What was life like before you met Jesus?
Before I gave my life to Christ, I was consumed by a need to earn my own righteousness. I would try to follow the rules and even the commands of scripture from a legalistic mindset. This led to constantly feeling like I wasn't good enough or wasn't doing enough to earn right standing with God. I was even baptized in middle school, but this decision was partially based on thinking this was one of the boxes to check and partially out of fear of what people would think if I didn't follow a 'standard' timeline of baptism. I lived under constant fear. Fear of God's judgment. Fear of what other people thought of me. Fear of eventually sinning too much to be saved.
How did you meet Jesus?
As I made the transition from high school to college, I felt more and more hopeless in the direction of my life and my selfish pursuits. I had been feeling God's spirit drawing me to himself, but was fearful of what a life surrendered to Christ might look like or what it might cost me. I finally came to the end of my despair and reached out to my high school youth pastor, who had a significant impact on me as I saw him actively living out his faith, not just as a pastor, but as a disciple of Jesus. A passage that had been playing in my mind for a long time was Luke 14, where Jesus talked about counting the cost of being His disciple and that I either needed to be all in with Him or just live according to my own 'wisdom.' I was finally ready to give all of my life to Christ. I didn't care what it would cost anymore. I wanted life to the full that Jesus talked about. I wanted to be free from my sin and guilt. Jesus met me with grace and mercy when I opened up and confessed to my youth pastor that I had been living according to my own rules and needed a Savior to change my heart and my mind so that I could actually follow Him and be saved from 'doing all the right things.'
After being saved by Jesus, what is your life like now?
After surrendering my life to Christ, I saw a big change in my attitude toward life and other people. He changed my quiet, fearful heart to be one that actively engaged with other people, seeing them as image bearers of God. He started to change my desires so that the things I pursued so much in middle school and high school (primarily sports) were not as attractive anymore, and I no longer cared if I lost them. He gave me a hunger for his word and a desire to see others come to know him, giving me the boldness to share my faith with others. He replaced my fear with faith, giving me the desire to serve Him completely with my life instead of pursuing my own goals.