A Christian's Journey

Me, at 14, lighting a candle during my baptism, in Cleveland, Ohio December 31, 2000

 This week's post was a tossup between this topic and my hobbies, since most people reading this know my hobbies without asking I chose to do this first (and besides, I already have the picture for it).

I grew up in a Christian home, as many of my friends and family have. My upbringing was pretty normal I guess I went to church and a little bit of Sunday school. When I was small I found church quite boring and the sermons very monotonous, I remember my dad would draw sketches in his notes to keep me and my brother and sister amused.

I gave my life to Christ when I was 9 although during Vacation Bible School, a religious oriented program for school age children, although I didn't get baptized until a few years later. I still remember taking communion for the first time, although I don't remember exactly when that was. I remember how important I felt like I was part of something bigger and how happy I was I was doing something I saw the adults do all the time.

We changed churches sometime between 2000 and 2001, when the size of our current church Worldwide Church Of God the local chapter only being about 200 members. From there we discovered Northwoods Community Church a relatively new, modern church which was still growing steadily. Shortly after my family joined Northwoods me, my brother and sister and 3 of our cousins were baptized. We were baptized at my cousins church in Cleveland, Ohio.

I was baptized on December 31, 2000 when I was 14 years old, I remember the date because it was the turn in the year and the next day was January 1, 2001. I also remember that day because it was snowing like crazy and my family drove back to Peoria in a snowstorm.

I don't think I really understood what it meant to be a Christian until a few years ago because there's a big difference between "knowing things" and knowing and trusting God and fully relying on the Holy Spirit. I grew up a lot between the time I graduated college and moved out of my parents' house, I underwent a lot of changes and had a lot of new experiences these things changed me as a person and shaped my life as a follower of Christ. In January 2013 I started taking notes at church (eventually continuously) and this has helped me greatly in memorizing Scripture and studying the Word and learning from it.

While I won't give any specific examples as many of them are very personal and are difficult to explain, but God has helped me through a lot of decisions, guided me through some tough times and blessed me greatly. I never knew what it meant to really cry out to God until a few years ago and be fully leaning on him as a child leans on a parent, knowing this, and how much God loves me has helped me so much. Every day I am grateful for that.