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I will tell you the truth; my relationship with Jesus didn’t start out by wanting a relationship with specifically him but a relationship with my friends.  I was about 8 years old when I moved to my new home in Argyle, Texas and most of all the friends I made seem to go to church.  Well, guess where I spent a lot of my time, yes, at the church. That was the beginning of God putting building blocks in place to build my relationship with Jesus.

      In elementary and middle school, I was involved with the church in overnights at the church, going to summer camp, Wednesday night youth, Six Flags, Wet’n Wild, going to vacation bible school, singing in the choir, acting in church plays, really just about everything. Again, most of my desire to be at church was not to grow as a Christian and build a spiritual foundation with Jesus but because I was with my friends and we always had a good time in everything we did.  I finally accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was ten. I went through ups and downs with my spiritual growth up through high school, but there was no permanent growth, no real growth, just spiritual highs from church retreats, lock-ins from the past weekend, or any other special events we went too.

      I didn’t start to have a personal relationship with Jesus until something in my life happened and I was told by God that now was the time you will have to rely on me, and only me.  Though at the time I didn’t know why, and felt like I was being punished, it started a growth in my spirituality because I had to rely solely on God.  It set a spark in me that drove me to learn more about my faith, who was Jesus exactly and what does he stand for, how to become a stronger Christian, and not just be the bare minimum; from then I learned so much about myself and about God. 

     The difference Jesus has made in me is at such great links it can not be measured, but only described. I guess I have always been considered along the lines of a good kid on the surface, but deep down I finally realized I didn’t have God’s wisdom, guidance or desire in me. Though it took some time the things I learned were: I finally realized it’s not about me, God needs to be trusted, everything has a purpose, it takes time, get your priorities straight, God has a better view than I do, life on earth is temporary, God’s grace and love knows no bounds, and Jesus is truly all that we need to make life worth living.  This is really scratching the surface of what I learned, but you have to start somewhere, right?  By my being forced to rely on God was the best thing that could have happen to me, but at the time I thought it was the worst.

      R.C. Sproul said, “We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.”  There is so much truth in that statement; we are all sinners and need God’s forgiveness; the best part is God is ready to forgive, we just need to ask.
     
     It’s not when you start putting God first in your life that you will see a new outlook on life; things that once mattered so much don’t seem to matter anymore and things that were neglected are all you care about.  Describing having Jesus Christ in your life in words to me can be compared to being in love.  You can’t really see love, but you can feel it and know love when it hits you.
     
     I have a finance driven mind that makes decisions on cost benefit analysis, opportunity costs, net present value, internal rates of return, and bottom line numbers, but Jesus taught me that monetary gain is not the reason to live but to live for Christ by sharing your God given passions in the name of the Lord, telling the good news about Jesus, it’s about your life lessons, family, and about building relationships.

     God never gave up on me and we will never give up on you.  Few to none are truly worthy of God’s grace, but that’s the beauty of it, we don’t have to be; all we need is a humble heart that is willing to accept Jesus Christ into our lives.  Remember “Salvation is as close as your own heart and mouth.” And whether you’re young or old, it’s never too late to understand “who you are is God’s gift to you; who you become is your gift to God.”

Thanks

This is my first time to write my testimony up and share it; I hope it makes sense.

Prayerfrom Texas

AMEN! A beautiful testimony and witness for the Lord.

Praise God.
Ditto to what the pastor said...
YLBD