My Testimony

I grew up in a "Christian" home, and from the time I was two days old until now I have been in church. My dad got saved when I was 6 and my mom got saved when I was 14. I've made countless professions of faith, but none of them were real.

When I was nine, I had just come back from a week at our family camp. I had a bad dream, I was scared, so I went into dad and mom's room and told dad that I wanted to be saved. So I prayed, and I went by that testimony that I was saved. I convinced myself I was saved. "Alright, I prayed this prayer, I go to church, I must be saved now."

But nothing really changed.

I SAID I had changed, but in the back of my mind there was always a "what if?" What if Jesus would come back? What if I died tonight while I sleep? There was always a fear. I would call out to mom or dad and when they would answer I'd say "Oh, nothing, I just wanted to know where you were." I thought they would be raptured up and I would be here left alone. I was miserable.

In 2005, our church's youth group went to a camp in West Virginia for a week. I had been under conviction for a while-my mom and best friend had gotten saved, how could I not be? I sat throught Sunday night, Monday morning, afternoon, and evening, and then Tuesday came. I didn't sleep well Monday night, and when we got to chapel, man, I was a wreck. The conviction was so thick, you could have cut it with a knife.

Before the preaching, there were testimonies. My best friend stood up and said how it was before she got saved and what the Lord did for her, and when she was saying what it was like before the Lord saved her, she was describing exactly how I was feeling! Bro. Tony Jones got up and started preaching about salvation-I'm thinking 'oh, great, just what I need!' And actually, it was.

I didn't get halfway through the service. I felt God tugging, so, I decided to make a bargain with Him. I said, "Lord? If You really want me to get saved..." I didn't get any farther. He tugged again, "OK, Lord, I know I need to be saved, but I don't want to go up there by myself. I'll go get saved if someone else will go up first." See, I tried working out a plan, and the plan didn't work out.

I got so uncomfortable sitting there thinking 'everyone's gonna laugh at me, they're gonna think I'm crazy!' Then I heard God say, "If you don't get saved today, there will never be another chance." And, suddenly, nothing mattered anymore, I didn't care what others thought of me. I ran to the altar, well as best as I could run from the second row, and I tumbled down there and asked the Lord to save my rotten life.

He did. I have never been the same since, I've got a peace in my heart that will never leave, I've got a song in my heart that I can sing whenever I want. The Lord has truly blessed me. So much more than I asked for. Praise God!