Hello.

So this my testimony! I became an official member of the church on Feb 20th and had a testimony of how God has worked in my life etc.



Good morning friends! 
When Graeme asked that we’d give our testimony, I got a little apprehensive for a couple reasons. one reason.. I’ll be honest…public speaking kinda freaks me out…..so if I end up stumbling over words and screwing things up…I apologize. but the other reason was just that I had no idea what I could possibly say. I’m still pretty young and I’ve so far live a relatively short life. I didn’t know what I could possibly say that would mean anything significant. So I’ve decided to sort of ignore that question and do my best to let God do the talking.
      I’ve been extremely blessed my whole life. I’ve grown up with a very loving, and very Christ centered, Christian family. But I’ve definitely had a few struggles along the way. I think the biggest struggle I’ve had is just with myself. I’d been told though out my childhood that God loved me, passionately. But for some reason I doubted that. I never really doubted the existence of God…I’ve always believed in the creator God, the God that designed and orchestrated the universe. But I doubted the personal, loving aspect of God. I don’t even fully understand why, but for some reason I that felt I couldn’t accept that God or people for that matter could love me.
      I felt empty, like I was a mistake, worthless, and that there was no purpose to my life, I felt like I didn’t really fit in anywhere. I resented who I was, and had a lot of issues with own self-esteem. I got more and more anti-social and very few people I could call friends. God felt very distant to me for a long time.
    I wanted a different life. I wasn’t until a few years ago that things started to change for me. I started to notice God in my life. I saw Him living in people around me. I began to realize that I had friends, friends that actually like me and cared about me. I’ve realized now the friendships and relationships that I’ve made and have strengthened the past few years especially are definitely the biggest way that God has revealed himself to me. My friends are ridiculously important to me…through them, God has shown me the importance of being a part of the Body of Christ, and the fact that all of us have a unique roll to play for His glory, and NO ONE is excluded from that! God has also spoken to me a lot through music…I love music and it’s definitely something Jesus has used to draw me closer to Him as well as just keep me sane.
    This past year has been an amazing stage of spiritual growth for me. God’s guidance in my life has begun to be increasingly obvious to me…  I think the biggest watershed moment, and what’s probably the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me spiritually, actually just happened just about a month and a half ago.
    I was talking to a good friend of mine from school. when she asked me about my plans after high school. I mentioned how I wanted to be a pilot and go into the mission field. Then she said that she felt God would change me through that work, that he would work in my heart in a drastic, radical, and crazy way. To be honest..I thought this was little strange…but really encouraging and I’m glad she said it.
    then a couple days later… she told me that she saw me…that God showed her this vision of..essentially my future! now that might a little crazy to some of you but, for me that moment just felt like one big hug from God, there was no mistaking that these words were His. God spoke to me, just saying “Tim, I love you, you’re not worthless, you’re my son! I have purpose and a plan for you!”
    In that moment, my faith came alive. I felt like had God healed something deep inside of me, something that held me back from Him. For the first time in my life I actually became content with who I am.  This past year I feel like I’ve been discovering God thought a whole new lens. He’s a God of this raw, infinite, love and grace and passion that is just so much bigger than any of us could ever understand.. I know that God has called me to be a missionary. I don’t know fully what that’s gonna look like, or how exactly I’m gonna get there, but he’s placed in me a love for the 3rd world that’s pretty hard to ignore.. Becoming a missionary is kind of a long term goal for me and I don’t expect to get there for quite while. and honestly I’m not entirely where I’ll be in the more immediate future. but I’m looking forward to finding out where God leads me….and….yeah, that’s the story of Jesus in my life….