Growing in God Day by Day, Anonymous

I was regenerated (1 Peter 1:3) when I was seven years old. I attended a Christian camp with my best friend, and during that weekend the gospel was preached to us. A counselor asked me if I wanted to be saved, and I said I did. I went out by myself and prayed to receive the Lord. Since then, I have had a very real and sweet relationship with the Lord.

Ever since then, I had been attending church with my mother. In a period of eight years she switched denominations four times. I simply went along with her. Then in 1992, she told me about a new church she had found that was different from the ones we attended before and that was really enjoyable. Like before, I just went along with her. We had found the local church.

I continued attending that church until the end of high school. They had meetings for the high school age on Saturday nights. I attended those meetings very faithfully. The lessons that were presented covered books of the Old Testament, and they focused on how the enjoyment of Christ as our life (Colossians 3:4) is revealed in the experiences of the Old Testament believers. One thing I learned through these times was to call on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13). There are many instances in both the Old and New Testaments where the people of God called on the name of the Lord (or Jehovah). I started doing this at the beginning of high school. Calling on the name of the Lord became a simple prayer for me. That was one of the ways that those Saturday-night meetings helped me in my Christian life during high school.

When it came time for me to go to college, the church had a club on campus and I joined the club. They had meetings during the week and small group meetings on Friday nights with local families and other college students. These meetings consisted of dinner and then time for fellowship or singing. For a period of four years, I attended these meetings regularly. I received a lot of care from all the believers who were there. Though I was in the current of the world (1 Peter 4:4) for the whole week these meetings helped to recalibrate me in relation to the Lord's heart. They really preserved me and helped my relationship with the Lord to advance. I don't know where I would be today if it wasn't for the brothers and sisters and these meetings. I know that I love the Lord a lot more today, and I am a lot hungrier for the Word than before I entered college.