One of my many fabulous character traits is that I have a knack for making a short story long. In the Bible study group I joined we had an exercise last week in which we had to write “our story” - the story of why we live for Christ. Our stories needed to include what we were like before we met Christ, what happened when we met Christ, and how we are now, and the whole thing had to be short enough to share in 45 seconds or less. Here is what I came up with:

I was raised in the church. I first became a Christian when I was 7. I lived my entire childhood striving to earn my way into heaven. When I was 18 I gave up trying. I went off the deep end. For about 9 months I immersed myself in a life of drinking, drugs, and sex.

At that time God put some people in my life who confronted me about my destructive lifestyle. They disagreed with the choices I was making but loved me and accepted me anyway. It was then that I realized that God loved me, even the worst version of me, and that I didn’t have to earn my way into heaven. I gave up the crap and started living my life for God again.

I no longer live with nagging guilt. God gave me the freedom to stop trying so hard. He has transformed me into someone who is more kind, more loving, and more able to relax and not sweat the small stuff. I obviously don’t always have it all together and God is always working on me, but through it all I have peace.

And that is why I follow Christ. You know, in a nutshell.