My Story

The other day I was challenged by a friend to share my story about my faith. I paused, a long pause. Then simply said that there wasn’t much to share. In fact, what I saw at the time as my salvation story was simply that I was led to salvation by my mother at around 5 years of age. But, my reply to my friend’s question was that I didn’t have a life change. I paused again and thought to myself, what did I just say? So here I am sitting here with this friend saying that the old me hadn’t died when I thought I knew Christ, but yet I’m proclaiming that I have salvation in Jesus. So, what had changed from that time when I was little to right now sitting with this friend and what was truly my story?

The truth is, I have known about Jesus for much of my life. I knew the story of what He had done for me and had heard it many times. So many times that I believed that I knew God. At that young age, I believed that God was real and believed that Jesus died and rose again. Yet, I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of God having all my life. I didn’t understand that I needed to surrender all of me, so that Jesus could save me. Because I lacked that understanding I never grew in him, and I never saw change in my life. I never had the desire to seek him, of course except when things got tough or hard or bad, but for the most part there was never that desire to pursue God. See, I grew up living out a religion and not a relationship.

Years went by with me living in religion and for myself, and God was just someone there when I needed Him or when I really wanted Him there. Yes, I still believed in God and I still believed that Jesus was the truth, but I had not declared Him as Lord of my life. Then, as the struggles of life came and temptations fell upon me, I fell into sin. Again, and again temptations came and I gave in, because in the end I wasn’t strong enough to beat these temptations and this sin that I was living in. I found more pleasure in my sin and doing what I wanted with my life, that I began to become numb to God and care less and less about Him. But yet, God never stopped pursuing me! The Holy Spirit was at work in my life from a very young age. I believe that God was relentlessly pursuing me my entire life, and that His spirit was working on leading me to complete surrender of my life to Jesus.

From the time that I first believed that God was real, up until the age of 21 years, God never, not once stopped pursuing my life. It was a Monday afternoon last November that I locked myself in my bathroom, fell on my face, and cried out to God to save me from the sin that I had come to realize that I could not save myself from. I asked Him to take my WHOLE LIFE and to be Lord of my life. Because, I accepted and believe that Jesus Christ died the death that I deserved, and that He rose again in glorious victory over death, and that He is the saving grace and only hope in this world, my life has been forever changed. Not because of what I have done, but because of what Christ has done for me. Now more than ever, in my life I feel an overwhelming desire to study God’s word and to know more about Him. By the grace of God I have also been stronger in my fight against sin and temptations. In addition I have desires to boldly share with others about my faith in Christ, something that had been for the most part obsolete from my life earlier. I have committed to go on my first ever mission trip to serve and reach people for the glory of God. Today I desire to become more like my brothers in Christ, I long to have the type of relationships they have with Christ. I know that He’s not done with me yet, and there is still more to come.

Because my story is still a work in progress, I have started this category of blogs called faith through the storm. My hope is that faith through the storm will be a collection of stories and testaments of trials and redemption through my life experience over the past few years and hopefully the many years to come. So that you may be encouraged through what God has done in my life.

My prayer for this blog category:

God my prayer is that these blogs would be a testament of your life changing power in my life, brought about by your grace alone, through faith alone. I pray that people would see that it’s because of the death you died for us Jesus, that we are saved, and not by our own works or within our own power. God I just thank you for the many people in my life that you have used to pursue me over and over again. God I thank you for my family, friends and leaders that planted the Gospel into my life. I pray God that you would continue to give me the boldness to share your word with others. That I would continue to share the great news of you, even if it cost me my comfort, a job, and yes Lord, even my life. I pray that if good things come form this that you shall be glorified in such good things, but yet if trials and hardships come upon me with this Lord, may I still praise you for you are God and you are good. Amen.

If you have questions about my story, or would like to know more please use the feedback tab at the top of the page to get in touch with me.