I want to share my testimony with you so that you will have a better understanding of my journey to loving and obeying The Most High.
I was raised by a single parent (mother) and had a close relationship to my maternal grandmother. My mother was considered the "black sheep" of the family because she never went along with traditions of man, well before she could understand God was calling her out from among her family. Although at that time, she didn't have a strong personal relationship with Jesus Christ, she always recognized that He was Lord and Savior and taught me to be humble, kind, respectful, reliable and trustworthy. She always encouraged me to pray and to lean on Him for strength. Needless to say, being a single mother was not easy for her and she fell into sin that threatened to steal her life. During this time, she was still very active in parenting and was "burning the candle on both ends" so to speak. I would pray daily that she became all that God had for her to be. I believed all she taught me and knew although I couldn't see Christ, He was my strength and was the ONLY one that could change/fix what man could not. So I held on to that faith and continued to pray my mother out of darkness. I went through elementary school, high school, trade school and into the working world holding on to Jesus and trying to build my relationship with Him, which my mom continued to encourage even when she was spiritually weak and wasn't depending on Him to change her.
In 2005, she came completely out from under satan's grip. For that entire year, she did her personal study to find out who Jesus REALLY was, without the influence of the counterfeit-christ that the Western culture's Pagan Rome-inherited teachings give. She began teaching me what she had learned and because I was falling away from Christ, I wasn't interested. The things she was learning about Christ wasn't what the world believes of Him. Yes, He is full of compassion, mercy/grace and love - He is also TRUTH and the darkness of this world is extremely offended when that TRUTH is spoken. It reveals that the walk we think we have with the TRUE Christ is nothing more than a crooked path with the counterfeit-christ of this world (satan). It reveals that ALL things are spiritual, righteous or wicked.. And that, if we decide to decline to accept the gift of salvation and our obedience that is required to effectively receive it, we will be eternally separated from Christ - which results in hell. This didn't sit well with what my eschewed understanding of Him was. It didn't allow me to feel comfortable in my sin nor did it make excuses for it. After a battle of 2 years (from the age of 20 til 22), I purposed in my heart to stop fighting what God was doing in my mother's life and accept Him-COMPLETELY- into my own.
Once I made this leap of faith- TRUE FAITH - I saw EVERYTHING differently. I was in college and once I saw the TRUTH, I no longer had the same reasoning for college as I originally did. Before, I was only in college to get a better career, have lots of money, and live the American Dream. Afterward, I was sickened by my original thoughts. I knew I wasn't in school for myself nor was to take a path I was passionate about when I had a wicked heart. I learned that my desires were to be aligned with Christ's PERFECT Will. So in this, I changed majors (from psychology to communications), after prayer and conformation about what I should do. I could no longer call those around me "friends" because I became too peculiar for them. I stopped dating because I don't want anything detouring my walk with Christ and unless the man is someone that loves the Lord with all their heart and follows His Will (including virginity or celibacy until marriage), I cannot date Him. My heart did ache because things were drastically changing but I also felt peace in knowing The Lord I serve was pleased with my willingness to change.
Now, I am 26, building on my relationship with the Lord and asking Him to make my heart more and more in alignment with His Will, completing a B.A., and being a vessel to let as many as will hear about Jesus Christ and His love for us all if we just accept it!
