I'm a Jesus Freak!

I told you how I am reading a book about being spiritually bold and I felt convicted that I have not shared my personal testimony on this blog. I figure since I am writing about what God is teaching me on here I might as well start at the beginning of my spiritual journey. So here is the story of how I became a Jesus Freak : )

I was raised in the Catholic church. I went to church every Sunday. I was leader of song for mass. I went to Catholic school. But I never knew God. Sure I knew plenty ABOUT God, but I never really knew Him personally. In fact, I didn't even believe He was real. I just figured it was one of those things that people made up to make life a little better. You know, like the tooth fairy to make kids feel better when they can't chew their food and their gums are bleeding.

So when I went to college I stopped going to church because my parents weren't there to make me. It felt great to finally be able to make my own choice. I was determined to GO WILD at college but God had other plans...

My roommate turned out to be a boring goody two shoes christian girl. YUCK! She was always going to all these bible studies and she never wanted to come out and party. The first few months I was either annoyed with her or I just felt really bad for her for believing in a fake god. But after a while I started to see her differently. She was always so calm. She was so sure of herself. She had this peace about her and she was always happy. I had never met anyone who was like that. Even if she had a horrible day, she was still happy about it.

So one night I got the courage to ask her about it and she invited me to a bible study! My first thought was, "Head for the hills!" but then my roommate told me there would be free pizza. I was a poor, starving college student and free pizza was awefully inticing so I decided to go, just for the food of course. I figured I could listen to her little bible study and find a way to prove to her that God was fake.

Things did not go according to plan. I ate the pizza, but as she led the bible study I realized I was still hungry, not for food, but spiritually. I realized that I was empty inside. I was a shell of a person that was looking for something. I didn't necessarily think her "God" was for me, but I started searching spiritually and asking more questions. I started going to church with her and God started breaking through my walls of resistance to Him. After studying His word I realized He is real.

So during Spring Break my freshman year of college, when I had originally planned to be going wild like any good college student, I was at church instead. When the pastor asked if there was anyone there that wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord and savior, who had been searching for the Truth and wanted eternal life, who knew that they were a sinner and needed God's help, I knew that God was calling me. At first I could not walk forward. I was frozen in fear. Was I really going to do this? After all my years of hateing church, was I really going to make a lifetime commitment to follow the Lord? But then I heard this verse in my head:

Luke 21:19
By standing firm you will gain life.

And it was like God was speaking directly to me. I kept hearing the word "stand" over and over again until I finally stood up, and once I stood up there was nothing left to do but walk forward.

I can't say that I was one of those people who had a dramatic, instant transformation. I screwed up plenty of times after that day. Actaully, I still screw up. But I am starting to screw up less and less. Here I am 8 years later and if you would compare the me now to the me from 8 years ago you would say I am very different. That "goody two shoes roommate" is actually one of my best friends and my idea of "going wild" these days is turning on some music and dancing with my 3 babies in our living room. I married a preacher, which strikes me as ironic. All those years of trying to get away from the preaching at church and now here I am living with a preacher : ) But the biggest change is I KNOW God now, not just about Him. And that is how I became a Jesus Freak!