My Testimony - How I became a Christian
I grew up in a non-religious home. I did not have a perfect family, (probably most don't) but my needs were met and I know that my parents loved me. Somehow though, I always felt like something was wrong or missing. I felt like I was always searching for something and I had a lot of fear in my life.
My father was a carpenter, and as such we moved around a lot. He would build a home, we would live in it for a while, and then he would sell it. When I was in Jr. high school we moved to a home (he was building at the time) near a little country church. The mother of a girl that lived down the road worked with a lady that attended that little country church. This lady just happened to be the wife of the youth group leader. This lady invited the girl from down the road to a hayride who in turn invited me to the hayride also. It's funny to think that a hayride could have led me down the road to filling my void, but that is exactly what happened!
I started to attend the "Little Country Church" down the road. I didn't go all the time, but there were lots of youth activities and I made a lot of friends there. It was at this church that I learned that Jesus was God's perfect Son. Not that I liked to hear it, but I learned that I was (and everyone for that matter is) a sinner. Romans 3:23 says "All have sinned a fall short of the glory of God." We were born this way. O.K. now I knew - I was a sinner! I guessed that was pretty bad. The wages of sin is death. Maybe that was part of my problem. I have to admit that I didn't like thinking about dying. Even though my parents were not religious we did talk some about heaven and hell. I didn't have much knowledge of either, but I knew that I didn't want to go to hell. So the next question was, how to avoid hell and make sure I go to heaven!
I'm sure that God's hand directed me during the next several years. We lived about an hour away from an amazing ice cream parlor. It was a rare occasion to go there and actually finish your order - their serving sizes were enormous and the cost affordable. Well, this ice cream parlor just happened to be near a Bible school, and college students from the school just happened to frequent the parlor too. One evening, my sister, along with some friends from the little country church, went to this ice cream parlor, and who do you suppose they met? After talking with some of these Bible students and learning about the Bible school, my sister decided to enroll. (I can still remember my mother crying, thinking that my sister had joined a cult).
I was amazed at my sister when she came home for visits. (My mother could rest now as it was obvious that my sister didn't actually join a cult.) It was also obvious that she had something that I didn't have. I didn't know what it was, but she was changed somehow. She had so much joy. I was so jealous of what she had that I had to have it too - whatever it was! So, I quit my job and enrolled in New Tribes Bible Institute in Jackson, Michigan, for the next semester.
I found it! I found what my sister had. It was a relationship to God through Jesus. At the little country church that I had attended on and off during my teen years I had heard (what many call) the plan of salvation many times. The thing about it was that it was never a personal thing for me. While I was at the Bible school I took a class in Galatians. It was in this class that I really understood "the plan of salvation". It was so simple - how could it be so simple? Jesus died on the cross for me! That's it - nothing else! All I had to do was accept it. (At least it was simple on my part - I don't mean to make little of Jesus' death.) There was and still is nothing that I can do that will change God's love for me. I always thought it was works based. I thought I had to do something, but Jesus already did all that needed doing when He paid the penalty for my sin by shedding His blood on the cross and then resurrecting from the dead. "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) My void, the place that needed filling, was filled with God's Spirit once I accepted that Jesus died for me.
I am now a child of God. Unfortunately, I still live in a fallen world and still have a sin nature. But, I have God to lean on and trust. He is there for me in the good and bad times. As a teen I was only concerned about not going to heaven, but now that I understand salvation, I have found that a relationship to God is even more than going to heaven. It's really like having a best friend.
My father was a carpenter, and as such we moved around a lot. He would build a home, we would live in it for a while, and then he would sell it. When I was in Jr. high school we moved to a home (he was building at the time) near a little country church. The mother of a girl that lived down the road worked with a lady that attended that little country church. This lady just happened to be the wife of the youth group leader. This lady invited the girl from down the road to a hayride who in turn invited me to the hayride also. It's funny to think that a hayride could have led me down the road to filling my void, but that is exactly what happened!
I started to attend the "Little Country Church" down the road. I didn't go all the time, but there were lots of youth activities and I made a lot of friends there. It was at this church that I learned that Jesus was God's perfect Son. Not that I liked to hear it, but I learned that I was (and everyone for that matter is) a sinner. Romans 3:23 says "All have sinned a fall short of the glory of God." We were born this way. O.K. now I knew - I was a sinner! I guessed that was pretty bad. The wages of sin is death. Maybe that was part of my problem. I have to admit that I didn't like thinking about dying. Even though my parents were not religious we did talk some about heaven and hell. I didn't have much knowledge of either, but I knew that I didn't want to go to hell. So the next question was, how to avoid hell and make sure I go to heaven!
I'm sure that God's hand directed me during the next several years. We lived about an hour away from an amazing ice cream parlor. It was a rare occasion to go there and actually finish your order - their serving sizes were enormous and the cost affordable. Well, this ice cream parlor just happened to be near a Bible school, and college students from the school just happened to frequent the parlor too. One evening, my sister, along with some friends from the little country church, went to this ice cream parlor, and who do you suppose they met? After talking with some of these Bible students and learning about the Bible school, my sister decided to enroll. (I can still remember my mother crying, thinking that my sister had joined a cult).
I was amazed at my sister when she came home for visits. (My mother could rest now as it was obvious that my sister didn't actually join a cult.) It was also obvious that she had something that I didn't have. I didn't know what it was, but she was changed somehow. She had so much joy. I was so jealous of what she had that I had to have it too - whatever it was! So, I quit my job and enrolled in New Tribes Bible Institute in Jackson, Michigan, for the next semester.
I found it! I found what my sister had. It was a relationship to God through Jesus. At the little country church that I had attended on and off during my teen years I had heard (what many call) the plan of salvation many times. The thing about it was that it was never a personal thing for me. While I was at the Bible school I took a class in Galatians. It was in this class that I really understood "the plan of salvation". It was so simple - how could it be so simple? Jesus died on the cross for me! That's it - nothing else! All I had to do was accept it. (At least it was simple on my part - I don't mean to make little of Jesus' death.) There was and still is nothing that I can do that will change God's love for me. I always thought it was works based. I thought I had to do something, but Jesus already did all that needed doing when He paid the penalty for my sin by shedding His blood on the cross and then resurrecting from the dead. "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) My void, the place that needed filling, was filled with God's Spirit once I accepted that Jesus died for me.
I am now a child of God. Unfortunately, I still live in a fallen world and still have a sin nature. But, I have God to lean on and trust. He is there for me in the good and bad times. As a teen I was only concerned about not going to heaven, but now that I understand salvation, I have found that a relationship to God is even more than going to heaven. It's really like having a best friend.
This is my story - what's yours?
If you haven't accepted Jesus - you can!
There are so many verses in the Bible that help us understand salvation - how to have a relationship to God.
Here are some:
John 3:16-17
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whosoever believes in HIm should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
Romans 6:23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 10:9-10
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
Romans 4:5
"However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."
Ephesians 2:4
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."
I Timothy 1:15-16
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."
Romans 1:16
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes"
John 6:47
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life."
John 11:25
"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;"
John 20:31
"But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through his name."
Hebrews 11:6
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
If you haven't accepted Jesus - you can!
There are so many verses in the Bible that help us understand salvation - how to have a relationship to God.
Here are some:
John 3:16-17
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whosoever believes in HIm should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
Romans 6:23
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 10:9-10
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
Romans 4:5
"However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."
Ephesians 2:4
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."
I Timothy 1:15-16
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."
Romans 1:16
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes"
John 6:47
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life."
John 11:25
"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;"
John 20:31
"But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through his name."
Hebrews 11:6
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."