My Testimony

I've just turned in my first official draft of my testimony to our team leader who will need to review it to make sure it translates well.  I'm going to post it below but keep in mind, this is really a condensed version and written as simply as possible.  If you want more details, let me know and I'd be more than happy to share :)

There was a time in my life when I did not believe in God. I did whatever I wanted and believed that there were no real consequences for any of my actions. This is how I lived for many years of my life. I have always enjoyed reading books and one day I started a reading a book that was talking about God. It described how he was not happy with man and how he will judge everyone after they die. And it talked about the end of the world and how everyone will either be on God’s side or not. There was no in between and it did not matter how good you thought you were because you had still broken God’s laws.

When I first read this I became a little alarmed. I had always thought that even though I didn’t really believe in God, that if there was a God, I had done more good than bad in my life and he would let me into heaven when I died. After all, I knew lots of people who had done much worse things in life than me. I did not believe what I was reading and so I picked up a bible and read it for myself to see if the things it said about God were true. And they were! I started to think that I might be in trouble because the bible said we had all done things that were offensive to God and that no one was good enough to get into heaven.

In the Bible in Proverbs 1:7 it says that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. And as I became afraid of what might happen to me when I died I started to read the bible more. I wanted to know what God had to say about heaven and hell. I read that God himself became man and took my punishment for all the wrong I had done. He died for my sins and that if I accepted this gift he gave to me and trusted him and followed him then I would be saved. I would be able to go to heaven even though I had done so much wrong in my life.

So I took a chance and decided to give my life to Jesus and the freedom and peace he has given me since then is amazing! I no longer fear death because I know that by trusting in Jesus, even when I die I will be saved into eternal life. I don’t have to worry about all the bad things I’ve done in my life because God has forgiven me because I have accepted Jesus as my savior. The Bible says in Romans 8:1-2 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

I used to be afraid of dying and many other things in life but Jesus has freed me from my fears. One of the things I used to really be afraid of was flying - mostly because I thought crashing in a plane would be a horrible way to die. I would be so scared on the airplane that I could never really relax. Then one day, God showed me that I no longer needed to be afraid. 2 Timothy 1:7 says “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

God told me that if I really trusted in him and believed that what he did was always good, then I should not be afraid to die – even in a plane crash. God completely took away my fear of flying! In fact, he took away all my fears because I know that he loves me, that his plan is perfectly good, and that I can trust in him for all things that happen – both good and bad. I no longer need to worry about the things in this life because God has given me his perfect peace. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”