*If you’re looking for a more general story about how this blog came to be, check out the about page. This page will be focusing on my faith story.
I didn’t grow up going to church on Sunday mornings and youth group on Wednesday nights. My family was split down the middle in regards to religion. I had some family members who were agnostic and others who were part of a fundamentalist Christian cult (and would never set foot in a mainstream Christian church).
It’s not surprising that I developed a negative perception of Christianity. I couldn’t reconcile in my mind how people who said they lived by a religion founded on love seemed so full of anger and hate. I had always believed in God, but I had no interest in becoming a Christian if that meant being judgmental and hateful.
Everything changed in my late twenties.
I was filled with anxiety, and nothing that had helped me with anxiety in the past seemed to be working anymore. I felt like I was at the end of my rope. I just couldn’t pull myself out of it. Pastor Robert Madu says that “desperation is the door that breakthrough walks through.”
I was desperate. I needed help from someone who was bigger than all of my problems. I needed God.
I started going to church and found exactly what I needed. I was surprised by how wrong I had been about Christianity. Christianity is not about judging and condemning other people. It’s a beautiful love story between God and humanity…a story filled with grace, compassion, and forgiveness.
It is the most beautiful love story ever told.
I wish I could tell you that everything changed for me overnight, but that wouldn’t be true. Often, when Christians tell their stories about being saved, they talk about the miracles God has worked in their lives… how he healed their troubled marriage, their drug addiction, or their criminal past.
These stories are beautiful, but honestly, I feel a little discouraged when I hear these.
For me, there wasn’t a massive immediate shift in my life. The process has been much slower for me, as I suspect it is for most people who come to faith in Christ.
Over the past several years, my mindset has shifted little by little as I learn and grow deeper in my faith. I see things so differently than I did before I became a Christian.
I see myself differently. I see other people differently. I see the world differently.
I have so much more love and compassion for myself and for other people.
I’m far from perfect, and I still have plenty of room for growth in this area…but I have come so far from where I used to be.
God doesn’t always heal our circumstances. In fact, he often doesn’t.
Instead, he changes us.
He does His work on the inside and changes our minds and our hearts.
If you’re anything like me (read: stubborn), that will take some time. It won’t happen overnight. That’s okay.
The purpose of this blog is to help you change your thought patterns – because I believe this is where the magic happens. If we focus on trying to change our actions without changing the thought patterns and emotions that are driving our actions – we will fail over and over again.
If we focus on changing our thoughts, our emotions will follow, and so will our actions.
If I want to be the most loving and most Christ-like version of myself, the most useful thing I can do is to work on changing my thoughts and rewiring my brain.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” – Proverbs 4:23
“Set your minds on things above, not on Earthly things.” – Colossians 3:2
“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” – Philippians 4:8
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” – Romans 12:2
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