testimony

never did i think id ever do this.. but since this blog was started for me to reflect and think about my personal thought and put them into words i thought it would make sense to share my testimony. yes i am a christian and yes i do believe in God. so if youre uncomfortable please do not continue to read this post...
i know its a long post. i thought about cropping it, taking things out, posting phrases but i realized that wouldnt be the truth. so here it is. all of it. im not posting this to brag or so that you can judge. im posting this so that i may never forget what i thought, felt, and meant when i first wrote this. i pray that i meant every word and that i live by what ive stated.

My Testimony

When I was younger, I didn’t realize how different my life would be from a lot of other people. First of all, I was born into a Christian household. I had the freedom to partake in religion and I was also blessed enough to attend a church to hear God’s word for us every Sunday or even any other day. I grew up being a pastor’s kid and unlike what many people might think, my life was probably different from any other pastor’s kid’s life. In fact, my life wasn’t that hard at all, my parents were different than other pastors. They didn’t pressure me to be perfect. They didn’t expect me to fit into everybody else’s expectations. They only showed me God’s love and his blessings and taught us to only listen to God and his thoughts and his expectations.

I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior in 4^th grade. At that moment I told him I would follow him, serve him and glorify him everyday of my life. After that moment, I lived life trying to figure out how my life was changed. We always hear that we need a change in our lives when we truly accept him as our Lord. I’ve seen and heard many stories of people changing, drastic changes before and after they accept Christ. Many of them have lived in darkness, felt it and experienced it. Thus when they saw the light, their lives were changed. For some reason I thought I didn’t have my big, drastic BANG change in my life cause I’ve only been blessed with the light in the world. I had two parents that loved me. I had a family that had a great relationship with each other. I’ve been blessed with all the necessities in life and last but not least, We had God.

I felt like I couldn’t figure out how I had changed. How did my life differ from before I was a Christian to after? I went to church my whole life, where do I even begin? What was my before and what exactly was my after?

The past 4 years in college have taught me a lot. For one I was completely on my own. I had the ability to make choices, right or wrong, they were still choices I could’ve made. Yet for some reason, in the end I was still surrounded by the light. I had good friends that I trusted and that trusted me but mostly I had friends that loved God.

Throughout my life, I have moved from place to place. I have met many different people, some who I can say that without a doubt will be a part of the rest of my life. It’s a funny thing though, sometimes I can’t always figure out how we are friends. None of my good friends are quite similar to another good friend. Many of my friends and I are completely different. Some don’t even share a common interest; however, I have realized that the one and only connection we do have is God. We all acknowledge his love, his death and resurrection, and the sacrifice he has made for our sins. This is the one connection that truly held us together.

Growing up, I was always a happy child. I had a heart for others to be happy as I am. I loved taking care of people and I always wanted to help others no matter how hard it might get for me. Now I realize that that was the change God had put in me. He has blessed me and given me joy; joy in my heart to share with the world at even a very young age.

Looking back I realize that this is my purpose. I realized that I am living proof of God’s love and his blessings. Through thick and thin, My God and my Savior has never once left me on the streets. Even when we had nothing he found a way to provide us with everything. I have been blessed to share the blessing. To show others the joy, the hope, and the light in all the darkness and pain. I realized that I shouldn’t be looking for suffering or for pain to see the light, but that I am already in the light and blessed enough to live in the light.

My favorite verse is Jeremiah 33:3. It reads “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

There are many things in this world that we do not know and may never understand. We may not know why some things have happened or why at a certain time. However, this verse has always told me and reminded me that we need to go to God in hard times and in good times. Sometimes even when something good is happening in our lives, we might be wondering why? God tells us that he has all the answers and that there is always a purpose and the right time for everything. All we gotta do is ask and many times that’s simply what we forget to do.