Journey Of Faith

            I have been raised in a Christian environment my whole life, this might also have a lot to do with the fact that my dad is also a pastor of a small church here in Kingwood, TX. However, don’t let this fool you, I have not been serving God my whole life, you know what they say about preacher’s kids wasn’t far from the truth when it came to myself. While I was in high school and a couple of years after, I was more focused on doing drugs and drinking then I was on anything else. When I was younger, I knew who God was but rebelled because “I couldn’t stand the hypocrisy” is what I would say.

            Since both my parents were both strong Christians and continued to pray for my salvation, God never left me alone, and I knew God’s voice (the first time I’ve heard God’s voice I was 8 and it’s not something you forget). One night when I was 19, while I was passed out on the bathroom floor, I heard a voice ask, “what are you doing?”.  I replied by saying that I was laying on the bathroom floor. Then He told me to stand up and look in the mirror. I did what was asked, and then He asked what I saw. I looked at myself in the mirror, and replied with “pathetic and disgusting”.  His response is what really hit me, which was, “Why are you doing this to yourself? Don’t you know that I love you.” I then gave my heart back to Christ right there in the bathroom while staring in the mirror, but I also told Him that I wanted to know Him and only Him, and I didn’t want all of the religious ideology. Ever since then God has kept that request, in teaching me all about His love, and how He desires a personal relationship with each one of us more than anything.

            Christ really started opening my heart to His forgiveness and love when I went through the steps to freedom with my youth pastor at the time. Also, I started to study love through a bible study group, and the many types of love. God then started opening my eyes to how everything He does is out of His love for us. Well, I started to realize it’s not enough for us to just accept His love but for us to also get to know God, personally and intimately. Over the past 2 years, God has been backing this up through different speakers and church’s and of course through the Bible. As matter of fact, you cannot convince me that there isn’t a scripture in the Bible that in some way or form has to do with your relationship with God. This love that I receive from Christ is something that I want to share with everyone I meet, but then comes humility and listening to the Holy Spirit.

            Something else I have learned in the past couple of years is that when we try to do something on our own without God’s involvement, we will be destined to fail. I have learned that we have to be willing to listen to the Holy Spirit in everything I do. God has done this especially through my job as a General Manager for Papa John’s. Long story short, if it wasn’t for God I would have never been as successful at my job as I was because I listened to Him.

            Well, I think that’s about it. I mean there is a lot more that God has been teaching me in my life, and about me allowing Him to use me. However, I think that would be way too much too explain. The reason why I feel that God has called me to join GMT though, is because of Him putting it on my heart mostly. However, I did pray about it and talked to different leaders in my church and God has done nothing but given me confirmation and a peace about this decision.