Kelsey's Testimony

I have been extremely blessed to grow up in a Christian home. I grew up going to church and Sunday school. The first time I remember asking Jesus into my heart was during nap time in kindergarten. Knowing Christ loves the innocent faith of a child, I am thankful for his incredible protection that allowed me to grow up as an innocent child of God. “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, or the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14. At some point there is a transition though from being a child to taking ownership over your relationship with Christ. This is where the connection was lost for while.

            I knew the stories, believed that Jesus was the Son of God, went to church, and followed the “rules.” I may have looked the part, but my life did not reflect that I was living it for Christ. I followed the rules because I was a people pleaser and I feared getting in trouble. That may be a lot of parents dreams, but He created us for so much more than that. I believed Satan’s lies of working for people’s affection. I lived my life for them instead of for the one who created me.

            Entering high school I was open to drinking and drugs, but only by the grace and protection of God was I not exposed to that scene. Unfortunately though, I placed my value in guys. I allowed them to treat me poorly and speak to me however they pleased. I developed this attitude of doing whatever I could to be “good enough” for them. And guess what? I never was. When I was 16 I went on a retreat with my youth group. It was there that I experienced this unconditional love from people that didn’t even know me! I wanted whatever they had. Discovering that their love for me didn’t even compare to the love Christ had for me made me dive into the stories I “knew,” but never experienced. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” John 4:9-11 This is when my faith really became my own and not just what my parents believed.

            Throughout the rest of high school and college I was very much immersed in the secular world, but my relationship with Jesus continued to grow. I was learning more about who God was and the characteristics of Jesus and what it looks like to surrender my life to Him. He allowed me to see how He sees people and gave me a heart for loving people and showing them that Jesus is not a judgmental and condemning God. “For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” John 3:17. I was blessed with working at a Christian wilderness camp where people invested in me and gave me examples of what heaven on earth and what Godly relationships look like, along with how to serve others.

            This past season of my life has been the hardest, but the most rewarding. I was trying to find my value in other things like education and success when ultimately my value is found completely in Christ. God used someone else to show me that I need intimacy and how He wants to fulfill that need. I have become a woman after God’s own heart.  He has been teaching me that the Holy Spirit is alive and working, what my true authentic identity is, how He is pursuing me, the power of being a woman, and that His plans for me are greater than I can imagine. My desire is to be joyfully obedient to God’s command to go and make disciples of all nations and to love Jesus and others. He has led me out here and I’m excited to continue this journey with Him while he transforms me into a greater likeness of Himself. "But whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:16-18