought he was cute and I was hoping for a date. Yes – I was a stupid little girl whose life revolved around guys, parties, and clubs.
Anyways, some of the ladies at work were talking about end-of-the-world type stuff during our lunch break one day and even though I didn’t really care about it, I asked Christian for his opinion. He said, “If you really want to know, then come to my house after work and I will show you what the Bible says about it.”
I did. While I was expecting him to make the moves on me, he rather sat me down, opened the Bible, and asked me to read certain passages aloud.
What I read puzzled/frightened me. Every time I stopped to ask a question, he would lead me to another passage and have me read it.
He kept saying, “My opinion really doesn’t matter… let’s see what God has to say.” As mad as I was at him and as much as I wanted to argue, I knew I couldn’t because he kept saying “It’s not me saying this, it’s God. Call God a liar, not me.”
By the end of the day I was terrified of God’s judgment. I knew that I was a sinner and if these things were true… I had no hope of surviving judgment day.
In fact, as I was getting ready to drive home, a car screamed around the corner and I was convinced that God was going to kill me because of my sin. The car passed… but my anxiety didn’t.
When I got home, I told my parents, “We’re all going to hell!”
They thought I was nuts and asked me who I had been talking to. I told them and they told me to stay away from this Christian.
I couldn’t. There was something inside me drawing me to him and his words. We continued to talk at work, I continued to listen, and I was beginning to become somewhat interested in what Christian had to say… but one day he told me that he wouldn’t be speaking to me anymore about this subject.
Christian said that my romantic attraction to him was clouding my judgment and that if I was really being drawn into God’s kingdom, it would happen with or without him.
Alone and confused, I tried to figure things out. I spoke with acquaintances who called themselves Christians and they told me to disregard Christian’s words about hell, repentance, and faith. They said he was radical and God really isn’t like that. My “best” friends kept reassuring me that I was a really “good” person.
Late one night I simply gave up. I prayed, “God – I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong… if you are real, then I need you to show me right now.”
When I woke up, early on a sunday (something I had not done in a very long time) I had a new heart… a heart that was alive to God and trusting in Christ. Everything looked different and felt different. Since it was Sunday all I could think about was worshipping God… but I was too scared.
I went to Christian’s church but didn’t go in. Instead, I left a letter on his windshield explaining what had happened to me.
When he called, he seemed skeptical and directed me to speak with the Pastor of his church and I did.
A few weeks later I professed my faith in the Lord Jesus, was baptized into the church, and that same day Christian asked me “to be his girl” (it appears that he had feelings for me too).
Today we are happily married, have five children, and we continue to serve the Lord together.