Me and my story!

When i was young i never went to church! My family dont do church! so i didnt know anything about God and Jesus! When i went to high school i became friends with a girl called Lisa, she isnt a christian but she went to Scripture union! i went along a cupple of times but it wasnt really my thing i felt very intimadated! She went to a youth fellowship on a Sunday Night to, she kept trying to get me to go along but i kept making excuses! eventally i ran out of them though. So one Sunday i went along. It was okay not amazing really but i stuck with it! it was very intimadating to say the least at the teaching bit, i was so lost! After about 6 months i started thinking about God and as i knew more about him it wasnt such a boring thing! over the next year i just got to know God better i didnt feel ready yet i tlaked to people i knew about it. In June of 2005 i went to Frenzy a christian music festival in Scotland!!! it was amazing i had third day and david crowder band stuck in my head for well theyre stil them it really opened my eyes aswell! Neways after that day i thought about God and what Jesus had done for me so much but YF were on Summer hols. so i had no-one to ask what i should do about it! when yf when back in September i spoke to 2 of my youth leaders Alison and Lesley! they were great they prayed for me and when i went home that night! I PRAYED THE PRAYER ASKING GOD INTO MY LIFE!!! Now im on an amazing journey with God on my side!!!!

Submitted by Kelly on 31 Oct 2005

I've been a "christian" since I was very little. I had aways known God and had a few special experiences of him. However, when i was 13 I became depressed and i had a very low self-esteem. I prayed with my youth leader and God released from it. The problem was I didnt protect myself spiritually. I became very angry and bitter, slowly my low self-esteem was returning. I became depressed again, only this time I was worse. I was 14 at the time. I went to a Christian camp called Soul Survivor. I was released of my depression, praise God. From there on in i knew i had to protect myself. It was in November at a place called Farnham that I finally gave myself to God. He told me i was his princess and that I was beautiful. For the first time in years I actually believed it was true. Now, a year later I'm so full of thankfulness to God for saving me. I love him and if you feel like I did then know, God loves you. (Sorry this is so long!!!)

Submitted by Kate on 16 Oct 2005

I grew up in an abusive home,beaten and screamed at a lot and feeling little to no love, i always thought there must be "something" else out there but didn't think on it too much. By the age of 8 my parents split and we lived in a tough area, mum had £8-12 to feed 3 of us. She started going to church n dragged me with her, i liked church it helped me get away from my problems but as i got older we moved from house to house and i got involved in drugs, crime etc but i thought i could handle things. At 15 i started to acknowledge there could be a "god" but i was far from saved, at 16 i was heavily involved in drugs and depression took over, i thought i had found the answer when i met "L" at 17. Fell in love, plans to get a place together. However "L" had a miscarriage and it hit her hard, a lot of unknown nasty stuff from her past came out and the relationship ended leaving me worse than ever. A year or so ago i go taken to a christian camp where i laid the challenge down to God "get rid of my addictions and i'll follow you", Thank God, he did. I know am drug free, i have a better realtionship with me mum, i'm living in a new house with some christian friends and have a bright future ahead of me all thanks to him. (p.s sorry if this dragged ona bit and thanks for reading!)

Submitted by J on 9 Aug 2005

I was badly bullied at primary school and I became a very bitter, twisted, unhappy little girl. I was convinced that I was worthless and that no-one loved me: all the time growing up in a loving Christian home. My parents paid for me to go on a camp called 'Chequertree' every year, a Christian camp. The year that I had just left primary school I went to this camp, as usual,a nd I met a pastor's daughter: also badly bullied at primary school and also feeling unloved. However, she was the first person my own age to show me true affection and friendship. Neither of us were Christians at this point. One night we were in 'PowerHouse' the evening meeting. The man speaking was talking directly to me, it seemed. He was speaking about how Jesus loved us and would never forsake us, that He would stick closer than we could imagine. I sat there tellign myself that I was from a Christian home and was a Christian-and then I saw Lydia, the pastor's daughter, responding. If she was a pastor's daughter and knew she needed to get her life right before God, I definitely needed to! I began to walk up to the front and then I had a very vivid picture. I saw myslef standing at the front of a room, in the doorway. The floorboards were rotton and I had to cross the room wearing a huge burden. I began to cross the rooma nd the floorboards cracked. I did not know what was below except that it terrified my. I began to scream. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned round to see eyes, kind eyes. Jesus took my hand and chucked my burden down through the floorboards. He led me across the floor safely. That night I gave my life to Jesus. Since then I have seen such a change in my life. I have been set free from a generaional curse of loneliness and become a happy, normal girl. No, not normal: I have the King of Kings as my Daddy!

Submitted by Hannahlou on 9 May 2005

My childhood wasn't the most pleasent of them all i was abused and not being brought up in aproper family was hard caus ei was always been passed around.At first I thought that Christianity was a load of rubbish, I used to pick on people if I thought that they went to church and I disagreed with everything that they said. It wasn't until a great guy named Andrew came in to my high school and started to talk about how he used to go against Christianity and never really believed in it, he did some awful things in his past and one day he realised that he was missing something or rather someone in his life and that was GOD. Anyway we began to talk after he had finished and I realised that I have been awful to people and didn't want to be like that any more so he set up a type of youth thing in school where we could go and learn more about the lord. I went along to this club and gradually I started to go to my local church, it wasn't until 2001 that I became a Christian with one of my friends it was as if God said 'just let go your sins are on my shoulders now child, come and follow me andyou will be loved', but I don’t think that I would be here today if it wasnt the support everyone in my church has given me.So thanks also I have to thank the youth leaders of the youth group that I went to for helping me through some difficult times at home. But now I am glad that I became a Christian and am relieved to be the only one in my family because i am different from anyone else and thats how God planned it. I live for the lord because he sent his son to die for me and save me from all that is past; he is my saviour, Lord and best friend

Submitted by fiona on 8 Dec 2004

It was the most amazing emotional night of my life! I went to see the musical 'Jesus Christ Superstar' for my birthday. Words cannot describe how moved I felt by it, something in me just clicked and I cried all the way home! That night I prayed for the first time in my life, and when I woke up the next morning everything was different! It is such an amazing feeling to have found God, my life has completely changed in a week and definately for the better!

Submitted by Charlotte on 20 Nov 2004

I became a real Christian about a year ago when I looked into who I was and who God was and what being Christian meant. I realised that I loved God more than anything else in the world and he loved me just as much and that being a Christian meant that I wouldn't live easy - I'd just get the the rough times more easily when I had God by my side. Being Christian doesn't just mean going to church and praying every might etc. it's about living your faith and letting God move in next to your spirit. It was that moment I became a REAL Christian instead of a fake and a pretender. AMEN and ALLEUIAH!!!

Submitted by Jasmine on 15 Oct 2004

I was brought up a Christian attending church and such until i was about 11 then i stopped, and i went through a time during my secondary school life that was cycles of depression and lonliness. I year 12 though, i met 2 of the coolest friends, and both of them believed stongly in God and made me question my views and beliefs that had accumulated since i stopped visiting church. And i found God again, but it wasnt like id never known Him, as if He'd just been in the background, behind the sofa, waiting for me to rediscover Him. He influences my life so much and helps me in everything. He gives me help when i need or would just like it, even with my skating. Thankyou Lord.

Submitted by Tim on 9 Sep 2004

During my childhood years in Surrey, England I had a brother and pleasant home and family. I occasionally visited a church with my mother or Grandparents when we stayed with them. Such visits to church although not actively unpleasant were, no more than something that "good" people ought to do... and should do to retain senior adult approval. Once beyond the early school years, my brother and I preferred not to attend, as we had more attractive options for energetic leisure time. As I grew up my interests moved toward non religious areas and I developed ability in art, and psychology, and my perspective on the world took shape. In my teen years I considered myself "agnostic" in that I did not know if I believed that God existed, and generally hoped that he did not. I rarely thought that God had any relevance to my life, or specific interest in me. God was only as real as the people in history or as characters in a book. I was not naturally empathetic and in my early teens endeavoured to understand the hidden side of people. I thought that I could find out some of the answers by reading astrology books, unaware of the deception I had embraced. Although I was independently minded, I did not step out of line any more than typical teenagers, bored with the interests and life of their parents... I was searching for reality. Uncertain about a future career path, I was invited to a church based career discussion, where various professional people i.e. policeman and teacher etc. provided an insider introduction to their work for a small group of teenagers, I had the chance to ask questions. Weeks later I had an opportunity to talk with an older Christian man, who was a family friend. Peter, was old enough to be my dad, but was a very warm and open person. The first thing that struck me about Peter was he was interested and listened to what I had to say. When he spoke about his own faith I was struck that this was not a stuffy history lesson, but something that was very real to him personally. He explained that Jesus, was God's son and that the reason he came to earth was to save us from our sins. When Jesus died on the cross, his crime "claiming to be the son of God", it was a way God used of paying for the wrong doing in all of us and opening the way to heaven to all who would believe in him. The sense that God was real to him made me realise that God, who I had shut out of my life view, might just be for real. If he was real then I did not feel prepared to meet God, but these were my silent thoughts. He explained further that we all need to come to a point in our lives where we were prepared to: Honestly confess our guilt and wrong doing to God remembering particular events. Acknowledge our need for God's forgiveness for all our sin. Believe in Jesus who died to take the punishment we justly deserved. Ask Jesus to forgive me personally for my own sin and invite Jesus to come into my life. Peter said that the moment that he had done this himself God had come into his life and he knew that he was different… had been "saved".. This sounded like a real experience of God was on offer, I had prayed prayers as a child, but never got through to God, so wondered if praying this way would make any difference. "OK I'll try it" I said thinking that there's no harm to try it, but feeling exposed and embarrassed to admit the possibility of a need of God and forgiveness for my sin. My pride took a knock. I realised that having prayed as a child that it would be hard to concentrate and might be unlikely to work, so I set an appointment time 2:30pm to make the prayer more definite, I had expected that there would be a need to pray for over half an hour for anything to occur. As I sat at the desk table in my room doing homework, I was aware that I sensed a deep sense of anticipation building, it was only 2pm, in my heart I felt that what was about to occur was going to be the decisive moment of my life. The feelings grew stronger, this was no longer an experiment to test whether God is real, it was a sense that God was calling me to my knees in surrender and repentance. It was not yet "my" chosen time, but I could resist these feelings no longer, and I got down on my knees and began to pray. I confessed every memory that I felt guilty about and asked for God to forgive all the sins I could not remember. I then asked Jesus to come into my life and forgive my sin, acknowledging his sacrifice and the pain he went through on my behalf and in my place. Jesus come into my life I receive you and your forgiveness. From the feeling of deep conviction came a warm breeze of love and sense of beautiful lightness and deep peace. I could not believe that in just a few minutes God had broken my pride and come into my life, and was totally there. This sense of God's love stayed with me for days, I felt incredibly free. The feelings were so deep I could not talk about it, it was far too personal. Further contact with a Church where people were really alive and happy in their relationship with God,and shared similar experiences with God, helped me work out and continue to discover more about the Christian Life. Being part of church mean't deeper friendships. The Bible became really interesting, prayers got answers and the Holy Spirit brought me a deep sense of peace and new brighter outlook on life.

Submitted by Geoff on 28 Jul 2004

two years ago when i was 12 years old i became a christian at a youth camp. i hade been brought up in a christian home and i went to church, but God only seemed like a fairy tale to me, God changed my life when i went to youth camp even if all my friends cursed me , mocked me and swear for being a christian, i didn't care what they said, i wanted to be a christian,and follow God my whole life.

Submitted by hannah on 10 Jul 2004