My religion was my parents' until I was three or four.
Then it was my sister's. She was the one who got me to ask Jesus into my heart, but my faith was blind then. I was not even aware of other religions until first grade, when I found out a friend of a friend was Jewish. It came as a surprise, and I didn't understand why all people believed what I thought made perfect sense.
In fifth or sixth grade, I began to question my faith. "How do we <i>know</i> what we believe is true?" After a dreadful time of spiritual doubt, I finally decided my faith was my own on a youth group white-water rafting trip the summer after seventh grade. It was the last night before we were going to make the 10-hour drive home, and we had been through a lot together. A bear had come into camp, I nearly drowned when caught under a raft in the rapids, we were all dirty, sunburned, and uncomfortable, but the journey we had taken was amazing. Our group was really close, like family, each with amazing experiences. The last time of worship on that trip was one that really changed me. All week, the leaders had amazed me with their stories of faith. That final night, as we sat on an exceedingly rocky beach, our leader Ryan told us to take a stone, and tell that stone all of our sadness, burdens, pain, anger and fear, in fact telling God Himself, and then when we were done, to throw that stone into the river, symbolically giving God control of our lives. I did that, and as I described my burdens, I began to sob. I was so overwhelmed, but I kept going. When I reached the river and threw my stone, listened for the splash, I at first felt tired and heavy. But as we walked back to camp and I talked with my friends, I felt lighter, and lighter, and as we laid down to go to sleep under the stars, I gazed up into the sky, and sighed, and asked my friend, "Have you ever had one of those moments when everything seems absolutely perfect?" I prayed for longer than I ever had, thanking God for everything He had done in my life.
I came back to Washington a different person, and even when the sunburns had peeled away, and I used a real toilet, and had gotten a proper shower, I was changed forever on the inside. I try as hard as I can to build a personal relationship with God, because it is the least I can do for Him saving me.
Thank you, Lord, thank you.
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