Becoming a Christian has had more of an impact on my life that anything else.
I've gone to church as long as I can remember. When I was 8 years old I remember talking to my pastor and walking down the aisle of my church, but it wasn't until I was 16 that I really understood what it meant to be a Christian.
It's not that I was a bad kid, or went through some big rebellious period. Actually, I was a leader in my youth group and even took my Bible with me to my high school classes.
But when I was 16, I went to a youth conference in Daytona Beach. I remember the speaker talking about the difference between having a head knowledge of Jesus and a heart knowledge of Jesus. I knew all the facts about Jesus -- I believed that He was real and that He died for me -- but until that point, I had never really understood what it meant to make Jesus your Lord.
It was then that I asked Jesus to be my Savior and my Lord -- to forgive me of all the times I had sinned against Him and to take my life to use however He wanted to.
The road He's taken me on since then has been awesome. Don't get my wrong, I've had times where I've struggled spiritually, times when I've messed up, and times when I've even had doubts and questions about my faith. But God has seen me through all of those times.
He's allowed me to go graduate from a great Christian university that gave me opportunities to grow in my faith and minister to people on campus and off-campus.
And right now, He's called me to serve as a semester missionary in PA, where I am growing in my faith as I get to work with college students on a state university campus. I'm constantly being streched and challenged to depend on Jesus to get me through and live out what I believe.
Honestly, I never would have imagined that I would be where I am right now. But God promises that the Christian life, while it's not always easy, is life at its fullest. (John 10:10) And when I think about the experiences He's allowed me to have, the people He's brought into my life, and how's He continues to change me into the person I was meant to be, I know that His promise is true.
