| MY TESTIMONY |
| AND NOW FOR SOMETHING THAT IS FAR FROM NONSENSE... |
| Alright, please make sure you are focusing. This is the most important story of my life. What you read is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me...my salvation. On top of this, you will get some examples of some great things God has done in my life post-being saved. Of course, this will take me a while to get out, so you might as well get a snack or drink and relax, it'll take a bit... First, to start you out, I will tell you about my childhood. The first major thing I can remember is my parents divorcing when I was three. For any of you that have ever been through a divorce and remember it, you know it's horrible. Parents yelling and fighting gets really really old and you just want it all to stop. You don't understand why they can't get along. 'Why?' seems to be a constant question that pops into your mind. Even though this happened at three, there are few instances that are fresh in my mind I wouldn't want to live through again. Well, with that happening, my life got majorly complicated, having to go from house to house and everything. I had a lot of anger stored up inside and decided to let it out on my friends in preschool. Biting was my major problem. Then, in first grade is when I made decisions that started dilluting my mind. FIRST GRADE people, I am cussing all the time (exept around my parents of course) looking at pornography (thanks to my "best friend") and just starting a path, unknown to most people, down the wrong road. Now, I had always believed in the whole Jesus thing and was sprinkled as a little kid in my Methodist church. I just accepted it as truth but it wasn't really anything to be taken too serious. Other things were just more important to me I guess. Well, throughout my gradeschool years, my friend moved and so that got me away from the porn (thank God, that messes you up) and junk like that. I was actually straightening up, being a "good kid" but never having my heart in the right place. That's typical I suppose with a lot of kids. Then I got older, and things started to have a bit more meaning to them. My childhood had been pretty good and I was used to having step-parents and siblings in both houses. Life wasn't too bad. But in the sixth grade, I was invited by a friend to go see a man speak at his church. After hearing some pretty powerful stories, I started to grasp the idea that there was MUCH more to life than what I knew. The whole God thing was more than what happened on Sundays. That night, the speaker asked everyone in the room that had not truly accepted Jesus as their Savior and wanted to, to raise their hand. Ding ding ding, you guessed it, my hand went up. I decided it was time to actually try more to live this life and believe much deeper than I ever had. See, it sounds fairly simple about when I got my salvation but really it's not. If you were to ask me to pinpoint the exact moment I became a Christian, I couldn't tell you. Because honestly, I've believed all way since I can remember. The first major conversion in my heart was that night though. After I got home, I told my mom (who was and still is a strong Christian) that I had gotten saved. Kinda baffeled her I suppose because she didn't quite understand. She though I had already been saved (I was sprinkled afterall). Maybe, maybe not, but that night was the first time I took it to a more serious level. Ever since I decided to give my life up to God that night, my life has actually gotten meaning. Next time my faith took a giant step was in 8th grade when a few of my Christian friends decided to take it to the next level. I and my friend David Newton (whom I will always be extremely grateful for) started a group off of FCA called Breakaway. Breakaway started out as a very very small Bible Study after school and turned into a pretty decent sized group. Becoming a leader to my friends had my spiritual growth soar. I felt so close to Him that year it's incredible. Of course, puberty and being a teen came into play with all this Christian stuff too. Things of my past started to come back to haunt me and tested my faith time and time again. I got into some crap with the internet and slid a little here and there on my language. But now, now I could take it all to my Savior and have it tossed...no, thrown, hurled, chucked into the deepest ocean... my God forgave me of my sins all the time. My faith continued to grow stronger each day. Great things continued to happened. My friends and family were growing closer to God. My DAD, STEP-MOM and SISTER were all saved!! God was being good. And then... half way through my freshmen year, one of my biggest tests of faith happened... |