My Journey to Faith

When I was asked to share my experience, it was very hard to put my finger on exactly how I came to Christ. After all, I was always searching for God... Many times I thought I found him, but then it just wasn't.

I remember that when I was a child I got a Bible for Christmas (the children's version of course) and I read the stories about how people kept finding and then turning away from God. Those stories fascinated me. I remember thinking that I do believe in Him. How can people not believe? And, I thought to myself that I would never worship idols like those pagans and I would be among the believers, and that I would stay on the right side always.

Well, that's not what actually happened...

I always believed that there is a God but as I was growing up I became more insecure about who He is. Is he Jahwe the Christian God like I thought as a child? Or is it simply the Universe? Science? Buddha? Or one or many of those Hindu gods?

I experimented with many religions. I tried yoga and looked into Buddhism, but mainly I went into the occult practices--astrology, tarot cards, gypsy cards, angel cards, numerology, crystals...

It all seemed true. Up to a point. It gave a certain control I guess, but mainly it was the secret knowledge that drew me.

And of course, I fell for the slogan: All roads lead to Rome... All religions point to God. 

To this, I can't forget about the effect of the culture. I grew up in Budapest, in socialism. No God? It's just silly.

Yet, I never found the party culture, dating, drinking, and doing drugs brand of "freedom" very appealing. It was all a new freedom, a freedom to sin. Everybody is doing it, it’s the cool and hip thing to do.

But how do I find love and a husband in this culture? Everyone is doing it.

I didn't do as much of that stuff as most people, I never tried drugs, and not many parties, but I didn't get married as a virgin. I found love the hard way. Not easily, but rather on a very rocky road. 

I won't go into that, it's a long story, but finally, I started a family, and have two kids now, and having kids gives (and requires) special attention to the world.

How should I raise them? What morality do I want to teach them? How do I discipline? What is important, and what is valuable? You get it I am sure.

Teaching them about God was never a question. I didn't want to raise atheists. Yet, I noticed that all our festive days were empty.  Holidays were religious, yet there was no depth to it anymore, no real meaning. No real celebration.   So I started to talk about the reasons for Christmas and Easter. Because I did know these things, even if I was rather vague.

When they were small, we just started praying before bed. It became a habit. 

Then I started looking at the world around me, the people, the communities, the youth.  And the future... What does the future have in store for them? What is the world going to be like? 

I lived in a bubble. I have a job, my husband has a stable career, and we live in the suburbs with family homes and nice families. And yet, the future is just so dark. 

So I was getting more and more worried. After all, the world is going to end. Global warming, wars around us, famines, the pandemic....

And what is the solution? Is there one? Or are we just doomed? If there is a God, what is his plan?

I started to listen to podcasts about the state of the world. Then I came across an interview with a cosmologist, who explained science and how the Bible says the same things as science. He converted to Christianity because it's just logical, and TRUE.

This led me to research everything about science and its connection with the Bible.

I found many presentations that explained that the universe just came into existence from nothing! How is this possible without God? Religious scientists say that God created it, atheists say God could not create it, because there is no God, and science can’t explain it YET, but science will explain it sometime in the future.

Hmmm. Interesting approach. Somehow the God explanation seems a lot more logical to me.

But it’s not just the Bing-Bang theory that points to God. There is also the fine-tuning argument, which proves that if the physical constants of nature (things like the strength of gravity for instance) were just a tiny bit different than they are, life would not be possible on Earth. Because everything is decaying on Earth the simple fact that there are even physical constants is remarkable in itself. What (Who??) is holding it up, and keeping it together…?

It also hit me that there are a lot of scientists and philosophers (clearly people who are a lot more clever than I am) who are convinced of the existence of God. John Lennox, a mathematician, William Lane Craig and Francis Collins, who was the leader of the Human Genome Project. He explains in his book that DNA is actually a code. Why is this of significance? Because only personal intelligence can make codes. This means that God not only exists, but He is personal!

The more I read and watched presentations of these famous scientists and great thinkers the clearer it got.

Then, I also came across the presentation of a former atheist detective, J. Warner Wallace, who wrote his first book on Christianity called Cold Case Christianity. He never intended to come to Christ, however, he examined the gospels with his detective skillset. His background was as a homicide detective working on cold cases, those unsolved for 30-40 years. He used the same methods to investigate the gospels as he used for his cases. The result led to his realization that the life and death of Jesus was the most significant historical event ever.  Jesus is in fact the son of God and the gospels are eyewitness accounts. So Christiany is TRUE!!!  I can recommend his website coldcasechristianity.com. He has other books too, which are on my reading list for the future.

But without reading those I know the truth now, I have found Christ. I thank God for grace, that He revealed himself to me.

So I came full circle. I am a Christian and there is no turning back now. I am sticking by His side, and I will be staying with the true believers just as I thought when I was a child and read the Bible for the first time.

I meant to close on that note, but that’s not the end. Knowing is one thing, but it’s just the first step. The next step is more significant, getting to know God and building a relationship with Him! Faith is dead without praying, without a relationship with Jesus…

(A note: We at growyoulife.net met Anita as she sought to grow when she came to our site. What a joy to watch God move in each life! Thank you, Anita, for sharing your story with not just the E-coach, but with this testimony, all who come to grow here!)

Image by an unknown artist, found on Pinterest.