Still learning
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lowri. I’m 25 years old and live in South Wales. There are lots of other things I could tell you about me, but the most important thing you need to know is that I’m a Christian.
I’ve been around Christians my entire life. My father is a minister and my mother is a Christian too, so I’ve been going to church every Sunday since before I could walk. I have heard more sermons than most people have had hot dinners!
I can’t look back on a time when I didn’t believe the Bible was true. I always thought God existed and always enjoyed learning Bible stories in Sunday school. I said prayers with my mother before bedtime, liked going to church and liked singing the hymns.
At home I was a generally well-behaved child (most of the time!), and did well at school. I had good friends and got on well with my teachers. Anyone observing me would have said I was doing well in life, but I was, in fact, lacking something very important.
Understanding
When I was around 11 years old, God began to make it clear to me that I was not right with him. Though others thought I was a good person, I knew my heart was full of selfishness, anger, hatred and many other sinful things.
Through a sermon I heard one Sunday, God made it clear to me that there are only two kinds of people – those who rebel against God and those who follow him completely. There is no middle ground.
Those who follow God get to enjoy a living relationship with him, knowing his love and care throughout their lives, and enjoying eternity with him in heaven. Those who rebel against him and desire to be in charge of their own lives, spend their lives feeling empty and lost. They do not know the God who made them, and face an eternity separated from him.
I was challenged by what I heard and knew that I wasn’t following God completely. So one night I quietly asked God to forgive my sin and help me follow him. And that is when my new life began. A few months later I was baptised and became a part of God’s family, the church.
Though there may not have been a great deal of change in me on the surface, I knew that a big change had happened in my heart. I knew that I had been given a new life, and my sin had been forgiven and forgotten. I wanted to be obedient to God and follow him, but of course that wasn’t always easy.
Learning
As many young women do, I found my teenage years difficult. There was a great deal of pressure to be like my friends and classmates, to rebel against my parents and to make my own rules.
Again, to many I was still a good person, but though I met the world’s standard, I fell short of God’s. Sadly there were many times when I ceased to obey God and did things I knew were wrong. But there was no lasting joy in my rebellion, and I realised that the happiness others sought in the wrong places had already been given to me through Christ.
God has taught me many valuable lessons over the years, and I’m still learning now! I’ve learned that he is always with me, sustains me, stands by me in difficult times and orders all things in my life for my good.
I know that he’s always refining me and making me more like Christ. I know that I am privileged to be a part of his plan to bring others into his family. And I hope that includes you!
Lowri Iorwerth
