Making the Faith My Own- 10 Year Anniversary

It has been 10 YEARS. 10 YEARS (!!!), since I re-dedicated my life to Christ. A couple year ago I wrote a blog post about it on my previous blog on Wordpress. I thought I would re share it on here today.

I have such good memories from 10 years ago and am so grateful for where God has led me today. So here's the post (slightly edited)! I hope you enjoy.

"God is faithful.

I grew up in a Christian home, but my parents could only teach me so much until the faith had to become my own. I accepted Christ when I was four years old, but I do not consider myself to have truly been transformed by the love of Christ until I was 13. When I was 13, I rededicated my life to Christ while I was at summer camp. I rededicated my life to Christ because I had been through some tough things in middle school. Some REALLY tough things. Recommitting my life to Christ meant that I was not going to “go through the motions” (cue the Matthew West song) of being a Christian anymore. I was ready to be passionate about Christ; ready to give my life over to him completely.

In middle school, I was bullied. Not as bad as some people, but I was bullied nonetheless. I was bullied by those that I considered to be my friends.

I was betrayed. I was betrayed by people that I thought I could trust.

After I went through these things, I changed.

I went from being a bubbly, talkative, overly trusting person to being someone who was more serious, quiet, and careful about who she trusted. I don’t think that these changes in me were a bad thing, in fact, I think that they were a great thing. I grew more in those years than I ever had before.

However, when I was thirteen, I realized that the way I had handled these hard times was not the way that I should have handled them. I needed to look to Christ during these times instead of looking towards other people. At camp (JH Ranch), they taught about Jesus- how He forgives all things and how he can heal past wounds. One night when I was there, I realized that I had ignored His presence during my trials. I went to other people first who had to remind me to go to Christ. It was then that I realized I could not have a relationship with Christ through other people. It had to be personal. I had to make the faith my own.

That night, I forgave everyone. I forgave all of the people that had hurt me, all of the people who had betrayed my trust. I forgave myself for focusing on my problems instead of focusing on Christ. I not only moved on, I moved forward.

After camp, I began my personal relationship with Christ. I did a program through the camp that encouraged me to read my Bible every day for 30 days- 30 days usually helps make a habit. And Bible reading was something I definitely wanted to make a habit.

10 years later, and I have barely missed a day of reading God’s word- and reading His word is not just a habit or something that I "have" to do. It is something that I WANT to do. It is like breathing for me.

All of this being said, my life is not easier because I am a Christian. I have been through tough things throughout the past 10 years, similar to what I went through in middle school. But now I see the trials as learning experiences, and these experiences are often blessings in disguise, because like I said earlier, God is faithful… even in the tough times. The trials that I go through with Jesus pale in comparison to the joys that I have because of Jesus. Yes, I go through trials, but God’s blessings are poured out on me constantly. I have something to be grateful for every day, because God is good, and God is faithful.

I have heard people say that “My worst day with Jesus is better than one day without Him.” I would have to agree.

This song really embodies what it's like to live in relationship with Jesus Christ. He is with us... through all of it!"