My testimony, first draft

Here's the text of my testimony I am working on...would welcome all constructive critisms...don't be shy, I need some editing help now...



Although I grew up in a Christian home and understood the Bible, looking back I can see that I was a participant more than a believer. As I moved into high school and college, my parents’ faith never really felt like it was mine. I began to search for a fun life – and more and more began to lean on friends, activities, men, and alcohol to have fun. But the more I searched for fun, the lower I got. After college, I ended up living with and engaged to a non-Christian for five years. After chasing my own brand of happiness and what I thought I wanted for my life, I had dropped to an extreme low. I had closed down most of the good relationships in my life (including my family) and clung to my fiancée because for some reason, I thought he was providing for me – but in actuality, all of the finances (and therefore, debt) were my burden. My life consisted of going to work, coming home, and watching TV every night and most weekends. I had gone from a very active and motivated person to one who barely left the house and didn’t see where her life was headed – and didn’t really care.

A few weeks after finally breaking up with my fiancée, I woke up with an overwhelming desire to go to church. I knew I had to make a change, and God provided a loving place for me to make my recovery. I remember attending that first service and just feeling His love wrap around me like a big hug. I quickly realized He had been waiting for me this whole time – while I was off living my life on my terms, He was waiting and willing to forgive me for all my sins. I learned and finally really understood the real gospel – that we are separated from a perfect God because of our sin – but that He made a way to bridge that gap by coming as a man to die for our sins.

I slowly began to break out of the rubble that I had piled on my life. God surfaced my personality – I found Joy again in the literal and figurative sense. Where once money was my worry and obsession, He brought me through a series of very specific circumstances to free my heart from financial anxiety, and show me how He would provide for me – I needed to trust in Him, not myself or any other man.

Today, I want to tell my story in case someone else is in the situation I was in. As much as you try, you can’t do it on your own – get out of a relationship, out of depression, out of debt – but you can with God. My life is still tough at times and I’m still paying off the last of my debt four years later – but I now have hope and a purpose, and above all, I have a relationship with One who will never fail me. Now all I can do is thank Him for His grace, His provision, His mercy, and for not letting me marry that guy.