Discussion Forum Faith Stories CLI
Faith Stories
This page gives some high school students a chance to speak out about their faith. Some are more lighthearted than others. If you have a faith story you would like to share, click here. All stories will be kept anonymous. (A * indicates a name has been changed.)
Through a Child's Eyes
One summer when I was in about fifth grade, my friend and I put
together a Bible Study. Being kids, it was one of those projects that you
start, or do a couple times, and never finish. But this Bible study really
opened my eyes to the joys of being a Christian. I learned so much more
about what Christianity really is from two lessons that she "taught"
and one that I "taught" than I've learned in all my life from
attending Sunday school and church. Now, there's nothing wrong with those
two things and they are very important, but as my friend pointed out in one of
her "lessons": Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any
more than going into a barn makes you a cow. You have to learn about your
faith and what it really means and believe in God and Jesus Christ with all your
heart and soul.
Everyone is Special
A missionary from Africa came and spoke at our church. He
teaches eighth through tenth grade math there and shares God's miracles with the
people there. He really taught me that sometimes you feel called to do
something (in his case, being a missionary) by God and you need to go along with
that call. He told us that God put us here on Earth for a reason and that
if he hadn't wanted us here, he would never have created us. He quoted the
verse: "You are fearfully and wonderfully made." And he
told us that if we remembered nothing else from his presentation, remember that
each and every one of us are very special in God's eyes.
"Was blind, but now I see..."
I went to church camp one summer for the first time.
That was a time when I learned way more about myself and my faith than ever
before. Our counselors were devoted to God and church and wanted to share
that with us. We did all sorts of neat things: groups led Vespers
(mini church services) each night, we had campfires with singing, we put
together a variety show and took it to the girls' juvenile detention center in
Toledo, Iowa, and the like. One of our counselor's was blind, and that was
my first experience with actually knowing someone who was blind. He taught
me a lot and singing the last line of the first verse of "Amazing
Grace" will shine a new light on me forever. Camp was a great time to
get together with other people my age and learn and grow in my faith.
Back to Reality
About three years ago when I was in seventh grade, I struggled
with a lot of stuff. I was the cause of many problems at home, I smoked,
drank and let many guys take advantage of me. My best friend, at the time,
attempted suicide multiple times but thankfully, never succeeded. At one
point, my rebellion went so far as even dealing with witchcraft. People
might say it was just little things that I dealt with, like Ouija boards and
other little games, but they successfully scared me out of my mind. I will
never be able to look at these things as just games ever again.
During this period of my life, I also succeeded in not talking
to anybody and keeping everything to myself. I know now that this can be
rather dangerous to myself and others. At this time, God was completely not a
part of me, or so I thought. As I look back, I see no part of my life
where God wasn't protecting me, even in the most remote way. I tried to
push him as far away as possible, thinking I was too cool and big enough to
handle all of these problems on my own. Even though my family still made
me go to church, part of my rebellion was to just sit there and pretend I wasn't
listening. I was very good at averting my mind and thinking about
something else. I would think about such things as the current guy of the
week, what witchcraft my friends and I would practice when we next got together,
and stuff like that, you know, the normal stuff.
As the year progressed, my thoughts started getting a little
more serious. I think they had something to do with my best friend
checking out of one hospital and then the next week, visiting a different one.
I started thinking about suicide. Not doing it, at first, but my thoughts
soon led to that. During this time, I am sure God was right there beside
me, because there were many instances when it could have been successfully
completed. I really don't know what got into me, it was really so unlike
me. I was the ideal person: perfect family, pretty, skinny, rich,
smart (although I tried my hardest to not show it- that was so uncool), etc.
I can't imagine how surprised people would have been if I had actually gone
through with it.
I wish I could tell you exactly how I managed to get myself out
of this state, but I can't. Maybe it was better influences, like one
friend who stood up to everyone and said she didn't want a cigarette. Or
maybe it was that my parents finally figured out that something was wrong with
me, I don't know. Maybe I just finally realized that this was not the life
that God wanted for me or that I wanted for myself. I turned my heart back
to God and in turn, helped some friends get out of the rut that we were all
stuck in. I now am very involved in church and mission work. My
family life and social influences have upgraded considerably since then and I
have a boyfriend of a year and a half who would never do anything to disrespect
me. This might not say much to some people but to me it says that Christ never
leaves anyone, even in their darkest moments (especially not then.) He
pulled me out of my despair, and he could do it for anyone. Philippians 4:13
"I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
At a Loss for Words
We found out that my dad had cancer 2 weeks before Christmas,
and to tell you the truth, I didn't really think that much of it. But, by the
first week in January he was in really bad condition. He couldn't swallow
because of a hole in his esophagus so they tried to close it up by putting a
metal tube in his throat, but that didn't work. one night my mom and I had to
take him to the emergency room at like 3 in the morning and the whole time my
dad had to spit into a cup because he couldn't swallow his own spit. Well, he
got to come home that day, but a few days later at 4am I suddenly woke up and
was worried, so I went into my parents room and no one was there. I went
downstairs and my grandma was sitting on the couch and said that my grandpa and
mom had to rush my dad to the hospital about half an hour before.
So, there started the worst week of my life. It consisted of 6
a.m.- 3 a.m. at the hospital and about 4 a.m.- 5:30 a.m. sleeping at home. The
whole time I figured that my dad would soon get better and get to come home. My
dad and I were really close and I was in denial. One night, like, the night
before he died, we had a bed-side service. We had our pastor come in and the
whole family in the room for a little service. Well, the pastor talked and then
he said, "Kristi,* I know how close you are to your dad; why don't you say a
few words." At first I froze and started bawling. Then, something
comforting came over me. Like the feeling you get when you get a huge hug, and
words just started flowing out of my mouth. I have no clue where they came from,
but I just said some unbelievable stuff. I said that my dad didn't want everyone
to be sad; he wanted them to be happy. Be happy because he was done suffering
and he was going to a better place and that he'd always be with us in our
hearts. And that he'd wait for us forever in a better place and he'd always
watch over us and we should always remember him. I said to look at me when
memories were fading of him, because I was his little girl and would live my
life for him.
I believe that that night, God used me to tell my family what my
dad was thinking. Doctors say that he could hear us but he couldn't talk. He
heard everything I said and everything everyone else said. But I truly think
that God did use me that night. I also think that he was the one who comforted
me and gave me strength to say all that. I never could've done it without Him
and I never could've made it after my dad did die if I didn't know God was there
to help me through.
An Answered Prayer
Last year I was at a church camp in Kansas. About a month
before camp, I was hit in the ear by a ball, and had a fairly large bump behind
my ear. After a couple weeks, there was still a bump left and I got really
worried. You see, when I was little, I had a tumor in the exact same spot
as the bump from the ball, and I thought that perhaps the force of the ball
jarred the ear enough to make a possible tumor appear. One night (back at
camp), we had an awesome praise and worship service, and I prayed to God that
everything with the tumor be ok. I was so scared about that little bump.
The service lasted around 2 hours. When I felt behind my ear for the
tumor, I couldn't find it. During the past month, it hadn't gone down at all,
and now, when I was the most scared, it disappeared in two hours. I firmly
believe that it was the work of God that took the bump/tumor away. When I
came back from camp, I had a physical with a doctor (for softball) I explained
the bump to him, and he said it was possibly a collection of white blood cells,
but he couldn't understand how, for a month, it stayed the same, and in two
hours, was gone. That only confirmed my feelings. The doctor couldn't
explain it. Only one person could do that. God.
For the First Time
When I was in 7th grade I went up to church camp and they had a
very good speaker. One of the nights he gave a really serious message and
many people were crying and praying and just getting serious for God. It
was pretty cool. The next day several people shared that they had accepted
Jesus for the first time... I think after camp was a time when I really grew as
a Christian and started reading my Bible, praying, and acting out what I
believe.