My Testimony

So God has been telling me to share my testimony. I've never really shared the whole thing and just last night a friend of mine asked if I would share it with her over the phone. As I was talking to her I realized how much I had been through and what God has done in my life.

I have the common story of the little boy who grew up in church. Every Sunday morning I was dragged out of bed and lugged to church, because "that's what I was supposed to do." It was expected of me. Monday-Friday I had school, Saturday I watched cartoons like Pokemon or Power Rangers, and Sunday I had church.

The majority of my time in church as a 4-7 year old was spent in Sunday School: playing games, eating snacks, or watching Veggie Tales. I remember the bible stories we would always be taught: Jonah, David and Goliath, and Daniel in the Lions Den. However, I honestly can't recall what I felt about church. To me church was just an obligation like learning my ABC's or going to school or cleaning my room and the stories were just stories, nothing more.

There are a lot of things from my childhood that are really shaky in my memory (people say I have a really bad memory...I agree haha). But there are a few things I remember. At around the age of 7 or 8 I remember being in the kitchen with my Mom sitting at the dinner table and she told me about salvation. That night I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, or so I thought. I was really excited about it BUT I DID NOT KNOW WHY. I did not understand what a Christian was or what it meant to live for God, I wasn't old enough to understand. I did eventually figure out what salvation was but that's a blog for another day.

Fast forward a couple of years to my 6th grade year. I'm 11 now and going through that weird awkward phase where my body is changing, my voice is cracking, and a bunch of other embarrassing things are happening. Yup middle school days were my glory days (said no one ever). But on a serious note middle school is where I was introduced to sexual temptation, specifically pornography.

I remember going to my friends birthday party for a sleep over... Sorry let me rephrase that, I meant to say an all-nighter. Guys don't have sleep-overs.... So I'm at the all-nighter right, and we're doing typical 6th grade boy things: playing video games, watching Adult-Swim, (had to be 14 to watch that, rebels) eating everything in sight. You know the typical stuff boys do. One of the boys got onto the computer and began surfing the web for porn. I remembered watching it and thinking about how wrong it was. And then I was taught how to masturbate which changed everything. I didn't think about it being wrong anymore I just thought about how good it felt. My thought process was, "If it feels good it must be right."

That one night led to an addiction to pornography. I had to have it everyday. I was trapped in my sin and saw no problem with it. At around the same time, I joined a youth bible study at a church across the street from my house. The youth pastor was great and he had an amazing desire for God. Most of my spiritual growth happened within that youth group, but I was still a slave to sin (John 8:34). I was trapped! Funny thing is, I knew I was trapped and this time I wanted out but I couldn't get out. My flesh and my Sprit were battling each other (Galatians 5:17) and for 8 years of my life the flesh was kicking my Spirits butt!

As I went through high school, and my freshmen year of college, I got caught up with many other things: using marijuana, drinking, partying, thoughts of homosexuality, suicide, as well as going deeper in sexual immorality. I started creating soul ties with multiple women throughout my freshmen year of college. I was seriously messed up. Then one day God told me enough is enough. He said it was time to get back to loving Him. He wanted me to pursue Him and love Him. Not partying. Not drugs. Not women. Not alcohol. Just Him. I didn't fallout at the altar or get prophesied to, God just let me know that I needed to make a conscience decision to stop living in the world.

So here I am today, trying my best to focus on Him. And my urges to fall back into my old ways aren't gone, they're always going to be with me as long as I'm alive. However, sin is no longer my master (Rom. 6:14). As a child of God, I know that I have the power to overcome sin because Jesus had that same power when He was alive.

My prayer for all of you is that you continue to pursue God. If you feel like you are stuck in sin know that there is a way out, but YOU must make that conscience decision to repent.

I hope that you were inspired by my testimony. Please take time out to share this with someone who might need it.

Live in Love. Live In Peace. Go in Freedom.

-Daniel