Monday, January 18, 2010

Katie's story!

Hi! I’m Katie, and this is [sorta] my story. Please forgive me now, because this isn’t a simple testimony… If you’ve met me, you understand how random I can be, if not- here’s a crash course. :)

I publicly accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior on February 29, 2008. Let’s backtrack; I had prayed many times before that for God to take control of my life, that I fully believed and trusted in Him, and that I accepted Jesus as my Savior to pay the price for my sins. But I just knew I had to get up in front of people and admit this before God and everyone… For a seemingly outgoing person, I was mortified!! I selfishly thought that everyone from my Christian school was going to judge me for not already being saved! However, when I stepped onto the gym floor after an evangelist spoke one night at a NACA basketball tournament, my fears were proven wrong. There’s nothing extremely special about the night I finally made my commitment public. I just felt God make me move… Literally! After praying for my salvation with about a hundred other people, with hundreds more sitting in the stands of a basketball gym and watching, I was greeted with open arms to an extremely loving family of fellow Christians! There were SO many hugs and teary eyes. THAT was God speaking to me- He gave me just what I needed at just the right time. I stepped forward in front of people I was afraid would judge me, but instead lovingly welcomed me into the family.

If you haven’t picked up on it yet, my point here is friendship. I realize this is a blog about purity, and I could share with you a lot about my ideas and feelings there! For some strange reason though, God really laid it on my heart to share about friendships. So with that, I ask each person reading this to reflect on the friendships in your life… There are so many questions about them (Do I judge them and vice versa? Do we lift each other up or tear each other down? Etc.) But are these friendships based on God? And if they are, do you go to your friends first when something’s going on in your life, or do you go to God? Jenn mentioned that a while back, and it’s something I struggle with often.
Another random thought- After I publicly accepted Christ, my friendships improved. I have three of the best friends a girl could ever ask for, and I’m highly touched that one would ask me to write on her blog (I’m sorry I’m so off subject, Jenn!). My roommate is an amazing Christian girl! And she is much better than anyone I could have hoped for. Turns out she was praying for me before we ever met each other! (How COOL is that?!) And my oldest friend is a blessing too! I thank God every day for her and the wisdom she brings into my life since she’s older and knows things I don’t.

I’d like to conclude with this: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 Jesus laid down his life for us, making him the greatest friend of all.
I pray that you go out into the world, in your friendships and relationships, with a willingness to be a true friend.
In Christ,
Katie

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Okay, so I tried to post this earlier, and it kinda messed up and I ended up deleted the comment. Anywho. Katie I think your story is awesome!!!! It reminded me very much of a story my pastor tells often. One time Pastor Kevin(my pastor), went to preach at a revival. During the invitation, the senior pastor of the church came forward to be saved. The church members said "what do we do Pastor Kevin?" and he told them "Rejoice! Praise God! You're pastor is saved now!" And basically the whole point of the story is that we shouldn't respond "oh, they should have been saved before" but rather "praise God they are saved now!"