When I surrendered my life to Christ in an evangelical, non-denominational house church setting in 2001, I had given much thought to this decision. My decision wasn’t just an emotional one. In some ways, it was very logical. I had studied Christian apologetics which gave me enough evidence to prove to me that the Bible could be trusted, that Jesus was God, that he walked on the earth, and was crucified and resurrected.

I experienced passionate and loving people who followed Jesus. That was a big influence as well. My children were so nurtured by the house church attendees, both parents and young people. I felt a sense of belonging even before I made my decision, and that was invaluable to me. 14 years ago, in 2010, before I had discovered Christian Universalist teachings, I wrote this testimony: https://patriciamikkelson.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/my-testimony/

I was inspired as I looked over my testimony, and could see that I was on my way to believing that there was no such thing as eternal conscious torment. The teachers and preachers I listen to now are completely different. I used to be drawn to people who were on the opposite sides of the spectrum–progressive, and conservative. That is interesting. Now, I listen to people people who emphasize the importance of living loved by God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You can read my recommendations in the previous post.

In 1914, I discovered a website which was all about Christian Universalism. You can read my story here: https://patriciamikkelson.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/resources-i-wish-i-had-when-i-left-the-church-when-i-was-16/

In that article I state: “One of the most important resources I found in 2014, was this website https://christianuniversalist.org The following words struck a chord in my soul. Now, after many hours of studying scripture and authors who know scripture inside and out, I am convinced that this is the truth of what the Bible teaches.”

And now it is a decade later, 2024, after I first read information that explained why the Bible supports the idea that there is no eternal conscious torment and that all will be reconciled to God and each other. I am more convinced than ever, and so encouraged to see how many people are sharing their perspectives backed up by scripture, philosophy, and early church history, of the “salvation for all” doctrine.

I had forgotten that I had written seven blog posts on the topic on this blog, and one post in my personal blog. I think this might prove to you that I have thought about and studied this topic a lot! Here are the blog posts:
https://wellspringcommunityblog.wordpress.com/?s=christian+universalism

I have tended to be a kind of early adopter of things that were not super popular at the time, but had gained enough traction to inspire me. Meeting Cliff Mikkelson in 1976, when I was 20, was very helpful because he taught me many things like organic gardening, the importance of creating an alternative economic system, eating whole foods and mostly vegan (we were both vegetarian at the time–now we are both vegan), and the subtle take over of our Republic by the New World Order. After we were married, we continued to grow together. We coordinated one of the first food co-ops in the Arkansas Ozarks, helped start the first organic blueberry farm in Arkansas, experimented with living without working for money, and got passionate about the intentional communities movement.

I was able to heal my eyes and give up glasses after wearing them for 12 years when we both were on a mostly raw, vegan diet, living in harmony with nature.

We were bathing in cold water way before Wim Hoff came along–to the point where we would jump in the pond regularly even in winter.

We were fortunate to live in North San Diego County where many people were living in ways that now are much more common place. Before we had children, we knew we would not vaccinate and would homeschool and have a home birth. That was all in the 1980’s.

As I write this, I realize that although I feel grateful that I could learn things before they became more mainstream and acceptable, living the way we did was not easy. There were folks, including my family, who did not approve of our lifestyle, and we had to go upstream and be uncomfortable much of the time. However, I did learn how to live with disapproval and discovered that almost everything we had decided upon in how we chose to live, continued to gain momentum as more people discovered the truth.

Therefore now, as I see Christian Universalism is being discovered by an increasing number of people, I am glad that I learned about and shared about this gospel early. I was an early adopter. I have been persecuted for this belief, and I now accept this and forgive those who decided to reject me because of this.