The Beginning

So to start at the very beginning, I'd like to take the time to write out a summary of where I come from, spiritually speaking. Its the roots that make up what I believe about God, and how I got where I am now...

I consider it a huge blessing that I was born into a family with spiritual roots. My parents were involved with church from my earliest memory. I have memories of Sunday school and vacation Bible study. I understood the real meaning of Christmas and Easter, I knew about the Bible. I took a class for kids about the basics of Christianity when I was in elementary school that was kind of a prerequisite for being baptized. The first verse I remember ever learning was

John 3:16
"God so loved the world that He gave His only and only Son, that who so ever believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life."

When I was entering 6th grade I started going to the youth group at our church, and their first event was called "Disciple Now"- an weekend retreat where college leaders led groups of students through a Bible study.
At that very first youth event my leader asked me if I thought I would go to heaven when I died.
And when I said yes, she asked my why.
"Because I am a good person and I go to church." I said

Until then, I just hadn't fully understood what God's message through Jesus was all about.

God didn't just want me to show up at church, but to begin a walk with Him that each of us was designed to have. And for me, that journey was about to start.

The night I got home from that retreat, I went to my bedroom, got on my knees and prayed to God, 

I told Him that I believed Jesus was His Son, I asked Him to forgive me for my sins, and asked Him to help me grow to know Him more.

During the retreat, I had learned how important it was to spend time getting to know God every day by reading the Bible, His Word to us. They called it having a "quiet time". I started trying to read through the little devotionals for teens that they gave us and little by little my new faith began to grow.

That time in my youth was life altering.

I felt forgiven. I felt God's love not only pouring into but also pouring out of me.
I was so excited to read the Bible on my own, literally discovering the Scriptures.
It was an amazing beginning.