The story of me

So this is my testimony. As some of you may be able to tell I am a Christian and very proud to be.  I was born here but I have moved 3 times and in those moves I have gone through many different things. Those things make me who I am today. I have a pretty great family that supports me and believes as I do. I am so blessed to have the loving, Godly family I do. They have been here for me my whole life and have had a major impact on who I am. But back to me moving. I guess I will start with my move to Oklahoma. I don’t really remember how I felt when we moved there because I was in kindergarten, but I guess you could say the major part of my childhood was spent there. I learned how to ride my bike, swim, make friends, and all that fun stuff. I even got plugged into a really cool church. I had awesome small group leaders who I still remember today. They were the first people (besides my parents) to really show me God and God’s love. Then I moved to Maryland. It was really hard for me to leave all of my friends in Oklahoma, but God had a plan. He gave me my best friend when I moved to Maryland. She is like a sister to me (we get asked if we are sisters all the time).  I also started to grow in Christ. We found an amazing church called Mountain Christian and I got very involved. I went to small groups, services, and that’s when I got baptized. This is when I feel I truly became a Christian because it’s when I started to really understand God and what he had done for me. He sent His only son to die for me, so that I could live eternally with Him. That proved to me how much He could love me if I let Him. Everything was going great and I was really happy… and then I found out we had to move back to Michigan. I was devastated because I didn’t want to leave all that I had. I should have known God had something in store for me. I miss Maryland very much but if I could go back I would not change anything that happened. When I moved back here I kind of got distanced from God. We started going to church of course but I did not want to get involved, I would day dream during service, I just said prayers with my family because they told me to, and I didn’t feel God. I was that shy, awkward girl who just moved. I found great friends who I still have today, but I still was trying to fit into a mold the world was giving me. It wasn’t until I found my church (Woodside) that I started to break out of the worlds mold. I knew that I didn’t fit into that mold but I couldn’t figure out why. Was it because I wasn’t pretty enough, I wasn’t sporty enough, I didn’t wear the right clothes, I didn’t have enough friends, or maybe the right friends? But after starting Woodside I gradually found out it was because I am unique. We all are. God started working in me, especially after I went on my first Missions trip to West Virginia. I broke out of my shell and started to be myself, and I started to be comfortable being myself. Since then I have grown so much in the Lord. I have definitely had my struggles: heartbreak, losing friends, my image, my standards, but I have become so much stronger because of all of them. One thing I have learned is that God has perfect timing. I have made some of the best friends I could ever ask for at Woodside. The friends I have are like family and I know they will always be there for me. If I had not moved I would never have met any of them. I have come to know a love that never fails and is greater than anyone can comprehend. I want to spread that love to the world. I have amazing support from God, my family, and my Woodside family that a lot of people don’t have. I want to be that support for you if you need it. I hope you enjoyed reading my testimony and you could relate to it in some way. God bless :)

and me now ;)