Life as a Christian

Being a Christian has never been easy, and has almost always included some form of suffering for everyone. Jesus was hated, tortured, and killed bc of his teachings. There are thousands of people across the world that have gone through the same thing, bc they follow His word.
I was raised Catholic. We were your "seasonal" Catholics. We went to mass on Easter and Christmas. The Catholic church I went to had an amazing youth group. I had a lot of friends, and did a lot w/ them, but I hated mass. I almost fell asleep just about every time. The Catholic faith wasn't for me, and I really wasn't sure what else was out there, so I just stopped believing. I knew there was a God out there and that was it. I told this to my mother, and then that summer I spent 2 months w/ my grandparents in Florida, and they are highly religious people. When we got back mom had started going to a non-denominational church, and a small change was starting to take place inside me.
I came to Christ back in 2003. I was w/ the youth group, and we went to a re-enactment of Mercy Me's I Can Only Imagine. They did a play to it kind of. It had the stage be heaven, and the isle up to the stage were kind of the gates. You see everyone rejoicing in heaven and meeting w/ old loved ones, and then there are more people that want to enter, but other people (the angels) were pushing them back. The place behind where we sat represented hell. I couldn't stop crying. I found my youth minister and we talked and we prayed and I cried and cried. My boyfriend at the time wasn't Christian, but I thought if I stayed w/ him then maybe he would come to Christ. He never did, and that's why we broke up.                          

After our break up I lost a lot of people that I thought were friends, but weren't and they didn't really believe either. I told myself that it would be okay, and then months later Chris and I started going out.
Being a Christian doesn't mean you have to be perfect, but it's admitting that you're not. It's saying I need Jesus to help me get through this life, bc I'm not perfect and I know I can't do this on my own.
   Once our youth pastor left I kind of stopped going to youth group, and after I graduated high school, even a little before, I stopped going to our church. There were a few things that I heard that I didn't like and I started to turn away from that church. I still remained in faith. I would read my Bible and have that relationship w/ Jesus, but life started getting hard. I was always helping out my mom, and I was just becoming super lazy and I just stopped going. A couple of years ago Chris and his mom started going to a church called The Brook. This church has been so amazing. Our old church started getting too big and I didn't know anyone after our youth pastor left. The youth group got cliquey  I love our pastor at The Brook. He's very real and very down to earth when he preaches. I look forward to Sunday and the sermons. I also couldn't pick anyone better to marry Chris and me.
Now I'm going to talk about some controversial Christian topics. If you don't agree w/ some of this, please don't leave a hateful or rude comment, just share your opinion in a mature way. I used to be against gay marriage, and in some ways I still am, but at the same time I'm not. I am on the fence about this. God loves us, and loves us all, and that includes homosexuals. Jesus, yes, would tell them that what they're doing is a sin, but he would still love them. I have a couple of gay friends, and I just want them to be happy, and some of them want to get married. If they keep it civil and not religious I think I would be okay w/ that. It is not my place to say "You're gay, so you're going to hell," bc there are gays out there that believe in Christ. Abortion is another topic, and I'm also on the fence about this as well, bc some situations that I've read about, I honestly don't know what I would've done if I had been placed in their shoes. I am more pro-life, but it boils down to this; it's her body. I don't agree w/ women that get abortions bc they baby is a consequence of a one night stand, or they're too young to deal w/ having a baby, or they just were stupid and didn't use a contraceptive/birth control and got pregnant. I don't agree w/ abortion at all in those circumstance. I think you should own up and deal w/ the consequences  If you don't want the baby then please put him/her up for adoption. There are tons of couples out there that can't conceive and would love to have that baby.
I try my best, to live a life of love. Jesus came here and taught us the greatest lesson of love. He gave his own life, just so that we could live. I am sorry for the people that are out there that aren't believers and see people like the Westboro church and see those "Christians" and that becomes their image of Christians. We're not like that, at least the ones I know aren't. When I go out, I only hope that I come across as a loving Christian. I know that I'm not perfect. I cuss, and I sin like any other Christian, but I know that my sins have also been paid for. I know that one day I am going to heaven, and I can't wait for that day, but I will.
If you're reading this and you aren't a Christian, but you want to ask me more questions about my faith, PLEASE DO!! I love talking about this stuff!