Never Talk about Religion or Politics...

So, I guess I'm not going to follow that adage...  Even though I was raised in a church going family, I would say I wasn't a Christian.  I only became a Christian a little before I turned 25.  I rarely attended church after I got into high school.  I didn't see the relevance and had other things I was interested in.  Religion rarely crossed my mind in anything other than an academic way during college.  I remember in one religion class having so much trouble getting through the chapters in the Bible I was supposed to read.  I couldn't focus, didn't understand...

After college I thought about religion enough to realize I didn't want to date a Christian since he would have such different motivations and beliefs than I had.  Well, that plan didn't last too long.  I ended up dating a guy who was a Catholic.  After about three 3 months of being with him, I figured I should go to church with him since it was important to him and he was important to me.  I was raised Methodist, so the Catholic service had quite a few things that were different.  I was not very comfortable there.  We went together a few times, but he could tell I was not comfortable.

One of his friends, who went to a non-denominational church and sometimes played in the worship band there, invited us to his church.  I was so much more comfortable there and my boyfriend liked it as well.  The people there were very friendly, the service was simple, the message was clear and relevant.  That was the first time that I had heard that the Bible was more than just stories, that it was truth, that it was applicable to my life.

I didn't have a quick breakthrough.  I listened for a few months, hearing the stories, hearing the message, reading the word (I was able to read through books of the Bible with focus and some understanding), listening to Christian radio.  I also read other books.  Some of the things that I had to get around before accepting and believing were my belief that Christians were unscientific and my belief that I was a pretty good person.  One of the other books that I read helped me to see that Christianity isn't unscientific and that many scientists act on faith rather than just on proven scientific fact.  Through reading and listening I realized that I was using the wrong comparison, I may have been pretty good compared to other people, but I needed to compare myself to the sinless perfection of God.  When I made that comparison, I realized that I fall very short.

Eventually I realized my need for a savior.  I prayed confessing my sin and asking for forgiveness.  I still had doubts and still have some now, but I know that God is at work in my life.  He has gotten me through some very tough times (including the loss of that boyfriend and his subsequent marriage to a friend) and given me hope.  Before I trusted God, I did not have hope, I couldn't see a future.  I still don't know what my future holds, but I trust that there is a purpose.