This Is My Story

As far back as I remember, I’ve always known the Lord, and not just knew about him but actually had a relationship with the God of the universe. As such, I don’t have a particularly interesting conversion story. You know, one of those dramatic turnarounds from being lost in sin to experiencing new life in Christ. My folks were both believers, so I received Jesus as my savior when I was a young child, or so I’ve been told. This made giving my “testimony” a little tricky. 

I was thirteen when I joined on a short-term mission trip to Mexico. Everyone on the team had to present their testimony in one of our evangelism events. Well, as a young teenager who’d grown up in the church, I didn’t think I had much of a story. I talked about getting sick as a baby, something my mom told me about, and how I got better with proper medical care. Rather uninspiring, especially delivered through a translator in a dusty Mexican marketplace. Most people don’t have the insight when they’re young to understand the extent of their salvation story because they’re still in the midst of it. I simply didn’t know how to talk about what Christ had done for me because I didn’t know life without him.

Mostly.

Some kids go through a wild phase as they reach young adulthood, but that didn’t happen to me either. Anytime I questioned my faith, I just stopped interacting with God for a time - no great rebellion, no debauchery, no stupid decisions - I just stopped spending time with the Lord for a time. However, I would barely make it three days before I was on my face praying for forgiveness and committing myself to the Lord. Those small steps away and subsequently returning was a joyful homecoming that just felt right. 

This, I imagine, is a taste of what it’s like to come to God for the first time. I can only guess, because I’ve never not known the Lord. As well, I got another taste of what receiving salvation for the first time might be like when I married my wife. In the days and weeks that followed, I experienced a sense of happiness like I’d never known before. It’s not that I was particularly sad beforehand, but becoming one person with my new wife was deeply fulfilling, like this was who I was always meant to be. In a sense, I became more myself than I ever knew possible. It was unexpected. It just felt right, like coming home, even for the first time.

The same thing happened when I became a dad. In those first few days of caring for my new baby boy, I had fulfillment and joy in a way I hadn’t experienced before. I grew up taking care of other people’s kids, so I was prepared for the work and responsibility of fatherhood. However, I was completely blindsided by how much I enjoyed it, how it too just felt right.

Walking with Christ, just like becoming a husband and father, is what I was made for. 

Jesus came so we could have life and have it to the fullest (Jn 10:10). This, I see now, is my story. I haven’t walked away from Christ for any significant amount of time, but the one thing I’ve learned from those brief episodes is simply that life sucks without Jesus, that God's way is better than my way. 

For you, Lord, have delivered me from death... that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living. (Ps 116:8-9, NIV)

I don't understand how all the unsaved souls in the world get through life without him - it’d be so incredibly dark and depressing - but I guess they simply don’t know any better. Kinda like me before I was married or had kids - I just didn't know how happy I could be. 

My story isn’t flashy, it’s not dramatic, but it’s the truth I’ve discovered in this life. I’m a second-generation Christian, standing on the shoulders of two godly parents who walked faithfully with the Lord. I hope others can find the deep happiness and fulfillment I’ve found in Christ, if they don’t have it already. Quite simply, I know of no other source of such fulfilling life.

© D. B. Ryen Incorporated, June 2023.