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LifeBridge Church is a community church located in Burlington, Wisconsin. Their podcast includes sermons, audio devotionals, and other conversations.
Today is Friday, May 29. As with yesterday and Wednesday, our devotional today is gonna be a story from someone who was baptized on Sunday. Today, we get to hear Nikki Nelson's Story.
Nikki:Hello. My name is Nikki, and I'm here to tell you my story. I have been through a lot in my life, crippling anxiety and severe depression leading me down a dark path that started with hurting myself and then escalated to suicidal thoughts. I'll never forget sitting on the old railroad bridge here in Burlington, and I had every thought to just jump in and end it all, but I couldn't do it. I have personally seen what impact suicide has on families, friends, communities, and I had my Bible right next to me, and I knew I couldn't do that.
Nikki:Death of loved ones, The most recent, my busha's death hit me hard. Lung cancer that was supposed to be easily treatable turned into hospice care and her passing within a few months. And then it was the passing of my uncle, also from cancer. I was out of town traveling for work in Ohio, and I'll never forget the phone call from my dad on that Easter Sunday to tell me that my uncle had passed peacefully during a nap, leaving a mentally and emotionally abusive marriage that I thought I could never get out of, being guilted into staying for as long as I did by multiple different parties who I thought at the time had my best interest in mind, even when they didn't. Career issues, which then caused much financial hardship, struggling, and wondering how I was going to make it being a single mom with two children.
Nikki:Since I first started at LifeBridge on 07/27/2025, I have learned so much. Shout out to my dear friend Brett, who I randomly met at the dog park a handful of years ago. I almost chickened out coming to church that morning, but he wasn't letting that happen. And thank God I didn't chicken out. I came here broken, lost, confused, and scared.
Nikki:I was never a believer before. I had zero interest in spirituality, and I honestly had it in my mind that there was no higher power. I'll never forget the first service I attended. I somehow was able to let out so many emotions, and I felt so many feelings for being a non believer. I knew immediately after the service that everything I was experiencing and feeling was the Lord reaching out to me, and I never turned back after them.
Nikki:He has shown me forgiveness and grace and love like I never thought possible. I have experienced Him in my life in so many different ways, and I have witnessed what He does for others. Looking back on everything that I went through, I know now that He had my back the whole time. I was just too blind and stubborn to see it before. Now that I trust in Him, I see signs all the time.
Nikki:Car accident that I could have been in? Thank God I was running fifteen minutes late. Having a tough day at work. Thank God for this amazing rainbow on the way home. Worrying about a friend's childbirth.
Nikki:Thank God my prayers for a safe pregnancy and healthy baby were answered. I pray to him every night. I talk to him even when I'm just driving in my car. He answers my prayers, and sometimes he doesn't. But that's okay, because I am so blessed, because even an unanswered prayer is beautiful, because He has His own plan for me and all of us.
Nikki:If you conform, believe, trust, confide, and love. And then this is Proverbs three:five-six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight. The devil tried to get me for, oh my goodness, thirty eight years.
Nikki:The devil can scrap, but the Lord has won.