Testimony Time

Currently, my small group is in the middle of sharing our testimonies with each other and last week it was my turn to share. I started thinking about what exactly a testimony is and why we share them with one another. I realized that my testimony is a powerful tool that God may use to show other people how He has worked in my life and could work in theirs. For this reason, I am going to share my testimony with you. Please forgive the length of this post, but I could not bear splitting in two.

In my younger days, I wished that my testimony was different, but as I look back now, I am truly thankful that God decided to spare me from a lot. I used to wish that I was a drug addict or had something crazy that God saved me from and changed my life! God had other plans for me, though. He chose to give me a life that did not have any of these trials, but rather a life that I consider blessed to have lived. I grew up with Christian parents, who took me to church and AWANA on a regular basis. I accepted Jesus at a young age, probably 5 or 6. All I really understood at the time was that you either go to heaven or hell when you die, only one of which I wanted to go to. I knew that if I accepted Jesus, I could go to heaven, so that's what I did. Most of my childhood was spent memorizing Bible verses and being a good kid. It wasn't until 7th grade that I truly understood that Jesus was real and this whole "Christian thing" was about having a relationship with him, not about following rules and feeling guilty when I screwed up. I re-dedicated my life to Christ at the Districts youth conference in Appleton, WI and started praying, reading my Bible and trying my very best to have a relationship with Him. 

Although much of my younger days consisted of church, youth group, service projects and the like, I never had really encountered God in a way that was real to me. Until my first missions trip. It was on this trip that God showed himself to me in amazing ways. When our youth pastor told us that the youth group was going on a missions trip to Tijuana, Mexico I was all in. I started the application process and started raising money to be able to go. I was accepted and got enough funds raised to support my trip. Before I knew it, the time had come to get on the plane. Here's a picture of my small group team before we left:

Once we got there, each small group team had responsibilities for the day. The night that God showed himself to me, my group had the responsibility of making lunches for the next day. As we were making sandwiches, one of our group members got thirsty and decided to get a drink from one of the water coolers. She opened the lid to make sure there was liquid in it. There was, so she pushed the button that allowed liquid to come out. As her cup was getting full, she realized the juice was not stopping! She quickly reacted with a second cup, but the juice would not stop pouring out. Thinking fast, she turned the cooler on it's side (completely forgetting that she had not screwed the top back on!) and orange kool-aid spilled EVERYWHERE! After a good laugh, we started cleaning up when someone came running down to tell us that there was a fire in a nearby neighborhood. They told us that everyone else had gathered to pray on the roof of the orphanage where we were staying (there were two levels, so you could literally jump onto the roof of the main building). I went upstairs and joined the prayer circle to see flames dozens of stories high, engulfing whatever was on fire. You could see the flames from blocks away. Not a small fire, my friend. We started praying and literally within 2 minutes there was white smoke! WHITE. SMOKE. The fire had been put out in no time, all glory to God. What I realized afterwards was that Mexico doesn't have fire hydrants all over the place like we do. The little bit of water that they are able to store on their firetrucks is all they have. Wow God, you are amazing! The next morning we found out that 3 houses completely burned down and another had about $400 worth of damage. Our youth group decided to collect money and clothes donations for the families affected by the fire. When we counted the money we ended up with $2500 exactly. Turns out that to build a brand new house in Mexico, it costs $700. If you haven't done the math yet, allow me to assist...$700+$700+$700+$400=$2500. *mind blown* Wow God, you did it again!

That was the first time I experienced God like no other. Up to this point, I had no reason to doubt, no real trials in life, nothing. I mean, all four of my grandparents and one great-grandmother were still alive, my parents had a great marriage and I didn't fight too much with my brothers. I started wondering if my faith was real. Will my faith still stand when I face difficult times? Will I still believe God has my best in mind? I decided that it was as real as ever, and when the tough times came along, God would be there. Then, I would have thoughts like "Who are you to say that? You've had such an easy life!" Still, I kept believing that this was real.

My freshman year of college, the tough times came. And they came hard. In the course of 5 months (August-January) I broke my front tooth in half, my brother was in a car accident that should have killed him (I mean, he broke a telephone pole in half. yes, in half!), we had a house fire, my dog died (in the house fire), the same house that had the fire got flooded, and my grandpa passed away. Once again, God continued to reveal himself to me, all the while leaving a testimony of His love for others to see. When I heard about the house fire, the girls in my dorm could not understand why I was so calm when this tragedy had just happened. All I could say was "God is going to use this in an amazing way" or "I can't wait to see how God uses this for His glory!". As it turns out, if the house fire had not happened, my family would not have found out about the carbon monoxide that was leaking into our home. Praise God for his blessings in disguise!

Since then God has continued to work in my life, but that I will save for another day :)

Time and time again, God has revealed himself to me and I cannot doubt that He is real! His love endures forever! He has a plan for me (and for you!) and it is never to harm us. Although the Lord gives us tough times, it is to grow us closer to Him.

Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'".