My name is Jennifer, and my family consists of my wonderful parents, John and Lorie, and my older brother, Joshua. We are a very close family, and strive to glorify God in our relationships.
A month before I was born, my family moved to the beautiful state of North Carolina, where I have been blessed to live my entire life.
My parents home schooled Josh and I from the beginning all the way through to graduation. My senior year was definitely the most memorable, thanks to a class I participated in, "HSLDA's [Home School Legal Defense Association] Constitutional Law for Christian Students Online." Not only was I challenged and advanced in my knowledge of our government's history and current politics, I was also challenged by my fellow students (via the class chat room and forum) spiritually. Discussions and debates that we had forced me to really delve deeper into my beliefs and know what I believed and why I believed it. The Lord used that semester to draw me so much closer to Himself, which is what makes it such a wonderful time in my memory.
I have been raised in a Christian home, and have been told that I accepted Jesus Christ's free gift of salvation at a very young age. I don't remember a time when I didn't know the truth about Who God is, but I do remember questioning His position in my life.
My pre-teen years were difficult ones emotionally. I learned at a young age how to look good and gain a positive reputation. For the most part, when in public, I knew the right things to say and the right way to act to make sure that I kept up a good rep. with my friends and their parents. A facade is not a difficult thing to erect, and mine grew with time. I appeared to most to be the godly young girl that they wanted their daughters to hang out with. The truth was, if they could have seen my heart, they would have known that it was far from pure.
I knew God existed...I had been taught that for my entire life, but I began to want to be "free" from the shackles of accountability. I didn't even want my parents telling me what to do, let alone a God that I could not see. What right did He have to order me around anyway?
Even in my rebellion, I knew one thing for sure. If I was going to serve this God, I didn't want to go half-way. I despised mediocrity as much as I feared it in my own life. I refused to say a prayer just to make sure I wouldn't burn in hell when I died. I had to be absolutely sure that I wasn't hanging on to my parents' faith. It had to be my faith...I had to know without a doubt that God was Who He claimed to be in the Bible. So I struggled and I fought. No one outside of my family knew the battle that went on inside of my heart. Unbeknownst to me, they could see more than I let on even to them, and they were praying for me to come to the Truth.
That battle ended on the day after my thirteenth birthday. I attended a conference in a series of conferences called the "True Love Tour." The speaker was Joshua Harris, author of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." I went to the conference expecting to hear about dating and courtship, and I came away as a new person. During the time of praise and worship, I experienced for the first time what I had always heard my parents talk about - the presence of the Holy Spirit being in a place. Through the Holy Spirit, God changed my heart and broke my destructive will. There was a time when several people were available at the front of the church to pray with the teens who had attended this conference. I went down with a few of my friends, confessed the true state of my heart, prayed with one of the women down front and my friends, and gave myself and my heart back to God.
Life as a Christian is not easy. There are struggles that I face every day. I still struggle with my own will, and there are certain things that I will never fully understand, but this I know: there is only One True God, and I have a choice. Either I will serve Him, worship Him, and accept His love, or I ust serve Satan, the enemy of God and man. There is no middle ground. I choose to serve the One True God, the God of the Bible, the Righteous Judge, Loving Father, and Friend. I believe that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for my wicked and rebellious heart. Christ died so that I may have life. When I have lived my life on earth, and have died, because of Christ's gift to me, I will go on to eternity - life in heaven with the God that I love and serve.
May His name be glorified in all that I do.
~Jennifer~