Aletheia

This was my testimony I spoke at my baptism in 2000.

I was very young when I accepted Jesus into my life as my Lord and Savior. I faintly remember praying with my mom one night before I went to sleep. I'd heard the gospel in Sunday school and from my parents. I believed it on their authority because I was only a kid. The gospel to me then and now is basically contained in Romans 6:23. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." So, I prayed and asked forgiveness and it was given. After that I was different inside, but it didn't show much until my freshmen year at Valley Christian. God had great plans for me that I never knew. I made excellent friends at Valley and my life has changed so much. I now have a passion for God and love Him and know Him deeply. I am challenged almost daily to become more like my Savior. I don't cuss anymore or do many of the things I used to, but earlier this year I struggled with an addiction to pornography that with Jesus fought with me and it is almost completely overcome. I struggle daily with many other things that are common to everyone like lying, lust and laziness. There was a 2 month or so period of time about 5 or 6 months ago when I lost sight of the love in Jesus that I knew as a child. I focused on His judgment but forgot His mercy. It was very hard to pray because I didn't feel that God was there. I longed for punishment when I sinned because I knew I deserved it. But then, in Indiana at the Evangelical Free Church National Youth Conference, God touched my heart and sucked me up right into His presence. He reminded me of His love and forgiveness by making it real to me that He took my place on the cross and took my punishment for me. I now experience that true love that He has in the awesome forgiveness that He gives me when I fall time and again. I am daily tempted to do the things that I used to do and sometimes I give in, but those times are becoming fewer and fewer the more time I spend with God and in His word.

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