Introduction

I began working on this page to document my experiences and outline my journey so far. What journey you might ask? My journey to become stronger in the knowledge or our Lord and to find His will for my life.

Everything started with a heart felt conviction. To see where I was in my life, please read My Testimony.

One of the first obstacles to overcome is to realize that we are sinners; every single one of us. We are born of this world and into sin.

In spite of ourselves, God loves us and He wants to share His grace and mercy with us. How much does God love us? He tells us in his word ...

John 3:16 (HCSB)
"For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

God loves us so much that He sent His only son, Jesus, to pay our sin debt. Our debt was paid with the blood of Christ. We are all fallen and God's grace is something that we cannot earn on our own with works and deeds. For God to extend His grace and mercy to us we simply have to recognize and acknowledge our sin nature; confess and repent of our sin; and ask Him for His grace, mercy and forgiveness.

A Sinners Prayer

1. Lord Jesus, I am a sinner,
2. But I am sorry for my sins.
3. I want to turn from my sins and I am willing to begin a new life with Your help.
4. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and life right now.
5. From this moment forward, my life belongs to You and You alone.
6. I will love You, serve You, tell others about You, and trust You to live Your life through me.
7. Thank you Lord, for coming into my life and forgiving my sins today.

Study, Seek and Pray

After accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior, where do I go next? Bringing Christ into the forefront of my life is the beginning of the journey, not the end.

1. Find a Church home. Pray.
2. Surround yourself with like minded Christians. Pray.
3. Study "the Word" and join a Bible Study Group. Pray.
4. Find a mentor for Discipleship. Pray.
5. Pray that the Lord will find ways to use you. (i.e. personal ministry) Pray.
6. Share the Gospel. Pray.

You may have noticed that I put an emphasis on prayer. I believe that it is important to pray in all things. I also believe that the answers that I seek will not all be found in a guide, method or seminar. All of those things can be helpful tools, but in addition to those things, I will find my way with the prayerful guidance of my Lord and Savior.

Ministries

In addition to finding a like minded group of believers for support and encouragement , I think it is equally important to find a ministry to help me stay focused on my walk with the Lord. I think finding a ministry will also help me to better use the spiritual gifts that the Lord gives all of His children. Something I found helpful was to determine what my spiritual gifts actually are. I took a Spiritual Gifts Test at my home church. I later discovered that Team Ministries, which provided the paper test that I took, also has an online version at http://www.churchgrowth.org/. This is a free test and worth a look.

As I continue to search and pray for a ministry that the Lord can use me to my fullest potential, a thought occured to me. The Internet is one of the most popular media outlets that reaches millions of people. I am also capable of writing a webpage and hosting a website. So ... why not use this skillset and take advantage of the Internet to spread the Word?

Summary

In summary, this is simply a collection of thoughts that I have put together from personal experience. It outlines some of the steps that I have followed in trying to find my way and grow stronger in Christ. If you have read this far, hopefully this page will be of some use to you. If it has been, then I ask that you share the "Good News" with someone else.

In closing, giving your life to Jesus may not lessen your struggles in life. I believe that as you draw closer to the Lord, your faith will be tested often. Knowing this, I have found reassurance in the following passage:

Romans 5:3-5 (HCSB)
And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, (4) endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. (5) This hope does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.