My Parents Played A Major Part Of My Spiritual Life Map

I have grown up in a Christian home but it wasn't until my junior year of high school when I was at Hume Lake with my youth group that I dedicated my life to being a disciple for Christ. That following summer I went on my first mission trip to Haiti to serve at an orphanage and shortly after returning home I decided to get baptized. My faith was put to the test when my family decided to move from Santa Barbara to Pennsylvania during my senior year. My dad moved there six months early while my mom, my brother and I stayed back and lived in my best friends small guest house so we could finish the school year. My world was completely flipped and nothing was going the way I planned but I knew that I could trust in God in whatever situation he put

I often wonder how much more amazing my mother would have been if she had been afforded the opportunity of receiving a proper education. Last but not least, spirituality was highly valued in our home more so than anything else. My mother was a strong woman of faith. She had to be because the deck was stacked against her: she was black, widowed with little education. Though she had those things against her, I believe those same things molded and shaped her to being the influential person she was. My mother seen a lot of hard times, she was no stranger to adversity and obstacles but she always believed in prayer and the fact that the Lord would make a way out of no way. When she had nothing else she had her faith and it made everything alright.

I am Thomas Wayne Rice, Christ follower, senior, camp counselor. I first started following Christ in the 1st grade, I had always know of Christ, I was raised in church, but half way through my 10th grade year I learned what it meant to actually have a relationship with Jesus. That is when it all changed for me I stopped living my life for myself and began a new life. This is the story of my salvation and where God is leading me.

Getting to know my faith more has really changed my life, Before I started going back to church my life was falling apart but while I was learning about the Holy Spirit, God, Jesus Christ made me lead to the right direction. My Faith means a lot to me now that I am able to understand every detail about the

I was born to a Christian mother I had 7 brothers and sisters we wasn’t perfect but we all loved the Lord. I went to church every time the door was open I loved Sunday school and loved to sing the good ole songs that Baptist Churches sing. I am now 52 and my mind has never changed I love the Lord with all my heart and soul he has helped me so much I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him.

I was a Follower of Christ and I didn’t even know it. I was the last of three boys to two faithful Christian parents. My parents attended St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron, OH. I was baptized and confirmed by the same Bishop. Some of my earliest memories are of me standing in the pews with my parents and stacking the prayer books as if it were my own pulpit and I would pretend to be the priest giving the Sunday sermon. I didn’t know what he was talking about but I always thought that I would be like him one day. I was an acolyte and attended the youth programs regularly with my friends. I completed my studies to earn my God and Country award with the Boy Scouts.

In saying that, I was baptized, raised and confirmed Catholic. Whenever I was facing trials and tribulations, prayer was always the answer. Accordingly, it has been embedded in my brain that family always have and always will come before anything else in my life. My parents are to be treated with a high level of respect and I am to take their word over mine regardless of my age and experiences. As I transformed into my teenage years, this was a significant difficultly for me because I wanted to start making decisions for myself but I could not do so because of my parents. However, this has allowed me to live my life in an open and honest manner because I know they will not always accept my actions or decisions but they have taught me to come forth and learn from my mistakes.

Growing up Jesus was rarely talked about at my house. We went to church, and all, but God stayed at the church and we lived our lives. When I was about ten years old, my dad went to Men’s Encounter. He came home a completely different person. He was and is on fire for God; that fire consumed my entire family. We are now devoted to Jesus, church, and the amazing ministry that is Men’s Encounter. I am now an unofficial pastors daughter, and I am loving every bit of it. God has enabled me to witness His great works, and I could not be more blessed.

I had lost a group of friends who I grew very close to seeing as they looked at me in a different aspect. "She's going to judge us" , "She's too good for us now", "I don't want to sit with someone who's going to preach to me" , these were all phrases that got passed around the tiny halls of my middle school after I had committed my life to Christ. My "social life" had digressed and people didn't want to be around me, but that's the moment I came to a realization. I was looking for love somewhere there wasn't any, I had put my foot in a path that was dry on appreciation where I had thought there was plenty, and the heartbreak I had taken from the loss of three great friends had got healed by one awesome Father. There are some worldy heartbreaks when accepting Christ, but they become heavenly appreciations after you realize why the Lord has detached you from

I was not wise and in a young and reckless mindset I did not save anything I earned. I reached to softball as a substitution for the College Baseball I never got to play. I played softball for twenty years and some change, till finally my mind wanted to play but my body did not. During those twenty something years I built a family, and after many trial and error "family affairs". I married my wife of fifteen years now, and have five children my wife and I have been through some hard times in our lives both separate and together. Since then many years have passed and we have turned our lives around and rededicated ourselves and lives to the Lord. We were on a beaten path, We were wrong and misguided and at our moments of despair we turned to the one who will never forsake us. Since then I have become much wiser than this misguided life I had as a teenager. I believe that the life I have lived and the things I have been through push me each and everyday to do better to be better for myself and my family. They show me ways that I may connect with others to maybe help them not go down the path that I have

I did not come to know Christ until December of 2003 at the age of 25 at First Baptist Church of Gordonsville Tennessee. As a young boy, I had a desire to know GOD, and had even made a profession of faith, but never had anyone

My journey on to my Christian faith began when I was born so I basically didn’t feel. I had a choice not to be a Christian but I never asked why am I a Christian because I felt as though being a child of god was the right way to go I felt as though that god would always be here for not just me but with everyone that needed him. My journey to Christ probably would have to be in the miracles that he have brought me through and I have seen. A long time ago my uncle basically overdosed and the doctors said that he was brain dead and that we should just cut the cord. I will never forget the hospital room filled with the people from my church praying out loud. As I was sitting in there I could feel the spiritual energy. It felt like my skin was crawling with adrenaline. The doctors took us back there to see him and when I saw him I was honestly scared I didn’t think he was going make it but he made it my mother told me when she went back there she saw a angel over him and she said that his wings filled the room. After that day my uncle began to get better when he got home he didn’t have any memory of any sort he had to start completely over we had to help him step by step. And now today my

My parents divorced when I was five, so I was raised in a single parent home by my mother. My aunt and mother both instilled in me what it means to be a strong, independent, God fearing woman. From the time I was born I attended church regularly, praise dancing and singing in the choir. Being able to touch someone while ministering the word of God is one of the greatest privliges I’ve had.

Since the day I was born my parents took my sister and me to church ever Sunday. I grew up in a loving Christian home and was encouraged at an age where I could fully understand, to purse a relationship with Jesus. I accepted Christ into my heart when I was in the second grade and was baptized in the fourth grade at age 10. Growing up I have always been super involved in Church. I have a heart for people and love serving. Since 3rd grade until now, my senior year of high school I have been on the leadership team with my youth group. I can not imagine my life without Jesus as the center. I have been pushed to step out of my comfort zone and because of that I have grown in several different ways. For example, I am an extrovert and enjoy getting new people, but never liked public speaking as I felt nervous and intimidated. By the many adult leaders, and pastors coming along side of me and encouraging me to step of on my comfort zone I now highly enjoy speaking and spreading the truth about The Lord in big groups of people. I am so thankful for the many God loving people that have come in my life and helped stretch me. Jesus is my entire life and I am nothing without him.

Me and my parents have a really strong bond and we have a really strong relationship. They are the only ones in my life that help and support me in anything I do. They don't want me to give up because sometimes things get hard. My parents and I need to learn how to continue on and work through it without giving up. My parents know when something is wrong and I want to give up, but they always tell me to never give up and they make me work harder. I desire to be like them, I want to be strong and independent.