Below is a Story of Transformation from Lauren Dyck who joined membership at FGCC on December 11th, 2016.
The first clear memory I have of Jesus speaking into my life was through the speaker I heard at Ranger Lake Bible Camp when I was around 11 years old. The speaker said you can’t be on the fence for Jesus. I saw so clearly that I was on the fence for Jesus, believing He was real ever since i could remember, but not doing anything about it. Not really committing to him. I remember crying in the chapel afterward, feeling in my heart that I wasn’t living my life for Jesus or living with Jesus in every part. Since that time, it was a slow process of getting to know Jesus personally. There wasn’t anyone my age who I knew that was interested in learning more about God, and my fear and shyness kept me from going to camp or youth group where i didn’t know anyone. In grade 12 I was really fortunate to get connected with some girls from school who invited me into their lives and showed me through their actions and words how knowing God could be alive with love and joy!
An amazing way that God taught me about Himself was through 9 months that I spent at a Bible school in Sweden. This was a way more mind blowing experience than I expected. I feel like God led me by the hand ever since I was a child, quietly being part of my life through an incredibly loving and safe home and good friends as I grew older. All the time He’s leading me up to the edge of a diving board that was a little higher and more scary than I expected!!
This time last year I was in the middle of those 9 months, getting ready to fly back here for Christmas. Psalm 119:9 reads “how can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.” It’s crazy how much I learned through reading the Bible and being with other believers. My head, what I had known about Jesus for so long, connected with my heart, what it felt like and meant to let God be in every detail and every big plan of my life. And now what I’m trying to do is keep living like that with God in every part of me, and that’s hard.
Right now the biggest challenge is balancing all the busyness in life and to stay connected to God while not letting the pressure of everything rest on my shoulders. I still so often get overwhelmed by the future and all the things I need to do. Jesus says in Matthew:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
I really feel so excited to be baptized, to share a public commitment to following Jesus with my life! And Thankful that Jesus offers me new life! I want to be a member of this church, a formal part of the family that carries out God’s work on earth!