L
l0v3n
Guest
I feel drawn to post my testimony because this is the second time I am sharing it with such a large audience. I have been advised to share this experience with other people so here I am. I hope it blesses you as much as it did for me. 
I began my life not knowing who or what God was. As I look back, there were many ways that God had helped transform me into the person who I am today. I was born to a wealthy nuclear family of four. Mom, dad and a brother twelve years older then I. My parents were Christians but never practiced it. I never went to church on Sunday and didn’t understand the importance of Sundays. We almost always made a special morning breakfast on Sundays but never attended church until after high school. I lived a strange childhood. I was one of those special children. I did not speak until very late. I was born with crossed eyes. I was put into special education. People treated me as such. This identity ruined my life because I was constantly reminded of my learning disabilities that were both the physical and emotional part of myself. My peers took advantage of this and scarred me for most of my school career. I didn’t enjoy growing up and dreamed up leaving most of the time. Despite the tough times, I got A’s in school and yet I still believed I still was not qualified enough to succeed. I surrounded myself with my studies trying to prove to everyone else that I was not stupid.
I had friends but I never really trusted them. The television was the next best thing. There were television shows such as Touched by an Angel and It’s a Miracle that helped introduce me to the idea of God but nothing much more then that. I wanted to experience it more but I never knew how. I remained closed off from people except from the ones who had the chance to get to know me the most. I received many academic awards for my achievement in school but there was always something missing in my life. I never really felt I deserved anything even though I had everything.
I grew up to be that intellectual who wants to know about everything about anything. I wanted to know how the world works so that I could make it my own. My family traveled every other summer to places around Europe and Mexico. These travels transformed my mind because of the diversity of the places that we visited. I wanted to know more so I vowed to study it more. I was determined to find out how humanity related to the same world so differently. It was the beginning on my search for God but I just didn’t know it yet.
High school was the turning point of my life. This was my first exposure to general religions. My freshmen year and beyond I was practicing magic, astrology and new age things. I was very superstitious. It was not until my sophomore year that I thought these practices were a bunch of crap so I discontinued the practice. Junior year I met through friends of friends, a couple of Christians and went to their club meetings. They were the nicest people I had ever met and because of that I wanted to know more about them.
My first club meeting began with my first exposure to veggie tales and I had no idea why everyone was so exited about talking vegetables that taught bible stories in a high school classroom. I believed in God but nothing more then that. I wasn’t really interested in religion at all but I wanted to have real friends. I was not aware of what prayer was or why it was important to pray to such a high being. It all began when we all stood around for the concluding prayer at the end of that meeting. I was so embarrassed to just be there. I honestly don’t remember why I accepted Jesus as my savior. I guess all I wanted was a quick way out of this world. Boy, was I in for a big surprise!
I continued to lead an awkward Christian life. I refused to let anyone else know of what I found. I followed Christ on my own and did not attend church but researched a lot about the faith. I didn’t have a bible so my faith never really expanded until my senior year of high school. I wanted the new faith to change me drastically but I spent most of my time doing that on my own. This is what urged me to take introduction to theatre class during my senior year of high school. It was that time when I felt the most miserable because I was so lonely and shy that I wanted to be known to my peers. Couple of weeks in, I was miserable and wanted more of God but I just didn’t know how so I prayed to God that night to find me a church and a community that I could go to where I felt that I would belong. He answered my prayer the next day. That was where I met my classmate Jennifer. She was a devout Christain herself and grew up in church all of her life. For her senior year, she chooses to spend it at my high school. She was not the typical person to take a theatre class because I found her to be a shy but very friendly person. It was the day after I prayed to God that I decided to talk to her. I complained that I did not have a church to go to and all the trouble it takes into finding one. She introduced me to her church. This was when I experienced my first generation unleashed concert. I found everyone really friendly and had a great time. I enjoyed this church but after awhile it didn’t feel like home anymore. I introduced the church to my parents but it didn’t appeal to them. The biggest reason was that I felt I was not going to grow in my faith here. I was at a standstill and I needed to find someplace else to go to church. I tried many different places. I didn’t know what to do so I discontinued to go to church.
My grandpa was diagnosed with prostate cancer near the beginning of my high school career. By the time I graduated, he was gone after a 4 year battle with the disease. His death gave me an epiphany in my life and made me realize that life was too precious and it was not going to last forever. I wasn’t a child anymore and this was my way of experiencing adulthood for the first time. I wanted to take my parents to church now and I was determined to make it happen because God was so real to me. My dad consistently rejected the idea but my mother was all for it. Soon there after, my mom and I went searching for different churches. We found one near our home and dragged my dad to service. We felt most welcomed as new comers and it felt the most personal so we continued to come every Sunday. It helped grow us and after a few weeks of attendance, I really felt a different atmosphere in our home but I was still at odds with God and I wanted to grow in my faith but at the same time I was afraid and anxious for the future.
I considered many different ways to grow in my faith and the thought of baptism came up quite often. I wanted to do it for the right reasons. It was during communion that I had experienced another epiphany of God’s love for me. I was given a blessing on the altar. While the music played, everything went silent as Gretchen prayed over me in that moment. It was in that moment that I was thinking about my own baptism because I truly wanted to be in the right mindset. It was that same time when God spoke to me and said to me in a clear voice, “I want you to be mine forever”. His gentle voice convinced me to take the decision to be baptized in this church. Most of my immediate family came to witness my baptism that day.
My faith came at a stand still after my baptism. I really didn’t have any real Christian friends. There was no youth group for college aged kids at my church so I looked elsewhere. I found a place where I met many people my age. It was great. Although I met them only once a week, I felt excluded by its leader because I was not a regular attendee of the church itself. The people themselves were great but I decided it wasn’t for me and left. I was became lonely again because of my severe mistrust for other people. I completed my A.A and decided that school wasn’t for me at this time so I worked two different jobs. I had this great inclination since them to continue my education because I believed that God wanted me to do greater things. That year I applied and received my letter of acceptance 2 months later for January 2010. I came to Western Washington University to begin my studies.
During my first few weeks here, I began on a massive hunt to meet people, especially Christians who were like minded as I was. I tried just about every Christian club on campus that I could get my hands on. I did not know what to do with myself. I wasn’t sure where to start. That was where I stumbled upon a game of bongo after core one Wednesday night. I was invited by Sydney to join CCF community and I readily accepted. It was awkward at first but I learned to gradually trust again and to have a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God.
I began my life not knowing who or what God was. As I look back, there were many ways that God had helped transform me into the person who I am today. I was born to a wealthy nuclear family of four. Mom, dad and a brother twelve years older then I. My parents were Christians but never practiced it. I never went to church on Sunday and didn’t understand the importance of Sundays. We almost always made a special morning breakfast on Sundays but never attended church until after high school. I lived a strange childhood. I was one of those special children. I did not speak until very late. I was born with crossed eyes. I was put into special education. People treated me as such. This identity ruined my life because I was constantly reminded of my learning disabilities that were both the physical and emotional part of myself. My peers took advantage of this and scarred me for most of my school career. I didn’t enjoy growing up and dreamed up leaving most of the time. Despite the tough times, I got A’s in school and yet I still believed I still was not qualified enough to succeed. I surrounded myself with my studies trying to prove to everyone else that I was not stupid.
I had friends but I never really trusted them. The television was the next best thing. There were television shows such as Touched by an Angel and It’s a Miracle that helped introduce me to the idea of God but nothing much more then that. I wanted to experience it more but I never knew how. I remained closed off from people except from the ones who had the chance to get to know me the most. I received many academic awards for my achievement in school but there was always something missing in my life. I never really felt I deserved anything even though I had everything.
I grew up to be that intellectual who wants to know about everything about anything. I wanted to know how the world works so that I could make it my own. My family traveled every other summer to places around Europe and Mexico. These travels transformed my mind because of the diversity of the places that we visited. I wanted to know more so I vowed to study it more. I was determined to find out how humanity related to the same world so differently. It was the beginning on my search for God but I just didn’t know it yet.
High school was the turning point of my life. This was my first exposure to general religions. My freshmen year and beyond I was practicing magic, astrology and new age things. I was very superstitious. It was not until my sophomore year that I thought these practices were a bunch of crap so I discontinued the practice. Junior year I met through friends of friends, a couple of Christians and went to their club meetings. They were the nicest people I had ever met and because of that I wanted to know more about them.
My first club meeting began with my first exposure to veggie tales and I had no idea why everyone was so exited about talking vegetables that taught bible stories in a high school classroom. I believed in God but nothing more then that. I wasn’t really interested in religion at all but I wanted to have real friends. I was not aware of what prayer was or why it was important to pray to such a high being. It all began when we all stood around for the concluding prayer at the end of that meeting. I was so embarrassed to just be there. I honestly don’t remember why I accepted Jesus as my savior. I guess all I wanted was a quick way out of this world. Boy, was I in for a big surprise!
I continued to lead an awkward Christian life. I refused to let anyone else know of what I found. I followed Christ on my own and did not attend church but researched a lot about the faith. I didn’t have a bible so my faith never really expanded until my senior year of high school. I wanted the new faith to change me drastically but I spent most of my time doing that on my own. This is what urged me to take introduction to theatre class during my senior year of high school. It was that time when I felt the most miserable because I was so lonely and shy that I wanted to be known to my peers. Couple of weeks in, I was miserable and wanted more of God but I just didn’t know how so I prayed to God that night to find me a church and a community that I could go to where I felt that I would belong. He answered my prayer the next day. That was where I met my classmate Jennifer. She was a devout Christain herself and grew up in church all of her life. For her senior year, she chooses to spend it at my high school. She was not the typical person to take a theatre class because I found her to be a shy but very friendly person. It was the day after I prayed to God that I decided to talk to her. I complained that I did not have a church to go to and all the trouble it takes into finding one. She introduced me to her church. This was when I experienced my first generation unleashed concert. I found everyone really friendly and had a great time. I enjoyed this church but after awhile it didn’t feel like home anymore. I introduced the church to my parents but it didn’t appeal to them. The biggest reason was that I felt I was not going to grow in my faith here. I was at a standstill and I needed to find someplace else to go to church. I tried many different places. I didn’t know what to do so I discontinued to go to church.
My grandpa was diagnosed with prostate cancer near the beginning of my high school career. By the time I graduated, he was gone after a 4 year battle with the disease. His death gave me an epiphany in my life and made me realize that life was too precious and it was not going to last forever. I wasn’t a child anymore and this was my way of experiencing adulthood for the first time. I wanted to take my parents to church now and I was determined to make it happen because God was so real to me. My dad consistently rejected the idea but my mother was all for it. Soon there after, my mom and I went searching for different churches. We found one near our home and dragged my dad to service. We felt most welcomed as new comers and it felt the most personal so we continued to come every Sunday. It helped grow us and after a few weeks of attendance, I really felt a different atmosphere in our home but I was still at odds with God and I wanted to grow in my faith but at the same time I was afraid and anxious for the future.
I considered many different ways to grow in my faith and the thought of baptism came up quite often. I wanted to do it for the right reasons. It was during communion that I had experienced another epiphany of God’s love for me. I was given a blessing on the altar. While the music played, everything went silent as Gretchen prayed over me in that moment. It was in that moment that I was thinking about my own baptism because I truly wanted to be in the right mindset. It was that same time when God spoke to me and said to me in a clear voice, “I want you to be mine forever”. His gentle voice convinced me to take the decision to be baptized in this church. Most of my immediate family came to witness my baptism that day.
My faith came at a stand still after my baptism. I really didn’t have any real Christian friends. There was no youth group for college aged kids at my church so I looked elsewhere. I found a place where I met many people my age. It was great. Although I met them only once a week, I felt excluded by its leader because I was not a regular attendee of the church itself. The people themselves were great but I decided it wasn’t for me and left. I was became lonely again because of my severe mistrust for other people. I completed my A.A and decided that school wasn’t for me at this time so I worked two different jobs. I had this great inclination since them to continue my education because I believed that God wanted me to do greater things. That year I applied and received my letter of acceptance 2 months later for January 2010. I came to Western Washington University to begin my studies.
During my first few weeks here, I began on a massive hunt to meet people, especially Christians who were like minded as I was. I tried just about every Christian club on campus that I could get my hands on. I did not know what to do with myself. I wasn’t sure where to start. That was where I stumbled upon a game of bongo after core one Wednesday night. I was invited by Sydney to join CCF community and I readily accepted. It was awkward at first but I learned to gradually trust again and to have a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God.
