I was raised in a Christian home; we were in church everytime the doors were opened. My mom and dad were very active in church, my mom taught sunday school, etc. I loved to go to church.

For a little while I thought just going to church & having good Christian parents was enough. There was something missing though. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). That “all” included me. I knew Jesus died on a cross for my sins and that he came back to life three days later to defeat death and sin. If I could be good enough to earn my way into heaven, why did Jesus have to die? Why would God have let His only Son be sacrificed? He would not have had to do that if I could be good enough on my own to get into heaven. I walked down the aisle at our church when I was eight years old and prayed with our pastor. I asked God to forgive me of my sins and I invited Jesus into my life. When I did that Jesus came in and transformed my young life.

I know I’ve never been alone since that time. I know when I call on Him He’s there. Things are not always easy for me. I’m not perfect, and I do things I shouldn’t. But I know I can go before God and ask Him to forgive me, and He does. He never leaves me. I also have a hope for eternity. When I die, I know without a doubt I’ll be in heaven with God forever

I grew up in a Christian home with godly parents who always made sure that my brothers and I were in church. I saw the importance of being in church from the time I was a baby. I was involved in every aspect of the church as a child. I thought of myself as being “good” because I was in church so often.

I grew up in a Christian home with Christian parents and brothers. Fore many years it was easy for me to pretend to be a Christian. When asked if I was a Christian I always had the correct answer. For years I did this, even convincing myself that I was worthy of heaven. Although I claimed to know that I was going to heaven, deep down inside I really had no idea if I was or was not. Inside day and night I struggled with this. It would keep me up for many nights. If I were to die tonight would I go to heaven or hell?

In my Sunday school class when I was 15 we were going through the book of Revelations. Each Sunday I knew that Christ was knocking at the door of my heart. He really used that series of lessons to get my attention. I kept putting the decision off each week for several weeks. One Sunday during the invitation in the morning service I decided that I wouldn’t put it off any longer. I finally realized my desperate need for Christ so I confessed my sins and asked Christ to be my Lord and Savior.

Since that day there would be many ups and downs in my life, but the Lord has used each of those experiences to draw me closer to Him. I wouldn’t say that nothing has gone wrong for me since then, but now I have a peace inside that God is in full control of my life. Now I can honestly say beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I were to die that I would spend eternity in heaven.

Every Sunday, my parents brushed curls and tied bows for four girls and hustled us into the family car to attend our local church. We loved it! We earned prizes for memorizing Bible verses and sang about how much Jesus loves us. I loved Him, too, and tried the best I could to please Him. That wasn’t so easy for a strong willed little girl with three sisters. Sometimes I laugh when I think of the things that I thought I should do so I would be worthy of God’s love and so I could go to heaven. I had great intentions each morning, but by the end of every day I was trying to make up for some form of disobedience or unkindness.

I grew up in a Christian home in Rockingham, NC. Many of my childhood memories revolve around church friends and activities. During Vacation Bible School at the age of nine, I made a profession of faith. But looking back, I think it was something I did more because I knew I was supposed to than because I really understood what I was doing. That trend continued as I got older. I was always one of the “good kids,” trying to do the right things and the things I knew were expected of me. I thought that as long as I was involved in church and “obeying the rules” that everything was alright. That worked fine until I got to college and met people my age who had a much deeper faith than my own – people who were excited about Jesus and sharing Him with others. I began to question whether I was really a Christian because I didn’t have the same excitement I saw in those friends.A few years later, I came to a point where I needed to forgive someone but couldn’t do it. I knew I was supposed to and I really wanted to, but every time I tried, I failed. I finally realized that my problem was that I was trying to work my way to God rather than accepting His grace. Even though I had known the answers all along, I had never really accepted that they applied to me. One day sitting on the couch in my apartment, I prayed and told God that I realized I was a sinner who had been trying to work my way to Him, that I knew that Jesus Christ had died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, that He rose from the dead, and that I wanted to accept that and stop trying to get to Him on my own terms. I wanted a relationship with Him and I was ready to give Him control of my life.