I grew up in a family that never went to church, never even talked about God. I had no idea who Jesus was. The first time I ever really had an experience in a church, was going to a kids group at a church with my cousins in elementary school. All this group meant to me, was bringing my bible with to get a stamp in the back, so I could get some free stuff after a while. I don’t even think I knew what the bible was!
In sixth grade, my friend at the time was attending a summer camp with some friends. I heard that they had horses there, so I begged my mom to let me and my twin go. (I was obsessed with horses.) This camp turned out to be a Christian camp. That summer was the first time I ever learned about God. I went home after that feeling a little different, but it didn’t change my life yet. I didn’t have anyone at home to help guide me towards God.
The summer after that I didn’t’ go back to that camp, so I went that year without God in my life. For some reason I still don’t know why, my sister and I decided to go back to that camp the next year by ourselves. That year I was really introduced to Jesus, and for the first time I said the prayer to accept Jesus as my savior. After that summer, it changed me for a little bit, but then I just continued to live my life without Jesus. I was in 8th grade, and all I wanted to do was have fun with my friends.
I continued to go to that camp every summer, and every year it would change me for a little bit, but I would always go back to living in a worldly way. I was a “Christian” when it was convenient. My freshman year of high school, I had a lot of friends. I thought I was pretty popular. I didn’t realize at the time that those friends would get me involved in things that weren’t the greatest for me. I started smoking, cigarettes and marijuana, drinking and getting drunk, taking pills of all sorts, and doing things with guys that I really shouldn’t have. I didn’t regret any of this. I knew it was wrong, but I was still in the stage of my life where I was convinced that since I wasn’t having sex, everything I was doing was okay.
Of course, as soon as summer came around and I went back to camp for a week, I would change for the rest of the summer, but as soon as I got back around my friends I went back to my old ways. This went on through my sophomore, and most of my junior year. The end of my junior year I started to gravitate more towards wanting to do the right thing. My senior year, I was still smoking and swearing, hanging around with the same people. But I was starting to realize how wrong everything I was doing was.
It wasn’t until the summer after my senior year, that I really changed. Up until this point, I thought I was a Christian. But I don’t consider myself one until this summer. Because I was too old to camp now, I volunteered at this camp for four weeks. This is when I think my life really changed. I really committed myself to the Lord that summer, and when I came home I wanted to glorify the Lord with everything.
I erased the end of this due to family reading it, and I don’t feel comfortable with that yet. If you’d like to know the rest feel free to message me.
