My life got better than it ever had been.  I had been through more trouble than I ever thought I would go through.  My life started changing rapidly.  I had noticed that I had a free mind.  I no longer had to deal with depression or serious explosions of fiery anger.  I started school that Fall and was in the seventh grade again, but I was doing better than I had been one year earlier.  My self-esteem rose and I had a desire to become thin, so I started running and exercising.  A little later, I started lifting weights.  Things began to look bad again when I suddenly ended up with a "U" on my report card. (The grading system didn't have D's or F's).  Though as the year went on I started doing much much better.  I passed the seventh grade and was promoted to the eighth.  That summer changed my life as I knew it.

 

    My youth group had a leader who brought us new things that we had not seen before.  The reason that we had not seen them was because our eyes were closed.  (not literally).  Josh came to us and showed us true worship.  We had never seen or experienced anything like it.  The raising of hands, and praising out loud were just a few of the things that I had never known to be involved in worship. 

     Before long, I was worshiping like I had never done.  I must say that God touched me then and there, but it wasn't over.

     During the last week of June and the beginning of July 2001, Josh took the Youth Group to Kentucky Christian College in Grayson, Kentucky.  We were there for a one-week camp in which we learned more about God.  Worship continued the same way that Josh had showed us, but this time it was more intense.  Never in my entire life had I seen anything like it.  After a while, I began to get addicted to it.  I loved it!  Maybe it was because of the music.  i Want to share some scripture with you about music.

 

     <><  Judges 5:11 - To the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the triumphs of the LORD, the triumphs of his peasantry in Israel. "Then down to the gates marched the people of the LORD.

 

     <><  1 Chronicles 15:16 - David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brethren as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. 

 

     <><  1 Chronicles 15:28 - So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres.
 

     <><  2 Chronicles 5:13 - and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever," the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, 

 

     <><  Psalms 47:1 - To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! 

 

     <><  Psalms 68:1 - To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him! 

     <><  Psalms 120:1 - A Song of Ascents. In my distress I cry to the LORD, that he may answer me.

 

     <><  Psalms 128:1 - A Song of Ascents. Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!

 

     <><  Psalms 147:1 - Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is seemly.

 

     <><  Isaiah 12:2 - "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."

 

     <><  Ephesians 5:19 - addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,

 

     As you can see, music is encouraged when you worship or praise the LORD.  Have you ever noticed that you have strong feelings for something when you listen to music?  Think about that and how you could feel towards God when you are singing praises to His holy name.

 

     As I was worshiping God, I felt something tug at my soul.  I didn't know what it was at first, but I realized that it was God pulling on my heart.  God was telling me to go up to the front of the Gym, which was then an altar.  I hesitated and never wanted to go because I feared that people would stare at me.  Something that I never expected happened.  My spirit began to walk up to the front; my spirit was madly in love with God and it couldn't handle the pain that it was going through; it was as if my body was being led by my existence.  This may be a hard concept to grasp, but I was't wanting to go up there.  However, I wasn't the one making the decision.  It was my spirit.  While I was at the altar, I told God that I was so sorry for everything that I had ever done in my entire life.  Then I poured out my heart to Him.  I asked His forgiveness and it was given.  It was given when His son died in my place... for the sins that I had willingly and unwillingly committed.  When I left the Gym, I felt free!  I hadn't felt like this in my whole life. 

    

     By the time that the Summer In The Son (SITS) was over, I was a new person.  From there I went home and told all my friends about the experience that I had and how I was brand new. 

     One day, I was sitting at home and just thinking about what I was going to do when I got out of school.  I thought about how much I wanted to travel the world like my Grandfather, yet I had a burning desire in my heart to share what God had given me at SITS.  Then, it was like a light that suddenly appeared in a dark void.  I knew what I was going to be... a missionary.

 

     My eighth grade year was the best of my life.  I attended all of my classes on time and had every assignment completed and turned in.  I'm not sure how I all of a sudden became extremely intelligent, memorizing almost all of the countries and capitals of the world along with the geography of the entire planet, but I honestly believe that God transformed me from within.  I had gone from being the lowest of people to one of the highest.  My behavior improved tremendously; I recieved the David Award at Covenant for being like David of the Old Testament. 

 

     The summer after all that, I went to SITS again and learned how to become secure with God.  Because of that, I became closer in my relationship with Him.  Before school started, I went to Christ Temple Church Camp and again, God spoke to me.  He told me that I must stand firm in my faith, let nothing move me, because I know that my work in His name is not in vain.  (1 Corinthians 15:58). 

 

     I have been through alot in my life and I know for a fact that God has ways of doing things.  I encourage all of you to ask God what your position is in life.  Don't be neutral like I was and neglect the Lord.  It was through extremely hard times that I realized how frail our mortal existence is.

     I am now in my junior year at St. Joseph Central Catholic High School in Huntington.  I know that I've neglected to update this page with the past two years in perspective, but they've been more than an experience in itself.  The Lord continues to lead me, and I continue to follow.  With nothing in my path to hinder my eyes, which are fixed on Him alone, from wandering away, I can definitely say that I've got MOMENTUM (Thanks, Tobymac, for that analogy!).

 

     Your calling may not be a missionary like mine, but you can give glory to God in everything that you do.  As a social worker, fireman, police officer, sherriff, paramedic, surgeon, radiologist, archeologist, paleontologist, egyptologist, economist, president, king, queen, jester, clown, chef, baker, employer, employee, or any other of the countless occupations imaginable can be used to share your story (testimony of coming to know Christ).  There is no greater proof of what Christ has done for you than to live the life.  I urge all of you to also be careful what you put into your heart.  All of the secular music these days does not please me one bit.  It's full of the things that I drove myself away from to reach God, and I don't feel like going back to what I was.  Think about this, do you honestly believe that God approves of the things that you do or say when no one is around, or think you're cool because your friends are gonna think good things about you when you talk with the vulgar language that you use?  Does that music that you listen to please God?  I am totally sold out to God, in everything that I do.  Never will I want to go back to the things that I used to do, I have no desire.  This testimony wasn't to waste time or educate you about my life.  By telling you what I've had happen to me, I want you to apply this to your life and concentrate on what God has planned for your life.  If you don't know, ask Him.  He'll definitely tell you. He told me.  God has never failed to listen to me once.  If at one point He didn't, I would have left Him a long time ago.  But He is Lord over all and He said that He would never leave you or forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5) So go and pursue the truth that you have been looking for.  And never fail to remember to thank God everyday that you live.  "death is the wages of sin" (Romans 6:23), but Jesus died in your place so that you may be saved.

 

     Seriously, people...   As soon as you get all of the junk that mankind has put into your body, you can open up and let God do his work.  When you are filled to the brim with the things of this world, God can't get to you.  It's about time that you stop what you are doing right now and ask yourself, "What is God seeing when He looks at me right now?"  If you can't truthfully say that God is happy with you, then you've got some problems; you need to get the junk of this world out of you and focus COMPLETELY on God.  I swear to you, when you can finally give a positive answer to that question, you'll know that your life has changed because you'll be living it.   Trust me on this.  Trust me.