What was life like before you met Jesus?
I have believed in God my entire life and grew up very involved in church throughout middle school and high school. I attended church on Sundays and youth ministry on Wednesdays, went on mission trips over the summer, and had God as a priority in mind for my future when I have my own family. However, there was always a disconnect, and I was not living for God in my daily life. During my first three years of college, I strayed away from God and searched for joy and acceptance in partying, gossip, leadership, relationships without commitment, and my appearance. I found my identity in drinking and partying and became known for these things. I was not content with my life. I was living for the world, always chasing the next best thing, and none of it was fulfilling.
How did you meet Jesus?
This summer, God put it on my heart to come to the first week of Salt Company in June. I was not going consistently throughout the year because if I did not have anyone to go with, I was too afraid to go by myself. That first night of Summer Salt, I showed up alone, joined a connection group, and later signed up to take Gospel 101. In the class, we learned how to share the gospel with Life in 6 Words and I learned that life with Jesus is not just a future reality, I can have a relationship with him now and forever in Heaven.
During Salt Company over the summer we read Philippians and a verse that has stuck with me is “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21. Jesus is better than anything the world has to offer and the most important thing about my life right now is my relationship with God because nothing I have been searching for or chasing after in this world will matter in the end.
At the end of June, through friends I met at Salt Company, God brought me to church on Sunday for the first time in three years. I am so thankful that God gave me the strength to take that first step by myself and that it has led to the community at Salt Company and Veritas that I have now.
After being saved by Jesus, what is your life like now?
I now know that a relationship with God in my daily life has been patiently waiting for me. I was created in God’s perfect image, and my purpose in life is to know God and make Him known. Growing in my relationship with God the past few months, He has shown me that drinking and partying is no longer fulfilling and has helped me turn away from that and toward Him. I find my identity in Christ and want to spend my time helping my friends and family know, love, and follow Jesus. I want to live a life in obedience to God because He is more fulfilling than anything of this world that I searched for happiness in. My strength, joy, and peace all rest in the Lord’s hands, and I fully trust that He will provide because He is consistently faithful and full of grace. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” - Romans 6:23. God graciously sent his own son, Jesus, who died the death I deserve to pay for my sins so that I am now forgiven and have eternal life with God, starting today and lasting forever.