Life... The Before After free essay sample

Growing up, I thought that Heaven was just a fairytale, and that Jesus and the stories from the bible were just stories that people like to tell. I was born from a non-Christian family, but was adopted to a Christian family. Every Sunday, I would go to church with my parents and I would listen to what my Sunday school teacher say about Jesus, but at that time I didn’t realize that I needed to get save in order to get to Heaven. I thought church was like school, it didn’t really mean a thing to me. But as I grew older I became to realize that I was a sinner and that there was a missing piece in my life. On December 24, 2001, I was swimming in our pool outside our house when I overheard my mom sharing the gospel to my niece. I didn’t understand what she was talking about, so after they finished talking, my niece prayed and I thought that was quite weird, so I waited until my niece left and I went inside the house to ask my mom what was that all about. We will write a custom essay sample on Life The Before After or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I would never forget that question my mom asked me, â€Å"Do you know where you’re going after you die?† at that moment, that’s when I realize I had no idea where I would go after death. I knew the right answer for that question, but in my heart I didn’t really know where I would spend eternity. That day my mom shared the gospel to me. One verse that I would never forget is Romans 6:23- â€Å"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.† Realizing that I was a sinner and that I needed Christ in my life, as a 5th grader of Capt. Price Elementary School in Guam, I received the gift of God and placed my trust in his son Jesus Christ. I was happy about my new faith, but as I grew older, went to Jr. High and then Senior High, I started to lose my faith. I became in love with the world, I wanted to be part of it. During my teen years in high school, I started hanging out with the wrong crowd, I literally became a hypocrite. I had 3 or probably more personalities than any other person on this planet. At school, I was a person who caused trouble, gossiped, cussed, and did things that I knew was wrong. When I’m at home, I continue my sin but in secret. I started being rebellious to my parents, and then when I went to church, I pretend to be a good Christian. I knew that I needed to repent and ask God for forgiveness, but I just couldn’t. I was too caught up in the world. Then on February 06, 2009, God gave me a lesson to learn. That night of Feb.06, 2009, God took my mother home. My heart broke with regret and I became bitter against God. I was only 17 years old in my junior year in high school. At that time I was being completely selfish, and I was so angry at God for not letting my mom live to see me graduate from high school. My senior year in high school, I was still enjoying the world, I didn’t care what others thought about me, or how much I was hurting my family. Then finally graduation day came and I still hadn’t applied for college. During the summer that’s when I decided that I needed a way out of my life and I thought that going to a Christian college would help. I ended up applying for Harvest Baptist Bible College, which was the last school on this earth I’ve ever wanted to attend. As I attended classes here, each day I became aware that I’d backslid and that I needed to return to God. Then Dr. Vaughan came and preached for our summit meeting. During that week, God convicted my heart. Two nights in a row Dr. Vaughan talked about forgiveness and obedience. Those two nights I cried remembering all the wrongs I’ve done, how I hated God for taking my mother and how I hated my mom for leaving without saying goodbye. I cried of my disobedience to my parents, and most of all I cried because of the sins I’ve lived in and realizing that I needed to be forgiven and how I nearly threw away all the things I’ve learned about God, how wonderful and merciful he is. On October 05, 2010, I rededicated my life to God. Since then, I’ve been yearning to learn more about God and wanting to be close to him. I thank God for being so merciful to me and for having other Christians to help me grow and help me when I’m going on the wrong path. God has been working in my life tremendously; I’ve learned that forgiveness is not a feeling but a choice and I chose to forgive my mother, knowing that I will see her again in heaven some sweet day. I asked my dad for forgiveness, something that I’ve never done before. I’ve seen how God has been working in the lives of those around me, and I know that wherever He wants me to be, He will lead me there.