Testify

As a young teen, I was weighed down by feelings of loneliness, low self-esteem, and bouts of depression. Not knowing how to cope with these feelings, I would cut myself to release some of the tension I was feeling. I felt trapped in my own mind, not knowing who to talk to or even how to talk about what I was going through.

At the time my family didn’t go to church a lot, but I had a friend who did. She invited me to her youth group, and it was there that I heard the gospel of a God who loved me and sent His son to die for my sin, releasing me from the grips death. I learned that this same God knew all about me and wanted to love me and lead me. In December of 2006, my freshman year of high school, I accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord of my life.

Shortly after that, my family decided to start going to church regularly. I learned how to talk about what I was feeling and spent a lot of time in prayer and journaling. I stopped cutting, but the depression is something I would wrestle with for years. Becoming a Christian didn’t mean that my life was instantly easy, but it meant that I had a hope to hold on to and a God who listened to my cries. Each day I had to choose to put my hope in Him again and again.

Today God is still working in me, sanctifying me and preparing me for a life of ministry. In a French village He spoke to me, saying, “Be like the sunflower, forever seeking my face.” That’s exactly what I plan to do for the rest of my life and for eternity.