What's Your Story?

I am a fifteen year old girl in Alabama. I've grown up in a Christian home with Christian parents and I've gone to the same large Baptist church since I was born, but until last summer I had never accepted Christ. I don't know why I hadn't, from the time I was twelve I had felt like a total hypocrite and I knew it was something I needed to do. It had gotten to the point where I would fake an illness every time I knew we were taking the Lord's Supper so I wouldn't have to go to church. Only some of the adults in the youth department knew I wasn't a Christian. All of my friends thought I was. Then last June our youth choir went on a tour of New Orleans. On the 1st day we sang across the street from the cathedral and then we had to mingle with the people and give out tracts. I felt so bad, because I was no better than the people I was pretending to witness to, maybe worse because they admitted they needed salvation and didn't. On the second night we came back from eating at the Hard Rock Cafe, we were all tired, and it was late. But before we went to bed we had worship. Unfortunately we got back so late, the worship facility had already been locked up for the night, so we had worship sitting on a curb, under a street light in front of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, which is where we were staying. I really just wanted to go to bed, but we sang and then Robert, our youth minster talked about, actually I don't even remembered what he was talking about, but it really convicted me. At the end he said anyone who wants to pray to accept Christ raise your hand. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done because it was admitting to everyone that I had been a hypocrite, but I did it anyway. Robert came over and sat next to me on the curb and prayed with me right there. And when I did, this weight was lifted that I hadn't even known I was carrying. That Sunday I walked from the choir loft of our church where we had been performing and officially joined the church. Two weeks later I got baptized. It was hard for me to take the first step but now just thinking about it makes me smile.