Personal Reflection Essay

Personal, Family History and educational experiences: There have been many instances where I have seen the Lord’s hand in my life. Growing up I was very friendly, diligent, and thirsted for every opportunity I had to help others. I loved making others happy and as time went on, I realized a lot about the world around me. When I had started middle school I recognized what it felt like to have depression. Being bullied about my weight made me want to stop learning and helping others. My strength did not feel good enough. At the same time in my life, my older brothers were both alcoholics and would eventually end up in and out of rehab for a majority of my childhood. I envied my sister who was able to leave and go to college. I felt very abandoned.

Jesus Christ’s life and death provided the atoning sacrifice for the sins of all humanities (Fairchild). He had done so much for the world. His successes are too many to list. He walked on water, healed sickness, blind and lame people, He forgave sins, He calmed the stormy sea, raised children and adults from death to life (Fairchild).

My parents decided to visit the church that we were a part of when I was a baby.  The worship was a bit old fashioned, but it was good.  The Wednesday of that week I told my mom that I wanted to go to the churches youth group that met that night.  She let me attend and the pastor's wife introduced me to the youth pastor and his wife, along with some of the youths or students as they call them there.  They welcomed me with open arms and warm hearts.  In that youth group, I not only met my best friends but gave my life to the Lord and got my life back on track.

“The sacrifice of his life was the huge gift necessary to offer God on the Day of Atonement. That is what Paul meant when he said, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and has given to us the reckoning of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19)”

At the young age of eighteen, my life was changed in a drastic way. Through out my childhood and teenage years, my mother and father tried to force God down my throat and not till this life changing moment did I realize why. I could have been living a worldly life striving for popularity, having expensive things, and living in sin, but I chose to be a follower of Christ because he gave his life for me.

And then I realized it was not about me; it’s about God. The following Sunday I was in church and my dad said,” Don’t put your salvation off, because soon it’ll be too late.” Then I made the decision and accepted Jesus Christ as my lord and saver.

The Death of Jesus is the best thing that could have happened to mankind. In a theological definition, Dr. Town a theologian explains, “every day Jesus lives, he lives to die.” In his presentation Dr. Towns discussed five things we need to remember “He redeemed us, He is the Substitute, Propitiation for our sin, He ended the law, and

I was raised in a Christian home, and all I ever knew growing up was Church. I am thankful that God kept me from a lot of stuff that kids my age fell into. That being said, I was still in need of a Savior. Growing up in Church I knew about Christ, but didn’t know Him. I knew the Bible stories, but not the God of those amazing accounts. I was at a youth New Year’s Eve lock-in at my home Church, and we were having fun playing games and eating. The youth leader called us all together to “pray in the New Year”. It was at that time that God really dealt with my heart. Sure, I had “given my heart to Christ” at a very young age, but that night it was different. I prayed, confessed my sinfulness, and asked Christ to forgive me. Close to midnight, December 31, 1988, Christ came into my heart, and I have been following Him ever since. It was during that time that God began to reveal to me, that although I never did the “big” sins of others, I had the elements of those sins in my heart. It was only by His grace that they did not come together to produce such an evil harvest. He began to show me that I was just like the Pharisees that, when seeing the Messiah they had been praying for, did not recognize Him because of their self-righteousness. I am thankful to God for my testimony, and for His saving Grace.

No other way could be found, no other perfect sacrifice without spot, no other blood that was pure, and time was rapidly approaching that Christ would lay His life down. From birth, every heartbeat, every breath, every step, every moment of the life of Jesus, was a sacrifice for others, moving onward, forward, doing only good for others, marching ever closer to the cross before Him and for the purpose of which He came.

Subsequently, I surrendered my life fully to God. I learned to read the bible and worship daily. I was transformed. I served my church in reaching to those in need and teaching them the bible. I taught and visited youths in desperate conditions and saw how they overcame their obstacles through faith and hope in God. I witnessed youths who finished their college amidst impossible situations: one living by the railroad side where rats would sometime bit her feet, one living under the bridge and by the wet dirty market, and another in the slums amidst gangsters. This is meaningful for me for I saw the power of the God and the importance of teaching Scriptures to transform lives.

Growing up in the state of New York I was not raised in the church, so I didn’t care about God or care to know who he was. I remember being in middle school going on a class field trip to NYC I went to this big catholic church where I had my first encounter with God. It’s hard to describe an emotion I felt that day I just know what I know. I didn’t pay too much attention as I got on the bus to go home and never looked back what I had felt inside my heart and soul that day. I joined the navy right after high school and it wasn’t until I was leaving for Afghanistan that I accepted Jesus as my lord and savior. Fast forward a couple of more years I was going through divorce and went down a wrong path. I decided it was time to go to church and fully give my life to Jesus and serve him.

Growing up in a Christian home and going to a private Christian school defiantly shaped my view of God and salvation. When I made by faith my own, things started to change, along with my heart. During a dark time in my life, sin had a pretty good grip on my heart and my mind. I thought that I didn't matter and that negative thought spread throughout my life and made me depressed. But God has shown me over time, that I am loved, wanted, and that I have a purpose. It isn't just me who has a purpose, but every single person on the planet has a specific purpose God created for their life. This mindset helped my crawl out of the hole of darkness and step into the light of figuring out what the purpose was.

A few weeks later, my mom and little sister asked me to go to church with them. And for some reason, I went! It was there that God spoke to me through my conscience and convicted me of the sins in my life. I became broken. And it was there at that church service, that the Gospel was finally good news to me! It made sense and I found out just how much God loves me! That 's when God 's love, changed me!

How I accepted Christ: Nine years later, (1984) in May I received my GED and that same year, in November; I accepted Christ into my heart. I was sitting on the back steps of our house just finished hanging clothes and heard someone knocking and calling at the front door, it was the missionaries from the Carver Baptist Center (where my children and I received biblical training). I welcomed them in my home and they sat and explained the plan of salvation, and asked if I would like to receive Jesus into my heart. That same day, I asked Christ to come into my heart, to forgive me for my sins and to become my Lord and Savior. I followed up by purchasing a bible and going to the neighborhood church where I brought my young sons as well. In the year of 1986, I got married, my biological mother passed and God called me to lead a drill team. I truly did not want to lead a drill team because I had a learning disability in school, which placed me in special education classes

As a youth, I turned away from the things of God until I was 24 years of age. After continuously running, I finally surrendered to God 's pursuit of me, and finally gave my life to Him. Only a year after my surrender, one of the most incredible things happened to me. I met, fell in love with, and married the most beautiful woman in the world! Shortly after Maricia and I were