I was living my life like any normal person and was, I thought, a good person; going to school, working, planning for college. Well that all changed in my first semester of college. In my English class there was this girl whom I was attracted to. I asked her to the movies. We went to the movies, but she brought her parents and boyfriend, it was very awkward. But afterwards we all went out to dinner, and had a good time. Later on in the semester she invited me to come to her church and have lunch with her family. I started attending church regularly and she, her boyfriend, and I all became really good friends.
After attending church and reading the Bible for about two months, in March of 2006, I got arrested for some things that I had done years before. While I was in jail, I continued to read the Bible and look into this thing called Christianity. After two months of reading the Bible, attending daily Bible studies, and going to about five church services a week, while in jail, I had an understanding of who this �God� guy was, who �Jesus� was, and what �Christianity� was.
On May 6th of 2006 I was at one of the church services in the jail. This service was put on by Green Valley church, and �Tree Man� Dan was leading. He asked if there was anyone that wanted to dedicate their lives to Christ. At that time I still did not have a full understanding of what it meant to follow Christ, but I was ready. He led me through the sinner�s prayer, but it was not the words that saved me, It was that my heart was with the words. I made a decision that has changed my life�I dedicated my life to Christ. . The emotions involved in that dedication of my life were overwhelming I was crying and surrendering my life! I surrendered my will to his will. I can�t wholly put the emotions and feelings to words; it was a surrender of my desires, it was an acceptance of his gift, it was a faith in him, it was a love so far beyond words. The fact that someone cared about me enough to sacrifice their life for mine was a love that I did not know could exist except between parent and child, or husband and wife! I did not feel worthy of such a sacrifice, I am not worthy of such sacrifice. But by the grace of God and the blood of Christ I am saved, forgiven and redeemed! So on that day I had a new hope, I had something more to live for than worldly things.
I continued to grow and feed upon the word, as I said I was involved in a daily Bible study, and was attending five services a week or more. I spent over seven months in jail, during that time I made it all the way through the Bible both Old and New Testaments. I was thankful for the time I was given in jail, because it gave me the opportunity to learn who and what God was and what Christianity was. While in jail I Made a promise to God of my life, and also to finish reading the whole Bible before I got out. The day before I was released, I was still finishing the last few chapters of Revelation.
In the time I was in jail I was with a lot of �Christians.� Some got out and turned there life around, some got out and went back to there old ways, but my life was forever changed for the better because of spending that time in jail. I hate my self for doing what I did to get put in there, but at the same time I am grateful for the opportunity to discover who Christ is and what he had done for me. I am ashamed of what I did to get in there, but through Christ I am forgiven. My sin has been washed away by the blood of Christ, and I have been redeemed through his sacrifice. I have turned away from the sin I was living in and try not to do anything that would not be Christ like. I know I am not perfect, but I try to be as perfect as I can be. I still make mistakes once in a while, but I try to do my best and keep Christ at the center of my life.
Since being released from jail in November of 2006 I have been attending one church or another regularly. As soon as I was released I called my friends and went to church the following Sunday. Partaking in close fellowship is very important to me. For the past two years Gods has always put friends in my life that could help me to grow and become stronger in my faith.
Very inspiring, I am so glad that you had a chance to learn the beauty of God's love. It is wondrous how God planned that for you and placed you in the right moments to help lead you to Him. As it says in Psalms 16:11 "You make known to me the path of life;in your presence there is fullness of joy;at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Thank you for sharing your story.
My story is not nearly as exciting.
I was raised in a Christian home, going to church every week and learning about God all the time. I made the choice to be baptized at the age of Nine and a half, but I did not feel or act differently. I got teased for my faith in school, but it never occurred to me the depth of the choice I made at that time.
When I went into high school, I joined the Christian club on campus, and was encouraged to start a devotional reading every night that I followed carefully.
I started a devotional for teens and found this one night where the study was on mistakes. It explained how God loved us, even when we had made mistakes and done crazy things. In my heart, I had done things that I was not proud of like treating others poorly, lying about things, and so forth. I knew that God loved me, but it made it so clear that He forgave me despite my shortcomings and He would be there despite what was around me.
From that point on I stuck closer to my faith and though I still got teased and mocked for my beliefs (which still happens today at some points), I do not back down. God has given me the strength to stand for Him and to not doubt His love in my life. My faith grows stronger everyday and continually learns more about Him and His Word.
God has truly blessed me and opened my heart to those who don't know Him so that they might reach out to Him.
@JESUS LOVES YOU, I don't mind answering, jail was not that bad, to me it seemed like an extra long summer camp( i have never been to a summer camp) the guys in jail were not that bad, of the ~24 guys i was with 8-10 were doing a daily bible study, it was great God put me in a place where i could learn about him and grow in my relationship with him, it was scary at first, but once i was seeking god everything changed, my whole life, my perspective and everything about me, many of the guys turned back to the ways of the world, but not me, for me it was an everlasting change!:angel:
@ EVERBODY!!!
do you have a Story to share about accepting Jesus as your savior? please post it to encourage each other as we are called to do! :waving:
My parents weren't christians when I was born. My mom had been raised a catholic (and as a result, I was baptized as an infant) and my dad had been to church once in his life. My mom and I were catholic in name only, though.
My dad was in the Air Force at the time, so we moved around a lot. I was born in Oklahoma, spent my preschool and kindergarten years in Belgium, my first through fifth grade years in Nebraska, and sixth through twelth grade years in Minnesota, which by that time, my dad had retired so he could move closer to my grandfather, who had cancer.
Up through sixth grade I had gone to the public schools. It was in sixth grade that I developed depression and talked about killing myself. Even though I never really thought about how I would do it or even attempted to do it, my parents were pretty scared about the whole issue. They tried different things to try to help get over the depression: sending me to psychologists and psychiatrists, putting me on medication, etc. None of it seemed to help. Through it all, I thought that God hated me.
Then my parents started looking into different schools, since the public school classrooms were large (30+ kids) and several of them were constantly threatening to kill me. Of course, the schools didn't care, because I was causing too many problems myself. (Sorry, that was a bit of a rabbit trail.) They eventually found a small christian school in the area and decided to send me there, even though we didn't believe what they did. Of course, I didn't want to go, but I wasn't given a choice.
I remember my first day there, out of over 100 students, only two were friendly to me (one of them, ironically, was kicked out a year later and has been in and out of jail). My classmates were very cold to me for the first couple of months. Then they found out I wasn't a christian, and immediately began to shove the Gospel down my throat when I clearly wasn't ready for it.
Then, on November 17, 1999, following a chapel service at the school, I finally was convicted of my sins. I told the principal that I wanted to accept Christ as my Savior, and he took me to see the Senior Pastor at the church, of which the school was a ministry of. The Pastor led me through the Romans Road, and I accepted Christ as my Savior that day.
When my mom came to pick me up, I told her that I had gotten saved, which confused her. I told my dad when he got home from work, and his reaction was the same. However, we started to going to the church, and the Holy Spirit worked on my parents. In March 2000, they both accepted Christ as their Savior, and a couple months later, we were baptized as a family.
I remained at the christian school until I graduated, and have been attending a christian college since then, completing a Bachelors and now working on a Masters. I'm excited to see where the Lord will lead me after graduation next May. :glow::peace:
*doesn't mean that I didn't want to share, it's just, it's pretty long lol enjoy the read! :applause:*
I got saved back in 2006. My main family was Buddhist, my big family are mostly Buddhist as well. When I was 8, my sisters took me to the Sunday School. Then my parents found out that my sisters were already baptized and they hit the roof. My Dad slapped my sister and it was the first time I saw violance at home, I was so scared until there was no sound came out from my mouth. I had always been Daddy's little girl and seeing my Dad got that angry I was so scared. Tho I wanted to go to the Sunday School but I was still scared that my parents would be angry with me like they got angry with my sisters, so I remained Buddhist. Then I turned to 12, there was a school assignment in going to the services at the place we worshipped, I came to my Mom hoping that she would agree of letting me going to the church. She did give me a permission of going to the church but with alot of rules and conditionals, so I gave up and went to the Temple instead of fighting with her. I remember praying that if God wanted me to become a Christian, He would send me a Christian husband.
Then when I was 17, I went to Singapore to accompany my sister for a month. After they were baptized someway somehow my parents realized that there was nothing they could do to change their belief. The sad thing was, my Mom once said to me that even though all her children could not be all Buddhist, at least her oldest and youngest child would remain Buddhist (my sisters were the middle children). My sister attended a church in the mall, called the New Creation Church (newcreation.org.sg), and she asked me whether it would be okay if she attended the service in the Sunday. I said I did not mind, I decided to go with her rather than doing around the mall by myself, after all it was only an hour service, not that long. Then on the last day I went to the church before I came back home, there was a couple singer from Australia singing a very beautiful song, I did not remember all the lyrics but there was this words, �There�s a love you might not understand, the kind of love that this world can�t have. And your heart must to know this kind of love. There�s a love waiting for you here, the kind of love where there is no fear.� When I heard that suddenly tears were just flowing down in my cheeks and I could not stop crying. I remember that there was a kid standing in front of me watching me crying with weird look. Maybe it looked like I was a little too much but I just could not stop the tears. Then, my prayer changed to, whomever my husband later, he should be a Christian, then my parents would not mind for me to convert to a Christian.
After that, i joined the Temple and even became a Sunday School Teacher, I joined it since my friends were there and my sister in law was once a Sunday School Teacher as well, so I thought why not. Then, after serving for over a year I got really bored and just stop attending the Temple. I did not feel any peace, I never found what I was looking for. My Mom realized that I was not actively involved in the Temple anymore and one day she came to me and asked why would not I become a serious person on one religion. She did not mention any religion, so I thought it was a sign for me on having my freedom in choosing my own religion. Then I started to read the Bible, and after that everything just fell into its places and I could see that it was God�s hands that were directing me closer to Him. It�s always Him, and we could love Him since He first loved us :) So, now here I am, as His precious daughter ;)
I know it took me 12 years to realize that He was the One and Only, but He never gave up on me and He remained faithful and He proved how much I meant to Him, He proved the Cross to me. And, as far as I live, to accept Him as my personal Saviour and Lord, was the best decision I ever made in my life!
I love seeing such stories about how led people to Himself!:glow:
There can be a long version and a short version... I will go with the short one!
I grew up in church but I was not a christian and either was my mom really, a dad was not in the picture. My mother remarried when I was 10 years old and it sent me spinning... I started doing drugs and alcohol but the biggest thing I got caught in was depression and self hatred.
When I was 14 I was at another church service I was forced to attend but God caught me there... the story of Gideon and the Angel of the Lord calling him out of hiding to be a warrior! I wanted that... I was tired of my life so I went up accepted Christ.
The next day at school I told my old friends (druggies and such) I would no longer be hanging out with them... I went and found the christian and made new friends. My life style on the outside changed. I became very involved with youth, missions and everything I could!
What I found harder to change was the inside... for another 6 years I struggled with self mutilation secretly! God is faithful though and brought it out in a dramatic way that really humbled me and forced me to choose... YES? or NO?. I choose YES... yes to help, yes to working through the issues, yes to overcoming.
That was 6 years ago. 3 years ago was the last time I hurt myself. I have lots to learn still but God is a gentlemen and never gives more then I can handle. It has only been almost 2 years since I can openly share about my story without it being a temptation for something more... God is faithful, God gives victory!!:yay:
@Rachel: awesome story! Doesn't druggies always find it hard to stop using drugs? Some need to go on a rehabilitation center? And you are a beautiful lady, no one would notice you of an ex junkie =) Jesus is truly Lord!
For me actually drugs were not such an issue BUT I was not caught up in a lot of really hard drugs. God was an incredible motivator to just change at the time... and he also used a lot of those who were "supplying" I told them no more... and they were serious about that for me as well... they wanted to see me change to! - only God's Grace!
@kaynine great testimony, i am glad to hear how god worked on you and am glad to have you as a brother! Praise be to God!
@JesusLovesYouAndMe He who has begun a good work will see it through to completion! it all started with going to Sunday school! wow!it seems the seed was planted, and it took time but it eventually grew!
@rachel_dawn, something i have learned is that regardless of our past we have a new life in Christ!, your testimony reminds me of a christian movie called "to save a life" it is a great movie, and any that have not seen it would greatly benefit from watching it! there is now no condemnation for those who are in the Lord!!this is something i have had to learn, for me it is sometimes hard for me to share my story!
@EVERYONE; reading these stories is a great encouragement i thank you all for posting, and hope to see more post and more stories!
