My Faith

     I talk a lot about how my photography is all "for the glory of God", and how my relationship with Jesus Christ is the most precious thing in my life. Well, I would like to share with you exactly what I believe and how I came to believe it.

My Story
      I was raised in a very Christ-centered home, and I have been blessed to attend Champion Forest Baptist Church my whole life. I gave my life to Christ at a young age, around 5 years old, and I have been growing in my faith since then. The very beginning of my freshman year, I started to get really serious about learning more for myself who God is, and what He teaches in the Bible (as a Christian, I believe the Bible is one hundred percent true, since it is one hundred percent God-inspired). So I dug deeper and found a faith for myself- I truly began to experience God's presence in my life. The next year, I became serious in my photography, and realized that God had given me this gift to use for His glory, and to point others to Him with it.

My Beliefs
I believe that there is only one God, and He made everything in the universe, including you and me. As humans, our nature is to mess up sometimes (called "sin"), whether that's telling a lie or arguing with your parents or killing someone. And everyone has messed up.

"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

All sin is equal (no sin is "worse" than another) and worthy of death. That means that if you sin, even once, you deserve to go to hell. 

"The wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23a

The good news is that God really doesn't want anyone to go to hell. He wants everyone to spend eternity in heaven with Him! Although there's no way to do enough good things to earn your way into heaven, God did something to give us salvation freely, as a gift. And you can receive this gift, if only you accept it.

"But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus." Romans 6:23b

God sent his son, Jesus (who is the "Son" part of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit- the three parts of God) to the earth. He lived a perfect life, without ANY sin, and was hated for it. People hated him enough to kill him, in the most cruel kind of way, crucifixion, death on a cross. In this way, Jesus took all of our sins upon himself and made a way for us to be with God!

"But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

But that's not the end! Three days after Jesus was buried, when everyone thought that he was gone for good, some women went to the grave and found it open- and empty. Jesus had risen from the dead- he had defeated death and Satan, and literally came back to life. He appeared to many people before ascending back into heaven to sit on his throne in heaven.

But how exactly do you accept God's gift, so you can be certain of your place in heaven?

"If you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

Admit to God that you need him and can't earn your way to heaven. Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, and confess your new belief to God! Your name will be written in the Lamb's book of Life, the "get-in" list of heaven, and your life will change as you experience the love and presence of God.