Download MY OWN FAITH STORY

HOW GOD CHANGED MY LIFE
I grew up in a religious home and my mother took me to church most of the time. So, as
a kid, I heard about God and learned a lot of the stories in the Bible. But at the time I
didn’t understood what all of that meant. For some reason, I thought that I had to be
“good” to go to heaven. But the older I got the more I realized that I couldn’t be good and
I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to be. There were too many fun things in life to do that I
knew weren’t good. So as a teenager, my life begin to deteriorate. Then one day, my best
friend began dating a young man who claimed to be a Christian. That wasn’t new for me
because I knew a lot of people who claimed to be Christians. But there was something
different about him. he lived like I thought a true Christian probably should live. My bestie
lied to him and told him that she was also a Christian, just so she would date him. The
first thing I knew, he was going to church with her regularly. It wasn’t long until someone
told me that my friend had gotten “saved”. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I
cautiously watched her life the next few times I saw him. It didn’t take me long to realize
that something very real had happened to her. It all seem weird to me. Then one Saturday
night my bestie found me and told me she’d like to talk to me about what had happened in
his life. We both went to my house and she opened the Bible and read some verses to
me. She showed me from the Bible that God loved me even though I was a sinner who had
broken God’s laws. Then he told me the good news that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, came to
earth to live a perfect life and to die in my place on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins,
so that I could receive the forgiveness of sins and go to heaven to live forever with God.
That night, I told God that I knew I had sinned against him, but that I sincerely wanted to
have my sins forgiveness and receive His gift of eternal life through what Jesus did for me
on the cross. God changed my life that night. Based upon the promises God has given me
in the Bible, I know that my sins have been forgiven and that God is preparing a place in
heaven for me. And on top of all of that, God gives me peace and joy that I never
experienced before I became a true Christian.
As a Christian everyday is an opportunity for me, to examine my faith journey. It is a time
to pray, to study, and to reflect. It is a time to grow in my relationship with God. Each day
is an opportunity to follow Jesus, not my own wishes and desires.
My faith journey is a journey of gratitude. It is a life of ongoing dependence on God. It is a
journey of thanksgiving, praising God for joy and abundant love, and his steadfast presence
in sorrow, despair, and fear.
Like any journey, the road is difficult to predict. I like to visualize my faith journey like a
long road. There are straight-aways, sharp curves, and steep hills. There are frightening
descents, rocky spots, wondrous views, potholes, and detours. My faith journey has had, like
most people's, a mixture of conditions.
It is meaningful for me as a Christian to reflect: Where would I be today without God's
presence during the sharp curves and frightening descents I have experienced? I have, like a
weary, terrified traveler, called out His name. My parents' divorce, my father's suicide, a
child's illness, a diagnosis of breast cancer - these events and many others have had me
calling for God's presence and power. There have been days of great sadness, pain, and fear,
but I knew that God was with me. He was with me through the support and love of friends
and family. He guided me with stories of men and women in the Bible - remembrances that
others, too, had survived difficult experiences. He blessed me with solitude through prayer.
And He surrounded me with His presence when I was too frightened, too angry, or too
distraught to pray. God has walked with me when the journey was difficult to travel.
As I reflect, it is equally important to ask "Where would I be without God's presence
during the straight-aways and high peaks of my life?" He has heard my cries of thanksgiving
and joy: delight in loving my husband, joy in parenting our children, the awe of a new day's
sunrise, the beauty of a child's discovery, the blessings of dear friends.
God will be my guide, whether the journey is difficult or easy. He will continue to bless me
with an abundance of friends and the joy of family. He will uphold me in sorrow. He will
quench my thirst for knowledge, and fill my days with challenges. As I journey through life,
God will refresh me through His word, His people, and His presence.