Posts with the tag “belief”

I grew up going to church. But not this kind of church. I did all the things—the things you were "supposed" to do. From Sunday school to sitting near the front row, I did it and thought it was the right way. It was a church of obligation, that box you check. Even doing "all the things" and being in church, I couldn't tell you a thing about Jesus or the Bible. In fact, I can't even remember opening...  Read More

Sometimes it is so hard to not see what you want, what you pray for and what you know is God’s heart for the ones you love the most. I love my children deeply but I desire them to know and embrace God’s love even more. I think it is even more difficult when my wife and I know, in spite of our imperfections, that we spoke God’s truth to and over our children. We have vivid memories of planting the ...  Read More

When I was a child, I was brought up in a divorced family and lived with my mother and stepdad. Though we were constantly busy, my mom would take me and my brother to a catholic church almost every Sunday. Yes, I believed in Jesus, but because I didn’t really have a great relationship with either my father or stepdad, I struggled to really understand, or even want to understand God. I don’t believ...  Read More

I came to know Jesus at seven years old for the first time, but it wasn't until sixteen that I really grasped the depth of how much Jesus loves me. My life at a very young age was chaotic. I lived in a household where sexual, verbal, emotional, and physical abuse took place. It became my normal. I remember nights where I would cry out to God to take my life because I was afraid of what tomorrow wo...  Read More

I was raised in a very traditional Catholic household. I recall at a young age not agreeing with everything I was being taught by the church, but questioning things was never encouraged. So even though I knew Jesus, there was this great disconnect in my life.I moved away to college and found myself distancing further from the church. I met a young man and within a short time we were engaged and ma...  Read More

It was as if I had heard “The Story I’ll Tell” message series 18 years before it was preached at North Ridge.  Three years before that I had been an unchurched, depressed teenager that was radically transformed by God’s grace during my senior year of high school.  Now as a college sophomore my faith had grown by leaps and bounds but there were parts of my sinful nature that needed to be addressed....  Read More

You’d never guess that this was a day for an epic miracle merely by looking at the water.I’m staring. Staring at the subtle current, if you could call it that. It’s moving, but not even enough to be an official ripple. The liquid dances and somehow seems to return to where it was, but on a microscopic scale. I did what was asked… walked to the edge, laughed in the face of fear and doubt, followed ...  Read More

I grew up in a church that was more interested in talking about hellfire and brimstone than anything else. They sure liked to highlight our depravity and unworthiness so much, but didn’t usually follow that up with the truth of the hope we had in Jesus. I remember a powerful turning point in my christian walk happened one Wednesday night at Bible Study.On this night, we were studying Romans. The H...  Read More

Someone was actually telling me what life was about, the plan! I had yearned for someone to just tell me what my purpose and life was about, I’m so glad that person was God.  Read More

It was the summer of 2014, I was almost 21. That winter before my mom and six younger siblings finally left my dad, Paul. His cover was blown and his sins lay rotting and ugly in the light of truth. Accepting the cold, hard reality of the life I had lived this far, the abuse I and my family endured and my deep grief was suffocating.  My sister worked at a Christian summer camp and I had a lot to r...  Read More