I’ve always been a Christian, everyone in my family was, so naturally I grew up in that belief system. We went to church every Sunday, prayed before every meal, and never used God’s name in vain. But, I never got close to the Lord because I felt like these beliefs were forced upon me, like I was a Christian because my family was not because I wanted to be. It was not until college that I finally made the personal decision to become a Christian.

I’d like to consider myself an independent person, I can do anything by myself and want to do everything by myself. So growing up in a household where religion was imposed since birth I was sort of rebellious. Not rebellious with my actions but more in the way I related to God. I never recognized how lucky I was to be a Christian, how amazing it is to have a Lord that loves me so much because I was too focused on how I didn’t choose to be a Christian. Due to my ungratefulness of being born into a Christian family, I didn’t get involved in church (besides our usual Sunday visits) and I didn’t have the type of relationship I should have had with God. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I started to want to be a Christian.

Once the newness of college faded away I started to get bored and lonely. I realized the types of people I was surrounded by did nothing for me, that if anything they made me unhappy. I was hanging out with people that called themselves Christians, but they weren’t living like it. Something inside of me told me to start distancing myself. This is when I started to go to church. Going to church set the tone for the rest of my week and whenever I would miss a day I always felt a bit more stressed. When I started to realize that I reached out to other friends who had a good relationship with God, the types of people that not only said they were Christians but acted like it. At random times I would just go up to them and ask questions about God, they probably don’t remember the conversations but I still have each one imprinted into my head. After reaching out to people I started to go to bible studies where I not only got closer to the Lord but met other people who lived the Godly life I didn’t know I desired.

It wasn’t till a month ago that I realized that I made a choice. I made a choice to follow Christ, to get to know him, and to start realizing everything he has done for me. With this new journey there will be moments that shake me, moments were I don’t represent God the way I should, and friends that I lose; but my commitment to the Lord has put a calm on my heart. I’m no longer stressed about what or who the future holds, I’m no longer worried about what others say about me, I’m finally focusing on someone bigger than myself, bigger than this world. I have finally made the personal choice to follow God and I cannot wait to see where this takes me.