Jenae Nelson: From Homeless to Finding My Home with God

Conversion is not just a faith moment. It is the process that comes after the conversion story.

As an agnostic and homeless sixteen-year-old, Jenae decided to search for her biological father. When she met him for the first time, he took her in and introduced her to his faithful, LDS family and to the Church.

Jenae says, “It was almost a Saul to Paul reconversion, the way I caught on fire overnight.”

“For me, that was the turning point. If my earthly dad—my biological dad—would go through so much effort to bring me into his life. . . I was so impressed that he would be willing to do so much for me that I thought maybe, just maybe that might be what God is like.”

“I finally got the point where I thought, I have to find out, I have to know if this is real or not. Because I had given up on God. I remember the first prayer I said. It had been years and years since I had prayed. And I started off: ‘Heavenly Father, if you’re there, if you’re real, then please just let me know. And if you are, I will serve you for the rest of my life.’ And he answered that prayer.”

But the story doesn’t end there. It never does.

After getting married and having children, Jenae was diagnosed with lupus; she had questions about doctrinal issues; she experienced difficulties with a church leader.

Jenae confesses, “I felt guilty if I doubted. . .but things weren’t as simple as I had thought.”

So she stripped her testimony down to the basics and tried to piece it all back together, starting with her relationship with God and His love for her. As she rebuilt and restructured her testimony, the pieces of truth and love gradually fell into place. And when she discovered that she knew the essential truths of the Gospel, she returned to God again.

Jenae concludes: “Just like I told the Lord, ‘Once I know, I’m yours forever. This is the place now, forever for me.’”