Emily-Joy
For most of my life I had a wrong view of what it meant to follow Jesus. Although I didn’t grow up in a religious home, I did go to church consistently in middle school. I decided to get baptized when I was 12, because I thought that was just what Christians were supposed to do. I remember thinking, “I’ve been baptized, so now I’m going to Heaven no matter what.” I didn’t think much past that and definitely didn’t truly understand who Jesus was. During high school, I stopped going to church and started to find all of my self-worth in popularity, good grades, and being a people pleaser. God wasn’t even on my radar anymore, because I thought I was doing fine without Him.
When I came to UTSA as a freshman, I met a girl on campus who invited me to hang out and go to her Bible study. From the very first Bible study I went to I could tell immediately that there was something different about the girls there who welcomed me in and loved me so well. I started attending Chi Alpha services and Bible studies faithfully, eagerly learning more about Jesus, and reading the Bible on my own. Through all of that, the Lord began to open my eyes to who He was, and showed me that the thing that I saw that was so unique to anything I had experienced before was the love of Christ.
After a few months of being my friend and answering my many, many questions about God and the Bible, my small group leader asked me if I had ever thought about giving my life to Jesus. I told her that I already had because I was baptized as a kid, but over the next few days her question lingered in my mind. I began to see that even though I said I was a Christian, I knew my life looked so different from everything I was learning from the Bible and my community in Chi Alpha. I realized for the first time that I wasn’t truly walking with Jesus, but that now I wanted nothing more than to follow Him. I prayed and surrendered my life to Him, this time knowing the weight of my decision and desiring to be obedient and draw closer to the Lord.
It wasn’t until I came to college that I realized that giving your life to Jesus isn’t the end of the race, but the very beginning. God desires more than just a single moment of prayer and surrender from us. He desires to know us intimately, love us deeply, show us more of His character every day, and shape us into the sons and daughters He has created us to be. This can only happen when we invite Jesus to be the Lord of our lives every single day and seek after Him with our whole heart. Three years after giving my life to Jesus, I have found so much joy and peace in Him and I know that this is still the beginning of a wonderful life-long walk with the Lord!