Perhaps I should share a bit of my background...
I was born into a Bible-believing home (hardly a perfect or peaceful one) and was raised mostly in Baptist churches. To say living in my family was easy because we were Christians is laughable. We changed churches many times because at some point either the church we were attending backslid or a pastor would begin to insist that my parents be members of the church before they could teach, minister, or even sing in the choir. (that is a story for a later day) Predominately the churches we attended were Baptist... and, after Sunday after Sunday of listening to the same sermon as my parents and discussing the possible views included, I concluded as a teenager that churches were full of nothing but hypocrites and usually unloving people who were only there to play their version of Christian Bingo: to systematically fill in the numbers called and eventually score the big prize. Cynical... waaaaaaaaaay too much. Inaccurate... not completely, though blown out of proportion. Pastor after pastor would preach the same type of message: man has to CHOOSE to obey God; man has to SURRENDER to God... with little to no mention of relying on God's timing, love, and sanctifying power.
These were my experiences which led me at that time to believe that most churches today preach that man as to do most of the work and that our focus should be on what we are doing everyday be it right or wrong. Total man-centered theology. Then came my understanding of free-will salvation. Though most would not say baptism was required for salvation, they put way too much emphasis of methodism and were borderline legalistic. The phrase "accept God into your heart" was used over and over and over again. Sure I'd made a childhood confession of faith... but mostly as fire insurance to get out of hell and the judgementalism of the church folk.
I will skip most of my past life as a legal adult, but I will say that while living in great sin I still listened to and understood every word of every sermon... to the conclusion that life was a rat race, and if even my parents who required SO MUCH of their youngest daughter couldn't even keep from calling each other names, making threats, and using their kids as vindictive means for revenge, I would be no worse off just living my life for myself. I was kicked out of college; moved out of my parent's home; was kicked out of the church I was a member of (the same one my parents had been attending); and promptly began a physically immoral life that eventually led to pregnancy and marriage. (another long story for a later time) Through it all, though, my head was always clear and my hide was always spared by a very merciful and provident God. If free-will salvation were true in my case, I could not possibly be saved.
It really didn't take much to bring me back to Himself. To this day I still deal with the same sexual desires and temptations; still attend church with trepidation and scepticism (only so far as to make me dissect every word said and rightly divide the Word of Truth); and still have an understanding that it all is going somewhere and will end somewhere.
I'm a firm believer in making no excuses; keeping no secrets; showing no hatred; taking no judgementalism; hiding no opinions; and having no regrets. To this day I do not regret any decision I made in the past because it made me the person I am today (some might consider that a pity) with the knowledge and understanding that I carry equipping me to be a debater (faulty one at times), counselor, mother, and wife. Sure, I'm still human with past hurts from my family that are hard to erase at times... but God had a plan for everything from the beginning. Perhaps it was to land me here. Undoubtedly it was to begin the family that is begun (a God-given desire). Miracles do indeed happen.