Testimony

Growing up in a Christian home was more than simply a blessing--it was the beginning of a journey of faith. My birth parents chose adoption for me, not because it was the wisest choice, but because my birthmother was in Japan and could not have an abortion. God had his hand on my life before I was born. At the same time, my parents were praying for the family that God would someday bring to them. In a twist of events, my birth mother chose them to be my parents. Not a believer herself, she wanted Christian parents to raise me. Exit birth parents—enter mom and dad. My parents modeled what it meant to live a joy-filled life loving and serving God. The most important lesson they taught me from a young age was that I had to “own” my faith. So at the age of 8, I trusted Jesus as my personal Savior at a Billy Graham Crusade. For the next 7 years, I stayed involved in our church and closely connected to God through youth retreats, Sunday school, and the Christian school I attended from Kindergarten through 12th grade. However, it wasn’t until I learned to “own” my faith, that I really began to grow in my personal relationship with Jesus Christ and trust Him with the big things in my life. I took a step of faith and began to serve at church in the areas where I felt God had gifted me in Kidsfest on the drama team, small group leader in Encounter, Undercurrent leadership team, Sports Jam group leader, and middle school worship team. I found the joy and contentment of being a “passionate and productive follower of Jesus”. I believe that the Bible is the inspired and infallible Word of God, that the only true God exists as three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that the only way to salvation is to receive Jesus, by faith, and confess Him as my personal Lord and Savior. I know that Jesus, Son of God, lived a sinless life, yet paid the debt for my sins, and was crucified, died, and rose from the grave to sit at the right hand of God. It is through this act of atonement that I have salvation, not through anything that I have done, but it is a free gift, by the grace of God. As a child of God, I am called to use the gifts and talents that God has given me to reach others for Christ.