I was a child who had grown up in a family where the Bible was read and going to church was a natural part of life. One of my sweetest family memories still returns me to that time of hearing my father read the Bible and praying with my family. However, there was a time before in which I didn’t know God. It was during this time that something awful happened in our family. Because I was a little child no one ever told me about the consequences for that person. As a result, I was confused about people and who to trust. I learned early to stay away from people. My father moved our family to another state where he began his seminary training.

One Sunday night at church, I played Bible Baseball with other boys and girls, and I learned that I had sinned against God. This was a surprise to me because I had been trained to pray to God and love God, and I believed that He loved me. But that night I learned that, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The teacher explained that no matter who we are, everyone of us has sinned and that anything that I had done wrong was against God who had never done anything wrong. I also learned that the things that I had done wrong would keep me from going to heaven. I learned earlier that heaven is a place where God is and that no one will be sad or be in pain there. Heaven was a place I wanted to go. But, because of my wrong doing, even as a child, I would not go. That night, the Bible verse, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23) began to mean something so much more. I also learned through the Bible (John 3:16) that God loved me and everyone so much that He gave His only child, Jesus, to pay for all sin with His life on the cross. And if I believe that he did this for me that I would not die, but that I would someday go to live in heaven with Him . It was important for me to be with God because I learned as a little child that He made me. I didn’t want to be apart from Him any longer. I prayed to ask Jesus to change my heart and to help me never again to do anything wrong against Him. I knew then that God would always be with me and that I was not the same as I was before.

In that church I learned that through Bible reading and prayer Icould learn about God and could talk to Him about anything at anytime. The teachers at church helped me to learn to pray on my own and to trust God on my own because God would judge me as a person. No one else could stand in my place. Many times as a teen and young adult, I sinned against God since the day I asked Jesus to forgive me. These were times when I turned away from Jesus and I chose sin and self. The Bible says, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14). Hebrews 13:5-6 has taught me that the Lord is my helper and that He will never leave me. I know that if someone has done anything wrong that it is against God. I know that God loves that person and wants that person to know Him too. If the way I live my life says thank you to Jesus, then Jesus will show Himself through me and that person will see Jesus and not me. I may not always trust man, but I can always trust Jesus.