Before Jesus Changed My Life

Both of my parents have always been strong, faithful believers, and followers of Jesus, because of this I was raised in the church. At times throughout my childhood, I prayed and worshipped and said that I loved Jesus. However, as I got older and got into high school, I started not to care about these things or think about these things. It was always a fight for me to get up and go to church with my parents on Sunday, and eventually I just stopped going. I started to care about popularity, drinking, and doing what I thought was fun at the time. While doing all of these things, I never even stopped and thought about God; maybe I did, but he wasn’t who I was following. This is how I lived from middle school to the end of college, where all I thought about was doing what the world did, and that’s what I wanted to do because I thought that’s what was fun. And when I had issues that I was dealing with, whether it be that I was stressed out or anxious or dealing with heartbreak from a breakup. I didn’t turn to God, I turned to drinking, smoking, or women. I turned to everything but God to solve any pain I would feel

How Jesus Changed My Life

I believe that Jesus started to make me think about what I was doing in my life a few years ago when I was dating my ex-girlfriend. I was in that relationship like any normal worldly relationship and I didn't have any convictions or cares about it until towards the end of our relationship. I started to get thoughts about what I had been doing wrong and feelings about it making me feel bad about what we were doing, and I started to pray again. I was still a work in progress, while I felt that I was doing better, I still had many things I was holding on to. While I stopped committing one sin, I was still committing others and not repenting. I was still doing what I wanted to do. I went through this same cycle until last year, where I would feel bad for a sin I was committing and pray and ask for forgiveness, and then go on and keep doing the same things again. I was just counting on Jesus’s forgiveness as a fallback plan. I knew Jesus was telling me to stop doing these things and repent, but I would keep doing them. I was still living for myself. I couldn’t give myself fully to him. Then one night in the middle of my sin, I felt this strong conviction over my heart, and I got this thought, ‘What am I doing? Why do I keep doing this?’ It was at that point that it clicked in my brain - I can’t keep living this way and I don’t want to keep living this way. In that moment alone, I just cried out to Jesus. I prayed and prayed, begging for forgiveness of the way I had lived my life for ignoring God. For ignoring his Word and his convictions for putting my will above his own. At that point, I told God that I don’t want to live by my will anymore. I don’t want to live the way I have been living all these years anymore. I finally gave myself fully to Jesus, and chose to live my life with the belief that the Gospel is the good news that we are saved with the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus. We didn't deserve this gift because of our sinful nature, but God loves us so much that he doesn’t want us to be eternally separated from him. He wants us to be with Him, so he sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and rise again three days later, forever defeating the grip of sin. God has gifted his believers with the Holy Spirit and a new heart, making us redeemed and justified in his eyes. Anyone who believes in Jesus and his work for us will receive the Holy Spirit. It is the gift of God that you are born again - not born of flesh but born of water and spirit (John 3:5). When you are born again, you are a new person. You love the things God loves and hate the things God hates. You don’t live your life the way you did before you were saved, you are renewed and restored through Christ Jesus AMEN!

My Life After Jesus Saved Me

Since that night, I have continued to grow stronger in my faith. I have continued to put God's will above my own, and there isn’t a day that goes by that God isn't on my mind. Scripture talks about walking by faith instead of sight, and this is the Christian life, not just trying to be a good person (2 Corinthians 5:7). And there are times when I fall, and it happens more than I would like, but the difference now is when these things happen, I feel dirty. I feel unclean. I feel sorrow for disobeying my Heavenly Father, and I bow my head to Jesus and ask for forgiveness in repentance. In times of stress and anxiety or hurt, and in all things instead of turning to earthly things to try to make myself feel better, I turn to heavenly things. I turn to God, I pray, and I worship.