You Are Chosen

I grew up in a Christian family – surprise, surprise! Praise the Lord for wonderful parents who take you to Sunday school and teach you all the Bible stories… but I had to grow up, I had to face the world alone, and I had to learn how to deal with pain. As a kid, you get bullied, as a teenager you think you’re able to make all the right decisions in your life, including relationships; you think you don’t need God, and I chose to stray away. He became an extra prop in my life, and I threw myself in relationships I knew wouldn’t benefit me. Again, and again my heart was broken and hurt, I was in an emotional rut, but I thought I would be able to heal myself and with time. The truth is time only helps you bury the pain, not heal it. 

As I began my university studies, I entered one of the loneliest seasons I’ve had. I couldn’t handle the stress and I was only going to Church because I had to. My closest friends (who don’t even know about this story), were all busy with THEIR studies and we barely saw each other. I had tried to run away from God by avoiding all the Christian clubs on campus. I took a semester break and spent my days at home doing absolutely nothing. I isolated myself. I remember waking up on most days and feeling a weight of extreme sadness on me – the days I would ask God, “where are You?”, and hated life. I was comparing myself to my family and friends, for not being as smart or as pretty – it was a downward spiral.

I knew God, but not personally; I knew something needed to change, and I thought, maybe I should give Jesus another go – and that was how I planted myself in my current church. I was looking at the Church’s Instagram when I saw a comment made by a small group on a photo, and it was so unlike me – but I sent them a message. You could say the rest is history because I ended up attending my first church conference and camp that year. 

If you haven’t been to a church camp before, I can honestly say it will be a defining moment of your life – well, at least it was for me. Things haven’t really changed at that point for me personally but coming into camp was something else. I stood in a worship session, filled with unresolved brokenness that I had suppressed, and there was this song with the lyrics “You call me beautiful…”. I just clung onto those words so desperately, then God spoke to me – saying He was going to remove every bit of hurt and insecurity in me. Every time I look back at that moment, I know I’m not the same person that I was then, and I couldn’t have done it without Jesus. I could never have made myself better, I could never have made myself secure, it was all supernatural because of the love and power of Jesus.

I have given up one entire year as a sacrifice to God by doing Bible College, only because He first gave up everything for me; now all that I get to do for Him is a privilege. No, I’m not perfect all the time but I really want to give Him my best every moment. Representing Zion’s Hill and wearing the shirt is really more than just wearing clothes, but an opportunity to glorify the Him.

“What you wear shows who you belong to” – that couldn’t be truer. Who do you belong to? Is it the One who gave up His life for you, created you, and chose you? God chose me, so everything that is me belongs to Him.