My Salvation Story

Today over at Through Clouded Glass, Callie is hosting a link-up for us to all share our Salvation stories. So many times I mention my salvation or faith in Jesus Christ, but I've never actually taken the time to put my testimony out there for the world to see.

So here it is, the story behind the biggest & most important decision I've ever made in my life...

Unlike some Christians, I honestly don't know the exact date or even the exact year of when I accepted Jesus as my personal savior. As I've thought about it over the years I can tell you that I was probably 11 or 12 and it happened at VBS. While I can't recall the exact date, I can tell you almost every single detail of how it happened.

When I was in elementary school my mom was the director of Vacation Bible School (VBS) and so I spent a lot of extra time at the church during that week of singing, crafts, & recreation. I remember one evening afterwards going into my parents' room and asking several questions, and then I remember asking more questions of my mom the next morning before we headed off to church.

Apparently, my mom knew that I was oh so close to making a big decision and she asked my pastor to speak with me. I'm not gonna lie, I was so nervous as I went into his study & talked about what it meant to be a Christian, a follower of Christ. I remember repeating a very simple "sinner's prayer" after we talked and when I walked out of his office I was so excited to be able to call myself a Christian!

Being in elementary school when I made this decision, I honestly can't say that there was this HUGE change in my life when I became a Christian...while I was certainly a sinner, I hadn't been some radical child who was making incredibly poor decisions. However, I knew I needed Jesus in my life and I also knew I wanted to go to heaven...and a personal relationship with Christ was the only way I was going to get there. Because as a small child of course you want to go to the good place and not the bad place!

Obviously as I grew up, I went through the peaks & valleys of my Christian walk. I had those moments when I was on fire for Christ and ready to share my faith with anyone who walked by. Of course I also had those times when I was a typical high school student with my own version of rebellion (even if it was a little more calm than what most might consider rebellion). I was always involved in youth group & managed to be a 'good kid' even in the craziness of high school.

As I graduated and went onto college, I really feel like I came into my own as a Christian girl. During the second semester of my sophomore year, I joined Campus Crusade for Christ and it changed my life. It challenged me to be a better person & to strive to live like Christ instead of just going through the motions of daily living. It was with Crusade that I really feel like I grasped what it meant to be a Christian and why that decision I had made all those years ago was so important.

I could go on and on about how God has put incredible people in my life to push me to be a better person and how those same people have helped me to find my place. Just as one incredible example...one of my best friends' Jennifer I met in a college class...she was involved in Crusade & I decided to join her...we lived together for 2 years and became great friends...and it's actually she & her husband who are the reason that Hubby & I first visited Northbridge Church. While she & I aren't in small group together, it's because of her that Hubby & I have found a place where we feel like we belong. We've learned so much about ourselves & the importance of relying on Christ in every single aspect of our life.

God does some absolutely incredibile things if we'll just get out of the way and let Him have His way with our everyday life...Living a life without Christ is hard for me to even imagine, and something I would never want to experience.

~Go check out Callie's blog for some more fabulous salvation stories!