Today I was just thinking back about how much God has influenced and changed my life.
I grew up in a Christian home where I was constantly immersed in the Word of God and in church. Like many testimonies I can say that I was in the church whenever the doors were opened and so I constantly heard the Word of God. Through the influence of my parents and my church and my Olympian program, I finally understood the Gospel. I learnt that God had came to earth, lived as a man without sin, died as a payment for my sin, rose again from the grace, and if I believed in Him I would be able to live with Him forever.
This seemed like an amazing thing to me. . . . so that night after Olympians club I went home and talked to my mother about this. That night I believed in Jesus Christ and He saved me.
Throughout the next years of my life I just coasted through Christianity. I believed in Jesus Christ and I knew a lot. I could quote almost any verse off by heart and give you the answers to all the Sunday School questions, but I hadn't made it my own. It was all head knowledge and not practical knowledge.
I would have moments after camp and youth events where I was on fire for God and desired to know Him better. I wanted to see after Him but it would always fizzle out after a few weeks.
Hitting my teenage years, I went into a quiet rebellion. I was quietly annoyed with my friends, my siblings, my parents, my life, pretty much everything. Looking back at it now, I was living completely selfishly and focused entirely on me and my own feelings. I thought that everything should go my own way and that when it did not God hated me and wanted the worst for me. What foolish thinking.
Through these years of selfish thinking I would have major ups and downs emotionally and had days where I was ecstatic and then days where I just wanted to end it all. . . .but God brought me through those turbulent years when I really was struggling.
After graduating from high school, I went to New Brunswick Bible Institute. Here I learnt more about God and realised how I needed to make all this knowledge that I already knew and was learning my own. Instead of just knowing in my head, I needed to know in my heart.
Junior year at NBBI, I learnt that God's call on my life should not be ignored. I knew where He wanted me and i need to willingly follow Him with all my heart. Even though I was scared of where He was leading me, He is strong and able to lead me. He knows the best plan for my life.
Senior year, I have learnt a lot more about caring for others and helping others grow spiritually. I have learnt that emotions are not a weakness unless they control your life. Through God's help I have been able to care more about other people and what they are going through. I have also learnt that God care about me even when everything in my life seems to be going upside down. Through God's grace, my weaknesses show His grace. For when I am weak He is strong. Although I have struggled with bouts of depression this year, God has brought me through all of them. He is more than able to bring me through the roughest passages of my life. God is amazing and has shown His power through my life.
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