I have been meaning to write this post for a while now, so after much thinking about writing it, I finally have! :)
"I was
brought up in a loving christian family where my dad was a minister,
so going to church on Sundays just seemed like the normal thing to
do. I went to Sunday school each week before the service and learnt
many stories about Jesus, but to me, they were just stories and I saw
them as nothing more.
I was
taken along to church, Sunday School and the youth group, week in and
week out, and was brought up to believe there was a God. However, I
did not really think about the whole concept of Christianity and the
death Christ had died for me, a sinner, until my Grandad, someone who
I was very close to and love, had died. I remember during one of the
school holidays we went to my grandparents house in Liverpool when my
Grandad was ill. It was the night that we were leaving that I went to
my Grandad's room to say goodbye. I went and sat with him on the bed
and we were both crying, and my Grandad told me that he was going to
die and that he loved me. Whilst travelling home that night and a few
days later, after he passed away, I was really made to think. His
death made me realise how short life was and made me wonder what the
real point in life was. It was from then on that I began to listen in
church, and I realised that what I was being told each week were not
just stories, but were truths. As I began to listen, I found myself
wanting to know God and learn more about Him.
In 2001
dad was called to preach at Wheelock Heath. It was after many prayers
and God's guidance that we then moved to Winterley. I hated the
decision and couldn't understand why God would want us to move away
from all our friends in Wales, so for a few weeks of being in
Cheshire I felt unsettled with the huge change in my life. But as the
weeks went on. and I got involved with Wheelers and settled into
school, everything started to feel more and more normal.
One
Friday night, a few months after I started YP, a man named Paul
Hinton came and spoke about heaven and hell. This message really
struck me, and I realised I was heading to hell because I was living
a life without God, and one that was displeasing to Him, and the only
way I could get to heaven was through Christ. Over the next few weeks
I started to think about Christ again.
However,
I didn't do anything about my life until I went on Bryntirion in
2003, my first EMW camp, where my dad was the Chaplain. I went along
with my dad, my brother, Josh, and a few other young people from
church. During that week of camp, I was challenged by what was said
and it was the week that I had committed my life to God. Listening to
the main talks and sitting in the dorm bible studies in the evening
taught me so much, and made me see that it was then that I was to
come to Christ, I wasn't to keep putting it off. It was something I
was certain I should do, and knew I wanted to do. On the other hand,
I knew I wasn't good enough to be in God's family, and was uncertain
whether God would accept me, and it really worried me.
The
Friday night of camp, the night before we came home, I prayed with
Karen Williams, one of the officers, and four other girls. Karen
opened her bible and read to us a few verses. One of the verses was
Luke 11:9-10:
“So I
say to you, Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock
and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, recieves;
he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.'
This verse really hit me. If I truly believed and asked Christ for
forgiveness and to come into my heart as my personal Saviour, He
won't ignore me, but will open the door to me. After talking with Karen, I went to my room and prayed. I asked for
forgiveness of my sin, and thanked God for dying for me, and asked
Him to come into my life and make me the person that he intended me
to be. In April 2008 I was then baptised at my church.
Asking Christ into my heart was the most important decision I've ever
had to make, and I can honestly say that there has not been one point
in my christian life where I have regretted accepting Him as my
Saviour. The Christian life is definitely not a walk in the park.
Over the past few years in particular, as a family, we have faced a lot of
challenges, and I know there are so many more that will come my way, but I know, as it says in Philippians, that I can do everything
through Christ who gives me strength. I know that through all the
challenges that I will face, He is with me always, and He loves me. I
cannot thank Him enough for what He has done for me, and now I can
look forward to that day where I will be with Him in heaven.
I was once dead in sin, but have been made alive in Christ :)"
