Testimony - Alexandra raphael
Congratulations to Alex on getting baptized this Sunday! Here is her baptism testimony sharing how she decided to become a Christian and follow Jesus.
Hello everyone, today I’ll be talking to you about my spiritual journey with God and how my life has changed by becoming Christian. Growing up I went to Catholic school and was raised in a catholic family. I went through baptism, communion and confirmation but never felt it was my decision- just something I had to do. Around the time I was in high school I started to move away from God and eventually became an atheist. Before accepting Jesus in my life I had a lot of struggles with anxiety, depression and motivation. Anxiety had controlled my life for as long as I could remember. I spent many nights listening to the negative voices in my head and feeding my anxieties and insecurities. I felt I had no purpose and felt unfulfilled. Listening to all those negative thoughts and words I had eventually lead me to becoming more depressed. I would hardly leave the house, and I started to further isolate myself from friends and family. This lead me to losing a lot of friendships and put a strain on my relationship with my family. As a result of all this it was difficult to see a silver lining and I didn’t have much of a drive to well in school, or in general. I felt stuck. I knew I was not truly living my life.
And then after meeting Chris, I was invited to attend The Seed one Sunday. When I walked through the doors and was greeted by people who had never met me before I felt that this time it would be different. I don’t exactly remember what Pastor Caleb was preaching about but I remember that I wanted to try and put his words into practice. That night I started to pray to God. I didn’t feel anything particularly amazing at first, but I did feel more at ease. Ever since then I have been praying every morning and evening. Whenever I feel anxious or worried about my future I take some quiet time and talk it out with God. Prayer for me was one of the biggest changes in my life. It gave me time to really talk to God and work through the challenges in life I was facing. I would talk and God would listen and comfort me. He would remind me that I was worthy and that he did have a plan for me.
Another thing that I learned was that sometimes our prayers take time to be answered. When I first started praying, like many of us, I expected fast results. Sometimes it can be discouraging when we feel like our prayers are not being answered. Sometimes we even feel ignored or put on the back burner. But as the months passed I started to realize that God answers all our prayers, but sometimes it’s hard for us to understand his plan. In times like these, I think it’s important to not try to rush things. Let God work in the background and continue to pray and ask for guidance and clarity. Once I started to realize that not all of my prayers and issues can be solved in one or two nights and I gave up control I found that God was answering me, just in a different way than I imagined.
Another important aspect of my spiritual life was Living Life and GPS. After a few months of attending church service I decided to sign up for a Living Life class. This was a completely new experience for me. In the past I had only taken religion in mandatory school classes, not because I truly wanted to learn about God. Going into Living Life I thought I already knew most of the story of Jesus and what his teachings were about and what was expected of me as a Christian. However, I realized that in order to grow in our faith and spirituality we sometimes need to put in some work and hit the books. By taking Living Life, the gaps in my knowledge about christianity and Jesus were filled in and I truly feel more prepared for life and discussing my faith with other people. After completing Living Life, it took me a while to decide to make the next big step and attend GPS.
Before attending GPS I had worries and self doubt. I questioned if I was worthy enough to become a Christian. I felt like I had too much baggage and that maybe I wasn’t really ready to commit myself to Jesus. I knew becoming a Christian and being baptised would thrust me into having more responsibility and putting more time aside for God. I wasn’t sure I could handle it, until I went through GPS. One of the quotes that really resonated with me from GPS was from Revelations 5:20, “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” I learned that God doesn’t expect us to be perfect and sometimes he’s waiting for you to make the first move. Instead of shying away from this new set of responsibilities I prayed and asked God for guidance. He let me know that I was making the right choice and that all my fears were just in my head. After completing GPS I started to take note of changes in my life.
Overall I would say the biggest changes in my life would be I have less worries about my future and I learned how to be patient and let God do his work on his time. Now whenever I’m having anxiety or unsure of what to do, I take time and pray. I honestly lay everything on the table when I talk to God. Sometimes just saying everything on my mind will relax and calm me enough to help work through my issues.I’ve also learned that praising God for how amazing he is and all the gifts he has given us can heal us as well. I now usually end my prayers with thanking him for giving me another day with my loved ones and family and for the little things in life. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to see the positive in our lives so giving thanks for the little things like good food and good friendships can help remind us that things aren’t too bad. Once I started to think about the little joys and miracles in my life it helped me to find more things to be thankful for and happy about.
In conclusion, God has helped me become a more fulfilled and satisfied person. He’s helped me conquer my fears and calm my anxieties. By following His plan and putting my spirituality first I have to started to feel closer and more connected to God. If there’s one thing that I would like you to take away from this, is that when you’re feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about where you are in your life right now, that’s okay. Take some time to put Jesus first and talk honestly about your issues and fears. Have patience and let God work His miracles on His time. And lastly, sometimes all we need to put our lives in perspective is to give gratitude and praise to God for the little moments of happiness in our lives.
I want to thank God for giving me this opportunity to talk to you all about my spiritual journey. And also thanks to my family for pushing and supporting me on this next chapter of my Christian life. And thank you all for giving me some time to tell my story.
