What was life like before you met Jesus?
Before I met Christ, I always searched for validation and acceptance in others. I struggled with comparison, and confidence, and looked to please others to fit in and make those around me happy. I have always been someone who likes to help others and put in more effort than what is reciprocated. I lacked happiness, confidence, and peace. I was filled with so much anxiety and depression. I was lost, and I tried pouring into others around me and hanging around people who didn’t add to my life (at the time, I was in a relationship that was taking more from my life than it was adding). I felt empty and lost. I couldn’t recognize who I was anymore, and my family noticed.
How did you meet Jesus?
I have always believed in God and knew there was a God, but I never knew what a difference having a relationship with Christ would make in my life. My mom is my biggest role model because I watched Christ change her life and mind. I came to Christ about a year ago when I was going through a tough breakup and just overall felt lost. At the time, one of my very close friends invited me to go to church at Veritas with them, and the environment was something I had never experienced before. I had always felt so weighed down and just heavy with anger and stress. That day, Jordan was preaching about discouragement and how we must give up control to have peace and guidance. That message struck me because it targeted precisely what I was going through. Later on, I just remember right after communion, when I was worshiping, I suddenly felt the weight lifted off my shoulders and broke into tears. I felt this love and presence with me that day, and I knew it was God. It made me come to realize that God removed me from the situation I was in, because He has better! Ever since that day, I have continued to pursue Jesus through prayer, confession, reading the Word, and growing toward a life of love and peace with Christ. I have been working to trust in him and give him all my burdens. We all have our days where we struggle. Christians are not perfect, but knowing we are perfect to him, nothing else matters! I think a few verses that have stuck with me and what I’ve gone through in life is, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him (James 1:12)” and “Fear not, for I am with you (Isaiah 41:10)”. It helps me to trust that no matter what, he loves me and no matter what I go through, he will always be there even when no one else is.
After being saved by Jesus, what is your life like now?
Once I started living for Christ, I have seen so many things in my life change. Now, I only surround myself with people who add to my life and do more things that make me happy. I feel more confident and careless about what others think of me. My anxiety and depression have diminished. I have started pouring more into the power of prayer and reading the truth. When situations arise, I try to reflect and ask God what he is trying to reveal in my life. Knowing that I am fearfully and wonderfully made to Him, and He has a plan for my life, gives me so much peace! I have also met someone who wants to build a life and relationship with Jesus. There is so much goodness that has been added to my life through a life with Christ that I would have never imagined was possible a year ago! Being forever changed and having the perspective I do now is a happiness like no other, and I believe that taking this next step is right for me to grow even more in my faith! I know that I have eternal life through Christ because Colossians 2:13-14 says, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”