Personal Testimony

Related to Paul's example of giving his personal testimony in Acts 22 & 26 and of the series in Evangelism in class, people have been sharing their personal testimonies.  This Sunday, one person gave a very touching and powerful testimony.   I don't have one of those dramatic testimonies, but following would be mine, if called upon to share:

I grew up going to church with my family; but, it wasn't until shortly after elementary school, that I really became a believer.   My Sunday School teacher at the time was preparing to be a missionary and wanted to practice going over the Four Spiritual Laws.   She took each one of us aside; and as she was going over the Four Spiritual Laws with me, that was the first time I realized that just going to church and trying to be "good" wasn't enough.   I recognized that I needed to put my faith in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for my sins and resurrected, demonstrating His power of sin and death, thus providing the WAY to salvation.  I have grown in my faith since then; and one of the times I grew the most was probably in college.   I had a lot of friends who were very analytical - some were studying to be engineers also, and some were even studying to be lawyers.   Many were unbelievers, and asked me a lot of tough questions about my faith.   So, that was when I become interested in the area of Apologetics, which is Defending the Faith.   When I was able to start giving answers to their questions, it actually substantiated my own faith; for, I was able to see that what I believed in was reasonable, was able to be supported by evidence, and was rooted in the truth.    As a Christian, I've always tried to live my life faithfully through all the ups and downs, and consider Hebrews 12:1-2 my life verses, which say "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

My testimony doesn't have anything majorly dramatic in it, and actually may not be all that different from many who grew up going to church; but, there may also be some who were like me, thinking that just going to church and trying to be "good" was enough.  I would just encourage everyone to ask the question that was key for me, "Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ, Who is the only WAY to salvation?"