I can remember arriving home from church one Sunday afternoon, overflowing with excitement and anticipation. My five year old mind was a jumble of ebullient thoughts as I approached my mother, who was busy at the computer. As she turned to address the incessant tugs on her sleeve, she quickly realized that this would be no banal conversation. With the most mature tone I could muster, I expressed that I desired to invite Jesus Christ to come live in my heart. In that moment my life changed and I began my new existence as a child of God.
However, to be perfectly honest, this is not the most intriguing testimony. In fact, this tale is one that you have probably read a thousand times. My story is the classic Christian narrative of a girl who accepted
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As I jostled around in the back seat of our church van on the way to the camp site in Puerto Paenasco, I had no idea the impact that the trip would have on my life. While there, I was forced to abandon the comfort zone I had been living in for so long, and in doing so I allowed God to erase the complacency of my heart. As I spent countless hours with the people of the community, I was astounded be the joy that they possessed, even though they had nothing. I can remember one precious moment in particular that occurred during the dedication ceremony of the newly constructed house. As the family tearfully expressed their deepest gratitude toward our exhausted crew, I could no longer hold in my emotions. Uncontrollably, tears began to flow down my cheeks, cutting through the dirt lining my face. As I peered through my watery eyes, I found a little girl from the community standing before me. With gentle little hands, she pulled my face down to hers and began to wipe the tears from my eyes. This little girl was the perfect image of how the Lord takes away all pain and despair, leaving behind only joy. It was as if the Lord was helping me to rediscover the joy and hope that one can obtain as a follower of
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
I spent every spring and summer in middle school doing mission work and community service. I loved the opportunity that it gave me to build relationships and share my beliefs with people I didn’t know. Little did I know that this would pave the way for a life-changing experience that I would encounter one day. Each spring my church would host a missionary event called “The Ignite Project.” I felt an urge to join the group, recognizing that it was a calling to profess my faith in Jesus. These mission trips helped me to go out
I grew up in a home with a family that attend church weekly and was active in the church family. I knew about God and about His son but I never remember the story of salvation and the personal need for a savoir. As a teenager I walked away from the religion that I thought did not offer my anything. In my thirties, my husband was diagnosed with cancer and I immediately started my negotiations with God. Little did I know that He was not a negotiator but it was during this time in my life that I needed God more than He needed me. Since accepting the gift of God’s love, the salvation of a Savoir, and the renovation of my heart, I look to God for the path of my life. I share Gods truth through my career change to a Christian nob-profit that’s vision is to share God’s love to the community through the platform of pregnancy care and family services. Personally I have fulfilled God’s call to help the less fortunate by adopting a sibling group and participating and supporting mission trips to third world countries to support his children and missions there. My final piece of God’s plan I feel lead to complete is to volunteer my professional expertise and finances to work with a mission group that provides laboratory services to third world mission hospitals. I have done one trip for them and am currently planning a trip to Honduras in the new year. My day to
Walking through the doors of the church, I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect to walk out the doors with a brand new perspective. The kids in the Agape program remain some of the sweetest kids I’ve ever met. I realized they weren’t nearly as privileged as me, but they deserve it just as much as I do, if not more. The whole experience not only helped me become aware of problems such as poverty, that is rampant in Atlanta, but it made me see that my “problems” appear trivial compared to
For the layman, familiarity with the major religions stems from the stories that are associated with them. Using the narratives that are derived from the sacred texts is the most prominent way in which our society identifies the Western religions. The Jewish tradition is best correlated to stories like the Exodus and the parting of the Red Seas, for example, as are the many tales of the miracles of Jesus connected to Christianity. This essay will present narratives as an easy method of providing the basic groundwork for the Western religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam because of their simplicity and easily transmittable nature. Furthermore, narratives impart many of the rules, laws, and moral fundamentals for these faiths, and are used by religious writers as a novel method of initiating discussion or providing a parallel for other narratives.
For the past two summers I have traveled to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico to work with Spectrum Ministries Inc., serve the city’s people, and share with them the love of Jesus Christ. The summation of people I’ve met, experiences I’ve had, and lessons I’ve been taught has allowed the city a permanent spot in my heart. Going on these mission trips require leaving my family and friends for weeks, leaping out of my comfort zone, and allowing myself to be stretch physically, mentally, and spiritually. In hindsight, giving up the amenities that I have grown so accustomed to having was a minute price to pay for the abundant reward I found in looking into the eyes and hearts of the people of Tijuana.
The trip opened my eyes and I was grateful for the opportunity to share what God had given to me. Another task we had the privilege of helping them with was building a new chicken coop. We built a new roof and cleaned it up so that the chickens wouldn’t get too hot. The tricky part was communicating that we built exactly what they wanted. Therefore, I was there to both help construct, but also help get communication between us and the owners under control.
On June 13, 2016, I along with my youth group went on our annual summer camp called Super Wow. Although the youth group has gone previous years, I have not had the chance, so I was really looking forward to my first year. As soon as the week began, I knew in my heart that this week would be more than just a regular week; I could not shake the feeling that God was trying to speak to me. Soon after I prayed to God that I was listening, I heard that one of my best friends, Madison, was going to be baptized before going home. At the moment I heard that, I knew that God was telling me that this was my time to be baptized also. At the time, I had been a Christian for about 6 years, but I never had the pull in my heart to get baptized until that week.
On a street called hillstone once lived a family by the name of the Walkers. The Walkers had a son named Jonah and the dad name Jose and the mother named maria. They were a depressing family who just stayed home. Jose woud go to work early at 6, Maria would stay home and clean Jonah would like to read books but when he went to school people would bully him. The walkers were normal during the day but changed by night they would do weird crazy things. As the days went on jonah started to get really depressed from home school and life he would get scared at what his family would do to him at night. He would stay in his room and go to school two times a week. Jonah would hate school because there's this big kid who would always push him around
After a couple hours in the chapel, we ran out of time at Compassion International. I didn't get to talk to any of the Brazilians there except the little ones when they gathered around us, but I still cried when we left. I felt so close to these people despite the culture differences. As I walked out the door, I realized the presence I felt when I walked in wasn't just a feeling of love and happiness, but the Holy Spirit, who
Before beginning Theology 201 this semester, I did not have a deep theological understanding of God or His Word. Although I acquired a basic foundation of theology throughout my personal devotional times, and my pre-requisite classes such as Biblical Worldview, Old and New Testament Survey, this course grew deeper roots into my theological understanding, which will continue to grow over the course of my education and throughout life. Over the past eight weeks, I developed a greater understanding of God regarding His character, power, and desire to personally know me as His daughter. Throughout my walk with Christ, I knew that God was actively involved in my life, but I did not fully understand how great His desire was to know me as His child
As my friend Jenni and I entered the hall of the big church, a feeling of apprehension overwhelmed us. Our feelings were soon comforted when we entered a sea of smiling faces and outstretched hands. A sense of belonging engulfed us. Ms. Shirley, an older colored woman was first to extend her arms. She did not know us from Adam, but it did not matter. She threw her arms around us. "You girls have the prettiest smiles", she declared. "I am so glad you came to be with us this morning." Words can not describe what the act of kindness did to our feelings of apprehension, and that was just the beginning.
Other people around me were keenly watching, and with no time I became one among the guys that people would call spiritual. This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord. (Jer. 9:23-24). Those who were struggling to live out their faith became another inspiration for me to explore the Christian faith just a little more; I had devoured a good number of books, including the Bible, by the time I was
Due to God's leadership, my child won a wonderful and even wonderful healthier Big blessing, in retrospect, God meant my child to be baptized. For the last time, because of disagreements with his spouse, so that her baptism was delayed for a time, It seems necessary to be baptized. Therefore, when she was baptized, the Holy Spirit changed the innermost and outer aspects of her whole person. Thus, a new born new life appeared in the pottery of God and was fortunate enough to have experienced God's mighty Led, this is the way of eternal life requires
Once I could not find hope. I still can't. That's why I leaped for joy when it found me instead. Somehow, by the Grace of God, I find myself with the only, single true hope, a nonsensical faith, a belief I cannot prove with mortal things, a book that turns a hopeless, droll, frustrating world into a beautiful, hopeful, droll, frustrating world where smallest intricacies and biggest setbacks bring joy alike.