How Did You Become a Christian?

[seoulsearch]

Hi Singles!

I tried to do a search on this topic, as I'm sure it's been asked before... but I don't think I've seen it recently here in the Singles Forum. We often talk about our desire for a Godly, Christian spouse, but I was curious as to how many of us out there came to be Christians ourselves in the first place?

I was pretty much "born" into it, in an indirect sort of way. Many people know my story--I was adopted at the age of 6 months, and my parents had me in the church pew the first week they got me. I was baptized within the first few months of my arrival here and was raised in the Lutheran denomination, attending their schools from the beginning through the end of high school. In between, there was Sunday school, vacation Bible school, devotions at home, etc. I went through my own times of feeling close to God and then getting fed up and wanting nothing to do with the whole "system", as I saw it... I also went through phases of rebelling but yet was always too afraid to walk away completely.

In high school, my youngest brother dated the daughter of the pastors at an Assemblies of God church, which was so very different from the denomination I had grown up in. In fact, to my shame, I used to tell my brother, "Have fun at the house of Satan," when he would talk about the things going on in their church. Isn't it funny how God always gets the last laugh? You can guess what happened. My parents started going to church with him, and I slowly gravitated over there as well... I've now been a part of this denomination for about 15 years.

One of the greatest things God has done in my life is help me go from seeing Him as a SomeTHING and an OBLIGATION to being a SomeONE who is very real and has His own distinct personality, likes, and dislikes... just like any of us (after all, we ARE made in His image...) I know that may sound trivial, but I often struggle with thinking that God is a System of Rules That Must. Be. Kept. At. All. Cost. instead of being the wonderful, unique being that He is.

How about all of you? How did you come to know Christ as your Savior, what are your struggles, if you'd like to share them, and what keeps you coming back?

 

[Jullianna]

My mom, grandmother and great-grandmother were devout christians - prayer warriors. My parents divorced when I was two (I never met my bio dad) and my mom remarried when I was six, an amazing military man who adopted me (he already had four kids of his own) at the age of 6. He was not a christian until a couple of years before he died, but he was my hero.

We lived in 13 different places around the world while I was growing up, mostly southern France/Germany and Texas (Texas is considered home for my family). There weren't many options church-wise in the military overseas. During the times we lived in the US, we either attended Baptist or Assembly of God churches, a Nazarene church for a time too. I can't remember a time when I didn't know about Jesus.

I can remember that, even as a small child, I knew He was with me. When I would have a bad dream or be afraid at night, I would begin to sing to Him some little song I'd learned in Sunday School or VBS and I would fall back to sleep in peace.

When I was old enough to understand what salvation was about, I gave my heart to Him, but, of course, there were a lot of things I didn't fully understand, and in my teens, I decided to try things my way for awhile.

And then, as it always does when we try it our way, came the day when I found myself at the point where I knew something had to change, but I had no clue what or how. I looked over at my bookshelves and saw a Living Bible my mom had given me and I know it sounds wierd, but it was all I could see and it seemed to be glowing. So I went over and got it, and within a week I had read it from cover to cover, soaking in every single Word. By the end of that week I was a completely different, regenerated person, but still not sure where to go from there.

A couple of weeks later, I was going by a church I knew nothing about and before I knew it, I was calling to ask about services, etc. and just showed up one day. Before long, my entire family was going there.

I was drawn to Bible study like never before. I couldn't get enough of it...couldn't ask enough questions....I had a completely different life after that.

There have been a couple of times since then that my stubborness has caused me to take some steps away from Him, but He's grabbed me and pulled me back. These days I try to walk as closely with Him as I possibly can so that doesn't happen again. Some lessons are hard learned and only a fool desires to repeat them.

 

[seoulsearch]

This is a wonderful testimony, JLNA! Thank you so much for sharing. I would be one of those fools who, unfortunately, often needs to repeat the lessons in order to fully turn from old ways!

I also loved your story about your stepdad--I know so many people who seem to be having a lot of struggles with blending their families... it's very encouraging to read about someone who had a great step family experience.

 

[thimsrebma]

God just happened to me.

I was raised in a family that didnt really participate an any religion together.

My dad is Muslim and my mom was raised Catholic but hasnt attended their services in a long time. By the time I was in college my mom began attending a non denom church regulary. I however was too busy partying to care.

Because God is superly awesome, one of my good friends (that I used to party with) had been raised in church and was in and out quite frequently in those years. I went to church with him a few times but not regularly. When I finished college and movved back to my hometown I began going to church sometimes, just cause.

Eventually I decided to figure this whole God thing out and I began to study what I like to call the Big 3 - Judiasm, Christianity and Islam. So one day I decided I was going to pray and fast for 40 days and 40 nights and read the Bible from cover to cover and attend church regularly. So thats what I began doing. During this time period I noticed that sometimes when I prayed I felt as if I was almost not all there and when I would come to, I would be "mumbling" something. I talked to my friend about it and he told me to try and pay more attention to what was happening . At some point I realized I was praying in tongues. It started to happen more regularly and at that point I knew what I had to do. About a month later I was baptised. I haven't looked back since.

Praise The Lord!!!!!

 

[Forgiven66]

Someone had the guts to tell me I was a sinner and needed a Saviour. I may a false confession, it wasn't that I didn't believe that Jesus was my Saviour. It was, I thought I was as good as anybody else. It took God 5-6 months, to make me understand that I was a wicked sinner, in need of Jesus Christ precious redemption. But like Paul I persecuted the Church during that time. It waw kinda of funny cause the pastor of that church compare me to Paul, what a compliment.