My Testimony
Why? That is the question that has plagued men for thousands of years. You see, science may be able to determine the how of things, but never the why. We know that the earth revolves around the sun and that is why it appears to move across the sky. That knowledge has not really brought us any closer to the reason why than when many men believed that a big chariot pulled by winged serpents carried the sun across the sky. Always we are brought to back to the question of why. Why am I here on earth? Why do I have to experience the things that I do? I believe that every person has to address that question in their own heart at some time.
My story of why begins well before I was old enough to understand such things. When I was three years old, my sister and I were adopted into the family that I grew up in. I consider the events that led up to that a miracle in themselves. My adopted parents (who I consider to be my real parents) taught me from a young age who Christ was and what it meant to be a Christian. I don’t remember the first time I went to the front of the church to ask Christ into my heart, and forgiveness for my sins. I know that it was quite a common occurrence. I couldn’t be rid of my knowledge of God even if I wanted to be. I remember nights that I had told a lie, or done something else wrong, I was sure that the ground was going to open and I would fall straight into hell. That was my cycle. I would do all the right things for a while, and then I would mess up. I would give up for a while, but before too long, there I would be at the front of the church, asking God for forgiveness. It wasn’t until my late teens that I began to realize that I could break that cycle. I had thought that God was only this mean dictator that was waiting for me to mess up so he could kick me out of His presence until I got it right. Finally I began to realize that Christianity is not just a list of do’s and don’ts. It goes deeper than that. It’s about a personal relationship with Almighty God. He knew that I was human, that I was going to make mistakes. As long as I kept Him at the center of life, and continued to seek Him with all of my heart, when I fell flat on my face He would be there to pick me up and set me back on track. With that realization, I began to understand more about my faith then I had ever before. During the time that I spent with my parents as missionaries, I had the opportunity to teach Bible studies and be involved in ministries. I believe that kept me serving Christ when others around me had gone their own way.
One thing you have to understand about me is that I'm a creature of habit. I like knowing what to expect from life and I don’t deal well with change. Because of that, its easy for me to become content in my little comfort zone and never want to come out. So the next thing I learned in life is that God doesn’t deal in comfort zones. At every point in life where I’ve gotten comfortable God has allowed something to happen that shook me to the core. This started with my leaving home. I went from the only life I’d ever known to the bus on my way to basic training. I never thought I’d be in the military, but that’s where I found myself. In the last few years since then, God has allowed me to experience many things to enrich my life. He’s brought people to teach me valuable lessons and thrown me a few curve balls to teach me to trust Him. In what others may see as mere chance, I see design. There’s no way life is all random events. I’ve seen God work too many times. I’ve seen too many prayers answered. He’s allowed me to make right decisions when I didn’t even fully understand the decision I was making. He brought the perfect woman for me into my life when I thought I was waiting for someone that didn’t exist. From the point He reached down from heaven and blessed a little three year old boy with a Christian family, to where He called me to His ministry, I see His hand. Christ has started a work in my life that began the moment I trusted Him as my personal Savior, and won’t end until I set foot in Heaven. His work is to make me like Himself. So, in all this, I’ve found the answer to the why question. I’m here because of Jesus Christ.