# @hopewdm on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DWEOosqiGiE
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/60434945-hopewdm-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/a3ef699480.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-19T12:30:14.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** HOPE (@HopeWDM) — https://gondola.cc/HopeWDM

## Caption

I am a lifelong Lutheran (baptized and confirmed). I have always believed, but my faith life was compartmentalized—church on Sunday and the rest of the week on my own. When my wife, Sherry, and I returned to Des Moines in 2001, we visited Lutheran Church of Hope after several people recommended it. For the first time, I began to go to church because I wanted to, instead of due to guilt or obligation.
 
About 18 months in, friends invited us to Alpha. I was not interested, so Sherry ended up going on her own. But when Pastor Mike promoted Alpha a year later, I decided it was time. During the retreat, one of the pastors said we should try to open our hearts to Jesus—if not all the way, maybe just a crack. For me, that was the most I could allow. Suddenly, the worship songs were spiraling down inside of me, touching my heart, and tears ran down my face. In retrospect, I would call this my born-again moment, and it ignited a desire in me to grow spiritually and learn more. 
 
About that time, my Alpha co-host asked if I would consider being a co-host for the upcoming session. This seemed ridiculous, as I felt completely unqualified. Later, I began to feel God was speaking to me about this invitation. Finally, I volunteered. 
 
One afternoon during the new session, when it came time for prayer stations to be set up, I realized I had never been prayed for myself. I got in line and when I was waved over to one of the stations, I became overcome with emotion. When I shared this experience with Sherry, she told me she had been praying throughout our entire marriage that I would encounter Jesus. A prayerful wife and a loving God are a dynamic combination for a husband’s transformation!
 
By now, I have been a co-host at Alpha many times and have enjoyed it greatly. At one point, I was asked how my coming to faith had altered my life. I happily answered immediately, “It changed the way I think, how I see the world, and how I spend my time.”
 
Steve O.
#HopeWDMStories

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hopewdmstories

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