By His Mercy and Grace

I was not raised a Christian. I mean, my parents told us that we were Christian but we didn't go to church or pray or even speak the name of Jesus Christ. I went to a couple different churches as a teen and even got "saved" a few times. I knew that there was a God and would later see just how much He was actually with me at all times. Hindsight's 20/20, right?

I had a good life and I was a pretty good kid. I was an okay teen. I drank and got into a little bit of trouble. Typical teenage stuff (isn't it sad that these things are typical). I had a boyfriend who my parents forbid me to date. We dated off and on for 6 years. (I can feel my mom's eyes burning into me through the screen right now. I know she is reading this wanting to kick my butt.) Half of it was "love" and half of it was simple rebellion. My parents said not to date him, so of course I wanted to even more.

He was the bad boy at highschool that every girl wanted to date. He chose me though. Oh, what that did for this girl with such low self esteem. He drank, he smoked pot and he slept around. Yes, mom and dad were right, this boy was all kinds of trouble.

I know, I'm talkin' about the ex a lot right now. He is a huge part of my initial testimony though. You see, it was his betrayal...okay maybe his twenty something-th betrayal that pushed me over the edge. I laid in bed crying over my heartbreak one night thinking "There has got to be more to life than this". I heard a voice in my head saying, "there is more than this...there is so much more than this, just follow me". In that moment I chose to change the entire way I was living my life and to seek Him. I mean even if "He" wasn't real, what did I have to lose?

It was only weeks later that Steven messaged me on Myspace, you can read more about that here. He was such a Godsend. I started attending church and instantly handed my life over to the Lord.

One night, during an extremely emotional college group, I laid down on the altar with some of my new friends and wept. I had never been so consumed with anything as I was in the Holy Spirit in that moment. For the first time in my life I felt whole. I felt complete. I felt saved.

I am saved by His grace and His mercy. I now serve an amazingly awesome God.

I cannot wait to share more of my story with you. I cannot wait to show you His hand in my life.