My Testimony

This isn’t a blog I really want to make. I don’t like the idea of sharing my testimony online where anyone can read it. But when the Lord tells you to do something, you do it. So this is me leaving it in His hands to do with it as He wants. Here is the short version of my testimony.

I grew up in a Christian home with two loving parents and two younger sisters. We went to church every Sunday, I remember going to Awana until the end of 6th grade. I couldn’t tell you the exact date of when I was saved. I remember when I was 3 or 4 I prayed the sinner’s prayer with my mom on our couch on a stormy night. But I honestly couldn’t even tell you if I’m remembering that correctly given how young I was. I was baptized when I was in the 8th grade, I think it was October 2013. I knew that I believed back then but I wouldn’t say I was living my life for the Lord. 

Then two months after I was baptized, the church my family went to shut down due to lack of funds, with the last service being a Christmas service. I remember in January my parents found a church that they liked called LifeChurch. (Not the megachurch that created the YouVersion Bible app). A few of you reading this might have heard of it. I did not like it there, at first. I knew people from my old church were going to a different church so I wanted to go there. But I was only 13, I didn’t have much say in the matter of where I was going to church. From the time we started going there until the start of 10th grade I only went to church on Sunday morning. Once I got to 10th grade I started going to the youth group on Wednesday nights, 621. (For Matthew 6:21). But even still I didn’t participate that much.

While most of that was happening I remember I was not doing great. I went to Belleville High School in 9th grade, it was the one year I went to a regular public school and not a charter school. I hated it. In 9th grade and I would say the first half of 10th grade I was depressed. Most of this came from how I was seen by my peers. I was always the quiet kid. I wasn’t bullied but I didn’t feel wanted either, specifically in 9th grade. I had some friends but they weren’t the best people and they definitely weren’t very encouraging and loving. However, in 10th grade I switched from Belleville to Washtenaw Technical Middle College. One of those early college schools. I absolutely loved this school. While I didn’t realize it at the time it was definitely God who got me into that school. I shouldn’t have gotten in because it was a lottery system and I didn’t even live in that county. But God got me there and while it was still a secular, public school my faith grew there. There was a surprising amount of Christian students there that were actively seeking the Lord and not just saying they’re Christians, a decent amount of them going to the same church as me. It also gave me more free time during school hours to be with the Lord.

That takes me to the summer between 10th and 11th grade. I had just started summer break when one morning my youth pastor called me saying that someone on our youth group’s mission trip to Philadelphia dropped out and so they had a free spot to go on the mission trip, four days before the trip. That mission trip was probably the start of my personal relationship with God. After that mission trip, I started spending time with the Lord by myself.

At the end of the mission trip, my youth pastor told me that I should sign up for the class we had at our church for juniors and seniors called 301. It was a class meant for them to go deeper into their faith and to build it on a better foundation than just church on Sunday and youth group on Wednesday nights. I didn’t feel prepared for it but my mom pushed me to do it and it helped grow my faith so much. To know how to have that personal relationship and start depending on God in every moment of my life.

Then, next summer, between my junior and senior year in 2017, I went on another mission trip with my youth group. This time we went to Cuba. This mission trip for me was amazing. Getting to be with some of the locals and serving them. I remember our last night with the church in Cuba we were working with, all the members of this small little house church had us go through a prayer tunnel they made, and while I didn’t understand a word they said since it was in Spanish I remember feeling completely overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. That was the first time I ever felt something like that.

Of course, a lot has happened in the four years since that mission trip. My faith during college wasn’t doing all that great but I kept at it. I kept spending time with the Lord. One of the big reasons for my faith being not that great during college was that I was mostly going through life alone. Going on Semesters right after finishing college really helped grow me and not to go through my faith alone. But I wrote about my time with Semesters before and you can go back and read those blogs. That’s the short version of how God has moved throughout my life to bring me to Him.

I’m in Prizren, Kosovo writing this right now, to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to the people here. For them to experience the love God has for them as I have experienced that love. Both talking to the people, sharing the gospel with them, and writing this blog, are all being done for the Glory of God. 

How can you glorify God today?