Greetings!

   I'm the research person and rough draft writer for the ThreeOlBags. I live in Garden City, Michigan with my husband, Michael, who has always supported my dream of becoming a writer.

   I graduated from the Missions Course at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, with a degree in Christian Education. I have worked for more than thirty years with the hearing-impaired community. For eight years I home schooled my three sons from second grade through graduation. (Two words of advice for other home schooling moms: Early Retirement!)

   My first love has been writing for the Christian market. I have been an online editor for e-zines and my articles have appeared in the OBSERVER/ECCENTRIC newspapers, The Home Education Magazine, The Lookout, and Volume I of the GOD ALLOWS U TURNS book series.

   I'm thrilled to be part of the ThreeOlBags, a travel-writing trio who love to visit, photograph and write articles about places of interest in our Great Lake State.

   I'd like to share my personal testimony in the article below :

"MUSIC:  THE SYMPHONY OF THE SOUL

   Music is ultimately an expression of worship.  The passions of man's heart are poured out into a symphony of the soul.  I came to appreciate this medium of the arts when my heart really learned to sing as I placed my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

   I was fifteen when I first heard the gospel.  The simplicity of God's plan of salvation is eloquently expressed in the New Living Translation.  Romans 3:22-23 says, "We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins.  And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.  For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard."  I didn't have to look very deep within to find my sin that had offended a holy God   Verse 25 assures us, "We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us."  I bowed my head and my heart to humbly ask God's forgiveness of my sins and accept the payment Christ made for them when He died on the cross. 

   God gave me the power to become His child (St. John 1:12) and I thank Him for the special relationship I can now enjoy with my Heavenly Father.  Romans 5:1,2 says, "Therefore since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.  Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege, where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory."  Verse 11 continues, "So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God--all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God."  Before salvation I knew Him as the Creator God, but now I know that Jesus Christ is my own personal Savior, my Forever Friend. 

   The good news of the gospel is that this free gift is offered to everyone!  Romans 10: 9,10,13 proclaims, "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved...For Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  Now that is something to sing about! 

   Since that time,  gospel music has been an important part of my life. 

Sandra Campbell
Writer
ThreeOlBags