My Testimony

Let me start by saying that testimonies aren’t scary. All they are is what your life was like before Christ, how or when he saved you, and how you live now/what he has done and is doing in your life! That may sound like a lot but it doesn’t have to be. Just share what is on your heart about what God has done or is doing in your life and your story of how you came to know God and that’s it!

So, here is my story. Let me prepare you, it’s long because it is a pretty full version but I think every part is necessary for this page. Read on!

I “grew up” (but am still growing up because I am turning 17 this July), in a home with strong Christian parents and awesome five older siblings who all helped lead me in the right way and teach me about Jesus (though we all have had our ups and downs). I was saved when I was six years old after hearing a message during “spiritual emphasis” week at chapel at school. By saved I mean what it says in Romans 10:9-10, that if you “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”. (I won’t be revealing all my theological beliefs in my testimony but I feel the need to clarify some things now.)

From then, I read my Bible and went to church with my family, as well as gained knowledge about God from my family and the Bible classes at the Christian schools I went to. I say schools (plural) because my family was missionaries overseas. While I wasn’t born yet, my family lived in Costa Rica, and one city in Dominican Republic. I was born while they visited the U.S. for about a year and then we went back to Dominican Republic. I do not really remember anything from that time but after the D.R., we moved to Bolivia, South America. We lived in Bolivia for about 5 years and I turned 8 the summer we came back to America to live all the way till this current time in 2025. I remember participating in the VBS and activities we did while going to various cities in Bolivia. We held worship services and helped start churches. Like I said, I was still in my early elementary years so I do not remember it all clearly but I do believe God used those early years not only to change my life but mainly to change my parents. In turn, my parents have affected me and how I think about the world, for the better. I see things differently than others and I was always taught to believe that being different is good. As a result, I have always been different and have tried to embrace the way God made me to think and be.

Anyways, back to the story. We moved “back” to America and that same summer I turned eight years old, I got baptized. I do not know why the Lord wanted me to get baptized then, but I do believe that was the right time. Though I didn’t learn to completely own my faith till later on in life, I think that is still when I should’ve been baptized and professed faith publicly. I got baptized at the beach with my church’s event and my dad baptized me. I remember something special about that day, even now is that the salt water didn’t burn my eyes. I know it sounds stupid and silly but the salt water has always hurt my eyes every time I’ve been to the beach or pool because my eyes are sensitive to it and that was one time that when I went under (fully submerged) and came back up, I was able to open my eyes and the water never burned them that day. I remember thinking that was so cool and maybe even an act of the Holy Spirit that day.

Over the next years in my life I kept reading the Bible and going to church, as well as going to various Christian schools through my later elementary years. Until middle school I hadn’t given much thought to my faith and always kind of thought that church was a little boring. But then I started thinking about it all more. My sixth and seventh grade years were harder at times with friends and things becoming seemingly more complicated as things usually do in middle and high school.

Then came eighth grade year.

My eighth grade year was different for me because I had tons of doubts come upon me about my faith. I hadn’t thought of it before, but I wasn’t sure if God even existed. I doubted so many aspects of my faith and even thought about pursuing other religions. I don’t want to go too in-depth about everything that took place in those months but it hit me hard. I acted like everything was okay on the outside because I didn’t want others questioning me because I knew I had to work it out on my own. There are two people to whom I am so grateful that stand out to me whenever I think back on that time; a close friend and a teacher. Don’t get me wrong here, I didn’t get into drugs, alcohol or anything of that sort, it was more of a mental battle for me. I had tons of questions wash over me and no answers for awhile. My friend helped me by giving me all he had in him trying to answer my questions and give me his thoughts, I loved that and will be forever grateful he was there for me at school. I also will forever love that teacher for giving me guidance and gentle answers whenever I asked (which ended up being almost every day after class and school). My questions ranged from “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?” to “Am I even a Christian and why?” and so much more. Aside from that, I am a very deep thinker and that is a good thing but got me in some deep waters back then and sometimes now. In other words, I had no solid foundation because what I thought I believed my whole life was gone (in a way) and I wasn’t sure what I believed. While I figured that out, I became literally obsessed with a guy who was in his last year of high school. It was unhealthy the way I lived my life at school, trying to get his attention (which didn’t work by the way) and live the way I thought others would approve of. It was exhausting and landed me somewhere in a depressive and toxic state.

I don’t know how, but the Lord slowly delivered me from that. The following year, after hundreds of questions and doubts being answered and wrestled with nonstop, I had more rest for my soul. My freshman year of high school I still struggled a lot with those things and other friend issues plus more guy obsessions but I think it was better than the previous year. I continued growing in my faith and had to abandon some friendships that weren’t helping me in my walk with the Lord. It hurt and it was hard trying to go it alone (obviously still with the Lord!) but with no friends at school really being there for me.

Tenth grade year got better and I came back even stronger than before in my faith. I was starting to own my faith so much more and claim it before others. I became more confident in my walk with the Lord and my friend groups had improved a little. I also went through moving churches at this time which was very difficult because of friends and people I loved and was connected to at my previous church. We also had moved houses a few times up until a couple years ago then.

I settled into my current church (also the one where we go now and were missionaries with).

Now, I am just completing my eleventh grade year, and I own my faith and try to live accordingly. I am no where near perfect or sinless and I still struggle with my faith and doubts sometimes. The fact is that the difference between a few years ago and now is that I no longer obsess over guys (praise God), and I have a better community of believers/friends around me who are trying to grow in their faith too! I am so unbelievably grateful to God for where he has brought me out of and where he is bringing me to. Though I do not know where that is exactly, I know that he is always with me and loves me unconditionally. I love Jesus with all my heart and try to surrender to him daily. But let me not sound heroic here, let me get one thing straight: I am not perfect. I know I already said that but I mean it. I may look like I have it all together but at times I am an emotional mess. The thing is that I can always say I am doing great because I have the Holy Spirit living in me and I live in His mighty power. One of the Bible verses I love right now is Galatians 2:20. It says “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” I live with that hope daily so I can rejoice. And honestly, sometimes I don’t rejoice and I don’t want to but the fact is that I need to despite anything that is going on because I live and have breath and God has blessed me so much. For that I am forever grateful.

So today my testimony continues on in how I live and what God does in my life. I see him work so powerfully all the time and I love that. If you want to learn more about my testimony (like this long entry wasn’t enough haha) then I would love to talk to you and even give you advice or hear your testimony to what the Lord has done in your life!

If you read all the way to here, thank you SO much. I really appreciate you taking the time and if you didn’t then that’s okay too! I just hope that whatever you read on my blog is encouraging, inspiring and makes you want to seek the Lord more in whatever you are doing!

Much love, Elizabeth:)