Life By Faith

I despise the idea of God. At least, I used to. My name is Kloe C. and growing up the idea that people worshipped a god who causes natural disasters, disease, famine, and so many horrible things sounded insane to me. Someone who sends people to hell. It sounded corrupt, evil, and wrong.

My family went to church every Sunday, which meant so did I. The Church is called Mount Carmel Christian Church and is in Batavia, Ohio. At my church we had different classrooms based on grade level. When I started sixth grade I went to the middle school classrooms. I had a different youth pastor, David, and leaders like Kristen.

David helped me understand that the ideas I thought were twisted and not the truth. Others had taken words from God and turned them into something different. For example he doesn't send us to hell. We are already on the way there and he gave us Jesus so we could have a way out. Another example is the natural disasters, famines ect. He has a plan for everything. Bad things happen but they happen for a reason, and sometimes it's not always God. It reminds me of a famous verse, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”-John 13:7.

One thing that really stuck out to me is the fact that life doesn't get easier just because you’re a christian. In fact life may seem harder. The devil feels you escaping him and causes more challenges in your life. It makes me think of my favorite verse, “The pain you’re feeling now cannot compare to the joy that's coming.”-Romans 8:18. I continue to grow in my faith by doing things like reading my bible weekly, keeping a devotional book, listening to christian music, going to church/church events, and talking to God frequently. It took me a while to do all these things but once I started it only got easier. It also helps that I have found other people in my life that love God just as much. When you find others that believe in God it helps create a better community and environment to grow.

Thanks to church, and the community I have found, I was able to grow not only my relationship with God, but help grow others too. Ambry M. and Cora J. are some examples of this. We were able to grow in our relationship with God together and I was able to baptize them both. Finding God gives you a way to have a better life. Not only on earth, but in heaven too.