I have had opportunities to hear some deeply moving Christian testimonies in the last couple years, and I never get tired of hearing them. My own personal testimony is not dramatic or shocking, but each person's testimony is in fact awe-inspiring because Jesus wrote their story.

To be completely honest, I was nervous to share this on the internet, and I kept it to myself for a long time. I didn't want people to think about me differently because I posted something religious that I wrote on the internet; but I am ashamed of myself for thinking that.

My spirituality gives me great joy, and my life would clearly be of far less quality without the love of Jesus. No matter what others think about my religion, I should never, ever hide it. Without further ado, I have been compelled to share my own testimony:

I have always loved Jesus. But I wasn't apart of a family that made me get up and go to church every Sunday morning. I went to youth group, but only because everyone else did it.

My family members are Christians, but not religious ones. Yet, somehow I still loved Jesus with all my heart. I think it's because my grandma taught me how to pray. She taught me to talk to Jesus every night, and I have done that every night since I was old enough to know what praying was.

Sometimes when I was little, all that would make me stop being afraid of something was to tell myself that nothing bad would happen to me because Jesus loved me. Telling myself that made me feel invincible. But I didn't know Jesus. I thought I did, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. I floated through high school, saying my prayers just because I thought I had to.

It wasn't until I got to college that I came to know Him. That first semester away from my comfort zone put me in a position where my views were constantly being challenged. And now, I thank God for that because the challenges made me think about why I believed so strongly in Him.

No argument against Christianity was strong enough to change my mind. It just made me want to learn more about my religion. The more I learned, the stronger in my convictions I became.

I started reading the Bible that year. The next, I joined a bible study and started going to church more often. This year, I am intentionally chasing after Jesus, and trying to be the best I can be, for him. Of course, I still fail daily. It's all too easy for me to fall in to my bad habits, my bad attitude, my depression. But I keep looking towards Him to help me be better.

I'm a planner, I always want to know what's coming next; but I'm learning to just trust and follow the Lord, because in the end whatever I plan doesn't really matter.

There are people in my life who scoff at me for surrendering my self to Christianity, but the people who lift me up make the negativity disappear.

I know that I'm going to continue to fail, but ever since I began to know Him...my failures and heartbreaks don't seem to hurt as badly as they once did. I consider myself saved...Jesus saved me from myself and the world around me. I know that no matter what happens to me, He is looking out for me.

How can anyone be anything but grateful for that?