How I fell in love with Jesus

[SweetEnigma]

I grew up in a strict Catholic School, and every day we went to mass and had religion class. Our hours were plagued with rituals and routine and recited prayer lines. I never thought about Him; in fact, I hated Him. It was during these years, I suffered abuse and ridicule almost daily, and I associated Him with the abuse and the pain. As soon as I could, I ran as far away from faith as humanly possible to a dark place of blind cold facts called Atheism.



I thought I was a happy Atheist. I became comfortable with the fact I would live, then I would die, and that was all there was… I didn’t need faith in a God I could not see. I didn’t need to feel the abuse and pain I associated with Him, I was safe and I was happy.


About 6 months ago, I began a quest to prove that my Christian penpal was wrong in his belief system. We often argued over religion, and I just wanted to prove him wrong soooooo bad.


In my research, my walls began to crack. I found more evidence for a God, than against one. As a last ditch effort, I thought I’d read the bible and find its flaws myself! I plopped down, and opened a free New Testament I had received from a mentally ill client of mine. I started with Matthew… I couldn’t stop reading, I became enthralled with Jesus’ words—it was if life made sense to me for the first time. By Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened”. I felt this warmth come over my entire body. I put the bible down in disbelief. I said to myself “I am not feeling this, no I am not feeling this”….



I ran outside trying to get the words out of my head. I walked in circles and breathed deeply, I could not stop thinking about this Jesus guy… I looked up at the sky and above me was this beautiful cloud….a literal stairway to heaven. I ran back in the house, and picked up the bible again. I poured over every verse… my heart felt as if it were opening for the first time.


How could this Jesus character be so wise? So compassionate? So loving? So…. All knowing? He was the most beautiful person I’d ever read about in my life. I cried and cried and cried with the realization that this was the TRUTH I was reading, not some made up fairy tale as my Atheist cohorts believe. This.. was the TRUE Word of God. The truth was finally revealed to me… this was an eyewitness account of the most loving soul to ever walk the Earth. I fell in love with Him that day. I cried while reading about His horrible painful death…. I cried even harder when I realized He died for me. He died so I may live... He felt all the pain I ever felt, He was there for every disappointment, every tragedy. He was there waiting for me, and even though I didn’t care about Him, He always loved me.


I grew up religious, but not Spiritual, I did not have a relationship with God. I never met Christ, I never knew Him. I feel like I am meeting Him for the first time, and it is all very exciting and wonderful. With each passage of scripture, I fall more and more in love with Him. I am new on this journey, but I feel this is what I’ve been searching for my entire life. The emptiness I didn’t even know was there is filled with a Joy, Love, and Gratitude for My Jesus. My friend, my God, my teacher… I see His work in everything, and He is now my life. Now that I have seen the truth that He is… I cannot imagine living life without Him. I want to make up for all of our lost time… I want to please Him and I want to learn from Him. I want to be close to Him.


I am so happy to have found this site. My friends and family are not Christian, and for the most part, they think perhaps I am crazy. I however cannot imagine anyone being more worth my zealous affections than Christ. He is Life. He is Truth: and I love Him.:bounce:

[Joe King]

Praise Jesus! I deal with a few "atheists". What "evidence" lead you to Christ? Sharing this would be helpful to me and others. I was just like you in the fact that I attended Catholic school and did not know Jesus like I do now.

[TexasBeliever]

SweetEnigma

I can relate to you. I also grew up Catholic. And although Catholics believe that Jesus is the Son of God and is our redeemer, I never "knew" Jesus. He was so covered up by ritual and man-made dogma and doctrine, that He never seemed real, let alone the truth. I couldn't see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

I always knew there was a God, deep in my soul, but I wasn't ever sure about Jesus being "the way and the TRUTH and the life." I think this was also because in my day, individual Bible study was not encouraged by the church. It was just some dusty old book that laid on a table.

Well I decided one day that I HAD to know the truth. If I was going to put my faith in someone, I HAD to believe it was THE truth.
I started reading the Bible for the first time at age 28 and everything else I could get my hands on.
Then the Lord led me to a book called "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis.
He was an athiest who set out to prove that there was no God and that Jesus was a mere man. Instead, after all his research, he became convinced that there is truth concerning God and that Jesus is more than just a man.
If you haven't read this book, you need to. What a blessing.
I would also counsel anyone reading the Bible for the first time to start with the New Testament. It sheds much light on understanding the Old Testament. Especially the prophecies that Jesus has and will fulfill.

[Seeker of truth]

AMEN and AMEN :pp

[SweetEnigma]

Praise Jesus! I deal with a few "atheists". What "evidence" lead you to Christ? Sharing this would be helpful to me and others. I was just like you in the fact that I attended Catholic school and did not know Jesus like I do now.
Re: Joe_King

I read a lot of material online about how the bible was compiled, historical evidence and whatnot. I remember I read some Geo- Archeological sites--that had things like, "Archeologists discover _____ River was once called *David's River*. There are a lot of tie ins to the bible when you dig into Archeology, ones I couldn't deny even as an atheist.

I must say though, the most compelling information I found was Lee Stroble's "A Case For Christ" and "A Case For Faith". Stroble is like a modern day CS Lewis... He was a talented reporter, a Yale Law School Graduate, and an Atheist, he went on a search to prove There was no God... but he found too much evidence to the contrary. His books are in mass production, they are usually around 5 or 6 bucks a piece... he also has Dvd's on the subject that are under 10 dollars at Walmart. I HIGHLY recommend his work!

[fuzzi]

I must say though, the most compelling information I found was Lee Stroble's "A Case For Christ" and "A Case For Faith". Stroble is like a modern day CS Lewis... He was a talented reporter, a Yale Law School Graduate, and an Atheist, he went on a search to prove There was no God... but he found too much evidence to the contrary. His books are in mass production, they are usually around 5 or 6 bucks a piece... he also has Dvd's on the subject that are under 10 dollars at Walmart. I HIGHLY recommend his work!
Lee Strobel is good, I agree. I pick up his books at yard sales, used book stores, thrift shops, etc. Then, when I feel someone needs to read it, I hand them a copy.

I'm glad you've discovered the Lord. May you soon take that important step and be totally His, by accepting His offer of salvation. (Romans 10:9,13) :)

[Christian Sweetie]

This is a really inspiring and beautiful testimony. It's funny how Christ can just sneak up on us one day and hit us with the absolute Truth isn't it? Thank-you for sharing and praise be to Jesus that He melted your hardened heart. :hug:

[mongoose303]

Wow ! an amazing testimony of God's love !:pp

Thank you SweetEnigma for posting.

Maybe you should change your status to "yes I am a christian"?:idea:

[tt1106]

Amen, sweet enigma. As a former atheist myself, I can appreciate the joy of discovery. Welcome to the body of Christ.

[Lefty]

Nice testimony:D. It never fails to amaze me that people, including myself once, can think they know all that's worth knowing about Christ without ever having actually read about him with any kind of determination. And then the moment comes; "Hey, maybe I should read!".

That moment came for Augustine, who while struggling with philosophical questions concerning eternity, thought he heard the voice of an unseen child nearby repeat the words; "take up an read, take up and read..." Then it dawned on him he should study scripture, did, and found Christ. With that example it's even harder to accept that any Catholic church could in practice discourage private reading, while they've got one of their own saints as an outstanding example for doing just that. Faith comes through hearing (reading).

For me, it was a process. When I first read the Bible I too was deeply impressed by the life, love and wisdom of Christ, but even so it took me some time to accept that I personally, was in need of forgiveness and salvation. I think that was when I was saved, and could honestly call myself a Christian.

[ConqueredbyLove]

Your testimony and your love for our Jesus is sooo precious to me :hug: But, more importantly, it is precious to Him :kiss::hug: You sound similar to me...I have an abusive background.

I am sooo grateful that the Lord has won your heart and has brought you here to share such beauty with us :hug:

You have His story to tell now....to a desperate and hurting world that so needs to "hear" of Him and His love for them.....

Thank you soooo much for sharing, dear heart :hug: :kiss: :hug:

When you are able, will you please PM me? :)

[turtledove]

I looked up at the sky and above me was this beautiful cloud….a literal stairway to heaven. I ran back in the house, and picked up the bible again. I poured over every verse… my heart felt as if it were opening for the first time.



In some ways your testimony and background are very much like mine. I felt like this when I found Jesus too. And I love the part about the beautiful cloud as I have often seen those cloud pictures too especially during meaningful moments and most often when not expecting them.

God is so glorified by your story here. Thanks for sharing it with us. :)

May He grant you continued grace and favor and may goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life. :pray:

:pp :amen:

[petrospetra]

SweetEnigma

I would also counsel anyone reading the Bible for the first time to start with the New Testament. It sheds much light on understanding the Old Testament. Especially the prophecies that Jesus has and will fulfill.

Great advice. I spend a lot of time with Japanese students who have come to Australia to learn English or do uni courses. I normally encourage them to read the gospel of John first, since He new Jesus so intimately. (My favorite book too, read it more times than I can count!) Then I encourage them to read Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is interesting watching Japanese students, normally in their twenties, exposed to the Bible for the first time. They often spend two years reading the Bible, beginning to pray, and coming to our Japanese language Christian church, before they become a Christian.

I'm impressed by all the background searching you've been doing about the Bible's origins etc too. Have you seen this website? There are so many awesome articles on it about Genesis.


http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers

One of my favorite articles there discusses in great depth about God creating the world in six days.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/could-god-have-created-in-six-days

Another great article I have found on Genesis is
http://www.creationsensation.com/creationdayone.htm


God bless
Peter