I was born in Florida and have been living here my whole
life. Similar to the beginning of most testimonies, I was born into a Christian
home with loving parents and went to a private school where I did well and was,
for the most part, very happy. My 7th grade year, I experienced the
typical middle school bullying and at the time, it seemed like the end of the
world but coming out of my middle school and learning to not let words get the
best of me, ultimately made me a much stronger person.
When I graduated and moved on to high school, everything
changed. I was taken out of my private school bubble and was exposed to “the
real world”. Through out my first 2 years of high school, I came into horrible
contact with drinking, bad friends, even worse boys, drugs, partying, abuse
etc. They were all things that I had heard about in movies and books but never
something that I actually thought I would experience.
Then finally, a friend who I was so blessed to have at the time,
came into my life and showed me what it truly meant to be a Christian. He
explained to me that being a Christian is more than just believing in God or
doing good things. It’s about serving others, doing a daily devotional, wanting
to grow stronger in your faith, and loving on people as much as you possibly
can. He brought me to a youth group that radically changed my life and I
accepted Christ within the first night there. Immediately, I was over come with
joy. I had never felt so much acceptance, love and happiness. Even though I had
always had a lot of friends and had never been particularly unhappy, I realized
that I had always been missing a key component to my happiness and that was a real
relationship with God.
Today I continue to worship God through prayer, thankfulness
and most of all my business. I love spreading His word through scripture cards
and faith filled canvases and I love brightening people’s days with unexpected
gifts. Even after becoming a true follower of Christ, however, I still have
struggles. I still have friends who aren’t Christians and who unfortunately
probably never will be and I have to deal with the pressure and the fact that I
will probably be the only Jesus that some of them see. I also still deal with
the stresses of school and work and everything else that comes my way but
what’s different about those struggles now, is that I know God will always be
by my side and He has a wonderful plan and future for me.
Ali McGary
Email: alimcgary@gmail.com
Insta: @thehappyprepster
Etsy store: The Happy Prepster
No comments:
Post a Comment