So here is the first of many blogs, God willing. I have a blog for the World Race! Whaaat! It feels real now! OH MY GOD! My God is so good!
How in the world did I get here? It all happened so fast.
I became a follower of Christ in 2016 after years of dealing with a hardened heart and a questioning mind. God gave me a burning passion for reading scripture. The kind that just sets your heart on fire and you can’t get enough. I learned that the Bible isn’t a just a book with words. No, it is so much more. The Word of God is alive and powerful, just like it says in Hebrews. It took ahold of my life.
It was my Junior year of college when I was at a dead end. I was studying for the MCAT to get into medical school, I had 18 hours of classes, and I worked two jobs. Oh, and I was going through a breakup. I was a little stressed; chasing a good career because what else would a “smart person like me” do. But it was all so meaningless. Ecclesiastes hits home here. I was just going through motions and my brain was mush. I remember one day I was looking at my calendar at all the things I had to do before I went to bed that night, and I said, “I’m done.” Life was pointless to me at this moment. I threw everything off my desk, sat down in my chair, and slammed my Bible down in front of me. I prayed to a God that I wasn’t sure even existed. I said, “Okay, God. If you are out there, show me.” I was sitting as an unbeliever in that moment. I had the mindset that I was just going to read the book in front of me and see if it changed my life. I can laugh at that now, and God was probably laughing at me too because it did change my life, and He knew it would. So much changed in that one semester and in the next year. That semester, Spring 2016, is marked permanently and clearly on my transcript because it is the only semester I didn’t have a 4.0 (I was reading my bible and neglecting my school studies – totally worth it). I read through the new testament, the old testament, and the new testament again within 9 months. It was the first time I had ever read the bible and heard the stories. It was a lot to take in. I read more in that time frame than what a mortal could explain to me in a lifetime. I know the Holy Spirit was there with me giving the ability to understand and take everything in.
One night, I was laying in bed thinking of all the things that had been revealed to me. I could feel so strongly the presence of God in my room telling me to let my life go. Many thoughts and emotions crashed over me and I surrendered to God. Completely. Everything I had, everything I was. My life was his and has been his. I definitely did not know what was in store for me, but I was okay because I trusted him. I felt a peace that I had never felt before; it’s the peace that surpasses all understanding.
So, I was still in college, but I traded medical school for teaching. Teaching is a story for a different time. But my perspective on life changed. Instead of just going through the motions and chasing earthly possessions and wealth, I had a drive for something deeper. Every class I went to, every professor or peer I had a conversation with, there was something different. I felt like I had a purpose and I found meaning in everything I did. I felt so alive. I wasn’t living for myself anymore; I was living to give God glory because he saved me. I hope I never fail him.
Ever since then, I have been on mission. Being a servant to the Lord, doing my best to live a life that points toward Christ, and loving others. I’ve found that one of the hardest things about being a Christian is having a grieving soul for those around me who do not know Christ whether it is people who have heard the Good News or people I don’t know how to talk to about Jesus. I have also found that the closer someone is to me, the harder it is for me to talk to them. Its’s probably just me overthinking things.
Hopefully this adventure in my life will help me to be bolder in sharing my faith.
Please pray for me, and let me know if I can pray for you.
Love and peace to you.
“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus–the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Acts 20:24
