Some of the teens in the Youth Ministry of First Hurst share their own stories...
Since the days of my early childhood, I have attended FBCH with my family. I knew who Jesus was and what he had done for me. I had accepted him as my savior and professed this through baptism. Despite all of theses things, I was just a young child. I believe that at this time in my life, I had not been faced with enough challenges in my spiritual walk with him to ever look deeper into who he was and what kind of changes he could make in my life. All I knew were the basics, and that I was blessed with a great family. As I grew into a young teen, I began spending most of my days with friends, but never placing the Lord in front of anything I did. And it wasn't until the seventh grade that I finally realized I needed to strengthen my relationship with him. Facing failures in friendships and failures in everyday choices, I went on with my days struggling with hate and anger. I felt as though this was the beginning to the rest of my life, and would never get any better. I had no hope. I was attending my first year in the youth group and it was the highlight of my week to go to church; for school was the one thing I hated most. As January approached, so did Disciple Now. I attended with mixed emotions on what to expect. As the Lord began to speak to me through the speaker, he told me that my life would soon be turned around if I would give him my all. So I did just that. It was at that moment in the youth center that I rededicated my life to him. I realized the Lord had been at my side this whole time, calling out my name, but all I did was ignore his voice. This time I answered back. Everyday from then on, I watched my life slowly turn around. I began putting all my worries and fear behind me and my God in front of everything I did. He began to bless my life in so many ways. I continued to give him my all, and he gave back in return, just as I knew he would, for he always had. I watched him place people in my life that would also face hard times, and they too would turn to the same God. It was no mistake for me to engage with these people. It was God's will all along, and I slowly realized that. Just as the Lord was blessing my life, so too were they. My walk with him still is not perfect today, but through his forgiveness I have the strength to carry on with each day. And I know for a fact that without him in my life, I would still be facing turmoil, and I would not be where I am right now. He pours his love on me everyday, although sometimes I push it away. He has given me everything I have, and without his mercy, I would be nowhere. I will follow my God for the rest of my life, and I shall be perfectly content wherever he leads me.
Well, where do I start... The Lord has been so gracious to me and I don't know where I would be today if I didn't have him. I received Christ into my life in third grade and it has been awesome ever since. When I accepted Christ I didn't really know what I was getting into, I knew I wanted Christ in my life and wanted him to be my "Lord and Savior" but I had no idea how he would radically change my life.
As I entered high school in ninth grade I thought I was perfect. Oh was I wrong. I thought that having cool friends and being a cheerleader would make me feel satisfied and a "full" feeling. It often left me feeling empty and helpless not knowing what or whom to go to. I spent so much time on my appearance and I felt like that was the only way I could get attention was by wearing nice things. I can't describe to you how much I yearned to be people pleaser and to make everyone happy by doing whatever they wanted me to do just so I would be liked. It felt like everything I tried to do to be liked just got me back to where I began.
The summer after ninth grade the Lord totally changed my life. While at a summer camp he showed me that He will be my only satisfaction in life. I will never be happy if I just keep searching for bigger and better things. My life now is completely filled with joy knowing that when I have God in my life I will never be searching for things to fill me up. All the things on the earth are going to end one day but God will always be there for me, even when I am at my lowest of lows. I feel like during that time I searched for so many things to find that certain feeling and then I turned around and God was there waiting for me.
When I first really started to have a close Relationship with the Lord was probably when I started 7th grade and got involved with the youth group. When I had asked the Lord into my heart I was about 8 years old. I always knew and loved God so much , but now looking back at it I really wasn't as close to him as I am now. When I started 7th grade I was really stressed about the whole thing. So, I started praying and asking God to help me in my first year in Jr high. Then praying became my best friend, I prayed all the time about every little thing. I just felt so blessed to have God with me 24/7 for the rest of my life on earth and in heaven. Sometimes I don't realize how lucky I am to have great friends and family that share the same love for God as I do.
A life without God is, to me, a life not worth living. I don't know what I would do without him. There have been some ups and downs in my life but I will always pull through with God on my side. Yes, I have made mistakes, but I just ask God for forgiveness and move on with whatever he has in store for me. And whenever I'm worried or scared... I just remember that everything that happens is God's will.
I have gone to this church 8 years of my life. I asked the Lord in my life when I was in the 2nd grade. I have been an active Christian ever since. Life hasn't been all that easy for me, even though I have God in my life. I went through a whole lot of things this past year, such as getting into arguments with my friends (and even losing some friends). But one thing I have learned is that you have to rely on what God wants you to do. The thing I don't get is that if I have a God who is willing to take the time to listen to someone like me an undeserving selfish person...then why don't I let Him??? Well, I still don't know that, but what I do know is that if you do take the time to go to God, it will make a BIG difference.
God has blessed me in so many ways he has given me good friends, a loving family, and great church leaders. But the truth is I don't deserve any of it, because I'm a sinner. For me to even speak to God is a miracle...I don't deserve that either. But he lets us anyway, and that amazes me that he would do that for a sinner like me who is undeserving in every way. One thing I have always thought was pretty cool was that when you come to God asking forgiveness for a sin, he looks at you and says, "my child, what sin?" I think that is pretty cool that a God that is big and mighty still loves everyone the same, even when we sin against him.
I became a Christian in the spring of my 4th grade year while living in San Antonio. My teacher Mrs. Morris shared with me the plan of salvation. I was attending a private Christian school that was a part of our church at the time. Earlier, when I was in kindergarten, I went to a Billy Graham crusade and "Psalty" the singing songbook was there and asked if anyone wanted to come down to receive Jesus as their Savior. A friend of mine went down and asked me to go with her. While talking to the adults during the "invitation" I wanted to make the decision too, but later as a 4 th grader I realized I didn't really understand it all as a kindergartener. Mrs. Morris was able to witness to me and I asked Jesus to save me that day during school. That summer we moved here to Hurst and I followed the Lord in baptism. My dad had the opportunity to baptize me. Through my 5th and 6th grade years, I was active in GA's, Sunday school, KIDSPAC, and Bible drill. Then, when I got to Junior high I started being involved in Band, Choir and athletics at school. I also was involved in our youth group and youth choir. By my freshman year, I began to start making some wrong choices. I was struggling with peer pressure, and my lack of faith regarding my own personal relationship with the Lord. I guess through the years instead of me growing closer to Him, I was relying on the influences of others' faith. My world came crashing down when my parents learned about some of my choices. I was just angry about being caught, but then the Lord began to convict me about everything. It was during this time that the Lord showed me His unconditional, unwavering love. I learned so many lessons and suffered a lot of consequences along the way, but I know it was used for my good. Since I've been in high school this year, He has really challenged my faith by allowing me to have several friends and acquaintances that either are not Christians or have different beliefs than myself. I have really come to the place where I realize that in order to witness for Him; it has to be my personal experience. It can't be my parents' or my friends'. Although at times my feelings get in the way of being obedient to Christ, I do desire to grow in my relationship with Him and come to the place where I can boldly share my faith with others.
I believe that my testimony began when I asked the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart as my Savior and Lord. The moment I asked God into my life I felt complete. I felt that there was someone in my life that I could share my feelings with. The reason why I asked Jesus into my life was because I grew up believing that everyone around didn't like me or who I was, I let the devil make me think that I had no friends and that nobody really cared about me, and I let that thought take over my life to the point where I had no joy left in me. When I had the pleasure of going to Sunday School that's when I learned that God loves me so much that he took time to create me and in his eyes I'm a wonderful piece of work and that I'm a special individual and no one on earth could be like me. I also learned that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Jesus gave His life so that I could spend eternity in Heaven with him, which shows me that he is madly in love with me. The day I finally knew I needed God was when I was visiting my friend's church for vacation bible school and I could just hear God's message so vividly that it was like having God speak one on one to me. And that's when I knew that I wanted Jesus to be the person in control of my life and to live every day by showing God's grace and kindness. And once that moment took place I no longer felt isolated in the world. Now I feel happy, excited, and moved that I have a Godly Father and Savior to protect me and a friend that will always be there and have my back. By having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ I feel like nothing can bring me down.