September 14, 2014

 This day I will never forget. On September 14, 2014, I committed my life to serve Christ. This is not a salvation testimony. I sadly do not know the day or year I was saved. I have a salvation story that I tell, from when I was about 10, but I am fairly certain that I was saved before that point in my life and I was just "making sure" that I was saved because I had doubts as most young believers do. 

But September 14 was different from the rest of my life. It was different enough that I recorded it. I recorded it in my Bible, which I had actually just received from my grandparents the month before. They decided to buy me a new Bible because my old one was falling apart, and was slightly childish. While the content in the Bible is the same as what you would find in any other Bible, my old Bible had pictures on the pages every once in a while. There would be sections explaining the passage with more background and context clues so young readers would better understand it. The new Bible I was given I would use throughout my teenage years. This Bible was called the 'God Girl Bible'. The pages were filled with God's Word from the ESV version, but every once a while there would be an extra page explaining, in common language at a teen-age level, the passage or concept behind the passage (such as what it means to be a new creation). My new Bible had less of these pages, though, and more of just simply God's Word. The inspired Word of God was more the focus than anything else in the Bible. Yet, it also had an introduction page for each book in the Bible that gives details towards who the author was, what time it was written, and why the book was written. This specific feature has helped me so much over the years. 

On September 14th, I was in a Youth Group event will most of the other students that attended my church and my youth group. These kids all came from different backgrounds- from kids like me who had grown up in church their whole lives to kids who had never met Jesus or another Christian outside of Youth Group and that one friend who invited them to come. During this specific week, we had a guest speaker who came to share with both the middle school and high school groups together. While I do not clearly remember what he was sharing with the Youth Group, I know that I was paying attention and focusing on what he said. Yet, he chose to end the night with something I had never seen before. 

He started his conclusion by explaining what he was going to do before starting the process. He told all of us youth who were in attendance that he was first going to ask whoever wanted to give their life to Christ (to 'become saved' as some Christians will word it). He said that all those who were not saved and wanted to give their lives to Christ could come up and he would pray over them and with them. Then, He explained, he would call up all those who wanted to dedicate their lives to serving Christ. He was explaining: "This is something that you can do now to remind yourself that you will live your life for Christ from the moment you sad it, but also into your adulthood lives." I wanted to dedicate my life to serving Christ- in my school and in the future wherever God would call me. 

I remember sitting in my seat, after having set my Bible down on the floor, just gripping the chair. My mind was getting a little foggy and I was not able to focus too clearly. I was just waiting for him to call up those who wanted to dedicate their lives to Christ. I had a feeling I would be the only one standing up. I did not want to be the only one standing up, but I knew that this was something that GOd wanted me to do. I was ready for whatever people would think of me as I would stand up because it did not matter what other people think, but only what God thought of me. 

Then, the time finally came. The guest speaker had just finished praying with a group of about three people who received Christ that day. Then, he said, "Now, for all those who want to dedicate their lives to serving Christ, you may come up now." As soon as he finished his sentence, I immediately rose. I knew that I did not need to do anything to be able to dedicate my life to Christ. I did not need to say anything. I had just never thought that it was something worth dedicating. So, I stood up. To my surprise, and delight (as well as to almost all in attendance) I was not the only one standing up. In fact, there were about 75% of the teens in the group of at least 50 who stood up with me. We were all ready to dedicate our lives to Christ. Once the guest speaker finished praying for us, he told us we could sit down. Then, he reminded us that it would be a good idea to record the date and that we dedicated our lives (or were saved for the few that came up earlier) so we could remember that day for the rest of our lives. I am not planning on forgetting about it any time soon.