Tanya was a church-going country girl from Riverland in South Australia who had dreams of becoming an actress. As a young adult she headed to the city and enrolled in university to pursue her dream. Then six months into her course she decided to join the police force.
After eight years of serving as a police officer, she almost died while on duty. She had strayed in her Christian walk at the time and it took a near death experience in her mid-twenties to bring her back to God.
‘I got beaten up and should have died but I cried out to God as I was being beaten and as one of the Psalms says, He pulled me straight out of that place,’ said Tanya. ‘He’s faithful. I’m not. I came back to Him soon after that. I came back to the city to live; became a worship leader and got really involved with the youth.’
But Tanya strayed from the Lord again and re-enrolled in university to become a teacher. Her first teaching assignment was in Coober Pedy which lasted six months. She was then assigned to teach in the isolated town of Hawker and then Jamestown before she took a break from teaching and headed to Melbourne for a year.
‘I was going to go to Melbourne for a year just to do something completely different—acting and singing. I got into a couple of little roles over there and met my future husband,’ she said. ‘Six years later, we came back with a child.’
Tanya and her family settled in Happy Valley in South Australia and joined a church. Covid was a real shaking time for them.
‘It shook us back to God even closer. It drew us really close to Him, and I can’t imagine, ever looking back again because I just feel like I’ve just been so drawn and things have changed forever in my mind, and for my walk. I’m totally on fire for God and getting Jesus to people,’ said Tanya. ‘My teaching career came to an abrupt halt during Covid as well. So, I’m just a disciple of Christ now.’
This next stage in her life led Tanya to sign up to become a Vision Ambassador. After reading The Word For Today for at least a year, it never dawned on her that it was produced by Vision Christian Media, and even with the two page list of radio stations at the back of the devotional, it didn’t twig until her friend asked her if she listened to Vision Radio. Once she tuned in to Vision, she was hooked.
Sowing Good Seed
The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 is what motivated Tanya to disciple to people. She could see that people had heard the Word, but it wasn’t registering with them, so she suggested they start listening to Vision.
‘I thought if they’re not able to get their Bibles out and diligently read their Bibles all the time, then to have this playing, this is the best thing they can have playing. At night, if I can’t sleep, I turn Vision on and I can have it playing and it’s sowing permanently.’
If you’re inspired like Tanya in becoming a Vision Ambassador, click this link to find out more about joining the Vision team and the benefits that come with it!
To listen to Tanya’s full interview, click the link below:
