Hi, I’m Amy. I am a Senior in high school. I
grew up in a home where I was taught that the only way to eternal life
was through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I cannot remember
the day I committed my life to Christ, but sometime early in my life
I am positive that I did. Since then I have been developing a relationship
with God that becomes more amazing to me every day. Jesus is the central
point of my life, but my relationship with God didn’t just hit
me in the head one day. It has developed and grown as God has revealed
things to me. It started out small, and grew bigger. In elementary I
started going to a Wednesday night youth program and became involved
in Bible Quizzing
along with my usual Sunday
School and church services. Through Bible Quizzing especially, God
began to instill in me a hunger for Him and his Word. However, I also
developed some serious anxiety problems and became mildly depressed.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back, this is when
I really began to take my faith seriously, and understood my need for
God. As I leaned on Him, God showed me how to surrender my problems
and trust Him to take care of me. Another hitch in my life has been
forgiveness. I did not like to forgive people. At one point, I refused
to forgive someone who I thought had greatly wronged me and I started
to become bitter. Again, the Lord broke through to me and taught me
how I needed to forgive them for my own sake and that I could choose
to forgive them and leave my burdens with God. How much better it is
to live life without anxiety, fear, or the weight of un-forgiveness!
Later on, in junior high and high school I started going to the Genesis
Youth Group and got involved in Bible Studies and the TMT
leadership group. All of these things encouraged me, and brought
me closer to God and others.
There has been, in particular, one relationship that has impacted my
life most significantly. For the majority of my life, my dad battled
cancer. He spent a lot of time with me, even before he was sick. He
loved Jesus more than anything. He would spend time talking to me about
questions I had and helping me learn to find answers. His love for Jesus
was contagious and he loved to share it with others. God used him in
a powerful way in my life as an example of faithfulness, love, joy,
patience, obedience, and godliness. Those many years of abnormal life
for our family were challenging, but God was faithful to us, he brought
people around to support us, and He taught me more about blessings through
suffering. There were so many areas of my life that I would not have
grown in if I had not been prompted in the ways my dad’s illness
and death provoked.
Romans 5:3-5 says “ not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because
God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom
he has given us.”
Another more recent struggle for me has been legalism: thinking I have
to do certain things, or be at a certain level of spiritual maturity
for God to enjoy and love me. I knew this was wrong because the Bible
says God loved me and made a way for me to have a relationship with
Him through Jesus’ death and not based on anything I do to earn
it. I only needed to agree with God about my sinfulness and accept His
free gift of forgiveness. As I realized this truth, God has shown me
more of His love and enjoyment of me, even though I mess up.
God has worked on me in so many ways, and I am nowhere near finished.
When I became a Christian, I never imagined the great things God had
in store for me. Life with Him is more than I bargained for and I couldn’t
be more grateful for it.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-Romans 8:38-39
Amy’s
Story