I also wrote this for school for a speech I gave and thought I would share it here showing how marvelous are the ways of God, and how he loves his people.
I?ve grown in a Christian home and surroundings my whole, and can never remember a time when I haven?t called Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. Though I don?t have a amazing conversion story, throughout my life, I have been constantly reminded of God?s love, and how wonderful it is to be a child of God.
Growing up in Christian surroundings, I never really assumed there was a world outside my little bubble, but my little bubble popped one day when I was about five or six. My great uncle was visiting, and while he was pushing me on the swing, I casually asked, ?are you a Christian?? I was very shocked by his reply when he said, ?no, I?m not.? At first I was confused and didn?t realize how someone couldn?t be a Christian. But, this made me feel truly blessed that I have the joy of Christ within me. This was just one instance that made me realize what a wonderful thing it is to know Christ.
Another instance of God?s goodness, is when the summer before I started high school, my grandma passed away. She had been sick for quite a while, but it still came as a hard blow to the whole family. I remember that at first, I didn?t really realize that she was gone, but when I did I was filled with sorrow. But what is so wonderful about being a Christian is that when a loved one passes away, you don?t have to be sad and worry, because if they are a Christian you have no doubts that they are going to heaven. While my family was sad by this loss, inside I really was glad because my grandma was no longer in pain, but was in heaven with God. Again, God showed me that even when things seem sad, like death, he uses things like that to draw us closer to him and to remind us again of his powerful plan.
This past April, I was given the opportunity to go with my youth group and invite people to our Good Friday and Easter services. At first, I was kind of scared to be asking strangers to come to our services, and though I was nervous, it was such an enriching experience. We walked from house to house in groups of three. In my group we rotated on knocking on the door and asking them to come. Sadly, many of the houses no one was home, but many of the ones that were home, seemed very nice, and were friendly, and many of them already attended church elsewhere. There were some houses though that some people weren?t happy we were there. One even yelled at us to leave, and shut the door in our faces. This experience reminded me of our calling as disciples of Christ to go and teach all the nations about God?s love, and teach his word.
When you think about it we take so many things for granted, even going to church. Sometimes we don?t like going, but it is not something to be taken for granted because in many places of the world, people don?t know the gospel, or are persecuted for going to church, but we are free to go to church and should take advantage of this freedom. Another thing we take for granted is friends. God has provided so many of us with good Christian friends who are always there for us, helping us when we struggle, or just being there when something?s bothering you. But, we don?t always think that not everyone has strong Christian friends like many of us do. We could have friends that tell us to do drugs and things like that, but we have friends who discourage us from things like that. You may take your close friends for granted, but when you think of all they do for you, you really can?t replace a true Christian friend.
Finally, I charge you that when something seems tough, or you are worried about something like witnessing, to realize that though you may feel like the world is crashing around you, to realize that God has fit this into his perfect plan for your life, and every step in the path, he has planned. So remember, that even in small things, throughout your whole life, as a Christian, God is constantly doing things in our lives to remind us of his great grace and glory.
~Emma [img]smile.gif[/img]
Emma, you are so right in that God is constantly reminding us of His glory. [img]smile.gif[/img] I, too, have no "grand" conversion story to share. I cannot remember a time when I did not know God. One of the first books my mom read to me when I was a child was a story of the First Christmas. Even though there is not a great converstion story, there is still a great story of God's great grace and love and glory to be told with our lives. Thank you for reminding me of that.
Oh great. You're one of those people who goes around ringing strangers' doorbells to push your faith in their faces. See, this is the really big problem with Christianity.
Go ahead and be a Christian if you really want to--but PLEASE accept that some people have no interest in practicing the same religion as you. It's the same way you'd feel when a Muslim starts telling you how fabulous Mohammed is. I doubt you are very interested, I doubt you're ready to convert, and I bet you're rather insulted that the person trying to convert you doesn't seem to respect the way you've chosen. Do you honestly not get that???
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">[img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]Originally posted by the happy heathen:
Oh great. You're one of those people who goes around ringing strangers' doorbells to push your faith in their faces. See, this is the really big problem with Christianity.
Go ahead and be a Christian if you really want to--but PLEASE accept that some people have no interest in practicing the same religion as you. It's the same way you'd feel when a Muslim starts telling you how fabulous Mohammed is. I doubt you are very interested, I doubt you're ready to convert, and I bet you're rather insulted that the person trying to convert you doesn't seem to respect the way you've chosen. Do you honestly not get that???
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