Another Story for His Glory

"...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses...(Acts 1:8)"

"Go home to your people and  report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you (Mark 5:19)."

Giving your testimony is one of the most simple ways in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everyone who has come to live a life with Christ and for Christ has a story that needs to be told. It's your story and you have the authority to speak it. God uses our testimonies to further His kingdom. Whether we view our own story as radical, extreme, or boring, God views them all the same. He is so proud of all of His children and every story shared brings Him glory. When we share our testimony and speak with boldness, God is able to pry into the most hardened hearts. It breaks my heart to think that by not sharing my "boring" testimony, one of God's children would have to go through even more prolonged sufferings in this world before the true image of God is revealed to them.

For this blog, I've come to share one thing. Despite my previous thoughts of my testimony being "boring," I now realize the evidence of God's grace and His desire to have a personal relationship with every single person. I've also found how many different avenues of a testimony there are. I'm sure I won't be able to cover everything that has led me to Him, but this is what I've got to share with you for now...

As many people might say, I grew up in a wonderful Christian family. My parents raised me with love and taught me so much (**They are INCREDIBLE! Maybe you should hang out with them...my room is available, as far as I know**). I went to Sunday school when I was pretty young but attended long enough to be able to learn the story of Noah's ark, Moses and the Ten Commandments, and Jesus Loves Me. But that was basically the extent of what I knew.

During elementary school, I tried out the whole youth group scene and I was really confused. One night at youth group, I would learn that we, as Christians, were to love one another. And the next day at school, I would see the same girls, from my youth group, be ridiculously rude to each other and others. "Friends" became the most frustrating/stressful thing ever. Whether they hurt me or others, it became quite the norm that I would come home, in tears, because I had been hurt at some point during the day. I guess I just expected more from friendships. Maybe I had too high of standards or maybe I had unrealistic expectations? Friendships were suppose to last a lifetime, right?

Thankfully, some of us are born into a family where we can have a best friend and I was (still am) fortunate to have my sister, Staci, become one of my best friends. The downside to this was that I put my everything into her. I started to believe that this sister could also be my best friend for life and help/provide me with everything! She was the one friend I had been searching for...right?

Everything seemed to be perfect. We got along great(we still do); we loved one another(we still do); we were sisters and we would always have each other(yep). She would pave the way and I would follow her. She would make friends and then I would become friends with her friends. Easy fix. Simple as that. Yeah? Everything seemed to be perfect. It wasn't until Staci went to live in Florida for six months when I realized that I had become dependent on Staci. It was pretty pathetic actually. Once she left, what was I going to do? I soon would found out during one of the most amazing summers of my life! Oh yes!

During that particular summer, I learned more and more about the faithfulness of God through reading the Bible, going to Bible studies, and hanging out with some really cool Christian kids. At some point, it just clicked. The friendship I had always desired had a face. Within the six months I thought I had lost my best friend, I realized that I had never even begun to seek after the relationship with the One I would be friends with forever and ever.

I can't fully explain it, but God provided such a great hard growing time during those six months to reveal to me that Jesus was and forever will be my best friend. My mom proudly shares a quote I said when I was really young. I was maybe four or five. I hope I'm remembering this correctly...."God is my most famous famous friend I've never seen before."

Little did I know that I would be able to see Him in all His wonderful creations and be able to have a personal relationship with Him that would never fail. I see Him everyday, everywhere. He never lets me down; He never ceases to amaze me; He is always with me. Plus, Jesus loves me this I know. Now I finally have the friendship I had been seeking after for so long. I have Him to guide me everyday. Also, no phone calls necessary. Don't need skype. Don't need to arrange hangout times. I can have complete communication with Him whenever, wherever. Without a doubt, I know that I have a specific purpose in life. God has an amazing plan for my life! I'm stoked to live it out for Him.

Watch out world! I'm determined to be a witness, a worshiper, and a warrior all for His name. With God, I can live in freedom and confidence, knowing that Jesus Christ is my comfort, my strength, my refuge, my joy, my everything. And it doesn't stop there, folks. God has given me so many blessed friendships. I'm now overwhelmed with the many friendships I have. Never saw that one coming.

The best part, God always keeps me in constant search and desire to know Him more. Everday, He reveals more and more of who He is and who He desires me to be. He's always taking me on exciting adventures and explorations. Really! Less than two years since I've been baptized and begun to seek after Him with everything I have, God has blown me away with crazy goodness! Praise God that He isn't the type to only want one best friend. He desires for everyone to have a personal relationship with Him. He wants to give everyone freedom from sin in His Son, Jesus Christ. Another thing that's rad about how He works is that He will continue to seek you even after you've begun to seek Him.

What a life! No stress? No worries? No fears? Sweet deal! For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.Yep, and now I'm chillin' in Germany, soon to be traveling around Europe, with my faithful Friend; my Savior, my Lord, Jesus Christ.