Will S.

Around the time I turned eight, my parents divorced. Not gonna lie here, that hurt. I became a Christian, or at least started calling myself one, when I was around 12. I didn't really attend church all that much until I was fifteen, which, coincidentally, was when I hit the beginning of my depression. Girls, grades, and a social life heaped a ton of depression and sadness on me and I started thinking, weekly, of suicide. Every day was a struggle, and last year it was the worst. Every time I was near a high place I thought about jumping, every time I saw something sharp I wanted to slit my wrists. Nightly, I cried for about two hours into my pillow and begged God to kill me. Nightly, he didn't. I took matters into my own hands a few times by trying to hang myself. That didn't work. I had this huge hole inside me and I couldn't fill it with anything. I tried drinking, I got into some bad crowds, I did everything you can imagine to try and fill that hole but the only thing I found that worked was God. Gradually I came out of my depression through church, being in the band, and exploring my relationship with God to it's fullest. Today I can say that, even though depression is still a day to day struggle, I have someone who I can lean on when the pain hits a new level. I owe my life to Christ and my salvation, and don't want to ever see anybody go through that kind of pain again. So, I try to share my faith and the awesome relationship I have with God. This is me, this is my relationship with Christ, and this is my story. And it's 100% true. 

Addam J. H.

Three years ago...wow, I can't believe it's been three years...I was still grieving over the rather gruesome death of my best friend and faithful companion, my dog, Donny. Three years ago, I never expected for love to find me, and not on a church retreat. But, lo and behold, there it was, sitting at the table in front of me.

We had gone up to Thousand Oaks, to CLU for a retreat, and all of us were going to "workshops" in the classrooms. The rest of my group went to this weird workshop, but I went, by myself, to a workshop where I was allowed to meet the members of the band that would play that weekend (and that I had already heard before, DSM).

Okay, so I was in this workshop, and this girl, along with her friend, walk into the room. As usual, I say hi, and ask her name, and I strike up a conversation, but this time, it's different... I...was nervous.

It may have something to do with the fact that she giggled a bit, but I think it was much more than that. Throughout the workshop, we looked at eachother, back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Well, after the workshops ended, we parted and I went back to what I was doing before, which was hanging with my friends. I told them about her, but they didn't believe me, until she showed up in the church service later that evening. (BTW, I'm a hardcore Christian, so if anyone doesn't like God, or Christ, skip this. You'll hate it. Everyone else, keep reading.) She walked in, and I...sat next to her. I had never done that with any girl before.

After the service, there was a carnival of sorts, and we walked over there, hand-in-hand, side-by-side. Throughout the night, we mainly just sat around, talking and sometimes cuddling. I honestly never expected that to happen. I know it's not as exciting as some might have though it would be, but for me, this was one of my happiest moments. Up until now, I had been plagued by the pain of my dog's death, but now, I felt as though God had suddenly said:"ENOUGH".

Although our "romance" lasted a very short time, I will remember it always, not as some sort of a non-sexual-fling, but as my first, and perhaps only, encounter with an Angel. I know it seems a bit corny, but I just feel that she was sent to me, to help me move on. Now, as a senior, my thoughts drift back once in a while to that night, but it has also taught me to move forward. I now realize that, although sometimes friendships and love can be short-lived, the feelings they create will last forever.

To me, Angel will always be spelled with an "i" on the end, (her last name), and, yes, this is corny, but every word of it is true, and every feeling expressed was felt by yours truly.

If you don't believe me, think about the last time you saw an angel. Did he or she have wings and a white robe, or did they look like a normal person?

Taylor M.

You know that moment when you think everything in life is going amazing then you're at such a low point in life you finally look in the mirror? I was a drug addict to heroine and cocaine at the same time. My ex boyfriend got me into it and we shot up all the time. Sad life really. You sleep, wake up, eat, throw up what you ate, shoot up, then lay around numb. You literally are a walking breathing zombie. No thoughts. No emotion. Just....gone. May 17th i remember the day so clearly. I had gone over to his house and he had gone downtown earlier and gotten us a few ounces of cocaine and twenty shots of heroine. I had shot up with him and did four lines of coke then I had to go to the bathroom. I stayed in that bathroom for two hours and he was so gone that he didn't notice. As I sat there in that bathtub bawling my eyes out I got this random text from this random person. I didn't even recognize the number, but all it said was "Jesus loves you!" I stumbled out of the tub and looked at myself in that single paned glass mirror...what have I done to myself. That moment being able to look at what a mess I was really lowered my thinking and caused me to think about life. I quit the drugs, did some self rehab, and got back on my feet. Really life is sorta a mirror if you think about it. Whatever you do in your life it really reflects on yourself...just make sure you look at the mirror and see what you can change about yourself to be everything that you can to live life to the fullest.

Emily C.

It’s hard to see how good I have it sometimes. I tend to take for granted many of my talents, accomplishments, and gifts. The other day, however, I saw something that really opened my eyes. My teammates and I were volunteering to time at a YMCA swim meet, which is a long and tedious task. Basically it means standing for hours on end on a hot and stuffy pool deck continuously getting soaked by the splash of the next swimmer hitting the water as you press a button on a stop watch over and over. I was getting a bit grumpy as the time wore on and at one point during the meet there was a long pause in between events. I looked around to see what was holding everything up. In the farthest lane from me a woman was leaning over the edge of the pool holding a young girl’s arm to the wall. It was the girl’s only arm. In fact, it was her only limb. The announcer started the race and the woman pushed the girl gently from the wall and the girl began to swim. She could not have been more than 10 years old, yet this girl, with no legs and only one arm, was swimming two lengths of the pool backstroke. It took her twice as long as the other swimmers but she finished. The whole pool was cheering and I’m sure over half the people there had tears in their eyes. It was the most inspiring race I have ever seen.

Mary P.

This story is very long, but an incredible turnaround in the life of a young teenage girl.
When i was about ten years old my dad found out he had arsenic poisoning in his foot and he had to go to the hospital.
At the hospital the doctors also found out that my father was a diabetic, from then on things didn't go to well.
My father stayed in the hospital for seven or eight months straight and my brother Charles, sister Ann, and I were not allowed on the floor to visit him; my mother stayed with him and would come back and see us as often as she could (on average...about twice a month).
our family was always caring, loving, faithful, happy, trusting, and very very close....we were a 'family'.
When my father got back from the hospital i noticed something about him...He had changed, he was starting to be different, as time went on my father changed from a happy awesome loving daddy into a 'father' a figure, a man that just told you to do something and if you didn't do it right away and His way you were in big trouble.
I started to dislike my father inside, my heart didn't like my father anymore, however i still loved him but didn't truly like him.

About four..... four and a half years had passed, I began to be mad at him (not showing him or anyone my anger, I bottled it inside instead.) for his cussing at my mom and siblings when they didn't do what he wanted (not meaning to, mostly they just forgot), forgetting to do our chores when we were suppose to; usually he wouldn't yell  but not anymore, our father would yell and cuss and call us names especially my sister Ann, He also would loudly argue with my mom in the evening over financial matters, with having the hospital bills to pay and living on my fathers social security check we weren't rich in money, we were probably medium class.
I used to cry myself to sleep, I tried to tell Him how I was feeling but He never listened and He didn't care.
I wanted to help my mom be strong so i would pray to God to help her (my mom was and still is such an amazingly strong christian, so faithful.) so I told God i would sacrifice (this was where i was wrong, where i failed her and most importantly i failed God and myself) my blood for her happiness as Jesus died for us so......I would cut myself, very light at first but then as days passed i would cut more often i felt like it was good, it did actually made me feel better, I felt like I was releasing my anger and stress when i cut.

Almost two years of crying myself to sleep every night, cutting myself everyday, wanting to die each moment that i was around my father, taking his yelling, cussing, putting people down, threatening to hit, and being so mean (especially to my mommy) and listening to his lectures on school and music about how if he didn't teach us we wouldn't learn anything.
After three weeks of cutting, I wanted to die from hurting myself and feeling so guilty and trapped and not having a way out, being home-schooled didn't help because i had no one to talk to, no friends, just God and sometimes I couldn't even talk to Him (I felt to bad, to selfish, and to mean).
My siblings (even though i tried) they weren't close to me, they weren't going through what i was because they all found ways out.
I tried to kill myself about twenty-seven times in two years....just two years.....I either never went through with it or....it just didn't work.....I tried taking ibuprofen overdoses (like thirty or more pills at a time) but i always woke up and barely felt different, aside from a bad stomach cramp and being tired, also I tried walking in front of cars (making it look like an accident) but the cars would always stop right in front of me, i tried not eating for about two weeks but it didn't work, I hit my head against a wall with frustration at my father, at me for being such a loser, and at God for not answering my prayers and not being with me (i was wrong, i was just too wrapped up in a mess to feel God there) and i banged my head even after i was dizzy and totally hurting, I hit my head until i passed out hoping to die from some type of brain damage but that didn't work either...i woke up like seventeen hours later and I didn't even have a headache.


After finding about three true friends who really cared, listened, loved me, trusted me and were there for me.....I started wondering if God really was listening.....I asked God one thing......To prove to me that He really was there and is here, to show me he carried me (as a song said, 'He will carry me') when i couldn't walk and picked me up when I fell down and was always there throughout my life.
I asked God to prove He was real by showing me a miracle, I prayed one evening to God asking the Lord to please show me a miracle. There was a man who recently started coming to our church, He was asking prayer for His stage 4 cancer and the doctors said he would die sometime within 2-6 months (two to six Months) and we all prayed for him, His name is Sean.

After about two to four months of praying for Sean to be touched by Christ and made whole and healed, Sean walked up in church on January first of 2012 on Sunday morning and said "The doctors test results have come back and are positive, my cancer is gone!"
My month dropped open and my eyes widened with amazement, my heart started beating fast and I felt something strange but awesome come over me (the presence of God), there in my mind echoed my own voice saying 'show me a miracle, show me a miracle" over and over and right then... I knew, I knew that Sean was my miracle!!     God healed Sean! and I have no doubt about it! I started crying and I ran up to the alter and started crying and pouring my heart out to God and asked Christ to help me, make me whole, forgive me, save me, take me back! and I thanked him for carrying me when I needed Him all my life, I instantly knew that God was and is real!
God never let go of me, even though I let go of Him many times.....Jesus never let me go, I also knew that Jesus picked me up and loved me and believed in me!
Since that day I have had a hunger and thirst for Christ like never before!! I read the bible every night! I seek God at my churches alter every Sunday and Wednesday, and I pray all day everyday.
Now I know, I believe, I trust, I hope, I live for, and I stand up for and I love the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!
God is so awesomely amazing indescribably wonderful and loving!
Jesus Christ died for this world, for you! for me! and the power of the Holy Ghost moves on us and makes us feel the presence of God all around us! If we open our hearts....our minds then Christ will come into our hearts and stay, He will make a place for our souls in Heaven! He will run to us...as we run to Him, He will embrace us, love us and help us in life!  :) <3 (:
I choose to follow the Lord God, No Matter What! :D Because through my life I have overcome by the blood of the lamb, the word of God and the presence of the Holy Ghost!
I know my God was for me and nothing stopped me! My God is still for me and always will be! If my God is with me than nothing in this world will ever stop me from doing what God has planned for me!
So what are you waiting for? If you are not saved then I challenge you to take the first step towards God.......Believe..In Him.......Love Him.......and Ask Jesus into your heart........all you have in this world will fade away, It will pass..... but God and His love will never EVER ever die!

Zachia

It was September 23,2011 i still remember it like it was yesterday. Me and my sister was at a hotel in Indiana my family and I were visiting her in college and we decided to go swimming... so after a while the pool got crowded with kids.. so me and my sister went to the shallow end because we cant swim.... 20 minutes later we saw someone at the bottom of the pool in 5ft we didn't know if he was playing or not s we just went back to what we were doing and 10 minutes later he was still there and my sister got scared and ran out of the pool but i went over there to see what was wrong and i felt something bad was happening.. then a girl said ''Someones drowning'' and without second guessing i went down there to get him... it was hard because i cant swim or see underwater (5ft is above my neck since I'm so short ) but i finally got a hold to him and immediately did CPR on him ( i learned from watching TV ) i was scared that he was gonna die and wished that i could have gotten him earlier when we first saw him, he was so little..... so there were some nurses in the hotel that came over and helped... after a while the paramedics came and took him.... he was rushed to another hospital in another city because his lungs was completely filed with water.. the next day we called the parents and they told us that e is doing great...( he's 3 years old) i still have dream about that and it feels so real... I'm just glad i was there to help him

Holly

I struggled with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and Anxiety and panic disorder since I was 7. So bad that for a year straight I wouldn't leave my house, because every time I did I would have an anxiety attack which would escalate into full blown panic attack, and I was afraid of the fear and panic. After a year I just got tired of it and went to the doctor and got on an anti anxiety medication. Six years went by and it just stopped working. My fear and panic came back 10 times worse than it ever was before, that time around it felt like I was looking fear right in the face. Not any particular fear, but fear its self. I would have panic attacks that lasted 6 hours, because of this fear.
However that time around I wasn't going to give into my fear, I fought it, I fought it and fought it and fought it, but it just wasn't leaving. This fear was so overwhelming I thought it was going to crush the life out of me. One day after a panic attack that lasted for about 2 hours and still going, I just gave up and got into my bed, I knew this one was going to kill me, I just knew it. After laying in my bed for a few minutes, in such a panic I was getting physically sick. The Lord said, "Are you done fighting this? Are you at the end of yourself yet? If you are, what do you have left to lose than to just trust me...'
So I said "you're right Lord. I'm done fighting this, and no matter if this panic attack lasts the rest of my life I'm going to trust You. No matter if this kills me, I trust You with my life."

That was the moment of my total freedom from panic and anxiety. That moment changed my life forever.