Truman Smith

I’m thankful to God that I have grown up in a God-centered, Christian family my whole life. I’ve grown up going to church as well as Sunday school, Awana, and youth group. At such a young age, I never really stopped to think about why it was that I did these things. It was just what all my family and friends were doing at the time. This didn’t mean I didn’t care about it. Those years were very beneficial for my development, and they definitely prepared me to have a true understanding of what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. I don’t really have a specific date of when I came to trust Jesus Christ as my savior. I can say that I've always believed in God and that he died on the cross for my sins, but I never really knew what living a Christian life looked like until I was much older. Around the first year of middle school, God began to help me to think about more serious topics and ask deeper questions about Christianity. In seventh grade, I started going to youth group, and one of the units that we went through that stood out to me at the time was about learning how to live out a vivid faith. This has grown me in my ability to stand up for my beliefs and not be ashamed at school and other places where people haven’t accepted Jesus as their savior. At this point in my life, God really developed my understanding of the scripture through Sunday School and youth group, which definitely led to me reading the Bible more consistently with a sharper mind. Up until this point, every time that I had thought of the idea of getting baptized, I thought, “ Well…maybe I need to wait a little longer so I can become a better Christian”, even though I knew good works don’t make you a better Christian. It’s only this year that I was asked to consider getting baptized, and I’ve come to realize that being baptized isn’t something that confirms you’re enough for God. It’s a person’s declaration of faith - that they are focusing on their relationship with God, that they're going to keep going back to Him with repentance, and that they are welcoming their other brothers and sisters in Christ to call them to repentance when they sin. I am currently trusting in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of my sins and the hope of eternal life, and I am focused on my personal relationship with Jesus.