So far, my journey's been quite a simple one. I've grown up in a Christian family and have gone to church every Sunday. God is someone I've always known about and who has always been a part of my life. There isn't really one particular time that I can say I gave my life to Jesus although I know that the combination of my family, Sunday school and CYC camps built up my knowledge of his existence, and strengthened my relationship with him, and that through that I believed.I have been blessed to have had a very rich Christian heritage from both sides of the family. It was only a few weeks ago that I was at a family dinner in which we all discussed what we were thankful for. The thing that kept coming up time and time again was ‘family' and the Christian heritage that has been passed down through the generations. I consider myself extremely blessed to have Christian role models everywhere I look when it comes to my family.
When it came to writing my testimony, I wasn't sure what I would say because I don't have one of those amazing inspirational life stories. But writing this has made me realise that what God has done in my life is the most amazing and inspirational story that you could ever have. Through Jesus' death on the cross, I am now able to have the relationship with God that he'd always planned for me. I now have eternal life and this is what is amazing.
God has been with me and has been guiding me from a young age. Through reading the bible, I know that God has a plan for my life and that being a Christian will affect my morals, my standards and the way I live my day-to-day life. This doesn't come easy and there's lots of things that I still need to work on. The fact that everyone is very different and everyone has their own story, makes them unique. The power of God is shown when we hear these stories. It's so amazing to know how so many different people, with different stories and different backgrounds can all unite through God's love and Salvation and his plan for us.
So if I've known God for so long and have been a follower of him for most of my life, why has it taken me this long to get baptised? I'd always thought that the day I get baptised, I would be better. I had this idea in my head that I couldn't get baptised until I was the best Christian I could be, until I was regularly having a quiet time and until I had everything right spiritually in my life - then I would be ‘ready'. The thing that I was blind to seeing, was that I'd always been ‘ready'. It's not what I do that will get me ready, I'll never be perfect on this earth but I don't have to be. Jesus came and died for my sins and once I accepted Him as my Saviour that then made me ready. After much encouragement from friends and from youth leaders I have decided to get baptised, not only because I want to, but as a form of obedience because in the bible Jesus tells us to be baptised, not after we think that we're good enough, but straight after we believe. After being involved in a study about Baptism, it made my decision certain. Verse 38 from Acts chapter 2 stood out to me. It said "Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
So tonight I'm being baptised in front of my family and friends to declare my love for God, my desire to follow Him and to thank Him for what he has done in my life so far. He has given me a reason to live, a purpose for life and an amazing book to help me through my walk with him. Not only is this a spiritual change but it impacts on how I live. It's a way of showing and acting out what Jesus has done in my life. Being a Christian is not always easy, in fact it's quite challenging and we often find ourselves in situations where we think God has forgotten about us, but instead, it's us who've forgotten about God. He can work in amazing ways and he continues to surprise me with what he has planned for my life. I am absolutely convinced that God is the only way, the only truth and the one and only life.