Before Jesus Changed My Life
I have gone to church my whole life; I grew up in a Christian household. During my elementary and middle school years, I was involved in our church back home with youth groups and attending church on Sundays. I still never fully understood what Jesus had done for me or what it meant to give my life to him. Once high school hit, I still attended church, was involved with my youth group, and went on a few mission trips, but I was still not sure what I was getting myself into. Along with being involved, I still had my sin I was dealing with, which was looking for approval from others, trying to be funny to gain status in high school, and then on the side when I was alone, dealing with lustful thoughts and actions.
How Jesus Changed My Life
At the end of my senior year of high school, my cousin got me involved with SALT in Des Moines. I started attending there, and I began to understand more of what it truly meant to give my life to Jesus and what life looked like living for Jesus, that is I began to really appreciate the gospel. During my first semester of college, I started to try and get into more daily rhythms in my Bible and time with God. My love for Jesus was really starting to grow, and I just wanted more Jesus and was looking for more to learn about him. I was still living in some sin and was really ashamed of it anytime I knew I sinned. Then before the start of second semester I attended the SALT conference. Through the preaching and worship that weekend, God really showed me the sin I was living in, and I honestly felt horrible. I prayed to God, asking to take the weight off my shoulders and show his love to me, as I wanted to kill that sin and be made new through Christ. After the SALT conference, everything just started to take root in me, and my love for Jesus really just grew through the roof. I wanted to live my life for Jesus and be a faithful disciple for him.
My Life After Jesus Saved Me
From there to now, I still struggle with sin, but it's different now. I don’t feel so ashamed about my sin now; I know what Jesus did for me, and how he resurrected out of that grave on the third day. I know I have been made new and that motivates me to leave that sin in that grave because I live for Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). Now I have really gotten so many opportunities through SALT to keep growing and my mind now is truly set on growing in my faith so I can keep maturing in my faith, I see my heart resting on spreading the Gospel to others now as the Laborers are few but the harvest is plentiful, I feel the burden for people who don’t know Jesus or what it means to take him in and all I want to be is a faithful servant and spread his good news. The encouragement I have learned from this is that if I could be so outgoing, trying to make others laugh and gain status, why not instead use that to spread the gospel and teach others about Jesus? So if you're like me, really think about that and make that change; be bold in that way.
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17)