I wasn’t raised in a Christian household, but my mum would send me to Sunday school and BB at a young age. I ended up not attending these things after a year or so. I wasn’t involved with church for the majority of my childhood and didn’t have any connections to faith apart from my grandparents, who would sing hymns to me if I went to stay with them.

I was then invited to BB in secondary school by a friend, and from here my curiosity grew as to who God was. I went on my first weekend away with the church, and after that, I was set on going to everything the church had to offer. I got stuck into YF(Youth Fellowship), and on one YF weekend in 2014, I made the decision with Tony to be a Christian and follow God. This was off the back of a late-night worship session, and for that entire time, shivers shot up and down my spine, and the hairs on my neck stood on end!

I wish it were all good from there, but at some point, I was angry and blamed God for a lot of my troubles. I began to drink quite heavily, doing things I knew I shouldn’t have been doing. I got quite depressed and had to go to counseling. At first, this was a disaster. I didn’t want to take it seriously, thinking that I knew better, but then I was introduced to Christian Guidelines. That went well, and I thought I was all good, but again I started slipping mentally.

At this time, I was going to YF and BB and had some connection with the Church, but I was yet to fully commit myself. One thing I can say is that there was always a pull to come back to church may that have been friends or my youth pastor at the time. This time around, though, I was quite bad mentally and took myself up to the north coast. I wasn’t in a great frame of mind and wasn’t planning on sticking around. But I got a call from my youth pastor, and he’s not someone who would call me normally, but I answered the phone that night, and I’m glad I did. From there, I knew I had to sort myself out, went back to counseling, and started to go to YF more often. I still wasn’t great mentally, but as time went on, I got better by the grace of God.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that a member of the church challenged me to be at church more, and for that I am grateful. I wasn’t happy about being confronted on the matter at the time, however, as I said, I am grateful.

I’ve been more dedicated to faith than ever before. I’m an officer in BB. I lead the youth in church and haven’t missed church since. (If I have anything to do with it) I live for hearing and sharing God’s word, because of my shaky relationship with faith, I feel that my testimony can be an example for others that you are never too far gone to be saved.

My road to faith may not have been straight and certainly not clear, but what I do know is that God held my hand the entire way and always brought me back to where I needed to be.

As much as I was blind to His presence in my life, I can look back on my life now and see that the whole time, I was not alone.