My testimony

I put this on my old account, but I want the new people to see it! My testimony:

When I was little my dad was a truck driver and so we have moved to eight different places in my life which includes five different states.  Our fifth time of moving, was a blessing from God because we moved near my cousin, Jeremy in Texas.  He and I were very close. God moved us so we could be closer. God has done quite a few things in me through him throughout my life. Now that it’s been almost 6 and half years since we lived in Texas, a lot of things have happened that God has done.  We moved to Kentucky in 2006 and we started going to my aunt and uncle’s awesome church, but I didn’t have any friends.  God really started using my cousin to help when he moved to Kentucky the summer of 2007.

The following school year, I started in the church’s children’s program. The lady who used to be the coordinator of the program along with some others were some of  my first friends when I moved to Kentucky. My mom and dad also got back together before my cousin moved. When Jeremy moved here, he was only going to be staying for the summer. Our family asked him if he wanted to stay longer so we had a dinner at my Aunt and Uncle’s house so he could announce if he was staying or not. He said he was going to stay. He went camping the weekend before with some friends of his and I started to feel like he was going to say no, but when I found out that I was wrong, I knew God was with me. A little while later he called me over to him. He said to me” I decided to stay because I knew how upset you would be if I went home.” I was so blessed by that. I knew it was God leading him to stay for me.

 Before this happened with my cousin, my parents and I went back to Vermont and God grew my relationship with my Aunt Debbie.  After that happened, we went back to Vermont for Christmas. This time Jeremy was with us. My relationships with a lot of my family members changed that Christmas.  About a week after we got back, Jeremy announced he had decided to move back to Texas. It was a sudden decision that he made and so it was hard for us to take especially me. I felt like God was taking him away from me. I played the blame game with God for a long time.

About a year later, my youth pastor came to our church and things started to change again. I felt like God wasn’t working in my life for that entire year until my pastor came.  I was in a Bible study that he led and I was able to learn that I can’t stick to one person all the time. Before this study, I felt like Jeremy was glue in my life and that glue broke when he moved. God changed that outlook through that study.  At that time, I was in 7^th grade.

 In 6^th grade, God put me in the best school district in the world. He gave me some incredible teachers. In middle school, God changed me through my teachers. My teachers were and still are my friends.   

In 8^th grade, God gave me an amazing Christian friend. He brought me closer to Christ and he doesn’t know it!!!!!!  He is like a brother to me!!!!!!! I can go to him with anything and God talks through him to me!!!! Dominic is my best friend.

My freshman year has been pretty rough, but I still have 8 amazing teachers. I had one however who has treated me like I am not a human.  I know God is with me every day when I walked into that class, but sometimes it didn’t feel like it.

 I have an awesome principal. He has done so much for me and it’s only the first semester. He has helped me through so much with my mean teacher. Now God has used my principal to get me a new teacher.  God has been working through him for me.

 In November, I went for a weekend retreat called Chrysalis.  I was so touched by God. He gave me awesome new friends. He finally showed me his love. This was extra important to me because in January of last year my youth pastor asked everybody to come up with a goal to strengthen our walk with God. My goal was to open up to God and to see his love. He waited until I went on Chrysalis to do that for me.  I had some amazing girls at my table and he used them to open me up about His love.  He mainly used three girls at my table to do that. My friends from chrysalis are my all time best friends because we are sisters in Christ! We had a four day weekend from school that weekend and so I had a day to reflect before I went back to school. The day I went back to school, I was a completely different person. It was like I had to meet my friends all over again because God changed me so much.

While I was on this amazing weekend, I learned to forgive my dad for something that he did that really hurt me and  it was the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I did not want to forgive him, but God told me to so I did. It was a fight my dad and I had when I was ten or eleven. My cousin was over for the night and the next morning it turned to a disaster. It got so bad my mom came into the living room and said, “Jeremy, come with me you are going home.”  I did not want her to do that. While he was gone, my dad hid all the phones on me because he wanted me to calm down by myself without talking to anyone. I tried so hard to turn it around and make it right, but my dad wouldn’t let me. After a little time went by, my cousin called me back and said, “I’m so proud of you for changing your attitude and because you did I can come back over now.”  When he got to my house, he gave me a stuffed flamingo to show me how proud he was of me. This flamingo is the best gift I could have at any time of my life. Right after he gave it to me I slept with it every night. It now represents me letting go and forgiving my dad. My girls were right there with me and my youth pastor was too, but most importantly God was with me through all of those people while I was forgiving my dad.   God was with me because I was spending the weekend focused on him. God has done so many great things for me since then.

 I also have a friend from my church that went on chrysalis with me. God really showed me how important I am to her and how I need to be in her life in more ways.  At our cross service when I forgave my dad, she gave something to God that was so very important to her life with God. A couple of weeks before Chrysalis, her really close friend committed suicide because of being bullied and she gave him to God. I thought that was the most awesome thing she has ever done.  She has been a part of my life since I was in 5^th grade. I love her more now than I ever have.

All in all God has done some awesome things for me that I never thought He would do.