Postby Chris Alassal » Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:45 am
Hey everybody, I'm new to CAA.
I'm a big anime fan and gaming fan, and think I'll be right at home here.
I was saved just over a year ago.
I had always mentally assented to the truths of the Bible since a young age, but never intentionally trusted in the Lord Jesus for eternal life until then. Growing up, I got theologically confused on several fronts, and saw salvation as a partially works-based system where God would forgive me of my past sins, but any future infractions would result in my being lost again- Needless to say, this works-based salvation was not true saving faith, and I got burnt out with it and fell right back into sin before long. So for years, I lived for myself and my own selfish desires, and cared not for the things of God. Until about a year ago.
I won't get into the details of what I was doing, but I had been living in unrepentant, unconfessed sin for years and hadn't felt a thing about it. Until suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt a tremendous sense of uneasiness on my heart, which led me to seek out scriptures and passages about salvation and what saving faith was. After about a month of wrestling with the issue, I finally placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and am to this day resting on who he is, what he has done, and what he has promised for my eternal destiny.
My life has been anything but perfect since then, but I know that I've been changed by the Holy Spirit living within me. I know that I'm no longer the same person I used to be. Though I may fail and fall, I no longer enjoy sin as I used to, and cannot go for too long in my sins before the Lord convicts me and makes disobedience to him an absolutely miserable experience- In a way, this is tremendously comforting, because it reminds me that I am his.
I know that I need to grow spiritually and commit more of myself to the Lord, and that I fall short in many ways, but my hopes are based fully and completely on the finished work of Christ for my salvation, and I'm trusting him fully day by day.
I hope to be part of the community here, and think I'll enjoy it.