I’ve called myself a Christian for almost my whole life, but it wasn’t until January 2014 that I could say I had truly accepted Jesus as my Lord. Before that, I only knew who God was because I had grew up in church since childhood. I heard about him from sermons preached by my pastor, stories from Sunday school and my family.

Although all these things were great, it did nothing to me because I never found Jesus myself.

Jesus was never my Lord, and was nothing more than a God who created me. All I knew to do was to believed that he existed so I would go to heaven. That was “my version of salvation” for almost my whole life.

I was Lord over my own life, choosing to do things that I wanted to do and neglected to follow the truth of God. It wasn’t until January 2014, when I found myself sitting at my University feeling desperate, trapped, and lost. My own life choices started to cause more troubles and the next thing I knew, I was in the deepest pit of my life with no hope.

I was chained, and imprisoned by my own actions. I didn’t know what else to do, or who else to turn to.

But it was at that moment when God reminded me of a verse that truly changed my life. It was John 8:32 which says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.“

I needed to be set free, and Jesus seemed like the only chance I could run to. So that day, I decided to lay down my life and give it up to Christ.

That was the best decision I ever made, because it was when I laid down my life that I truly found him. I had finally met Christ personally and started my journey following him, choosing to let him be Lord over my life.

Following his truth involved going through trials and pains, but it was worth it because that was when I found true hope in my life. He broke my chains and slowly I started to see his truth set me free just as the verse said it would. My life started to turn around into something beautiful.

God has a beautiful story for you, will you let him write it? Will you make him Lord over your life?

We all have a story, but the best story can only happen when God writes it. Trust that he will be the best author of your life. He was my hope, and he can be your hope as well.