It was during the loss of everything that I put my hope in here on earth, when God called me to himself through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I had always known about Jesus but I had never placed my faith in him and walked with him, I knew all of the Bible stories but I never knew the hope that comes from him. I grew up in the church but at the age of 12 or 13 I became disinterested in the church because we had moved around a lot and I was tired of building relationships and then leaving them, so I refused to go to church, I still believed there was a God and that Jesus was real but I didn’t follow Him, I just knew about him. In 2005, I was 17 years old, my grandfather whom I loved and thought the world of, passed away from a hard battle with cancer, it was one of the hardest things I had ever had to go through, I never knew pain that felt that way, I couldn’t process what I was going through. Then the following summer my parents, who had been together my entire life, told us they were getting a divorce. This was a whole other pain that I had never felt before. My world and everything that I built my life upon, my hope in life was shattered, by a couple of 30 second conversations. I lost one of my best friends in the world and the home I knew was gone. What was interesting though during this time was that my sister had been inviting me to come to church with her, I had sworn that I would never go to church again. Finally I said “yes” just so she would stop asking, now I know why I said yes that day. Over the next couple of months I went with her to the youth group on Wednesday night and towards the end of the summer I attended my first ever church camp. I remember in that summer God showed me the wickedness of my heart but also the beauty of Jesus. God opened my heart, eyes, and ears to what he has done for me in Jesus, that I can have a living hope, I saw Jesus like I had never seen him before. I came to a saving faith in Jesus and I began to not just believe that he is there but I began to pursue him because I finally realized his faithful pursuit of me first. God put some amazing people in my life to pour into me and disciple me, to walk through the journey of life with. I finally knew the comfort, love, and mercy of God. I have a hope and joy unlike anything else I had experienced before, one that would never be shattered or wrecked, the hope of a new life in Jesus. This is the greatest news I have ever found, that God has not left us to ourselves in the darkness of sin and death but in his mercy and grace He is delivering us into the glorious light of the Kingdom, our perfect home, refuge, and fortress. Jesus changed my life not because of anything I have done but because he is gracious to me a sinner, in him I have a living hope that is not of this world, I have the glorious promise of God’s power, protection, and provision that sustains me, that allows me to walk through the darkest valleys imaginable. I pray that you come to the knowledge of what Christ has done on your behalf and ask God to have grace upon you by giving you the gift of faith in Jesus. I would love to talk with you at any point not only about how Jesus Changed My Life but also about how Jesus can Change YOUR Life.
~Brian Lamb